Video of sewing related items

Although nothing to do with this group and our challenges, I think it will be enjoyed by everyone who sews. 

http://vimeo.com/58893010

Enjoy,

Hilary

My taster for Encore

OK.  Here's a little taster of what I'm working with...  It's a trial for an idea I have for a bigger project. 

9 days to go.

Have you all voted for your preferences for the next phase?  I will close the poll in two days time so we can draw a name for the first challenge.  Exciting times.

Hilary

Arashi piece

I'm also taking an on-line course with Liz Barton, and Week 3 had us arashi dyeing. Every week we are expected to explore a technique by producing the hand-dyes, researching how other artists have used them, and then making an 18" x 24" piece. Quite demanding! I have posted some of my efforts on my blog.

That is how I found myself so far out of my comfort zone, using highly-patterned and highly-coloured hand-dyes. Originally I thought I would do a still life of spring flowers in pots, but then I realized that hacking up the fabric into small bits would not do justice to the beautiful markings on the cloth. Hence the simple, geometric design. It was quilted with parallel, diagonal lines.

I think I will call it "Swimming Upstream". I hope that this class will make a stronger swimmer out of me.

Fences and Sunflowers

I have just finished a photocollage piece this week using some  pictures taken in fields and farmyards between Ottawa and Hudson. It has yet to be mounted onto canvas as it is an odd size(14X29) so I will have one made. I have started the Inspired to Design course with Elizabeth Barton and have lots of drawing homework these days but will try to fit a few projects in between.Week 1 of four has just ended today.Whew! Look forward to seeing the reveal in a few weeks!

Memory Stone 26" x 29" - Minerals Exhibition in Toronto

I was invited by Sandra Reford to create a piece inspired by a mineral for the Minerals Exhibition featured at the Prospector and Developer Association of Canada (PDAC) convention, http://www.pdac.ca/pdac/conv/index.aspx , at the Toronto Convention Centre from March 3 to 6, 2013. The exhibition will then move to Europe and be shown in Italy, France and perhaps England. This piece is inspired by a stone called Beryl Goshenite, also known as Memory Stone. The timeline was very short; I was able to show it at our evening guild meeting on Tuesday before mailing it off on Wednesday. So here it is. I was not able to mount it on canvas as I usually do since the pieces will be travelling, so it is "naked". But I am pleased with how it came out. I had never really looked at minerals as art inspiration before. They are truly beautiful.

St Lawrence River

Our guild has issued a challenge, and the blue fabric, for us to make a 13" square depicting somewhere on the river. We went skiing last year at le Massif and the view from the top is spectacular - you get the sense that you are going to ski right into the river.  So this is my little piece  - nothing to do with Encore, just showing off!.

Thought I would give you a taster of my "Encore" piece - yes there is a roll of brown paper included in this (Phil did you ever think this would be me a few years back)!!  I have been having so much fun with this piece which I actualy finished today.

Have you signed up?

We've got a yahoogroup so that we can chat about our next round of challenges without clogging up the blog. Watch your inbox for an invitation coming your way soon - if you don't see one do mail me,
Linda B.

Encore Taster !

This is probably more of a give-a-away .........

...... and the encore is not from this blog.   After a few weeks of sweltering hot days we are now in the middle of a 3 day summer drizzle spell so today the garden takes a back seat and I can hole myself up in the sewing room. Yippee!  

Next challenge: Encore

We are about mid-way between our last challenge, Threads, and our next, Encore. Michele chose this theme, and it allows us to re-visit a previous challenge and put a new spin on it. One of the options I am considering is a new approach to the challenge I chose: Structures.

When some of the Montreal members retreated to Dianne's cottage this past August, we stumbled upon a bay lined with dilapidated boathouses. Lauma Cenne, who is part of our text'art group, took some amazing photos. She focused on the textures of peeling paint, the reflections in the still water, the colours of the structures.

My photos were not as accomplished, but they recorded for me what I was after: interlocking shapes. I love this mix of the architectural and the organic. Architectural in the sense of built structures. Organic in that these were made with what was on hand, adapting to a scarcity of space, and now they have weathered and show their exposure to the elements.

I'm not yet committed to this idea. I will have to adapt it to a square format, for one thing. But it's under consideration.

Anyone else percolating on our next challenge?

Merry Christmas!

This is my 2012 Christmas post card, sent bareback through the postal system. Made of hand-dyed cotton, backed with watercolour paper, it was stencilled with silver acrylic, stitched with metallic thread, and bedazzled with crystals.

To my 12 by the dozen collaborators, best wishes for the holidays! May the coming year bring many adventures in art and creativity to us all. May we continue to delight in each other's enthusiasm and to find support in our nurturing friendship.

Flapper style

I'm in New York this week, enjoying the festive season. The windows of Bergdorf Goodman on Fifth Avenue are a highlight, filled with elaborately-costumed mannequins, dressed in twenties-style. Here is one of them. Her dress reminds me of the treasure that Dianne used as inspiration for her wonderful Threads challenge. The chevron and zigzag are seen in many of the costumes, and suggest an Art Deco influence.