Innovations in Fiberart

Innovations in Fiberart V is being exhibited at Sebastopol Center for the Arts in Northern California through December 4. This exhibit, juried by Melissa Leventon, features many Art Quilt pieces along with other thought-provoking, unconventional and innovative fiber artworks expressed in a range of materials from copper and brass to teabags. There are many other works exhibited. I didn't get pictures of each item. If you are in the area, stop by to see the exhibit.
I don't know all of the artists who created these pieces, but I credit them if I do. Please do not copy these photos. I am sharing them for educational reasons only.

The piece to the left is by Napa Artist, Cathy Zeleny. Cathy is a member of Northern California's Pointless Sisters group and exhibits nationally. Ms Zeleny's focus in her quilts is on value change.

Hundreds of used teabags make up this twin-sized bed covering which is stitched and quilted together. There are many different brands of teabags and their colorful tags add a touch of whimsy to this piece.

SAQA member Carol Larsen created this colorful piece. Hand-dyed fabrics with many layers of surface design add texture and create movement throughout.

This piece is made with a see-through wire armature and colored threads are woven down to mimic man's shirting.

Surface Design Associate (SDA)member Joy Stocksdale hand paints silks and creates exquisite free-floating designs mounted on Acrylic armature.



This small wall-hanging features a portrait of a woman totally thread painted, including the background. Commercial fabrics border the portrait.





Hand made and commercial papers were rolled and secured to create this imaginative art work.











This piece uses screening as its base and looks to be created with painted fibers. The technique is unusual but very effective.











Hand-dyed, shibori-clamped pieced and quilted wall-hanging seems tame and almost traditional in this setting.















This dress is created with eggshells glued onto a screen base.


















Who knew old books can be re-purposed to become art objects?




















Two beautifully-woven pieces.



















Copper wires, some round, others flattened and woven together form this dramatic piece.
















This dress was made with recycled plastic bags. Oh so clever.

Ebullient!

Ebullient is the word and it's my latest mixed media challenge. It consists of digital images printed on metal then glued and stitched onto a batik base fused to Timtex.

It's a new technique for me and I hope to explore using it further.

The large piece is the detail.

Go to http://12connected.blogspot.com/ to see the rest of the challenges and paticipant's work.

This collage is my piece for the 12 Connected Fiber group. We were asked to portray the word "reminiscence" in a piece of fiber art. My "date" with Paul was a perfect way to reminisce about the Beatles and their music. The rest of the group will be posting their pieces on the 12 Connected blog today. Check it out.

Paul and Me!

Looking good, sounding great!
















On one of 2 pianos

Bear with me, I'm telling a story here. We drove to SF in plenty of time, wanted to visit Coit Tower murals. Traffic up Lombard was horrendous so we hit the Wharf instead. What a mistake! Saturday in the summer - the streets were so full you couldn't move. Off to North Beach. Almost as bad with tourists. So we decided to find a good place for dinner and ended up at the Mona Lisa restaurant. After a glass of De Loach chardonnay, I had a plate of Osso Buco on a bed of fabulously flavored polenta. Heavenly for this Italian mama wannabe chef! A damn fine meal and I'd recommend this place to anyone who likes real Italian.
So then we're off to ATT park via GPS directions. Well, it was obvious that GPS wasn't raised in The City. A roundabout route took us to our destination. Thousands of people already milling around the front of the park! We should've skipped all our gallavanting around and gone straight to the park very early. Finding parking was a fright. $60.00?? You've got to be kidding! Several blocks away from the park and we settled for a $30.00 space in a garage many blocks away from the park.
Now to hot foot it to the park. Well, this was interesting for me and I went the farthest I've gone on foot since my stroke. Good exercise tho. We finally made it to the park with plenty of time to spare. Here we spent a lot of time being pushed and shoved around as others jockeyed for their best position. I can't remember how many times I almost fell and wanted to cuss out the rude pushers and shovers. Oh well, concentrate on the concert! We finally made it in. I took my first escalator ride in years and did fine. We had to hike aways around to get our seats, but were grateful to find our box well under the overhang which cut down on the wind. SF in the summer is not too warm.

Long story short, the concert was all I wished for. I took well over 100 photos, called friends to let them listen and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I wish I could've shared it all with you. So this is the best I can do.

I love you John




















Song for Linda

Crab!
I was lucky to have a fresh caught crab before the season ended. A friend and my son-in-law went ocean fishing and decided to drop a crab pot. I think they didn't get any fish, but the crab pot was so full they had to return many to the ocean. Look at the gorgeous color! I will try to capture this somehow in my art.


Pair of Bullock Orioles

I've been so lucky to watch this pair of Bullock Orioles make their home on my property. I've been trying to photograph them for weeks now, but today I got my shot. I can't wait to paint them. I love the brightness of the male. I'm hoping to see little ones in the future.

I spent most of yesterday and today machine quilting some charity quilts. And I did it on Mille, my big APQS machine. It took awhile to feel comfortable with the long-arm, but I was able to free-motion simple stitches. Next I'll try a laser image.

Tomorrow I'm off to San Francisco to see Paul McCartney and am really looking forward to seeing him in person after all these years since I saw him in their first SF show at the Cow Palace. I hope we're allowed to take photos. I'll share if I can.
Leave me a comment!

Crookneck Squash flower

A promise of yummy things to come. I really enjoy the delicate taste of these squash, and to make this art-related, I plan on painting a few of these!


Female Oriole

I've been watching a few pairs of Bullock Orioles feeding at my hummingbird feeders. I've yet to get a photo of one of the gorgeous male birds, brightly colored yellow-orange specimens, one larger than the other. I will definitely be using them in future artworks if I can ever get a couple of good shots.


Peach Segments
t.
I couldn't help drawing there darker peaches that I segmented to eat. They had a wonderful scent and great flavor.

New work

I don't usually post photos that are not art related. But I have these three miniature Angus steer in my pasture and I couldn't help recording and posting this. They don't look too tiny to me!




Oil painting of my barn road and gate, still unfinished. Drying time, you know.










Paint on fiber. Actually, Caran d'Ache watercolor crayons on Pima cotton to create an ethnic image for a challenge.










Paint on fiber silkscreened on Pima cotton for a piece I'm creating to add to an upcoming challenge.

Penciled Peaches

After all that fabric dying the last couple of weeks, I haven't had enough energy to do much. So tonite I put pencil to paper to capture the image of the first peaches I purchased this season. I used Caran d'Ache watercolor pencils on soft press watercolor paper and I planned to soften the image with water, but I like it the way it is.

Art = Paint and Fiber

Sonoma Grasses

I made the 4 little pieces as a color exercise in a Liz Berg design class based on a Liz Berg design.I really liked the way the different color ways gave each piece a different feeling. I liked them so much I decided to mount them together on 12 x 36 canvas that I painted with acrylics. This piece will be exhibited at the Sprint show next month.

I also finished some oil paintings I had critiqued and started a new one. I wish I had more time to paint, but it's hard to do it all!

I've spent the last couple of weeks dying fabrics. I ironed 20 fat quarters one day, dyed more and just washed out 3 loads today. This sure tires me out.

I'm teaching two newbies how to dye tomorrow. Then going to play cards with friends. I'm attending several art demos this weekend so I'll stay a busy girl. Not enough time to do all I want!

Happy Birthday Mag!

Fabulous Fiber

Want bright?
Some of the fabrics painted with Jacquard DynaFlo in Liz Berg's workshop.


I added metallic to give it a little bling.

I believe this is out of focus, but you get the idea.

This might mix with some shibori-dyed pieces I've been hoarding. All of these pieces and more are painted on a very supple Pima cotton from Dharma and they still have a soft hand. They are for wall art.

Back in the Art World

Liz Berg

I am getting back in the fiber art world in a color and surface design workshop by Bay Area artist Liz Berg,who is shown strutting her stuff to interested students.

Two whole months since I've blogged!. But I really have an excuse this time. A couple of falls from my "Unbalanced" self left me with a broken collarbone and cracked head with another concussion. But I'm on the mend again and moving on.


Workshop students Selma, Lisel, Nancy, Pat, Eva, and Linda pay attention to the teacher.


Genie and Linda paint fabric

After a day of intensive color theory, we were ready to tackle surface design by painting their fabric. Some of us have used these techniques extensively, others tackled the fabric and Jacquard Dynaflo with a little trepidation.


Fabric drying

We were very lucky to have a gorgeous Sonoma County day after surviving multiple weeks of rain. Half yards of fabric were painted in different colorways and left to dry in the sun.
On to stamp carving, foiling, screen printing and various mark making techniques. What a way to jump back in.!

Peeking - NOT

Friday, March 26, 2010
Peekin"

I had a great idea for the color challenge. I worked on it again last week and was pretty satisfied with it and took a photo. When I went to upload the photo to the blog, I was aghast. It looked garish and awful. Back to the drawing board. I'm not sure what happened between the original and the photo, maybe I am looking at my work thru rose colored glasses. I write down some goals that have nothing to do with my art. But they are very important to my recovery. I have also beemn reading an interesting book, "The BRAIN that CHANGES ITSELF" by Norman Doidge, M.D. Hello Doctors and therapists, Why aren't you implementing these practices for us? They won't hurt and may HELP! I'm determined to see if they will work for me. Stay tuned...
Posted by Cathy in gorgeous Sonoma County at 5:57 PM

Oil Paintings

This was an oil painting inspierd by the Maverick's surf championship in Northern California. Even though I never get to see it in person, I imagine huge 30 foot waves conquered by courageos surfers who spend their lives following waves like these. I painted it to the likeness of an amazing photograph, but I was not given permission to exhibit this work. Check our Clark Iittle photos on U-Tube or google him to see his amazing wave photos.






My sister took a photo of this water wheel in Massachusetts on our trip to the East. I've always loved it and am working on lightening a bit, but its on its way.







I'm pretty sure this is the final, and when its dry I will frame it. My friend Augie took the original photo at a Southern Cal mission entry and I've already made a fiber art wall hanging. Great shot.








I love the California coast and was wishing I was there today as our weather was spectular! Clear skies until the next rains come tomorrow. The rain is sure taking a toll on my daffodils, they get knocked down, perk up and get knocked down again. I won't complain after the winter endured by East coasters.

Happy Valentine's Day

Alex Anderson posted some redwork designs online available for our use. Since beautiful embroidery eludes me, I chose to color the images with Caran d'Ache Supracolor pencils and make Valentine cards.



I made an extra and send to each of my friends. Happy Valentine's Day.

Creating

Hi guys, another day of rain in "sunny" California. We luckily had sun yesterday and this morning. I needed my bright day fix. I photographed this painter at Fort Ross and made a wall hanging last year. The photo was chosen to be in the exhibition at Houston. I've really been in a painting mood, so here is "Plen Aire Painter",a 9 x 12 oil. I think it's framed to 11 x 14. It mellows me out when I look at it.



My oldest daughter was very intrested in horses until she discovered boys! She rode and jumped English and was fearless. Now she's a mother of three and still fearless.I painted this from a photo and gave it to her for Christmas. It's 18 x 24 mixed media. I think she was touched.



My friend took this picture of a southern California mission entrance while he was on vacation. I really liked it and asked if I could use it for inspiration. The result is an 11 x 14 oil painting I titled "Sanctuary."



I also made an 11 x 17 fiber art wall hanging and it will be on exhibit with "12 Connected". I painted a silkscreen with Caran d'Ache Neocolor II and screened it with textile medium onto muslin. I added it to hand-dyed cotton embellished with painted cheescloth and painted and stamped fabrics.

I have the tv on and I decided I want David Bromstad and his Color Splash crew to come and redo my house! Wouldn't that be nice? Okay, back to work. So now you know I'm staying out of trouble and hope you are too. It would be good to hear from you.

A New Year, New Work

Happy New Year! I spent a quiet Eve with Ryan AND Dick and finally hit the hay around 2am. It was a pleasure to sleep in the next day, although I got an 8 am wakeup from a friend who was in my driveway. EEk! Luckily he stayed there. The roses were one of thr centerpieces I made for my annual Christmas Eve bash. Lots of family and Santa!

This is my glass tree in the family room. I've collected glass ornaments for years and have enough to decorate this whole tree.


My daughters did the honors and decorated the trees. Lights blew out, not once but twice but the end result is a thing of beauty. I wonder when it will come down.

It has been raining here for days. This afternoon I finally saw some blue sky. I worked off and on all season creating first Christmas cards from an old Italian card. I painted silk scarves for my Stitch an B!@#$ friends. I made a Twin-sized dinosaur quilt for my nephew.I spent most time working on 2 paintings. I hope to get pictures soon as I forgot to take pics before I wrapped them. They were both mixed media pictorials. One of my daughter riding English in a show many years ago. I think she liked it. The second was of 2 dogs that belonged to my brother and his wife. A huge yellow lab and a sweet Golden Retriever. Unfortunately the dogs are no longer with us, but were vital members of their family. I saw tears and that could mean anything.

I've been working on my piece for the 12 Connected group. I finished my "Whisper Challenge for SAQA and stitched some UFOs that I'm going to mount on paintd canvas. Pictures later when allowed. I've been reading this year's words on the QuiltArt list and haven't come up with anything new. "Create" has been my mantra for several years and I plan to continue. I'm trying to find some balance between my painting and fiber art.My number one goal is to keep getting better.Thanks to all I've learned from this year.