What do you do?

When I tell people I'm an artist they assume - like 99.9% of the time - that I paint.  Then I mention that I'm actually a mixed media textile artist, and that's when they mostly go all fuzzy eyed and confused.   I hand them one of my cards and say "please look at my website and blog and all will become clear."    Well, the secret is out:  I do paint!  I've just been playing that card pretty close to the chest.    So here are a couple of my Abstract Expressionist paintings.    I mean, of course I use a lot of paint in my mixed media work, so I guess it's not much of a stretch.  And these paintings are, as anyone giving it a bit of thought can see, TEXTILES, as in CANVAS is a textile.  So it isn't a far leap.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

Round Robin

My students from a spring 2013 four session workshop  have now completed (!) a round robin where each of the 6 of us made an 8" square, sent it to the next group member, round and round until everyone had contributed to everyone else's  thread.  This is my last piece in the series.  I used some of the gold lace I bought at Mokuba in Paris years ago.  When I get my strand back next month I'll post the whole series that was inspired by my initial offering.  Can't wait to see all 6 pieces!!

Gyres resolved

I've added a lot to this piece so wanted to post the finished version.

Gyres

I have been moving in a new artistic direction with my interest in water.   I am planning a series about the nine (there is debate about the actual number) gyres - tidal swirls in the world's oceans which collect vast quantities of trash, largely plastics, which take forever to break down.  Some of these are miles across but very tough to measure  precisely because the garbage which comprises them is not photographable from space and they are too huge and move about too much to get a true fix on them from the sea itself.    They are destroying wildlife which comes in contact with them and cause much other damage.  They are quite colorful as the detritus we toss into the seas is often bright packaging.  The gyres above the Equator swirl clockwise and those south of the Equator move in the opposite direction - just like the water going down our drains.   I am experimenting with various techniques to see which best suits the results I'm aiming for.

Chroma:Purple

Here's the first module of Chroma:Purple completed.   All of the pieces in the Chroma series have one pure texture module.   This one is woven then I embellished it with beads I made (love those chopsticks for drying them!) and some stitching.

Big day at FiberFly Studios

I finished Chroma RED!   This is the fifth piece in my Chroma series (Yellow, Green, Blue and Orange are done, and I've already begun Purple);  Black/White/Silver and Earth Tones are the last two.  RED took me about four months.  Each piece is two yards long and about 42" wide so they are a lot to contend with.  But it's photographed and wrapped up in the storage shed.  YIPPEE!  I'm hoping for a show of the series in early 2015.

New iPhone APP

The Kaleidoscope APP gives you options about how to create the pattern then takes a photo of it.  YIKES!  Love the new technology - when I can make it work . . .   This is of a pillow I wove which is sitting on the sofa.  Are those sad teddy bears???

Back from India

We made it back from a long, exhausting and complex trip.  Lots of interesting things to see and lots of "developing nation" issues to be confronted:  women's rights, population control, education, and the environment - filthy unpaved roads (think ubiquitous mud mixed with animal dung), unbreathable air (dust and industrial pollution), and untenable water (black, fetid rivers).     But lots of color, lots of folks working hard and creatively.    Here's just a taste:


     Lotus Temple

     Street Sweeper

            Hand Prints on Wall

       

           Step Well, maybe 100' deep

     Weaving Tools

    Privately Owned Truck

New Beginnings

HAPPY  NEW  YEAR to all!! 

   

We will be in India until mid January.

Stolen Artwork

 I have had four pieces of my artwork stolen BY the Art Factory in Paterson, NJ.  I, and the other members of Confluence, participated in that gallery's Sept. - Nov. 2013, International Textile Exhibition.  There was a lot of strange behavior going on like no proper opening, almost no Facebook or website postings of the show, and then we were told that the whole thing had come down several weeks early.  But they did not return the work until my co-curator (Inga Buell) and I called and emailed numerous times.  At that point they sloppily wrapped the work NOT in our original packing materials and sent back most of it.  Several pieces came with damaged frames, etc.   But three of my mixed media embroideries and one textile lamination have never been returned to me.  We have called and emailed countless times since Nov. 16, the purported closing date.   They do not respond at all and I have filed a police report, not an easy task in another state from the one in which I live, and am also filing a complaint with the NJ Attorney General's Office.   This has been excruciatingly painful and I therefore want to warn any and all artists NOT to show their work at the Art Factory.  The owners are David J. Garsia and Donata Anna Garsia.

The missing pieces:

Fresh Water Salmon:

  

   

 SeaTangle #1

 

SeaTangle #4

Trash Overboard 

 

Atoll

This is an as yet unfinished piece that I started in the Sue Cavanaugh workshop I took in Ohio a couple of months ago.  She taught us, and showed us, her amazing 3D shibori quilts.   I stitched and tied and dye painted then ripped the whole thing into pieces.  Now I'm in the process of stitching it to a ground fabric and starting to embroider it.   Off to get more creamy white silk threads.

My holiday gift wrap!

 This is my first attempt to do wrapping paper with Spoonflower.  Just got the rolls and they are putting a smile on my face.    Enjoy!!

Corrections, Please

This is the fifth module for Chroma:Red.  It refers to all those student essays I KINDLY corrected with non-threatening green ink.  But I always secretly wished I could really say what I  meant with the power of RED!!

Some Eye Candy . . .

Arctic Summer is a paper and ink collage I did last year and it is the basis for five subsequent pieces done in fabric by myself and four other artists.   It will be on display in Whittier, CA,  in January-February 2014.  Details to follow.

Algae is a brand new piece that is made by piecing fabrics, many of which I dyed myself.  Once stitched, I added a lot of antique lace and other embellishing threads for movement and texture.    It's 18" x 24".

Gone for a Couple of Weeks to Australia

Fabulous trip!  The opening of the Oz Quilt show in Canberra was worth the trip in itself.  I saw A LOT of amazing textiles including drop dead gorgeous tapestries by Valerie Kirk (thank you, Valerie, for jurying my piece into the exhibit!), but my  fav is below:  "Perhaps Renewal" by Marianne Penberthy.  The essence of Australia's landscape. Haunting.

Shibori Samples

Here are a few examples of shibori I made in the Sue Cavanaugh Workshop I just completed at the (Nancy) Crow Barn in central Ohio.    The workshop was fabulous and Sue is inspirational.  Not sure yet how I will incorporate the techniques into my own work, but they work well for large and 3D so I know they will pop up soon.

Chroma:Red

I have been working on the Chroma series for about 16 months.  Chroma:Red is the fifth panel.  They are all about 6 feet tall and 44 inches wide.  Here we can see the modules of Red which I have recently finished.  Two more are in progress at the moment.  There will be eight modules making up the panel.  These are Fire, Hearts and Texture which explores the range of what we call red.  Many more images of the completed panels are available to be seen on the blog if you scroll back to summer 2012.

Official Announcement

Here's for the show in Canberra to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Canberra as the capitol of Australia.  Willy-willy - my art quilt - and  I will be winging our way over later this month.  Can't wait.  Tell all your Aussie friends!