Yesterday I bought a new jim-dandy Manfrotto tripod with a head that is so solid and smooth, I can't believe I was using my rickety old tripod for so long!  I highly recommend the brand to anyone in the market for new equipment. I also purchased an electronic remote for the camera, which I knew I needed, but just never did get around to purchasing.  I have new Tungsten lighting on order, which should arrive next week.  But even without the new lighting (after having my husband give me a few lessons with the camera and "objective lens") I took these photos of my most recent work, Sunlight on Water.

The fabric is white Kona cotton which I hand-dyed, and Shibori dyed, with reactive dyes.  As soon as they came out of the dye bath I knew they were "water", so I pieced and appliqued them in a way that I felt looked like an impression of rippling water with the sun hitting the surface. The fan seaweeds were screened, using flour paste resist, and like my last piece, etched with a bamboo skewer. I used the gold printing ink left over from Jane Dunnewold's Tahoe workshop.  I drew the corals onto freezer paper, then meticulously cut them out with an Exacto knife.  I ironed the waxed side to my screen and printed using Stewart Gill Metamica paints.  The grassy seaweed is a pewtery green printing ink.  The entire piece is free-motion quilted.

The detail shows the quilting around each seaweed leaf and around all the corals.  Different colors were used on the "water" to correspond to the varying colors from the Shibori process.  The piece is 23"X27" and I will probably use this as one of my Fibervision exhibit pieces.

I am almost finished with a 12X12 for the Fibervision Embellishment Challenge, and will be posting that one in a few days.

 This piece, Pulsar, was my first large piece using a discharge technique. The fabric is black Kona cotton.  I really liked the rusts and creams that resulted from discharging twice.  The discharged portions are highlighted using metallic oil paintsticks and a flat brush.  The "star" portion of the pulsar is screened with a flour paste resist on the screen, and the pattern etched out of the dried paste with a bamboo skewer.  The entire piece is free-motion quilted, and the quilting can be seen better in the detail photo.

I continue to struggle with my photography skills, and tomorrow I am going to the camera store in Santa Barbara to purchase a sturdier tripod than the one I am now using.  Mine is very difficult to get level, and I have to hold the camera in place while focusing--which defeats the purpose of even using a tripod.  My resulting photos always appear "warped", even though they are perfectly squared up.  I am also looking into getting better lighting.  I would love to take a class in photographing artwork, and am hoping Kerby Smith or one of the other really fine photographers will offer a class somewhere in the area.  Once I re-take the photos I will post the new works to my website. 

I was recently invited to join Fibervision, a fiber artists' collaborative on the Central Coast, limited to twenty-five members.  It is such an honor to be working among such fine artists, and I am inspired each time we meet and share current works.  Artwork by the "Visionaries" will be exhibited in several upcoming venues, and I will post details once we are closer to the exhibition dates.

Over and Out for now!

It has been such a long time since I have posted to my blog that I have a number of pieces that should be included here. We have been internet challenged on our property, and finally have a new service provider that allows us to have download and upload capabilities that are more consistent with the needs of normal human beings.  I will get to most of the newer pieces over the next few weeks.  This trilogy is called "Primary Colors".  The pieces are hand-dyed silks and cottons, and incorporate simple screened and hand-painted designs that allow the relationships of the bold colors to dominate the visual impact of the installation.  Each is free-motion quilted in a different pattern that empasizes the screened design of the individual piece.

Here you can see the detail of the stitching, which repeats the circular pattern of the screened print. Both "Blue" and "Yellow" have similarly stitched designs in geometric patterns emulating the bars and lines in those two pieces.  More to come!

Lost and Found

I am having so much trouble with my new Photoshop Elements software. It will not allow me to save changes to a photo. In this case I cropped out the background
and I keep getting a message that says the change was unable to be saved--perhaps not enough disc space. Well, I have a huge capacity desktop, so I know
I have plenty of disc space. Yet each time I attempt to edit and save, I get the same photo with busy-ness in the background.
Oh well..."Lost and Found: Legend of the Red-Tailed Hawk" is a tribute to the Santa Ynez Valley. The hawks fly over the studio every day. This hawk photo was
printed on linen, and appliqued with interfacing behind it to give it dimension. The "found" feather was scanned onto silk organza. Monoliths were hand painted.

Mountains, sky were free-motion quilted. The petroglyphs, which we find here in the Valley, are indicative of the length of time the hawks have ruled the Valley.

"Science as Art"



This piece is called "Science as Art".  I have become increasingly concerned, and more than a little angry, that funding for art programs in the public school system is gradually being eliminated--many times in favor of sports.  This is my statement that art and science can co-exist.  Neither should be forfeited in any balanced educational system--and certainly sports should not be favored over development of mind and talent. The background of this piece is hand painted in copper metallic paint.  The mathmatical formulas, which represent science, are hand painted, and the 50's style "art" blocks are screen-printed. The piece is free-motion quilted.  This piece will be shown as part of my Art and Science series in a solo exhibition in the spring.

   

SAQA Auction update

The piece that I donated for the Studio Art Quilt benefit auction sold before it reached the bottom price in our reverse auction fundraiser. One of my dear friends instructed me to purchase it on her behalf if she had not yet returned from her European vacation. She is happy and I am thrilled! I have my eye on several pieces that I want for myself. I am waiting for the prices to decline, but one always risks not getting their favorite pieces because many times someone else is willing to pay more. Many of my friends have pieces in the auction, and I love all their work. I will be attending a workshop in Tahoe in November with Jane Dunnewold, who is remarkable. In the meantime I am working on a large ( for me) piece that represents the investment life I came from. It has a wry 50's retro feel, but is also impressionistic in it's form. I will post a photo as I get near it's completion.

"Two Umbrellas"

I am currently enhancing my studio with additional work surface space, and have not been working on new projects. I have also been spending a great deal of time on the internet, pre-ordering supplies to complete my required supply list for Art Quilt Tahoe, this fall.  I will be attending the workshop taught by Jane Dunnewold who is a remarkable artist.  In the meantime, I thought I would post a photo of this work, which has not previously been shown here on the blog.  This piece, entitled "Two Umbrellas" was done from a photograph that I took of my husband in the tulip gardens outside Amsterdam.  He had stepped out onto the stepping stones in the lake, in order to dry our umbrellas after some rains.  This is one of my favorite pieces, and will never be offered for sale. But the process inspired me to do other pieces using a similar technique.  Hope you enjoy it!