This is for Sharon, who wanted to see what I was starting on. Since I can’t post a #%$%^ photo on FB anymore, I am posting it here and will link to it on FB.
This is my base “canvas”. It is a collage created of papers and cloth. My thinking on this is to use textures and patterns because over this will be gesso and paint and other layers before the piece is finished.
It is Saturday morning. I have been sick a few days this week, but am much better today. This has been a short cold…thanks to whoever has been praying for me. It has slowed me down on my work however. I have not gotten much done for the exhibit which starts 2 weeks from YESTERDAY.
So this morning I am dyeing some fabric since a customer will be in the area next week and needs some. And since I am dyeing, I am dyeing a special order scarf. At the same time I am trying out some new soup recipes. I fixed a boneless turkey roast yesterday and my usual recipe for leftovers is turkey tetrazzini which we love, but is that all there is? So this a.m. I was googling for recipes and came upon two that I decided to try. One is turkey barley soup. While DH doesn’t particularly care for barley (like how much taste is in the stuff anyway?), I made a small batch of it to try. It is very good. The other one is a creamy turkey soup with rice in it. And while it doesn’t call for wild rice, I put a handful of it in with the Basmati rice. I usually keep wild rice cooked and in the freezer for a certain wild rice bread that I adore. I was really wanting to make a chicken and wild rice soup this week, but didn’t have the requisite green onions and pimientos to make it, so I scratched the idea. The turkey rice soup was the perfect opportunity to throw in some wild rice. There is nothing like wild rice. I love it. My husband will get a soup smorgasbord tonight for supper. Maybe I need to make some homemade bread too, eh?
This afternoon my plan is to get a new mixed media piece stitched. I planned on getting two pieces collaged this week in preparation for stitching, but due to how AWful I felt, I only got one done. Now I need to stitch it before I can start any painting and drawing on it.
Ummm…trying the new creamy turkey and rice soup now…delicious!
Ever have those times when you wake up in the morning and something starts talking to you? I woke up yesterday morning very dissatisfied with how the mounting technique for some mixed media work was coming along. I have gone to great lengths to order everything to do it in this particular method, even ordering acid free coreboard which then needed the edges painted because I couldn’t find it in black. But I awoke with a nagging dissatisfaction about it all. I got up, looked at the work again, and said, oh, it’s ok…but then later the nagging unhappiness came back. So because they measure 14″ square and of course, no canvases are made that size, I found my self shopping for a new idea, then shopping online and ordering more stuff and spending more money. But at least I have peace now…these composition pieces are going to look much better, I think. And they deserve to.
The time until I hang the exhibit is going fast. Today I feel I made much progress. I worked on Black and White Compositions #2, #3, and #4. These are compositions on canvas, made with cut pieces of cloth but they will not be stitched. I don’t know if anyone realizes this or not (surely I’m not the only one!)…our type of work is much more time consuming than the average painter. For me, there is the creation of the cloth, then the composition, and lastly, the layering and stitching part. It is slow work. In the interest of time, I am creating a few like this that will fill in my exhibit in a different color palette.
I also finished the handwork on the back of “Fading Glory” during tv time!
Tomorrow I will get up and do more of the same. More mixed media Compositions are in the works too. Can’t wait to get started on them.
I had the blessing of being able to take a day off from my work and go to St. Louis this week to see some of the exhibits of Innovations in Textiles. This is a biannual event that takes place in the area. Every two years for a two month period of time, galleries and exhibits major in textiles and fibers; there are also lectures and workshops offered by major textile and fiber artists. Quilt National travels from Athens, Ohio to the Foundry Art Center in St. Charles, MO. If I lived closer, I’d be majorly involved!
But I wouldn’t miss Quilt National at the Foundry. And this year, I had two pieces in an exhibit at Maryville University. The exhibit is called Speaking of Fibers and was put on by the Missouri Fiber Artists (www.missourifiberartists.com).
I took photos at Art St. Louis of some of the interesting fiber works in Fiber Focus. Here’s one by Suzy Farren, a MoFA member. I love what she did with paper and various fibers. I have her permission to share it here.
To get to Art St. Louis, we had to pass a building under construction…looks like it will be the National Blues Museum when it is finished.
Interesting and very tall building in Art Deco style at 6th and Washington…
Two fiber buddies who spent the day, Julia Sermersheim and Susan Spineto…Susan Marth met up with us in St. Charles, but I didn’t get any photos of her….This quilt didn’t have a center in it, so I had them get in the “frame”…
No photos of Quilt National, of course. We ate at Picasso’s Coffeehouse in St. Charles…wonderful place with great coffee…I didn’t take photos of that either.
Third Degree Glass Factory on Delmar had marvelously creative sinks and fixtures….
We thought these were the bomb! (unless I can’t say bomb anymore)
I also found an interesting wall to photograph…
It sort of goes with this…which was hanging in the MoFA exhibit…
Best of show winner, Janet (don’t know last name) with juror Victoria Crowder Payne and Barb Zapulla, who, I think did most of the work of pulling off this exhibit…Pat Owoc’s work is in the background…
More from the reception…I only know a few of these people!
Here’s my other piece in the show…
Here’s another piece from the show by Rosemary Claus-Gray.
Well, I’m going to wrap this up…it was a fabulous day…now back to working on my exhibit which is less than 3 weeks away!
Facebook is still denying me the ability to upload photos, so I will post more here and link to there.
This one is a photo of the Bradford pear tree that we used to have. It has inside pockets to hold the book and they are made with a green hand dyed (by me) fabric. I have stitched a little bit around one of the blooms on the front and there is a black rubber strap to accent and hold the book. The journal inside is a Mead composition book in 5″ x 7″ size and is easily replaced when needed. The cover is washable. This journal is $17 plus $2 shipping. In Illinois there is a 6.25% sales tax charge also if you are an Illinois buyer. Contact me by comment or email to make purchase arrangements.
Art Journal---A Creative Journey 