Swapped Not Traded

Today was the opening reception for our Swapped Not Traded ATC show. We had a pretty good turn out and had fun introducing newbies to the concept of ATC's. The room was surrounded with our framed ATC collections and there was one interactive wall that held the cards available for trade. Everyone could use the supplies to make an ATC, then swap it for one on the wall.
We meet one day a month to swap . . . so if you are interested and live around Santa Barbara, let me know.

Here is my SIL and son creating ATC's. You can see some of the framed collections in the background.

Syd found these hanging vinyl holders that were perfect to display the ATC's. Here are a few of the ones available on the interactive wall.

Received good news today. Two out of the three pieces I submitted to the Elverhoj Museum were juried into the show. Yeah . . . . it's going to be a great venue.

I also submitted ten pieces to the Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum. Only five artists are chosen for this exhibit, so I'll be amazed if I get selected. I figure the more they see Fiber Art, the more accepted it will become.

A couple of weeks ago, I emailed a few fabric designs to Robert Kaufman. They were interested in seeing more, so I mailed off a complete package, but still haven't heard back from they yet. It would be very cool to have a fabric line with my designs. They may not be interested, but I figure I would rather try my best and get rejected than not try at all.

As you can see, I've been racing from one deadline to another and I still have a UFO Exchange quilt to finish in three weeks. I'm seriously looking forward to retirement!! Unfortunately, that is a long way off.

La Guitarra Festival

What a wonderful weekend we had listening to some of the most amazing classical guitarist in the world. Thank you, Jason, for introducing us to the classical guitar. Jason (my son), began playing classical guitar about 4 years ago. He is an amazing natural talent and I expect great things from him in the future.

This past weekend, Alan Hancock College in Santa Maria was the new host to the La Guitarra Festival. It was a fantastic venue for the festival, the sound quality was incredible and every seat in the house was good.

We attended a master class where my son performed and five other concerts over three days. For me, the highlight was definitely Pepe Romero (Spain). He is truly an incredible musician. We also saw Roland Dyens (France) and Ana Vidovic (Croatia). All three of these musicians are considered the most talented in the world. Ana is only 23 years old and is already the best woman classical guitarist in the world.

I had a little time to play with some acrylic ink, wax and rock salt before we left for the concert. Here is what happened.

It reminds me of a ice crystals on a window. Mind you, this is a very distant memory because I haven't seen snow or ice in 28 years!

Color and Cloth: Redefining a Traditional Art Form

I know, it's been a while since I posted, but I have been extremely busy. So much to do . . . so little time. I suppose I could have started sooner, but as much as I hate to admit it, I work well under pressure. Deadlines seem to keep me focused. I have two shows I've been preparing for, one is at the Elverhoj Museum entitled "COLOR AND CLOTH: REDEFINING A TRADITIONAL ART FORM". The second show is an interactive ATC show entitled "Swapped Not Sold" at the Art from Scrap gallery.

Kathy and I had a lot of fun at our guild challenge last week. As usual, there were some fantastic quilts made. Pat made an elegant rendition of "Memoirs of a Geisha" using kimono's acquired on a vacation to Japan. Darilyn relived her childhood memories by making "Saturday Night at the Drive-In". She had a giant Godzilla on the big screen with silhouetted cars in the foreground. Very clever!

Kathy and I heard wonderful comments like "This was the best challenge ever" and "Everyone left with a smile on their face". What more can you ask for?

Bill Dear brought some fantastic props from movies and commercials he wrote and/or directed. What a great guy!

These are the skeletal remains of mommy and daddy. They are from a scary movie recently finished and waiting to be released.

You may remember "Vince", the crash dummy. Bill was the director of these commercials for eleven years.This "Meat Cleaver" was the most popular "prop" of the evening. Many people had their photo taken with this attached to their head. It has four metal rods that holds the cleaver in place.
It was great fun, but I'm glad it's over . . . It was a lot of work!

Furry and Feathered Friends

Took a little break today and went to one of my favorite places to take photos, the Santa Barbara Zoological Gardens. It is the nicest, small zoo I've ever been to. It is located on top of a hill with a fantastic view of the ocean. It has both wonderful animals and plants. I'm sure you can guess what this photo is of.

Here's a photo of a beautiful Lorikeet. They are the sweetest and most colorful birds I've ever seen. You can buy a little cup of nectar and they sit on your arm and have a drink.

I've have been spending a lot of time preparing for the Coastal Quilters Guild challenge, Lights!Camera!Action! We have received some wonderful entries and I'm looking forward to Thursday night to see which quilts get voted as the favorites.

A real director, Bill Dear, will be bringing props from some of his movies for us to view up close. It should be a fun filled evening. I'll post some photos after the event.

Over the Edge

This little quilt was started quite a while ago. There were several things that I didn't like in the original design, but I didn't know what direction to go. So, it hung around for a while, until I figured out what to do with it. My solution was to remove a large piece of fabric that was hanging over the edge, cut some of the finger shapes off and add circles. The circles were made from Angelina fibers and the fabric was dyed with bleeding tissue paper. I like it better now, but it still isn't my favorite piece. What do you think?

This is the final piece.

This is the unfinished top before any stitching was added.

Colorful Weekend

Wow, what a colorful weekend I had with Sherrill Kahn. She is a warm, generous teacher that is willing to share everything she knows and encourages you to take it even further. If you enjoy playing with paint and experimenting, I highly recommend this workshop.
The paints we used are Lumiere which is a metallic paint and strong coverage. Textile paint is transparent and glazes the surface beautifully. Neopaque is strong, bold colors that covers completely. Sherrill's Sorbets are pretty colors that really pop and have amazing coverage. I have a better understanding of how and when each type of paint should be used.

These pieces have several layers of paint and were stamped rolled and scraped. Both of these designs were printed from a design I drew onto a Styrofoam plate. Different colors of Lumiere were used. The one on the right was outlined with gold Lumiere paint.
All three layers began with one application of paint. The first layer was wet fabric, the second wet layer had the images painted onto it: red grid, gold spots and red circles. The rest was filled with colors. A third wet layer was added and all pressed together and magic happened. After it dried, I took the layers apart and did a masking tape resist, stamping, scraping and outlining to each piece. I really like the way all three turned out.
I have done this on my own and have found many great designs this way. You cut a hole in a small piece of cardboard and move it over a photo until you find a composition you like. The painting on the left was inspired by a photo in a National Geographic, the one on the right was taken from my sketchbook and was inspired by a piece of fabric.

Gathering Supplies

This is the third night I have spent gathering supplies for the Sherrill Kahn workshop. It is one of the most extensive lists I have encountered. I'll be amazed if I use half of it!

Of course, we need paint! Lots and Lots of Paint! I have Neopaque, Dynaflow, Setacolor, Textile Paint and Lumiere. Then there are crayons, paint sticks and markers. And then you need a way to apply it. I have sponges, texture squeegees, combs, toothbrushes and of course paintbrushes.

I saved the best for last, a new apron. I saw this and had to have it. I love it. This is going to be fun!!!

Smoked Out

As you may have heard, there is a major forest fire burning where I live in Santa Barbara county. It's the longest burning fire in the history of California. So far, it's burned 215,000 acres in 1-1/2 months. It's about to cross over into Ventura county and they expect it to burn for at least another month. Their main focus is controlling what direction the fire will burn. Fortunately, no structures have been burned so far although several evacuations have been issued.

Usually the air quality is very good where I live, but that has changed because of the fire. The direction of the wind makes a huge difference on whether or not you can go out. Some days the sky has an overcast orange glow to it and it is snowing ash. Other days, it's a beautiful blue sky.

Needless to say, a lot of people are having problems breathing, myself included. I ended up getting a sinus infection and generally feeling lousy. So I've been taking a bunch of medicine and staying inside trying to get it cleared up and overall I'm beginning to feel better. I've bought a paper mask in case it gets bad again and I need to go out.

I've been finishing a couple of projects, it's about all I've had the energy for. I appreciate all the feedback you gave me about finishing my latest piece. There were some great ideas that made me think differently. I ended up stitching Sliver metallic thread into the piece and then sewing it onto a painted canvas. Here's the final version. I'm still pondering whether I should finish it with a very narrow painted wood frame.

I Survived the Presentation

My quilt presentation went pretty well. A couple of friends told me that my face was redder than my shirt and I spoke a little too fast. I'm glad it's over and I'm sure the next time will be easier.

Overall, my quilts were well received. When I presented my first finished quilt, I hear several gasps of surprise because it's way too nice for a first quilt. I think they enjoyed seeing my non-traditional quilts. Several people stayed afterwards to talk with me. One said my quilts were better than many of the speakers that we have and several asked me if I would teach a class.

At this point in my life, I don't have enough time to spend on my own artwork. I can't imagine teaching. Maybe when I retire.

Remember the turquoise wax painting. I added another layer of crayon and another wash of color. I also added some accents with Red Tsukineko Ink.

Here is the finished painting. I like it even better now. I think it has a lot more depth.And here are several of the ATC's after I cut it up. I really like the movement. I've finished these three weeks early, I don't need them till September.

Now I have to finish two quilts for a group show at the Elverhoj Museum from October - December.

Nervous and Excited

I'm a bit nervous because I'm going to talk to my guild about my quilts. It's a big guild, probably 300 members. Public speaking is not high on my list of skills. I agreed to do it because I really need to conquer this fear and what better place than in front of your friends. I'll be showing 16 quilts created between 1996 and 2007. Please, wish me luck!

I'm really excited because I signed up for a two day workshop at the end of August with Sherrill Kahn. I can't wait, it's going to be a blast!I found these paint chips at the hardware store and had to have them. I have to make another trip for the rest of the colors. I'm going to use them to make some ATC's. Way to fun!

More Shopping!

Another shopping trip with my friend Kathy, north this time. We went to several stores, asking for donations for the Coastal Quilters Guild challenge "Lights! Camera! Action!". I'm sure we spent twice as much money as we received in gift certificates!
I'm pretty sure I needed a couple of these items and some were such a good deal, I couldn't pass it up. I had a coupon for the sewing machine feet, Buy two, get one free, so I did! I bought the Open Toe Free Motion Spring Foot, Edge Stitching Foot and the Chenille Stitching Foot. I have quite the collection of feet now.

I need the corner marker tool to get the Ricky Timms binding to work right. And my hands are dying of heat exhaustion in the quilting gloves I've been using. A friend told me the Machingers gloves breathe. I'll let you know. I cannot find the Tsukineko ink locally, so had to get that too!

Here's my justification for the fabric. Black is my neutral, it makes all colors POP, and good light fabric is hard to find, so you need to buy it whenever you see it. The others had good texture!

These two are special! I love it when the fabric changes throughout the width. There are two fabrics here, the black line shows the separation. The fabric on the bottom starts as yellow and changes to purple at the other end. The fabric on the top has the different skies. Had to get these! Don't you agree?

Artist's Muse Challenge

The chapter 4 challenge from the Artist's Muse Yahoo group is finished!
The challenge was to cut 12 fabrics into irregular shapes and place them randomly onto a base with fusible web and iron. Then stencil and/or paint on the surface as desired. I followed the guidelines up to the shapes being ironed, then I took a turn.
The piece looked nice, but it was too flat for me. I decided to add some pieces of painted dryer sheets, baby wipes, recycled thread bunches and yarn. I put a layer of Solvy on top and stitched it all down. After dissolving, I decided to stitch more layers on top.

I really LOVE it, it reminds me of the ocean. But, I still wondered if it needed something else. I cut out a palm tree and placed on top. It looked good, but I decided it was beautiful by itself and could stand on its own as a piece of art. I am going to paint a canvas blue and stitch the piece on top.

Do you think I should add beads?