Gotta See it

Perrella Gallery

On my way south through the Adirondacks last week, I stopped at the Perrella Gallery on the campus of Fulton-Montgomery Community College near Johnstown, New York. My mission was to see the new fiber art exhibit - Fiber Currents/Current Fibers - which includes the work of a few of my favorite art quilters. Well worth the trip!!!

Having a high quality fiber art exhibit in my part of the world is uncommon (although the annual Quilts Unlimited exhibit is open now at View in Old Forge). I'd like more of that, and that is what my Pink House Gallery in Saranac Lake is about.

For now, yes, I'll drive to see the work of Betty Busby, Wen Redmond, Pat Pauly, Judith Plotner, and others! You should too - so much better in person than via my cell phone photos. Nice catalog for sale too.

"Retia" by Betty Busby

"Pink Leaf 4" by Pat Pauly

"Remembering the Wind" by Wen Redmond

"Brooklyn Ensemble" by Judith Plotner

A Goal Acheived

Over the winter, I joined a "visioning" group of other artists in Studio Art Quilt Associates. The best thing about joining this group is the necessity of goal-setting. And one of my goals for this year was to make a piece to submit to an art quilt exhibition. The image above is a detail from my large (for me) art quilt that was recently accepted into this year's juried Quilts Unlimited show at VIEW in OId Forge, NY. Another piece in my "bog and water" series was accepted as well. The hard work and focus is bringing rewards. Yaaayy!

Daily Practice Redux

I'm back to a Daily Practice (How do I let that slide? So important!!), using the exercises and gorgeous images from Jean Wells' book Journey to Inspired Art Quilting as my initial guide. The photo above of the orange peppers and knife with a Japanese dish was already in my journal. I drew some of my ideas on how I would turn the photo into a fiber piece, using Jean's exercise on Journaling to get me started.

Lots of other projects happening now as well, which I will include here in bits and pieces. Below is a fabric and digital photo collage I completed last week, now framed under glass and hanging in our gallery, NorthWind Fine Arts. The beginning of this piece - the torn-and-sewn pond lily photos on fabric - began as one of my Daily Practice experiments last March.

Putting It Together

 The four pieces of printed photo are now laid out on turquoisey blue cotton, layered over thin cotton batting and a heavy cotton backing, and I have stitched along the flow lines of the photo with grey, turquoise, and lavender thread.

I'm learning lots from this project about how my sewing machines moves - or not - over different thicknesses and textures.

Below is one of four grey linen borders. I layered the same cotton batting beneath. I sewed the first two borders on first, before quilting them by machine. Then I learned something else - do most of the quilting on the borders BEFORE adding them to the central panel!

Only a couple more steps to go!

My Process

Today I was viewing the blog of a quilter and saw that she had taken the "Process Pledge." I'm all about the process and love to see the processes of other artists of all kinds, so I took the pledge too. I hope you'll enjoy hearing about what I do to get me going, keep me going, and what happens as a result.

And I am continuing in my current process of making a daily art practice a real habit. I missed a day - last Sunday - when we went out in the morning, took a long walk, and had guests while whirling around getting the house in order after a crazy week. I didn't feel too awful about it, as the previous several days were filled with art projects, plans, and commitments.

Wild grape drawing

April 6

I attended a print making class, using Silk Cut Lino sheets at Bluseed Studios in Saranac Lake taught by Robynn Smith. This material was lovely to work with, although still hard to find in  the U.S. (made in Australia). Several of my arty friends attended too and it was great fun. I carved two plates, both from drawings I did awhile ago of wild grape. I need more practice, but here is the result.

Our instructor, Robynn, is a wonderful teacher and an impressive artist. Brave too, coming from California to the slush-embedded Far North of her own free will!

Two finished prints

I plan to use these plates to print on fabric soon.

April 8

Red-eyed Owl

April 9

Detail of small quilt "Ice Moons"

I have been playing with this photo printed on cotton for awhile. It was taken in early winter when the pools of water at a marsh edge were beginning to freeze, trapping lots of air bubbles near the ice surface. This little piece is finished now.






April 10

This morning, I pulled out this tiny watercolor. It was a student's practice sheet from a few semesters ago, and it looks like a landscape with an arc or rainbow moving across it. It is a lovely little "accident" that gave me another way of working toward a piece I am planning. I used it on a journal spread that I played on to make a similar landscape (not as graceful as the original, I think) and to do some other "designed accidents" - all tiny - that apply to the project.

Landscape with arc and rocks

Watercolor print with a photo fragment