New England Quilt Museum Lecture and Book Signing

I'm going to give a lecture about how I monoprint on fabric, at the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell MA, this Saturday May 3rd, from 1-3pm. After the lecture, there will also be a book signing.

I'm going to show (actual) slides of my work. (I am behind in that part of the technology, but more about that in a future post.) At the lecture, I will share my progress and inspiration in working with whole cloth, and discuss monoprinting on fabric and the creation of many pieces (but not all) from my series Orange Construction Fence #1 to #59. I will talk a little about how making a quilt a week influenced my larger work, and how my larger work influenced my smaller work.

I do have three pieces hanging in the "The Whole Story: Whole Cloth Quilts by Hand and Machine" show which is currently on exhibit at the Museum, but I will bring additional work to share as well.

After the lecture, I will be signing The Uncommon Quilter, for anyone who brings their copy, or would like to purchase one from the Museum.

I look forward to both the lecture and the signing, and sharing with everyone who attends.

Printing/Painting on Fabric

I recently painted loosely on the back side of the fabric for Orange Construction Fence Series #60, as suggested at a critique. Before the critique, my eye had been stuck at the bottom, and I couldn't figure out what it needed. The reason for this addition was to create more space around the "building."


This is what the back side of the fabric looks like. Sometimes I use the back sides as the front of a finished piece. I will not be doing that for this one. The back side does not have enough contrast, and it is not as interesting at the front side.


The picture above is what the fabric looked like before the critique, before I updated it. I'm happy with the updates I did as shown in the very top picture, and I'm going to stitch it as soon as I have time.

Rubberband Ball

Every two weeks or so, I post photos of my family's rubberband ball. Above is the front view and below the back. Both photos were taken yesterday.




The biggest changes from when I posted two weeks ago are the number of broken pieces that fell off. The above photo that shows the location of the pieces that fell off the front. Below is the photo of what fell off the back side. You can compare these photos to the top two photos from this week.


If you'd like to see what it's looked like in the past, click here.To see what the first picture I posted, in July 2007, click here.

Fat Envelopes

When applying to shows, you never know if the fat envelope you're getting back is your slides (or CD) or a congratulations for being accepted. I recently got this envelope, and there was no question what the news was.

Inside the envelope was my acceptance in the Fall issue of a magazine called Studio Visit Magazine. This magazine is a juried book with the work of about 150 2D and 3D artists, that will be sent to 2000 galleries, curators and art collectors across the US. It will include an image of my work, an artists statement and my contact info. I am always happy to be accepted in to exhibits, books and magazines, but to be accepted in something that is multi media, instead of only fiber, is wonderful news for me.

I'll post info about the Fall Studio Visit Magazine when it is available.

Procrastination

I do not like to do the final step in completing my work, sewing a sleeve on the back of each piece so it can be hung with a rod. I have been procrastinating for more than a year, so it's time to bite the bullet and get it done. Here is a pile of seven pieces that require my attention. I did complete some from my work last year during the Super Bowl, but these seven still need to be sewn.

Since the Boston Celtics are in the play offs (I think that's the term) and it's Red Sox season again, I can do my sewing while keeping my husband company as he watches the games on TV. (As I re-read the past sentence before posting, it sounded funny as a woman who grew up with women's lib. No one in our house watches more than a few hours of weekly TV, not including sporting events. I also enjoy basketball and baseball. That's the main reason why I'll sew during games. I do admit however, that if not for my husband turning the TV on, I wouldn't know there was a game.)

2008 Weekly Mixed Media Project

This is my seventeenth Weekly Mixed Media piece this year. The front side is above, and the back side below.


It's that time during Spring when the forsythia is blooming, and to keep up with my tradition of creating a forsythia piece, each year that I was making a quilt a week, I felt that I should use forsythia as my theme this week.


To create your own, cut a piece of tan wool felt fabric, and on top of it, place a piece of light green pre-felted fleece over about two thirds of the top space, and a piece of brown pre-felted fleece over the bottom third. Then place pieces of thin, funky black yarn on top of the pre-felted fleece, so it mimics the branches of a forsythia bush. Needle felt everything in place from the top down, and don't get concerned if the yarn bunches up or moves when it is felted in place.


This is what mine looked like after felting it. from the top down, and after flipping it over and lightly felting it again from the bottom side, and flipping it over again and lightly felting it again from the top down.


Cut four 10 inch pieces of yellow felt, or pre-felted fleece, that is about 1/4" wide, or cut some yellow yarn.


Randomly cut the yellow felt/fleece/yarn into little pieces and scatter them all over the top of the main felted piece. They will bounce all over the place as felt them.


Many will bounce off your work, and some will get stuck in your needles and finger protector. Stop your machine, and remove the stuck pieces. It is bad for your machine for them to be there.


As long as you have a nice assortment felted in place on your art work, don't feel the need to felt the ones that landed on your table or lap, unless you want to.


Turn the piece over and lightly felt from the top down, to help keep the tiny yellow pieces in place. Turn over again, so the top is face up, and lightly felt again.

Cut to 6" square, and using your sewing machine, stitch approximately 9 lines that look like forsythia branches, to enhance the yarn branches.

You can see my 2008 weekly mixed media work (so far) on my website, and read about my process/progress here on my blog.

Printing/Painting on Fabric

Today is Patriots Day in Massachusetts, and the Boston Marathon is also today, and goes right through the center of my town, Natick, MA. That means it's impossible to run errands that involve either going downtown or across town, so it's a perfect day stay home and do some art work.


I painted the fabric for Orange Construction Fence Series #62 (above). It is very similar to what I painted for #61, but will be shown with the back side of the fabric facing out when stitched, as per below. My post about #61 on April 16th, discussed my intention, and showed an image of a condo construction project in Natick MA, which was my inspiration for #61 and #61.


Now I'm going to finish painting #60, post that image in progress, and then stitch #60, #61 and #62. That will conclude my downtown Natick construction pieces, which are black and white. It's spring time and time to start working with color again.

Gift

Last week visited the Lowell Fiber Studio in Lowell Massachusetts, to talk about my work. It was a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed the sharing of information, as well as learning about their studio. They have a huge table in the center of the room dedicated to printing. Of course I had studio envy.

As a thank you gift, each artist gave me a bag of fiber stuff, including yarn, fleece, threads, paper, etc, and even a piece of heavy plastic netting. I loved it! It was like getting small bags that were full of gold. Only an artist would understand how special this is. Thank you very much! I can't wait to use these new materials in my work, especially in my weekly mixed media project.

2008 Weekly Mixed Media Project

Above is my sixteenth Weekly Mixed Media piece this year, and below is the back side.


Spring is s-l-o-w-l-y arriving to eastern Massachusetts, and we're starting to see flowering bulbs. It's nice to finally see color. I wanted to create a felted piece about the flowers poking through the dirt, but was very concerned it was going to look too crafty. I decided to try it anyway, and I think it turned out just fine due to the fact that the petals shifted and the flowers are far from perfect.


To create this piece, start with 2 pieces of brown pre-felted wool fleece, one on top of the other. On top of the brown fleece, randomly plac some cut light brown, and light green, pieces of barely spun wool yarn. Needle punch the yarn in to the brown fleece from the top down, and flip it over and needle punch it again from the bottom up.


This is how it looks after going the first step.


Cut 6 small flower petals each in purple, orange and pink pre-felted wool fleece, and another 6 small flower petals in the same (or similar) colors in wool felt fabric. This picture shows the layout of one purple flower before it is needle punched from the top down.


Working with one "flower" at a time, assemble the rest of the five flowers, and needle punch them in place, from the top down. When you have done that, flip the whole thing over, and needle punch lightly from the bottom up, to help keep them in place.


It's hard to see, but the next step is to cut some small pieces of barely spun black wool, and needle punch them from the top down, and flip it over to punch it from the other side.

Crop and cut to 6" square, and stitch the stamens on your sewing machine, using a yellow/green thread and a small stitch. Start in the center of the flower, sew out up to 1/2 an inch, and holding your reverse button, backup over your stitching with two passes. Pivot back at the center and repeat many times to complete a full radius.

You can see my 2008 weekly mixed media work (so far) on my website, and read about my process/progress here on my blog.

Printing/Painting on Fabric

I've been stuck while working on the fabric for Orange Construction Fence Series #60. I wanted to bounce some ideas off an art friend who critiques my work, and I didn't have time to visit her until late last week. She had some suggestions, which I'll try to do soon.


In the mean time, while stuck on #60, I started working on Orange Construction Fence Series #61, with the plan being that the back (wrong) side of the fabric would be the presented side of the fabric when stitched. As I was finishing up my painting, I realized that I should have used a few different paints to have stronger sections on the wrong side of the fabric (shown above), and that I like the front side better (shown below).


I'm going to stitch the front/painted side out (above) for this one, and make another version, replacing paint in some sections, so Fence #62 can be similar, but be shown back side out. Will post #62 when there's something to show.


Both #61 and #62 are influenced by this image of a condo construction project in Natick MA, where I live.

Portfolio

I'm taking a class called Artist's Professional Toolbox, that is being run by The Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts of Massachusetts, Inc. This program is for practicing artists, and is designed to teach the skills necessary to help us work on our career goals, learn about copyright and trademark laws, contracts, financial planning, bettering our portfolios, how to approach galleries, etc. I'll write more about the class again soon, but in the mean time.....

I have not submitted my portfolio to any galleries in a few years. Since taking the class, I have a better knowledge of how to present myself via my portfolio. Yesterday, I sent my portfolio to a gallery I have admired for years, which shows work that I feel mine would fit in nicely. I have no idea if the gallery will be interested or not, but you can't get anywhere if you don't try. This is a peek of what my portfolio looked like before I packaged it up.

12 x 12 x 12 April 2008

It was a bit of a struggle, but I completed my 12 x 12 x 12 piece for April. I was inspired by the photo below, that my mother-in-law took on a recent trip to the UK. I had already created a 6" x 6" weekly mixed media piece about this photo last week, but I wanted to created a larger (12" square) printed/painted/stitched piece on the same idea.



Since I don't own any blue transparent fabric, I used purple silk organza as a substitute for the blue building wrap. After printing and painting, and then stitching a ton of wavy lines following cuts and sags in the purple fabric, it was a bit boring and VERY purple. What to do? After a week of considering many ideas, I finally decided to add a black printed piece of an orange construction fence on silk organza, instead of stitching the lines of the bracing/wood that can be seen behind the blue in the photo. Much improved, though not one of my favorites.

If you want to know more about this series, you can read past posts about my 12 x 12 x 12 series here on my blog, or see all of the completed work on my website.

Rubberband Ball

Above is the front side of my family's rubberband ball.


This is the back side.


To show the many layers better, this picture is of the very top. I'm really enjoying watching it fall apart.

I try to post updates every two weeks or so. If you'd like to see what it's looked like in the past, click here.To see what the first picture I posted, in July 2007, click here.

Uncommon Quilter

We were running errands this morning, and made a quick visit at a local Barnes and Noble, so I stopped by to see if The Uncommon Quilter is in stock. A few copies were there. It's still on the waterfall display, which is now lower on the shelf. That's nice. A few months ago it was over my head (as per the picture below), and I walked right by it at first. I'm thankful that Barnes and Noble is displaying my book in the waterfall display.

2008 Weekly Mixed Media Project

This is my fifteenth Weekly Mixed Media piece this year. Below the back side.


Here are the steps needed to create it:


Take a piece of pea green wool felt fabric (approx 10" square) and lay a triangle of yellow pre-felted fleece on top of it. on top of that, place a piece of loosely woven orange fabric, with some yarn woven through it in places.


Needle felt from top down only over the yellow triangular section.


The back side will look similar to the picture above.


Place another triangular piece of yellow pre-felted fleece on top of the back side of the pea green wool felt fabric. With the new yellow side up, needle felt over the yellow section only.


Flip the whole piece over, and needle felt all over, including over the orange fabric and yarn, from the top side down.


The back side will look similar to the picture above. When you have felted as much as you want to do, stitch yellow-green lines using a sewing machine, vertically between the loose weave of the orange fabric. Cut the piece down to 6 inches square, and you're finished.

You can see my 2008 weekly mixed media work (so far) on my website, and read about my process/progress here on my blog.

Uncommon Quilting on the Radio

I'm on the radio! Listen to me talk about my book The Uncommon Quilter, using recycled objects in quilt making, and a little about fiber art vs other art forms. INQUIRY: Uncommon Quilting is hosted by Mark Lynch (WICN Public Radio in Worcester, MA). The interview is a little less than 30 minutes long, and can be heard on the web or downloaded as a podcast, so you can listen to it at your convenience.