Street Life

Yippee - I now have a direction to follow.  It has taken it's time developing but I made a couple of samples yesterday and I am happy with my plan.  Plan A and B are still in reserve just in case, Plan C has been ditched, Plan D is the one!

I wish I could give you a naughty clue - maybe when I get started...

How's everyone else getting on?  I know that one or two are already finished - lucky you.

Hilary

Together in Houston

Dianne, Helena and Venetta met for the first time last week in Houston.  Venetta treated us to an amazing Texas style picnic lunch at the Quilt Festival - thank you, Venetta.  It was delicious and a wonderful way to spend the time getting to know each other.

 


 Standing at the back are Venetta, me and Helena.  Seated at the table are Ellen (who nearly joined the group at the beginning), Dianne, Marion (who sadly left the group) and Jean (who has just spearheaded another online group).  This is their brand new blog:  http://www.voyagearttextiles.blogspot.com/

I wonder when we will next meet up?  I still have hopes that one day the group will meet up at the Festival of Quilts in the UK - well, I can dream...

Hilary

Diagonale (2)

'Le papillon' was inspired by a poem written in French by Pavel Friedmann in 1942 the year in which he was deported to Thesienstadt concentration camp. Two years later he was deported to Auschwitz where he died. Following are a few lines from the poem translated into English:
The Butterfly
The last, the very last
So richly, brightly, dazzling yellow.
............
...........
That butterfly was the last one.
Butterflies don't live in here, in the ghetto.

I used photographs of children taken in Theresienstadt concentration camp which I photocopied and then used gel medium to make them into the background. I then used yellow tulle for the butterfly which I stitched and then appliqued over the images. I mounted it over an 8" square canvas board.


The second one 'etoile jaune,' follows on the theme of the first. The jacket and star were machine appliqued onto a raw edged 8 X 8" background onto which I had machine stitched barbed wire fencing. I then glued it onto an 8" square fabric board

I had the pleasure of taking Heather's and my submissions to the gallery to hand in. There is an exciting exhibition on of Barbara Wisnoski's work. She was sitting there and sewing n an old singer treadle machine. I had the pleasure of meeting her and chatting with her. I also saw a room piled high with entries!!

We'll keep you posted!

Diagonale

Pam and I have each entered two pieces into a fundraising auction for Diagonale, a Montreal-based organization for the promotion of textile art. It is a juried event, and they have a very particular aesthetic: very urban, rather conceptual. Neither Pam nor I is a member, but I am somewhat intrigued by them as they are actually a major, francophone, tax-funded group here in Montreal.

Each piece is to be no more than 8 x 8, excluding framing. If accepted, they will be auctioned on December 3 for a minimum of $100 each. The theme is "Jaune".

My first piece is titled "Simple Pleasures". It uses a line drawing I produced in a workshop, when given 30 seconds and required to use my non-dominant hand. Have always liked the drawing, and thought it might be used to illustrate the playful, childlike quality of yellow. It is mounted on a 9 x 9 pre-stretched canvas covered with hand-dyed blue cotton.

The second piece is titled "Insomnia". It was stitched onto Timtex and black felt, and mounted on a 6 x 6 pre-stretched canvas which cannot be seen behind the edges of the piece.

Pleased with myself for getting them both completed with a tight deadline. Will now wait and see whether they're accepted. All pieces juried in will be displayed on their website,
www.artdiagonale.org so you can follow along if you, too, are intrigued.

I'm stumped!

 What an irony - I chose this challenge subject and I can't think of a thing to do with it! Lots of ideas have passed through my frazzled brain but none have stuck - could be a midnight oil job at this rate!

New Studio

The new studio in England is finally sorted, so here a few images. It's quite a large room (by English standards) with french windows opening onto the front garden. After many trips to Ikea and do-it-yourself stores we finally have it the way I wanted. In one corner is the desk, with Mac in pride of place. Another corner contains my two sewing machines at right angles to each other. The third corner contains a nice gas fire - put in when we expected this room to become a sitting room or dining room, and the door to the hall occupies the 4th corner. In the middle of the room is the piece-de-resistance - the large worksurface when I can cut, design or do what ever I want! It's high, but my plastic drawer units containing fabric and tools fit underneath it very neatly, and in the very middle I can store waddings, well out-of-sight. An Ikea unit between the desk and the door contains threads, books, paints, dyes and silk screens (the latter hidden in the blue boxes). This still needs a bit more sorting - there are still a number of books in my old room that I want to bring over. I'm extremely pleased with the whole set-up, though I have yet to work out how to get a design wall in. Possibly a stand alone one between the HQ16 and the fireplace?

We're having the rest of the garden landscaped at the moment as well - hence the man pushing a wheel barrow that you can see through the window. Now I just need to start my Street Life piece (oh, and finish sorting out the rest of our belongings). I've been photographing the local Wakes and I think I have my subject!

Snow and Ice Dyeing

I have been given permission to share this article which appeared in the American Quilt back in January by the author, Lisa White Reber.  Thank you Lisa.

Here it is:  http://www.dippydyes.com/SnowDyeArticle.pdf

Sadly Phil, Patricia and Venetta probably will never the chance to try it out and Lindas B and F and my chances are fairly limited but I know that Dianne has taken the rest of you on this adventure already. Winter is on it's way - we gave in and put the crentral heating on yesterday - so get ready to play again!

Hilary

Collography trials

Nearly there.  Both plates are from Hilary and my lesson.  The one on the right, with very little definition, I sealed with Artists Varnish, as we had had problems earlier going straight in with the non-etching paint. This has probably removed some of the definition particularly the indents and is not so successful. The left plate I left as is and went in straight with the paint.  I mixed acrylic paint with and extender and a bit of gel medium and painted lightly the plate, removing excess with a dabbing movement and paper towel; I painted the area of the fabric with gel medium and then placed the fabric over the plate which I had placed on a soft pin board; a length of felt was placed over the fabric and then I ran a brayer with as much force as I could over the plate area. The left hand sample is a lot better and will perservere with new plates and more bumps and dents.

Square Unsquare Challenge

This is the piece that I finished for the unsquare challenge for tomorrow night's Out of the Box meeting in Ottawa, It is composed of cheesecloth and other sheer fabrics embellished together onto batting and felt then stitched onto wire mesh. For display it is attached to a small canvas at the sides and a wire added for hanging . Some stitching through the center helps to hold the desired curve .The talisman hanging from the top is made in honour of my friends first grandson who after a premature birth is recovering from a small surgery but is doing very well in hospital. They look forward to his homecoming. This measures 10 " x 9 "

Square / Unsquare

Michele and I belong to a group in Ottawa called Out of the Box Fibre Artists. We have been given the challenge of producing a piece no bigger than 12" in any dimension for a show in an Ottawa-area library. The theme of the show is "Unsquare".

I made this piece as something of a follow-up to my Fresh challenge. It also relates to the large "It's All That..." piece I produced last May for the local medical centre. I tried to make the outer edge interesting, and to make the brighter fabrics luminous by setting them next to duller colours. I have always loved Janet Kurjan's piece, "Underwater Reflection", which you can see at www.thefiberconnection.com/janet.html.

The pieced cotton top was bonded to a Timtex stiffener, which was in turn bonded to black felt. The whole thing was stitched in the ditch. and then the edge was satin-stitched. It has been mounted on an 8" x 8" canvas, painted with black gesso, which will not be seen, but will serve to project it out from the wall about an inch. Wanted to avoid that "potholder look". It will be fun to see the other entries when we meet tomorrow evening.

Photo Collage for Fall Show

These are recently completed collages that will be entries for two local fall art shows .They are both mounted on 24x24 gallery canvas . The first will be in a few days with our local Hudson Artists Association that both Heather are participating in for the second time. I hope my location will be near the lovely Tuscan series that you see in the last posting. The second to be determined by the jury for the Stewart Hall Gallery is due in November .! Wish me luck! Thanks to Heather for all her encouragement during the completion of both of these pieces.

Tuscany series continued

I think one of the best outcomes of our themes is if I can learn from my challenge piece and go on to produce more in the series. I have made another four 12 x 12's and a larger 24 x 20, not counting the three 5 x 7's I made for the WildCard fundraiser, and not counting the two finished pieces that ended up in the garbage. One of the works was rejected because I misspelled Siena!


These pieces are mounted on stretched canvases, painted with black gesso. I have left a little margin of canvas showing around the edges. The pieces themselves are stitched to black felt and the edges are finished with a short zigzag stitch.

The image transfers were done using photocopies, acetone and tissue paper, which was applied to the painted cloth with matte medium. More painting, stamping and stenciling followed, then a coat of matte medium over all, then stitching, then more paint was applied, sometimes rubbed off with a rag or rubbed into the stitching line to emphasize it.


These will go into the fall show of our local art group, the Hudson Artists, to be held October 14 - 16. (Michele is also showing some of her recent pieces.) The larger piece is going to be my entry to Synthesis 2, a juried SAQA show for the Eastern Canada division.


I have been struggling to achieve a kind of obscurity, mystery, ambiguity, even unease, while still offering the viewer enough contrast to discern the images. A fine line. While they cannot be appreciated from a distance, I hope they will draw the viewer in for a closer look.