All juiced up for spring!

I must admit that I had these fabrics all laid out for this particular piece before Michele announced golden yellow as our next challenge colour. Here in Montreal we are particularly desperate for a "hit" of sunshine, as winter refuses to end.

No, it's not my challenge entry, but I thought you might enjoying seeing this analogous colour scheme in action.

Camden Town #2, 18" x 24"

MAYBE!

A number of years ago Hilary treated me to a morning (in fact two) with her friend Tig and we did some break-down screen printing which was a great success.  I used a small piece of the fabric as my background in the Aubergine challenge.

Here is a pic of another piece from the same length of fabric where the screen  is now really breaking down.

Perfect colour for the next challenge.    Will I use it or not?   

Time will tell!

Collograph Series

 These are some additions to my series of collographs on mulberry paper. They are calledCrossing, Safe Harbour, Wanderlust, and Celebrations. I love the variation of line that comes from rubbing graphite over the collograph plate that is made of drawing into sand gel with a flattened stick. They are mounted onto gallery canvas 16X16 square and 18X24.

Lucy the Pug

I just had to share with you all today this stitched portrait of my beloved pug. I was just fooling around and felt inspired. She is so adorable and I wanted to capture her with her little tongue sticking out.

It is small, about 8" x 11".

Eclat de Joie - Commission

I was very honoured to receive a commission from a very talented member of our guild recently. She does beautiful handwork and my work could not be more different from hers, but she is a big fan of my work and asked me to create a piece for her. I was delighted to do so. "Eclat de joie" {Burst of Joy}measures 36" x 24"; the quilt is mounted on acrylic-painted canvas. I brought it over to her last weekend, she had not seen it before (she didn't want to see photos during the creation process) and she LOVED IT! I could not be happier.
Here it is on its own and installed in her living room.

Website and blog page updated

I have updated the blog page - on the right - and the Red page and members' pages on the website.  The quilts look great. 

Hilary

..................and the next colour is......................
 

Red Challenge

Red Challenge

 

 

 

 

 

 

Homecoming

 

This piece is from a series of collographs onto mulberry paper called " Home". I have been working towards a solo show that is coming up in late summer using variations of this format and now have some larger pieces completed toward my goal.

 I find that they are starting to resemble still life compositions at times, though quite misty, seen from above, and all continue to be anchored in thoughts about the necessity of a safe harbor in which to feel at peace.

 The closest I could get to the red was the small area in the picture of pink/orange but I notice this one would also nicely fit into the periwinkle section. I guess it is still on the brain as a very useful colour!       

Incendiary

I have to start by admitting that I no longer have this piece. When SAQA put out a call for 7" x 10" entries to its 25th anniversary travelling trunk show, I made what came naturally to me: a red piece. When I showed it to fellow 12btd members in Montreal, they said, but it's RED! So although it is a tiny bit smaller than "regulation" size, it is definitely the right colour, and speaks straight from my heart.

"Breaking the glass."

During a Jewish wedding ceremony, the bridegroom breaks a glass. This symbolizes the destruction of our ancient temple in Jerusalem.  Some say this is symbolic of moralizing pleasure and tempering emotions.

The carpet in the synagogue where our daughter got married almost 7 months ago is a beautiful, rich red colour.  This image, showing much of the richness of this carpet was an obvious choice for this challenge - red.

Thanks to Heather Dubreuil, for generously instructing me on the technical aspects of this piece.

ECLIPSE

I seem to be fixated on planets at the moment as I seem to be veering towards this theme but nevertheless enjoyed doing it it.  We were playing with Lutradur in our group and decided to try this medium out on my piece, therefore some of the rays of the sun are speckled as I used my heat gun and distressed some Lutradur, which turned out all crinkled and then placed it between teflon sheets and ironed it flat and then painted them red, cut them out and spray glued them onto my piece before stitching them in place.  They give a bit of texture overall. 

My 'eclipse' was done in black net but in the photograph does not seem to have shown itself as well as I would have liked.  However I did have fun with it.

Three reds

Like Dianne, ideas kept coming and, in spite of my sewing machine being away services for several weeks, I have managed three.  Yes, shoot me down.

The first is a bit naf and although I love the idea the execution is poor.  A bit of hand sewing is a first for me.

Redwoods

The second was just something I wanted to try out using the design software and my embroidery unit.  It was fun creating - a so-and-so stitching out but I think I achieved what I set out to do - a Wordle type design of words related to our visual source.  http://www.wordle.net/ 
(For those who are interested I have a Bernina 640 and the latest version of the embroidery software.)

Wordle red

 But the piece I am submitting as my contribution is the one I have had most fun with.  Who knows why the idea came to me?  I saw a large billboard along the motorway with great big tomatoes on it  - one cut in half - and I immediately saw can-can ladies skirts!  A trip to the supermarket, one gorgeous Marmonde (hence the name) tomato bought, sliced and photographed and I was away.  The work is based on the poster by Toulouse Lautrec.  The tomatoes were part appliqued and part fused.  The legs are fused.  The black outline of the ladies was traced, uploaded into the design software, digitized and stitched out.  The lettering was also stitched by the machine.  A bit of paint completed the picture.   It still brings a smile to my face - if only all my creations were as easy and as much fun!

Tomato Can Can

Looking forward to our next colour, Hilary