Chroma: Orange

In spite of all the deadlines looming (including curating three shows in January!) I have begun the third piece in the Chroma series.    Took advantage of post Halloween sales to grab up all those funky seasonal items which will comprise one of the modules.   I did start the weaving module as the pace of weaving  . . . VERY slow . . . is a nice respite from otherwise hectic times.

More Cool Dyeing

Screen Printing Lesson

Turned my nephew onto using the thermofax machine and screen printing his own design over the holiday weekend.  Here's the result of the screen I made.  Didn't get pix of his which was great.

Another BIG Dye Day

Color transfer from silk to a cotton/rayon blend.  Not sure what to do with this; it sort of stands alone and maybe doesn't need to be cut up and used in anything.  I guess that's a definition of  "art cloth."

New Project

I'm starting a new piece that will be multi-layered.  This is the first round of dyeing and later today I will be over-dyeing these pieces to get the rich depth of color (black!) that I need. 

Chroma:Blue Done at Last!!

Three months to complete this, the second piece in the Chroma series.  YIPPEE!!  I'll leave it to your imagination to figure out which color is next . . .

FiberFlyWATER.posterous.com

I have a created a new blog which will feature all the work I've done in recent years on the topic of WATER.   2013 is the UN Year of Water Cooperation and I want to help get the word out about this important matter.   Children walk for hours to find it instead of going to school, water-borne diseases sicken and kill, while crops die from its lack.  And climate change is just exacerbating this terrible problem.  Not all of the work focuses on the negatives.  Water is also beautiful.   Please take a look and give me feedback, and be grateful every time you turn on the tap!   I'm adding more images all week at www.FiberFlyWATER.posterous.com. 

Reframed

This is a piece that I did some years ago.  It is based on leaf detritus and is heavily beaded onto dyed silk.   It had glass over it and a terrible mat.   I'm so pleased with its new look.

Starting to Come Together

Chroma:Blue is beginning to take on its final form.  Obviously two modules are not yet done, but they are coming along and of course the "connective tissue" is not in place.  I've focused most of my studio time this week on it.

Sea and Sky

Here's the next Chroma:Blue module.  I layered and hand stitched a wide variety of fabrics I'd dyed and painted with lace and strips of silk.  I also added some of the treated bubble wrap I've been developing for various projects.   Then there's that silver foiling which looks great and gives fabulous depth when seen "in person" but will not photograph well no matter what - sadly.  Three more puzzle pieces to go then I will stitch the whole artwork together.  Finished size will be about 72" x 44".   This is the second in the series after Chroma:Yellow which I completed a couple of months ago.  Been loving these BIG projects this year!

Back to Chroma:Blue at Last!

This is the third module of the second piece in the Chroma series.  It is made entirely of Japanese cottons which have been Indigo dyed (mostly shibori technique).  I superimposed the chemical formula for Indigo  - C16H10N2O2 - and a representation of the molecular structure of this isotope.  Still a bit more stitching to do but I'm so thrilled to be back in the studio at last that I just couldn't wait to document the piece.

3D Shibori in England

I had a fabulous time at West Dean College studying textured shibori with Mandy Griffin.   The college is an old estate with an interesting art collection on rolling hills with masses of sheep and pheasants roaming about.  There are walled gardens and a glass house in addition to a world recognized contemporary tapestry atelier.  Good food, too!  I learned exactly what I'd hoped.  Below are before and after photos of three techniques, and, yes, those are screws (and much else) all bundled together.  These techniques will be appearing in my work in the near future (when I get over the jet lag!!).

SeaTangle

I've started on a piece, not part of Chroma:Blue, which is about textures.  I've been hand stitching all week, layering and layering fabulous bits I've created to give this piece some serious dimension.  I'm nowhere near finished but thought it would be fun to post.

SeaGreen

This is the beginning of a series on water, on a year devoted to water issues.  The United Nations has declared 2013 the Year of Water Awareness and I am celebrating by focusing work on this area of extreme global impact. I've started benignly with this piece.  Much more to come.

Blue Garments

The second module of Chroma:Blue is now complete.  That 19th century heavy weight cotton de Nimes  (denim) certainly has legs!!

The Start of Chroma:Blue

I've been researching the color blue for several months taking notes and thinking.  Over the last couple of weeks I've started laying out the modules and just last night finished the first one.  It was supposed to be simply the texture/color range one but has morphed into a sort of sea creature so I may add a few shells eventually.  The underlying element is a weaving I did, and then I stitched all over it to integrate it into the ground fabrics.  Of course I dyed all the yarns and other texturing materials.  It's heavily embroidered and appliqued, and I made the fabric beads.

Integrating the Paradox

Sirocco from my Fierce Winds series will be on exhibit at ArtQuilts XVII in Chandler, Arizona,  from Nov. 2- January 19.    Swing on by if you are in the vicinity!

Trash in the Schuykill River

I've been playing around with some images I took the day after a massive flood of the Schuykill River in Philadelphia a year or two ago.  The photos illustrate the amazing extent of the damage, and the piece I'm experimenting with could become my submission to the Art Cloth Network's annual juried show.  Here is one of the photos of the detritus trapped at the river's edge and a bit of the experimental piece.