One Year Later

This quilt is a wish for my nephew who has been through two brain surgeries this year. My hope is that a year from now he will have a bright, healthy and unique brain making his life joyous, productive, creative and pain free!!

Studio Art Quilt #6: State of the Art

Honored to have been invited to submit to this small but lovely booklet put together by Sandra Sider. It contains photos of 60 fine art quilts which were created over the last four years by an international array of artists. Mine, Daylily, is on page 27. Daylily is part of the series Noble Seasons which already toured across the US in the Summer exhibition in 2010 and will be on the road again for all of 2012 as the entire exhibit (all four seasons) is seen in many venues throughout the year. It is entirely appliqued by use of the embellisher (dry felting machine) so has NO, that's right, NO thread! The photo credit is incorrect, I took the picture myself, but all else is fine.

Done at Last!

I've been weaving for about 10 months at my annex in San Pedro a piece of wool yardage. It's light weight (this is Southern California after all . . .). And now I'm ready to make something out of it. With 4 yards at 44" wide I think I can get a great swing coat/dress. Cutting into a new piece of fabric is always a scary thrill!!

Back from the Framer

Aerial View is now framed.

LEAF

I'm replacing a piece that is currently traveling in the Noble Seasons Fall exhibition with this new one which matches the rest of the series better - the entire series will be shown at several venues around the US in 2012. It is done primarily with the embellisher (dry felting machine) and there is needle lace to create the veining over hand-dyed and some commercial fabrics.

BTW - I'm going to be teaching needle lace-making at the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach, California, next July. More details on that as the time approaches.

Pieces 3 and 4

Lots more to do (like integrating the four elements via stitch, ink, etc.), but here are the last of the finished tops.

I got the second piece put together

Here's the second piece in the series.

Work in Progress

I've been laminating paper to fabric like a mad woman! But of course I dyed, printed, soy wax resisted, painted, shiboriied, etc., etc., the fabrics first. These bits are for a series of small quilts which feature the inked and painted lamination.

Remember commercial fabric???

It's been a long time since I went into my stash of commercially printed fabrics for bits and pieces to use in my "art quilts." I need to change out a piece that has been traveling with the Autumn collection this year (the entire Noble Seasons will be on the road in 2012) as I need the other back for my spring solo exhibition in Maryland which will feature all of the Fierce Winds series. So here's a bit of an autumn eddy which as yet has exactly NO stitching. I'm planning to add some more blank and maybe stitch with black thread just to darken it down somewhat - I mean there is such think as too much fun, right??!!?

Archeology/Language

Just got this piece back from a touring exhibition. It represents the layers of time from the cave wall to the animal bones to the linguistic symbols (and terminology). Pen, stitching, paint, applique, use of the embellisher to add some dimension - all this contributes to the overall image.

SeaGrass

There's a nice photo of my laminated piece Sea Grass on the Palos Verdes Library website. The opening was a bit quiet, but a lot of patrons will see the work over the next couple of months. I'll be picking up three newly framed laminated pieces tomorrow and will post them here later this week.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pvld/6310423442/in/set-72157628046417800

Monster

I've been experimenting with materials that will withstand the elements - fiber folks don't have a lot of choices when it comes to outdoor art. Here's my MONSTER made with a range of products from the Big Box store! Much more to come in this series!

Round Robin

This is my response to two other pieces of contemporary embroidery from two other participants in our 5 Strands round robin. I can't publish their work until we are all done (25 pieces over the course of 15 months) but here's my latest. It started with dyed silk and was built up with lace and a wide range of ribbons, threads, metallic bits and then running stitches. Of course I ended up with my fabulous metallic flake paint!

Aerial View

This piece now has a name - Aerial View - thanks to various suggestions that were emailed to me. It is now done and has just to be stretched over a frame by my AMAZING framer Colleen at Kathy's Frame Gallery in Torrance, CA. I was down for the count with flu last week so am just beginning to finish a lot of pieces that have been waiting so stay tuned!

Big DYE week

I shiboried, soy wax resisted and printed dye through screens using print paste and thickened dyes, yesterday with the companionship of my friend Susan Willen. Today I'm over-dyeing pieces that need a pick-me-up. My hands are covered with hints of color though of course I wore gloves. I wear the that color with pride, sort of a badge of my profession though not a clip on style! Can't wait to see how these new fabrics work their way into my artwork.

Etesian at home

This is a photo sent to me by the gentleman who purchased this quilt within the week it was completed. He's found the perfect spot for it in the master bedroom. He promises that he will be putting the linens on the dresser away any day now . . .

Collage in Progress

I was out of town last week in Florida for the Art Cloth Network's annual meeting and am now happily back in the studio. This piece, as yet unnamed, is developing well: paper and fabric and MANY interesting oddments. I have bent, yes, bent, about a dozen needles working on it as some of the paper is VERY metallic and thick. I'm now using a three inch needle and a giant thimble! Oh the challenges of art!!! It is a foggy day so my pix required a flash even though they were taken outdoors so the metallic appears a bit more reflective than is ideal. Looking for sunshine tomorrow.

Sea Grass Lamination

This piece was just accepted into the Palos Verdes Library exhibit which will be up from Nov. 12-New Year's Eve. The opening event is from 5-7 on Saturday, Nov. 12; please come by if you are in the area. It is a really fun event!

Yet another in the Violent Winds series

This piece is called Etesian after the winds that sweep south out of northern Europe into the Aegean. It started with a yard of cotton I dyed in the bright reds and oranges. I then added more, smaller, hand dyed shiboriied lengths to create the ground fabric. I had the blue screen printed yardage I'd done about a year ago and spent a long time at the design wall ripping it up and auditioning it onto the base. Then I built a couple of screens with the wonky "donuts" and did the printing to unify the piece. I thought it was visually quite flat in spite of the bright colors so cut out, hand stitched and quilted all those individual donuts. Still not content, I brought in the expert eyes of my artist friend Cynthia Catlin and we mulled and auditioned various things. I settled on the black spirals which add visual depth.

Tapestry Weaving

I have been quite focused on weaving over the last couple of months. The big Glimakra floor loom is set up in my Studio Annex in San Pedro along with my painting supplies. A great big length of multicolored wool fabric is progressing nicely on it. Meanwhile, here at FiberFly Studios my assistant Jessica (age 11) and I have been working away on a new tapestry. It is a large and complicated design which will take several years to complete. We started with the whole process - designing, getting the cartoon copied to size, ordering the yarn from Australia, warping and weaving over the summer. Doesn't look like much so far, but stay tuned!

Terrain

This is a painting I made last year which mimics the earth's surface as it is built upon plaster cloth and acoustical spray for dimension. It is gilded on top of much of the paint. It has been recently "rehomed." I wish it and its new owners the best!

Oroshi

Another one of the earth's violent winds - this one in Japan. Laminated paint (really) and lots of shiboried bits and other hand dyes plus some soluble media to tie it all together.

Harem

Not really sure of the title for this yet. Any ideas? It is for the Art Cloth Network's 2012 challenge. Maybe I'll actually get to show my piece this year . . .

Closer Than You Think

This piece is in honor of one of my favorite artists: Chuck Close, who has AMAZING skills as an artist, works in modules just like traditional quilt makers do, and has overcome a disability which would have grounded almost anyone else! Called Closer Than You Think it is now featured in the Summer edition of the SAQA Journal, page 22.