Fun!!

We are rushing off to San Diego for the opening tonight of Art Meets Science at the Visions Art Museum. My piece Wood Cells is there and other than the catalog I have not seen the whole exhibition so we are excited. Meanwhile I'm posting my new enthusiasm (my answer to not being able to get Korean mulberry paper for joomchi) - cotton linters. I've been painting and dyeing up a storm with it. Better photos to come!

In with the new

So we tootled on over to the new annex which I have dubbed Kiss My Annex as Kiss is the name of the landlords, really. More schlepping down loads of stairs we got the loom into the lower level and the painting supplies upstairs. Then came the ritual torture of reassembling the monster Glimakra. I'm starting to feel like a penitent dragging this wooden beast all over the map. Wondering if I really will be weaving on it again soon. With Eddie in command we got the thing up and running in a couple of hours. Check out these views and the neighborhood peacock who welcomed me. We saw a HUGE hawk outside in a tree and heard the plaintive honking of a goose in one of the lower corrals. There are horses and goats and pigs, even miniature horses, all nearby. I may not get any work done there but it is a fine place to cool my heels! It may just be the ideal place to create the new series I'm starting which will be somewhat larger than I normally work.

Out with the old

Today I moved from FiberFly Studios Annex in San Pedro, CA, to a new space. The old one was in a great old building but had not water, no heat and was not in the safest neighborhood. I was there for year weaving on my huge Glimakra floor loom and painting. Eddie and Anthony and I disassembled the loom then carried a year's worth of art supplies down stairs and into our vehicles. This is not my primary fiber studio but as long as I want to keep weaving on this baby I need SPACE.

A bit of black and white

Here are three pieces which I've been working on for various purposes which happen to feature black and white. Needle lace and beaded medallions add a bit of color.

Back From Argentina

These are photos I took of the outdoors sculpture at the Chihuly Museum in St. Petersburg, FL, and of the Perdito Moreno Glacier in Patagonia, Argentina. Hmmm . . .

Off to South America!

On our way to Buenos Aires and Patagonia for a few weeks so probably no postings during that interlude. Catch you all when we return!!

Happy New Year

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!