Sneak Peek

This is what I have been working on....
I was invited to create a piece for next year's exhibition "It's Good To Be Green". My immediate thought was to design a piece of textile art about green construction. All of the wall pieces in the gallery will be 18" wide by 45" high, and my piece is almost done. The photo above is a small detail shot --- included to entice you to visit the exhibition when it opens next year.

"It's Good To Be Green"
Latimer Quilt and Textile Center
Tillamook, OR
March 4 - May 4, 2008

New Collages!

Collage #20
7"h x 5"w
$40

Collage #23
7"h x 5"w
$40

Here are two of the eight new collages that I finished yesterday. All of them are layers of tissue paper with acrylic paint and screen printing, mounted on 10"h x 8"w Bristol board. Click here to see the rest of the series.

Ready to Go on New Collages

This is this morning's layout for starting some new collages. The yellow pieces at the top already have layers of two shades of yellow tissue on them, along with a screen print of my son when he was about a year or two old. (He is now 24). The other pieces have a base of several layers of raspberrry colored tissue. Today the plan is to add more colors to all of these pieces, and possibly create some backgrounds on new pieces. Stay tuned for more photos.

Two Different Canning Pots & Their Yields

This is the batch of dill pickles from this morning's canning session. It has been years since I've made dill pickles, so hopefully they will be edible. Can you screw up pickles?!??!

And this is the afternoon's product in the dye pot on the deck --- 100% wool (thick & thin), dyed with coreopsis and cosmos.

Garden Bounty

Here is just a little of yesterday's garden harvest. There is also sweet corn, some peas and a few turnips. Later in the summer, there will be melons of all varieties and carrots. This is one of the best things about living in farm country!

Graphic Tee

Years ago I owned a graphics design studio, and I still appreciate bold graphics and typography. That background was my inspiration for this shirt. Here is a photo of today's version, with the gold and copper added. I have several shirts that I've painted in a similiar style --- I also have several shirts that look like paint cloths! LOL

Need More Tissue!

I got some new colors of tissue paper for collages, so I spent most of today painting the first few layers. The photo above is my indoor painting set-up. I prefer to paint and dye outside, but today was almost 100 degrees outside!

These are the new colors of tissue paper with some of the graphics and text screened onto them. Tomorrow I should have time to add the freehand elements.

And this is the start of a new graphic-tee! Next I plan to add gold and copper to the design, although I want to keep this one fairly simple.

All in all, a fun day in the paint studio!

Dye Pot Treasures

These are the first items out of the coreopsis dye pot. These were all dyed with the moonbeam coreopsis in the last post. If I add only a few flowers to the dye pot, it produces a light yellow. Add a few more flowers, and you get this orange.

On the left is cotton scrim; on the right is cotton cheesecloth; and the yarn is 100% merino wool.

Garden Tour

The clematis blossoms have totally covered the arbor now, and even the college guys next door have remarked about how beautiful they are. The arbor is at the entrance to my favorite garden in the yard.

Next in the garden after the clematis covered arbor are the groups of moonbeam coreopsis. I have to confess that these were originally planted for the dyepots, but now I love the delicate leaves and flowers. Later today these will all get harvested to start new dyepots, but by tomorrow morning, the plants will be covered in blossoms again.

After the moonbeam coreopsis is another of my favorites --- the Joseph's Coat rose. It struggled when I first planted it in the spring, but some extra special care has brought it around, and it is now growing and blooming. The roses on this particular variety range from yellow to pink to orange.

This is also the garden that has my obos sitting on a piece of driftwood. All in all, my favorite area of the yard!

Collage Mania --- Sold Out!

Collage #4
Collection of Clairan Ferrono

Collage #7
Collection of Debbi Cooper

Collage #12
Collection of Katherine McNeese

Collage Mania sold out yesterday! The grand total raised for the American Cancer Society was $510. Thank you to all of the generous patrons, many who donated WAY above the minimum $40 donation or who chose more than one collage!

Fiberart For A Cause Collage Mania

Fundraiser for American Cancer Society

Collage #12 by Karen Stiehl Osborn

July 14 by Virginia A. Spiegel

Virginia Spiegel and I have been having a lot of fun with collage lately. Collage Mania, opening tomorrow at 9 a.m. CST on Virginia's blog, will be your chance to make a donation to the American Cancer Society via the Fiberart For A Cause donation page and receive some great art in return. There will be 7 collages, mounted on Bristol board, signed and ready for framing --- each available for a minimum $40 donation to the American Cancer Society.

It’s art, and it's fundraising for a great cause --- cancer education and research. Let’s have some fun!

From this...

to this...

to this...

It's that time again --- time to dust off the canning jars and the huge canning pot. I live in farm country, and I hate to see produce go to waste, so early on I learned to can the different garden vegetables. This is yesterday's batch of bread and butter pickles. There was actually one more pint, but it quickly went out the door to my Mom's house.

Coming later today: A preview and more details of tomorrow’s Fiberart For A Cause Collage Mania. Virginia Spiegel and I are donating some of our collages to the event, and 100% of the proceeds from the sale of the collages will go to the American Cancer Society.

The Collage Craze Continues...

Collage #14
7.5" x 7.5"
$50

I finished 4 more collages this morning, in the same colorway as the piece above.

Click here to see the others.