The Wisdom of Walt…

Walt Whitman that is.

A fellow blogger has had her life turned upside down  in the recent past, but has also triumphed through it and is seeing the blessings of God shower her life.  She shared this on her blog and I thought it was a true piece of wisdom. Probably because it describes my life as well.

“Have you learned the lessons only of those who admired you, and were tender with you, and stood aside for you?

Have you not learned great lessons from those who braced themselves against you, and disputed passage with you? – Walt Whitman

A type of grass from my neighbor’s yard, might be pampas but not sure.

Making Cloth, Making Art

Some of you might remember these pieces of jar lid resist fabric I posted pictures of a couple of weeks ago. Well, those white circles were just too much contrast for me. I wanted to paint them bronze. Last night I sat and meticulously painted each circle. But not all bronze dyes are made alike…as you can see in this picture…

..it’s too brown!  Today I tried some transparent acrylic paint to make it go more golden…

This is more what I had in mind.  I prefer to use dye paint, but acrylic was faster….just how many days do I want to put into this cloth? I still may mix some yellow dye paint and try it.

In other news, I have been working on my Visioning goals this week.  I got  two small pieces stitched and matted, and worked on one experimental sample, then started another.

Want To See Some Art? Wow.

I don’t usually post videos, but this was so touching and ingenious that I wanted to share it.  Linda over at Creative Textile and Quilting Arts posted this and I am re-posting it.  This is a Ukranian artist creating her interpretation of the invasion and occupation of the Ukraine in WW2.  She does it with a light box, music, and “sand painting”.

Artist Statements

Yesterday morning I was reading some information on Alyson Stanfield’s site about the Artist Statement. She had a link to a blog by a girl who had followed Alyson’s particular advice about having a good artist statement and how to arrive there.  I found it interesting how her artist statement changed as she followed Alyson’s advice.  Here is the link to Deb Paris’ blog if anyone wants to read it. http://deborahparis-apaintinglife.blogspot.com/2009/01/statement-by-artist.html

I found myself going to read MY artist statement.  Recently I had to submit one with entries into the Form, Not Function exhibit in New Albany, IN.  I submitted one that has been written for at least a year, maybe 2.  It seems, according to Alyson, that artist statements can be pretty important.  I hadn’t really done any recent revisions to mine, but gave it a brief glance and sent it on with the entries.

After reading all of this information  (does anyone spend too much time on the computer like me?…but I learn so much…), then going back to my statement, I could see where one particular line didn’t fit at all with the entry I sent.  Now my statement was originally written as an overall statement of the genre of my work.  It was NOT written for the specific work I sent for jurying, and I’m  still not sure if it was supposed to be. Rayna Gillman sent me her statement and artist bio so I could get an idea of what is supposed to be there. I know I totally messed up on my bio, speaking mainly about where I have come from, but not really speaking much to today’s accomplishments. Oh well, live and learn. Looks like I need to do some more work!

This past weekend I learned that judges in a certain show wanted to give a best of show award to a certain artist, but because of the way her statement was worded, they didn’t.  Wow…maybe it can really make a difference.  In her case, another person was involved in making the art and it sounded like the judges were confused about who actually did the work.

It’s something to think about.

Photo of the day…pine trees on my lane…if I was a kid again, this is where I would play.

A Bit of This ‘N That…

It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged…I have no excuse…just busy doing other things.  Last week it seemed like I spent the whole week working on silk scarves.  I needed to deliver some for consignment on my trip to Evansville, so I was dyeing a few, making a pile for consignment and a few for my stash as well as photographing, then listing my stash on etsy.  I am trying to be regular with etsy since it is the holiday season and sales will be happening.  I sold several scarves last year out of my etsy shop and I would like to be ready for shoppers!

Here is a silk chiffon I dyed.  It is a 44″ square.  I usually do more than one layer on these, but I think it’s beautiful the way it is and I’m not sure I want to add more to it.

I also joined the Visioning project on SAQA this past week.  The project is supposed to help me get organized, aim for goals and hopefully reach them.  At the same time, there are artists more advanced than I that will check my page and give me helpful hints. Yesterday I spent some time writing on my page about my goals just for this week.  While I was soaking in the tub yesterday morning, I had several ideas float through my brain, so writing helped me to get it in print, which helps me focus better. I also didn’t want to forget those ideas, so I write.  I have a solo show in late 2011, and I am hoping that the Visioning project will help me get prepared for that, if for no other reason than I will make commitments and stick to them.

Silk Charmeuse, deconstructed screen printed and thermofax screened

Friends…

My husband and I moved to southern Illinois about 8 1/2 years ago.  We lived in Edwardsville, which is across the river from St. Louis, MO.  I left several good and close friends when I moved. Most of them were friends I had made after I began to learn quilting and our friendships involved quilting together.  The quilting community has good people and good friendships.

Yesterday I made a trip to meet up with one of my friends to celebrate birthdays and exchange gifts and spend time together.  We try to meet up twice a year. It was good to see her and we went to the Alco store to do some shopping before having lunch.  We found really GREAT  bargains on area rugs.

My friend has taken up knitting since I left…this is what she made me for my birthday….thanks, Vicki, I miss ya’ and love ya’. Isn’t it gorgeous!

More This ‘N That…

Last week I was playing around with some ideas for new art. I painted some construction fence designs to have cloth to use. I actually found that painting the cloth with fabric paints was rather therapeutic. I enjoyed doing it, although I don’t know if I would have the patience to do all my work this way. Painting a stenciled design is slow going at best. Here is the progression of the cloth.

Then I wrote quotes about fences on it.

I also started some new small pieces for the art fair coming up in December.  Free form piecing was the technique of choice and using scraps of fabric in the same color scheme made sense.  I could sit and do free form piecing all day long. I used leftover fabrics from a larger piece I did earlier in the year for a show. Funny how I pieced with the same colors I painted…

Now, to layer and stitch.  I just laid the mats on them to see what they looked like.

This week I don’t think I’m being nearly as productive, but I do have a couple of rag quilts to work on for a girl from my church.  She wants them for Christmas presents, so I got started cutting all the squares and batting for those yesterday.  Today I am making a flopped recipe for gingerbread squares.  Ah, life.  Tomorrow I am meeting up with a good friend to celebrate her birthday.