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.

Rusty Pillons in the San Francisco Bay

Last year when I was at the Surface Design Association/Studio Art Quilt Associates joint meeting in San Francisco I spotted this amazing retaining wall near the hotel. It is above the waterline in this shot but clearly has experienced the ebb and flow of tides over the years. The first image is my (somewhat tweaked) photo. The second and third are pix of a painting I did in my beginning acrylics class a the Palos Verdes Art Center this summer. It's kind of primitive but looks a bit brighter in "person." Was fun to work on.

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Deep Spaces

Isn't this a pretty announcement for the show? The details are in the column to the right. I have a piece of art cloth in the exhibit - not much opportunity to show hand dyed cloth so this is much appreciated! Most of the rest of the exhibit seems to be art quilts. Let me know if you get to any of the venues.

Another in my series focusing on violent winds

This piece is called Viento Zonda and represents the winds out of the Andes in South American. The border is not finished; it will be larger, made of the art cloth on which it is sitting in these pix. All of these fabrics were dyed, shiboriied, soy wax resisted, laminated, printed and/or otherwise created by me.

Inspired by Rothko

We spent some time last weekend at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art which has rearranged almost everything as a result of its two new buildings and the extra space they provide.* Nonetheless, I managed to find my favs - the 20th century Americans, the Abstract Expressionists. So it's not surprising that the very first piece I make afterwards shows the influence of Mark Rothko. This is just a start, will develop it more over the next day or two then stitch.

*The BAD news - They have eliminated the costume and textile gallery!!

Lamination Demo on July 30

I will be demoing the process of laminating images on paper to fabric which has been dyed or otherwise colored. I will show various ways in which water soluble media can be used to visually integrate the two materials. Please attend The Sampler session on Saturday, July 30 from 6:30-8 at the International Quilt Festival in Ballroom B on the second floor of the long Beach Convention Center. Tix are available at the door.

This is a great (and useful) technique and the session will be really fun!!

The pieces shown here are titled: Red/Orange Flow, Detritus Takes Root, Aquatic Trails and Urban Target

Xmas Morning

Got the quilt top done and am now quilting away. Here's a close up so you can see how the bicycle track was finally done and how it looks on the snowy background.

Coalescence II

I just had reason to revisit this piece and thought I'd post it for all to enjoy. This is a detail of a quilt done entirely on the embellisher (dry felting machine). There is no thread at all. This is a flexible way to work and nothing visually breaks up the blending as thread sometimes does.

Bicycle Tire Tracks

I've been experimenting with the bike track to run through the snow in Christmas Morning. I did several sketches of the tires on my husband's bikes. Then I tried three different approaches with felt, paint transfer, stitching and burning to create a fairly realistic image. Here are a couple of samples. I chose the surface I liked best (the upper one) and have decided to do much less burning away of the felt. I'm also going to add a couple of tiny bits of color just to spice it up. It's really important to do a lot of experimentation to be sure that many approaches are considered. These two are fair but not 100% what I want. Should have it by the end of the day!

Harmattan I

Yesterday we were in Carlsbad, California, for the opening of an exhibit of art quilts by Southern California SAQA members. I was happy to have my quilt, Harmattan I, the first in the Violent Winds series, juried in and to see so many friends and their great work as well! Stop by this month if you are in the area. It also feels wonderful to be back in the art groove after almost two months of traveling, being under the weather and then a massive computer disaster - pix of work over the last 7 months lost forever. Tan, rested and FOCUSED!!

Let It Snow!!

In a most unseasonable manner I am working on a piece about winter called Christmas Morning. I have just gotten the ground fabric designed to be as varied and reflective as snow - something with which we are NOT intimately familiar here in Southern California near the beach! The photo doesn't really capture the sparkliness of the whites, but it does glisten.

Amazing Tapestry

The Bjorn Jorg Museum in Silkeborg, Denmark, features paintings and these tapestries (there are dozens) done from his "cartoons."

Faborg Castle - Disney's Inspiration

Off to Europe

We'll be all over Denmark and then a side trip to St. Petersburg, Russia, till mid June. Looking forward to visual stimulation! Even with the new iPhone I don't expect to be posting (or checking email). Being disconnected sounds more vacation-like!

Lava Flow

Another Contemporary Embroidery. This one represents the creation of the earth's surface where the lava meets the sea. It took MANY iterations to get the result I wanted but I think this now tells the story.

Gates of Hell

For a Quilts on the Wall challenge I've begun working on a piece about Cerberus, the guardian of the Gates of Hell. This is the finished ground cloth. Let's see where it goes from here...

Happy Birthday Susan!

This lamination is a card I did from a design on paper my friend Susan Willen made. I applied it to some fabrics I'd dyed and printed then drew on it to enhance the forms.

FiberFly Studios Embellisher (felting machine) Workshop



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Daylily

I was very pleased to learn today that Daylily has been accepted for publication in The Studio Art Quilt #6: State of the Art put together by Sandra Sider. The book should "drop" at the end of this year and will contain the work of 60 American art quilters. My piece is unique in that it was made entirely on the embellisher machine which needle felts and uses NO thread nor stitching at all. It is raw edge applique and the requisite three layers with batting inside. It was made originally for the Noble Seasons series with which it toured, and represents Summer.

Flotsam II

This example of my contemporary embroidery is done on green felt. It has been foiled, stitched, appliqued with yarns, metals, Tyvek, etc., then burned out to add a more random, organic feel. It is about the odd beauty in the orphaned items which wash up onto our shores and into our waterways.

Building Blocks

Here's a piece, Building Blocks, which hasn't been posted yet. Seemingly miles of novelty yarns zigged to a sturdy ground then layered and bound!

Dreamhouses

This is an "art quilt" but it is really about the surfaces. The underlying layer - salmon colored - is a piece of art cloth which I created by dyeing and over-dying with several mechanical resists (sort of crude shibori). Then I printed/painted and foiled it. The over-layer is black felt onto which I applied painted WonderUnder. I foiled that surface and then adhered a large piece of scrim I'd dyed. It is all quilted onto batting and a backing to stabilize the piece. I'm going to make another one using just a version of the top layer as I love the way the light plays off the foil on the otherwise very absorbative ground.

Brickfielder

This is the sixth quilt in my Hot Winds Series: Brickfielder. The unusual name comes from the fact that this searing wind blows the red dirt from the Australian Outback (Bight) into towns to the south, covering everything with a thick, brick-colored dust.

My Quilt Goes to FRANCE

Wood Cells, which is part of the SAQA Art Meets Science exhibition, is BACK in Europe! It is at Quilt Expo Beaujolais in Graves sur Anse this weekend. Wish we could all be there sipping some of that fine French wine and enjoying the show!