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It was a beautiful day today and so, after church and some mega grocery shopping, I headed to the studio to print some fabric for a special project. (seen above) I don’t have AC there and it is too hot to work there on most summer days.
I found a piece of fabric on which I had done some previous printing – think if was discharged. I used one of my stencils and daubed on some red paint.
Then, just for fun, I spatter painted with white paint.
It was fun to spend some time in my studio. I sort of cleaned up from the quilting frenzy for the blue show.
Speaking of the blue show, the Blue Picasso Woman was juried in but not the sky blue pink piece. I was not surprised. I rushed that and I knew that the dyed cheese cloth was too centered. So, here is my plan. When I get it back I am going to do a major crop on the top and also some on the bottom and redo the flying geese. I think I can get it ready to enter into a different show.
Before
After
On Friday, Mr C and I drove my 3 quilts up to Tacoma to The American Art Company for the exhibit which opens on August 16th. I had to add sleeves to the bottom with slats so that they will hang better, I guess. It was kind of a pain.
I hope I can get up for the reception on the 16th. The gallery is very spacious, and I have seen the show in the past and it looked great. Quilt Knit Stitch is happening that week and Kristin LaFlamme, one of the Twelves and my art quilt daughter is coming for the week. She has one of her Army Wife Aprons in a show here in Portland. It was curated by Marci McDade, the SDA Journal editor. Just before that, we are going to CA to hang out with Paige for a few days.
I have 3 exhibit receptions in August! The Simply Red show is opening in Newport down on the Oregon Coast, the Columbia Fiber Arts exhibit, Fiber Inspirations, is opening here in town at the ArtReach gallery and then the exhibit in Tacoma. Pretty cool!
That lovely girl in the photo with me is my lovely granddaughter, Mia. Those who have been following my blog for low these many years know that we moved to Portland 8 years ago when she was just finishing Kindergarden. And, just like that, she is taller than me and graduated from Junior High. Her gift from me was a trip to Seattle on the train and a night in a posh hotel.
We took the trip last Friday and Saturday. Prior to that, I was busy with meetings — Guild board on Monday, finishing quilts to turn in to High Fiber Diet on Tuesday and SAQA at Terry Grant’s home on Wednesday. It was a busy week.
Early on Thursday, I met Mia and Steph at the Portland Union Station to board our train to Seattle. I love trains and train travel. This is the ceiling of the Union ‘Station.
By lunch time, we were in Seattle at the King Street Station.
We packed very lightly so that we could carry our stuff easily until we got to the Hotel Sorrento which is way up on First Hill – nine blocks up from the touristy area of the city. The station is near Pioneer Square, a lovely older area of Seattle with lots of galleries and parks. Steph knew of a restaurant there that she wanted to try — London Plane. The food was quite avant garde and very delicious. They also had a lovely selection of things for the stylish home.
I had to really hustle to keep up with my ectomorph daughter and granddaughter.
After stopping in a few shops, chosen by Miss Mia, we actually walked up to our hotel, stopping to rest at the beautifully designed Seattle Library.
The room was magically ready and so we were able to get settled. Mia loved the big king size bed so much that I thought we might never get her out of the room.
I slept in the sitting room on a pull out bed which they made up for me with a ton of pillows and comforter.
I always love going to Seattle to discover new things. On this trip, we found out about this small park which has a waterfall.
Steph caught me Instagramming.
I love the variety of architecture.
We loved the small Finnish shop near Pike Place. They had a beautiful assortment of Marimekko fabric.
I took this shot of Mia on the train, coming home. I can’t believe how grown up and beautiful she is. In the fall, she is going to St Mary’s Acadamy – a highschool for girls.
We saw the start of the sun setting as we arrived back in Oregon.
Don’t forget to check out the Monday Creative Blog Tours for Helen Conway and Susan Lenz.
Rayna Gilman tagged me to participate in this tour around to discover how others create.
What am I working on?
Right now, I am finishing up two large quilts that will be entered in my local fiberarts guild upcoming show, What’s Blue to You? I have to do the mundane work of sleeves and labels and traveling bags, just in case they get in.
I went off on a bit of a tangent with my two pieces. When I was a child, my grandmother used the term sky blue pink quite often – simetimes to describe the colors in the sky and sometimes just for fun. I had several pieces of fabric that had been snow dyed and dyed in a class I took with Judy Robinson that reminded me of sky blue pink. I made a collage of them and made a piece of hand stitched cheesecloth the centerpiece. It seemed unfinished until I added some fused flying geese. It is called Flight Through Sky Blue Pink.
Here is a detail of the cheesecloth and flying geese.
The other is an enlargement of my Picasso Woman. I made an etching of this years ago. Recreating her in this large format was a major undertaking. I dyed blue fabric and printed blue fabric with copper highlights for her hair. She is now Blue Picasso Woman.
These are both quite large – 2 ft by 5 ft.
How does my work differ from others of its genre?
Since the work I do comes out of my crazy brain, I hope it is unique. I rarely use commercial fabric. I start with a blank slate of white fabric and then paint, print or dye to create what I want. Some times I create fabric for a piece and sometimes, a piece of dyed fabric tells me what it wants to be. I do not do much piecing. I love the freedom of fusing fabric. It is much freer and more painterly that when pieced – at least for me.
Why do I write/create what I do?
I recently went through downsizing and moving to a condo. I had to give up studio work during that time – about 6 months. When I got set up in my new studio and sewing area at our home, I was so happy. It made me realize how critical a creative life is to my well-being. I love fabric. I love how I can manipulate it, add new surfaces to it and stitch on it.
How does your writing/creative process work?
I often work on projects in what seems like a last minute kind of way. But I do a lot of my process work in my head, thinking about it on walks, when falling asleep and when waking up. I sometimes make sketches, but more often than not, I love just throwing fabric at the design wall, shifting and folding as I come up with a composition.
I recently wrote a new artist statement. In part, it says:
I spend my day observing and photographing the sublime and the quirky scenes around me — a shadow on the deck, a group of trees, the graffiti on a building, architectural details or the juxtaposition of shapes. These scenes become inspiration for the textile art that I create. I distill the scene down to the essential elements, often in abstract form. I love the serendipity of transforming a piece of fabric with paint or dye and using the resulting creations in my textile art.
I have tagged 2 artists for next Monday’s Creative Blog Tour.
Helen Conway was one of the Twelves in the 12 x12 collaboration. I have so enjoyed watching her growth as an artist. I think you will enjoy visiting her blog.
Susan Lenz is one of the most prolific fiber artists that I know. I was honored to be part of one of her past installations about choices we make.
I will try to remind you to visit these blogs next Monday.