Yesterday, I went over to Washington State to the Camas library to see the Bird’s Eye View Show that is hanging there for the month of May in The Upstairs Gallery. That is my Prairie Fields which you see as you get off the elevator.
It is a nice space with nice natural light. Camas is a quaint town with a paper mill smell. The library is very nice and state of the art.
This is a view down into the library from the gallery.
My other quilt is hanging on the back wall.
If you click on this you can get a better look. That is Meander in the center on the back wall.
I had an epiphany after my little show a couple of weeks ago and after looking at this show. I need to work larger. The work I do needs to be BIG!! I am quite happy with the Aspen quilt. I think it will make a nice impact.
That being said, the piece I am working on now will not be so big. I am constrained by the size of the shibori piece I am using. (See! That is a problem. I use my art cloth. I need to make it bigger!!)
Anyway, I am doing an abstract of an old growth forest using this felted roving and a shibori background.
Here is my beginning attempt at felting trees with moss.
I broke the needles on my embellishment attachment so I have done more work on it with the hand needle punch. I like how it looks. I made a stupid beginner’s error – nuff said!!
Instead of buying new needles, I may buy a dedicated embellisher tomorrow morning. I really like the possibilities of using felted roving in some of my work.
Last month I blogged about sharing our favorite books at the HFD meeting. I finally got the list of books.
Chris: Fine Art Quilts ’97
Helene: a book on Chinese art
Folk Tales of the Amur (primarily for the illustrations)
Designing from Nature by Dendel, 1978
Caroline: Textile Translations by Maggie Grey
Deanna: Quilt of Belonging by Bryan, 2006
Catherine: Hundertwasser by Rand
Georgia: Inspired to Stitch by Springall, 2005
Zee: The Artist’s Way by Cameron
12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women
Heart Steps by Cameron
Patsy: Frontier by L’Amour ’84
Gerrie: Abstraction in Art and Nature by Hale, 1972
The Meaning of Trees by Hageneder
Oregon: Images of the Landscape by Terrill
Teresa: Design: a Lively Guide to Design Basics for Artists and Craftspeople by Aimone
Diane: Nature’s Studio by Colvin, 2005
Bonnie Halfpenny: The Map as Art, by Harmon
Vickie: When Wanderers Cease to Roam by Swift
Ila: Quilt National 2003
Amy: Bird by Bird by LaMott
Art and Fear by Bayles and Orland
Stitch Magic by Beaney & Littlejohn
Maarja: The Creative Habit by Tharp
The Creative Artist by Leland
Shirley: The Uncommon Quilter by Williamson 2007
Mary Goodson: Surface Design for Fabric by Proctor & Lew
Laura Jaszkowski: Art and Fear by Bayles and Orland
Organizing for the Creative Person by Lamping & Lehmkuhl, ’93
Mary Arnold: Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Edwards
Bonnie: Nancy Crow: Quilts and Influences
The Art of Richard Diebenkorn
I was intrigued by the book, Designing from Nature. was able to find it on Amazon for about $4. It is a nice little source book for using forms from nature in art.
I guess you can tell that I did not make it to Eugene to take the workshop with Jason Pollen. Mr C really needed me to be around this week-end and since I am going on retreat with the STASH friends next week, I felt it was a good thing to have peaceful week-end at home.
I leave you with a photo of the beautiful eggs that I purchased at the Farmer’s Market –
Your piece in the first picture looks gorgeous…something to entice people to keep on going and see the rest. The book looks very interesting with all the patterns and such. Sorry you had to MISS a class with Jason Pollen!!!! DARNNNN.
I like what you’re doing for your new forest quilt. I haven’t been using my embellisher for a while.
Have a nice weekend.
The Camas library is beautiful. Growing up in the Snohomish Valley, I know that lumber mill smell – yuk! A fun source for threads/yarns to add texture is a sporting goods store that sells supplies to tie flies. The supplies are inexpensive and in reasonable yardages. Have a creative weekend and hopefully warmer temps will arrive soon.