Advice from PRO Chemical & Dye

Vicki Jensen, Lab Manager at PRO Chemical & Dye, has suggested the MX 810 Blue Violet dyed at a 0.25% depth of shade. She added, "If that is too dark, try a 0.1% depth of shade."

You can see my gradation using MX 810 Blue Violet below.  I guess it's just impossible to capture the luminosity of that bloom in cotton!

Blue-violet, standard strength

Latest dye batch

It's definitely greyer than the colour that Linda has proposed, but I might just go with it anyway. I used 2 parts Ultra Violet and 1 part Indigo. Perhaps there's a little black in the Indigo, and it would have been a brighter result if I'd used a different blue. Linda's colour choice is beautiful, but it's tricky to reproduce! I do think my results match the "Victoria" swatch on Linda B's computer-generated palette.

That Challenging Colour

Eggplant, double strength

Spent much of yesterday dyeing gradations of fat-eighths, trying to match the colour for our next challenge.

Half blue-violet, half indigo,
standard strength

I haven't tried to find the colour in a local shop, because there aren't any local shops to speak of, and because it's such an unusual colour I decided that would be a waste of time.  

Blue-violet, standard strength

No satisfactory results so far, so will have another go at it today. Any ideas? Paint?

Have written e-mail to Pro-Chem with photo of that #@*! blossom. Will let you know if they respond.

Meanwhile, Helena, if you see something promising at Houston, please buy a little for me!

Late contribution to the - May 31st 2013 deadline - colour challenge - EGGPLANT!

‘Miniature chupah.’

In this new series using ‘color’ as a subject, I was the one to choose the first color.

I chose ‘eggplant.’

A few weeks later, our daughter became engaged and she chose eggplant as the color scheme for her wedding. 

I made the chupah (bridal canopy) .  I used their monogram which is the Hebrew letter F (Fried is our son in law’s last name) with both of their names in Hebrew within the F.

This is a miniature of the actual chupah. 

Big apologies for the lengthy delay.  

Now onto green............

Busy weekend!

Two vernissages in 48 hours. Here's a photo of Michele and me, taken in front of our side-by-side boards during a quiet moment at the Hudson Artists show.

The vernissage at Stewart Hall was great fun, with opportunities to chat with many of the other 79 artists. It was just too crowded to take any photos, but here's one taken yesterday when the gallery was quiet. That's Helena's "colour explosion" on the far left, and my two Cityscapes on the far right, with Linda Creasey Brown's two urban landscapes in the centre.

As always, the curators of the Stewart Hall show chose well from a wide variety of media, and managed to group the pieces by theme or palette, making for an effective display.

Hudson Artists Fall show

Michele Meredith and Heather Dubreuil are delighted to show their work at the annual Fall show of the Hudson Artists. More than 30 artists will be represented, and about 200 works in various media will be on display. Unframed work and greeting cards will also be available. A lovely watercolour painting by Ginette Parizeau will be raffled off in support of NOVA, a local home-nursing charity, and a tea room will be available to welcome visitors.

If you're in the area, we hope you will join us. We'll both be at the vernissage on Friday evening, and staffing the sales desk on Sunday morning.

Yay! Three members in Stewart Hall show

Every fall, Stewart Hall in Pointe-Claire puts out a call to Montreal-area artists, asking for works in a variety of media to include in their art rental collection. The standard of work chosen is always impressive, and the show always well worth a visit.

This year Heather Dubreuil, Michele Meredith and Helena Scheffer were pleased to have pieces juried into the show.  Their work will be on display in Stewart Hall's beautiful, brick-walled gallery from October 19 to December 1, 2013. Afterwards, the art will be available for rental for one year through the Art Rental and Sale Service.

The vernissage for the show is on Sunday, October 20, at 2 pm, 176 Lakeshore Road, Pointe-Claire QC.

Gallery hours are Monday through Sunday 1 pm to 5 pm and Wednesday 1 pm to 9 pm.

Green Bowl

Too bad this can't count as a 'green' piece because the colour is so close.  I thought you'd like to see what I have been doing this afternoon.  The material is called eyelash fabric and unfortunately the shop only had silver, gold, red and green (could Christmas be around the corner?!).  My local craft centre is holding an exhibition early next year for visually impaired visitors - called Tactile Textures.  I have submitted my Braille quilt and also some coiled baskets made of different ropes, cords, and fabrics.  I hope this one will be accepted because it has a lovely delicate tickling feel...

The fabric is on the right - but look what a treasure trove of sparkly green bits you get from cutting strips!  You can imagine they are stuck to me, the carpet, everywhere I go I seem to be leaving a trail of green eyelashes!

Hilary

Congrats Helena and Marion

Congrats to Helena and Marion who have their piece, Origins, featured in the latest SAQA Journal (page 29).  It is in the chapter, Art quilts shine in Quilts, Inc. collection by Sandra Sider.  She says of the piece: 

"Helena Scheffer and Marion Perault created Origins (2006) using a collage process and
fusing appliquéd fabric.The central panel is an over-dyed vintage damask tablecloth.
Other fabrics include vintage silks and men’s shirting. The design includes spirals that
extend into space, symbolizing the potential of new beginnings."

 

Well deserved.

Hilary

 

Hudson & Region Studio Tour

Water Tower #1, Heather Dubreuil

Michele Meredith and Heather Dubreuil are delighted to participate in this weekend's Hudson Studio Tour, as it marks its tenth anniversary year.

Heather's home and studio will be opened to visitors on Saturday and Sunday, September 28 and 29, 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Michele will show her intriguing new work, both two- and three-dimensional, at the same address. Both plan to give small demos of their techniques.

Vessel, Michele Meredith

To learn about the other twelve artists and artisans on the tour and how to find their venues, please visit the website.

To mark the tenth anniversary of the Tour, a special blog has opened, featuring profiles of the artists and news of their recent events.

Hot spiced cider will be on hand to welcome visitors. See you there!

Wonderful link to a Green fibre exhibit

Thankfully this arrived in my in-box after the deadline for our Green Challenge, or it would have been way too influential on my process. This link was sent to me by our text'art member Lauma, and what a find it is!

SAQA Auction Fundraiser

Every year, Studio Art Quilt Associates holds an on-line auction of 12" x 12" art quilts. More than 400 quilts were submitted this year, and they have been divided into three lots, with the first lot going on the block today.

The prices start at $750 on Day 1, and then go down a little every day until anything available on Day 6 is priced at $75. The second lot will go on the block next Monday, September 16, and the third lot on Monday the 23rd. Last year, over $60,000 was raised to offset the organization's operating expenses.

I was delighted to have my piece sold within the first two hours of the auction's opening today, priced at $750. It was bought by Nysha Nelson of Tennessee. Nysha is known to buy works by well-known art quilters, so it is a special honour to have him choose my piece. I actually met Nysha when I attended the SAQA conference in Santa Fe last spring, where he bought my donation to the postcard auction.

If you'd like to find out more about the auction, or to view the more than 400 art quilts donated to the event, please visit the auction website.