Painted Cloth

I have a stack of painted and/or dyed cloth that I consider to be "rejects" --- doesn't every dyer or painter?!? Usually these are pieces that can be salvaged, but I have to be in the right frame of mind to do so. Mostly I end up using them for test prints of screens. In the photo above is a brown piece of painted cloth that I used to test the screens for the mixed media piece that I posted yesterday. I think this cloth has potential now. Many times these reject pieces are helped by test prints, and I am convinced that it is because I am in a very free, no pressure, "can't make it worse" frame of mind. I'm painting with no expectations and no worries if it doesn't work. Too bad I can't approach all of my work this way.

March's Project

I have been involved in a mixed media round robin for several months. In some ways, I look upon it as my monthly challenge. My style is very different from most of the others in the group, so it is always quite the challenge to add to each piece, yet remain true to my own style of work. As the months progress and more and more is added to each piece, the work begins to take on a personality, which is both a help and a hindrance.

This month's piece arrived, covered with various leaf motifs, but in my mind it lacked a focal point. It looked like an all-over design that belonged in a wallpaper catalog. I added the woodcut print in the center and screen printed a few leaves in black ink. Hopefully its owner will like my additions.

Detail Shot

This Morning's Projects

Everything in the yard and gardens is now budding or sprouting, so I was inspired to start some seeds. These are the trays that got filled and seeded this morning. Some are dye plants, and some are simply to add some color to areas of the gardens. Next is to seed the cosmos garden, although it will probably have re-seeded itself from last year's flowers. I love this time of year, when everything is full of new growth and promise!

The other project for this morning was adding two new gourd birdhouses for the wrens. My father-in-law planted a gourd plant last year that yielded 79 gourds! So last night he helped me make two new birdhouses to put in a couple of our ash trees. Hopefully these will entice some wrens to nest in them.

A New Fashion Trend?

I had this pair of jeans, faded and comfy. Then I got some paint on them. Then I got some black permanent magic marker on them. So today I decided to cover them with paint and graffiti in an attempt to disguise the other marks. This is the final result. I kind of like them!

Last of the Sock Knitting

This is the last pair of knitted socks --- I am out of sock yarn, and the weather is getting too warm to wear them. I'm sure I will knit more next winter, but for now I am on to other projects like fabric painting and dyeing. Funny how the seasons influence what I work on.

More signs of Spring...

Today was another gorgeous day --- sunny, temperature hovering around 70 degrees, gentle breeze blowing. I thoroughly enjoyed working out in the yard and gardens. Here are some more signs of Spring from our yard:

Forsythia buds starting to open,

Lilac bushes starting to bud,

Sedum starting to sprout,

And the first Indigo seedling of the season.

Finally!

For those of you that have been following my saga, my MIL is now home from the hospital, and my PT is now down to 3 times per week. The result of this is that I got to spend all day yesterday in my studio --- stitching and painting. I put the finishing touches of paint on 3 new pieces, and they are sandwiched and ready for final stitching. The photo above is one of them. It was so wonderful to be back in the studio, and my whole attitude improved --- life is great again, and I have time to appreciate all of the blessings that I have. What a difference a day of art makes!

Sunset at the lake...

Monday the weather was finally nice enough to walk around the lake again. I enjoy the peacefulness of the lake, and we always see some treasure that nature shares with us. This time there was a white egret much farther inland than usual, and the bullfrogs were in chorus in one section of the overflow waterway. Of course, it is raining and storming today and expected to last the rest of the week, which only makes me that much more thankful for the gorgeous weather on Monday. Today will be a good day to paint cloth in the studio though.

Enough?

Kansas Art Quilters is preparing for our next exhibition, "Altered Views". We plan to include a focal piece that is being made by several members of the group. The idea is for each artist to make two identical quilted blocks --- one block is left as-is, and the other block is sent to a different artist for embellishing. The challenge for me has been deciding when I have enough on the blocks to make the un-embellished one interesting, yet still leaving room for the next artist to add more work to the second block. Above is a photo of the stage that my blocks are currently at. What do you think? Should I add more, or is it time to quit?

Spring is on its way!

Last fall a good friend sent me some Giant Darwin hybrid tulip bulbs (Pink Impression). I planted them out back in an area that I could see from my kitchen window, and I was thrilled to look out the window this afternoon and see that they have all sprouted. What a great testimonial to spring and friendship!

The Start of a New Series

This is the first piece of cloth painted for a new series --- the working title is "Ocean Journals". I grew up near the coast, and even though I live in the land of cornfields now, I truly miss the sound of waves breaking on the beach and gull cries overhead. I hope to make pieces that share my memories of the ocean --- its changing tides, the debris and marks left behind on the sand, and the creatures that inhabit this ecosystem.

Studio Inspiration

I am a very frugal person --- even with my fabric scraps. I have cardboard squares that I stack the scraps on, sorted by color. When I need some inspiration, they are right at my fingertips to sort, rearrange, stack, collage, etc. These photos are some of the piles this morning.

On another note, we had a full-fledged, shut-down-the-interstates blizzard yesterday. If you don't have to drive in it, a blizzard is not a bad thing. It forced me to stay home, and what a day I had! I dyed a newly sewn outfit in a terra cotta dyepot yesterday. Today I will overdye it in the indigo dyepot. I also designed the first layer on a new piece in purples and golds. It is much bigger than I've been working recently. Stay tuned for photos over the weekend!

Snow again...

I think winter is really here now. We keep getting more snow before the previous snow has melted. This is a photo of some stone terraces in the snow. I love the stark contrast of the colors and the soft curvy lines of the branches against the sharp angular lines of the stones.

Weekend at Lied Lodge

Jim and I spent the weekend at Lied Lodge for our anniversary. What a wonderful experience! The photo above is the dining room, complete with vaulted ceilings, timbers and a view overlooking the arbors and vineyards. For dinner, I had a grilled salmon fillet with a spicy mango sauce and Jim had his usual fillet mignon, followed by totally decadent chocolate desserts, compliments of the lodge in honor of our anniversary.

This is the view of a small part of the lobby. There are numerous furniture groupings like this scattered throughout the lobby, some by a huge fireplace --- a perfect place to sit with a cup of coffee and enjoy the morning newspaper.

This is one side of the huge fireplace in the lobby. The back side of this fireplace is actually in a sun room with glass on 3 sides and a view of the hills and trees. Very relaxing!

This is one of the sayings carved into the stone above the fireplace. The philosophy of the lodge and its acres of land is one of planting trees and conserving our natural resources.

These were some of the centerpieces on the tables in the lobby. Everything in the lodge's decor is tree related. The naturalist/minimalist in me loved the ambiance!

This is a fabulous metal stand holding clay pots with twigs of various sizes and colors that was displayed in the lobby.

All in all, we had an extremely relaxing and enjoyable experience!

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary, Jim! Today marks my 11th wedding anniversary, and it has been 11 wonderful years. I am lucky to have found a partner who is perfect for me. 11 years ago the temperature was in the 70s, and the sun was shining --- a beautiful day and very unusual weather for Nebraska in February. Today we have a blizzard on the horizon --- much more typical weather.

It is also my friend's anniversary --- 28 years for them ---- Happy Anniversary, Marge!

Progress

I have been diligently cleaning, throwing out and rearranging in my studio in preparation of having some time to work on these pieces, and this morning I actually had some time to do just that! I am happy with the first layers shown here. Next I will stitch these pieces in place, and then more layers of cloth and paint will be added. The inspiration for these pieces is an upcoming exhibition titled "Connections". I started musing about the physical connections between the various layers of cloth and between the paint and the cloth, plus the emotional connections that I will add later with screenprints of mementos that have a personal meaning to me. What a great title for an exhibition!

New Work

This is one of the pieces from a new series titled "Defining Lines". It is inspired by the lines in nature and our surroundings that give our lives boundaries, and the lines that define us as individuals --- those lines that we aren't willing to cross. Click here to see the entire series.

Good News!

Yesterday I received a signed contract from Laurence King Publishing LTD in London. They will be featuring 7 pieces of my work in an upcoming book on contemporary textiles. The projected publication date is Spring 2008.

I also shipped "Grammie", the piece I made as a tribute to my grandmother, to the Quilters' Hall of Fame. It was juried into the She Made Her Mark exhibition that will be on display there from March 1 - June 25, 2007.

And lastly, I boxed up "Urban Warfare #1" in preparation to ship it to the Ayer Lofts Gallery. It was juried into the Paste-Up exhibition that will be on display there from April 5-29, 2007.

Embellisher Fun

Layers of scrim with a little touch of yellow roving and a strand of recycled sari silk yarn.

Texture in the Woodpile

I love the different textures and colors in the woodpile! The splintering of the split wood, the peeling bark, the contrast of dry wood next to wet wood. I'm not sure if I will use the photographs in collages or to burn thermofax screens, but I definitely feel inspiration for a new series of work.