Saturday, October 31, 2009

What's New


Polar Bears on Ice was made for a Pointless Sisters challenge about Water. I started it awhile ago and had very specific instructions to follow. It needed to be blue. Okay, I can do that, so I painted some fabric that looked to me like water. I then fused ice flows and the mommy polar bear and her babies on the ice flow. I painted them to add some texture. I then zig zag quilted around each of the ice flows and echo quilted the water. I added stitches to the sky. I was really happy with this little piece, so off I went to the Pointless Sisters meeting where we planned to lay out these pieces that we were going to hang together to show as one large piece. All of the pieces being laid were landscape. As the pieces were laid out, I had a moment of terror. Landscape! Mine was the only vertically challenged piece. I had somehow missed this on the instructions that I looked at just this morning. So I blamed it on my impaired brain. But I've since realized that even though I read the instructions, I made the piece the way I wanted. Rebel? Who knows. I now have a piece of my own that I can add to a category of political-social consciousness. Since I learned about the effects of global warming, I have felt great empathy for the polar bears, who may cease to exist from the effects of global warming. Because I want others to learn about this, I made another piece. This time landscape!
I am sorry to miss next weekend's SAQA meeting as I get so much inspiration from all the great work coming from our region. I am really looking forward to an oil painting class with Brooks Anderson next week. As much as I enjoy fiber art, I also love to paint. I had time for both today, so I'm a happy camper. I don't get trick or treaters where I live, so everyone enjoy the cute costumes and don't forget to "fall back."

Monday, October 26, 2009

Happenings


I was going thru some old pictures and came upon this beautiful Christmas card sent to my grandmother by her sister. Obviously, I come from an Italian heritage. I saved it originally because I thought it unusual. I think I will use it in my Christmas wishes this year.


This is the message from the card. I never learned Italian, so hopefully I can get it translated. But while going thru this container of old photos, I found a picture of my mom as a baby (which I won't post here for privacy reasons.) It was a fun trip into the past.
I try not to post about personal issues, but I wanted some ideas how to make this card contemporary.
Today, Linda Morand, Nancy McDermott and I as representatives of the Pointless Sisters went to Napa to meet with some people who were starting their own Art Quilt group. We met several very nice quilters who needed info to get them moving towards a cohesive group. We brought pieces to show and gave as much info as we could about what we do and how we go about it. I introduced them to the Quiltart list and SAQA so I hope we did enough to help them get started. We saw some of their work which was a treat. Tomorrow we meet as Pointless to work out our water challenge. And I'm happy to report I sent 2 applications out for upcoming exhibits. We'll see!

Sunday, October 18, 2009

More PIQF


Some more great quilts at PIQF. This photo is blurry, but maybe you can see why Phyllis Cullen got best use of color with her Pelican wall quilt.


Linda Morand's Yosemite quilt took eight years to complete and is just gorgeous. Try to see it in person if you can it's in the New Quilts of California exhibit.


This is one of Eva Henneberry's quilts. Each of these quilts were made by Studio Art Quilt Associate members. We have creative members in the Northern California region. It's a lazy day for me today. I'm recovering from the last few days of running around (well, not quite running)I spent most of yesterday restocking my studio cabinets that I had emptied to be moved. Now I just have to clean up my work table and my studio will be presentable again. So I can mess it up again...such a vicious cycle. I got my entry into the SAQA Frontiers:Art meets Science and wait hopefully for acceptance. Tomorrow I complete my Pointless Sisters water challenge and then work on some paintings I need to finish. I hope its a good week for all of you.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Pacific International


So I went to Pacific International today and am once again impressed with the quality of workmanship at this Festival. I heard over and over again from men, (attending with their wives?) that these wonderful pieces were works of ART. I certainly don't need convincing. Congratulations to all who exhibited. These pictures were taken at PIQF and are the property of the artists. So no copying these images! "Hong Kong Taxi" (above) was a first Place winner and its creator Jeanette Jorgenson is a fellow SAQA member. I saw this piece first at a SAQA meeting and loved the perspective in this piece and was delighted to find Jeanette nearby to get her in the photo with her great piece. Liz Berg's One Woman Show was well received. She was there to meet and greet, looked great and had an interested crowd asking lots of questions.


I've liked Eva Henneberry's work for years and really admire her commitment to the planet. Eva is another SAQA member from Northern California and loved by all. Great work, Eva. We're all pulling for you.


I think this piece from Ireland won the World Quilt competition, but if not, I liked it a lot.
I would have liked to post more photos, but my hand was unsteady and I have lots of blurry images. Great work all and go and check out the "Hand Dyed" vendors for some beautiful, rich fabrics.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

On the Wall


Wow, its been a busy month. I sent my largest piece so far, "A Few of my Favorite Things" off to Pacific International. And hung my "Undersea Symphony" at Gary Farell Winery in Healdsburg (Sonoma County wine country). Our Pointless Sisters show at the Sprint Center came down, but we are working on pieces for two upcoming shows. The photo above is just an idea not yet coming to fruition. The background is a piece I dyed some time ago and has been waiting for a design. I don't think this is it.

This is something I've had on my wall for a couple of months and still am not sure what to do with it. I love to discharge fabric and enjoy the surprise of the final colors. I've been spending several hours a day learning the Corel program in a class from Quilt University. I used to be a whiz at this stuff, but I'm really challenged learning this. I've had the program for several years and took a class with Caryl Fallert but then had the stroke that stopped everything for so long. It's slow going but I'm determined to learn it.

This photo is a peek at a corner of a piece that I finished painting tonight. I dyed the fabrics for the base colors I wanted and fused the pieces in place. Then I painted in some detail with Shiva oil paintstiks. It's mostly quilted, but I plan on adding a bit more surface design. If it is accepted in an upcoming SAQA show, I'll post a picture of it.
I'm also trying to keep up with my painting on canvas. I'm currently working on a good-sized acrylic and a small oil. I need more hours in the day. I promised myself I'd try to post something this week and I met that goal. I was really lucky that I had power all day. This storm really blew and thousands are without power all over the bay area. We really need the rain and we got it. Record amounts! Off to bed.