SAQA Trunk Show Entry

The Studio Art Quilts Associates (SAQA) has a call for entry for the 2017 SAQA Trunk Show. These small works measure 7 x 10 inches. They are bundled into small groups and travel the world, showcasing the work of fiber artists. This is my entry.

You Can't Step into the Same River Twice 

It is a funny name, I know. But, it seems to me to be a metaphor for life.

It is the first in this series. I find it quite joyful to work in this small size, trying out ideas for larger works to come.

Thanks for viewing and leave a comment if you are inclined. I would love your feedback.

Best to all.

Linking to Off the Wall Friday

Chessman Gallery Exhibit

My small art group MIX has an exhbit opening today at the Chessman Gallery in Lincoln City. Three bodies of our work are on display.

First is the 18-inch square works In the Extreme which include color, shape and material in the extreme.

Second is A Sense of Place: the Allison, which includes work that is 24 x 30-inches and represents both hardscape and softscape inspiration from the Allison landscape.

Third is our most recent, Urban PDX, which is insired by the changing landscape in Portland.

If you hve the chance, do stop by for a viewing. It is specacular.

Caste-Outcast

This artwork was begun some time ago. It was based on a novel, The God of Small Things, about fraternal twins growing up in India. They were born into an upper level caste. The boy should have thrived. The girl would have a harder time doing so. Because of life events, the opposite occurred.

I have symbolized the girl as a flower within the triangle which is rising. The boy is symbolized with a graphic from the flag of India but he is diminishing. I always loved the graphic look to this art work but felt it could be stronger. This year I approached it once again and added corded outlines to the outside of the triangles to further define the shapes and then added an extensive amount of quilting which adds a third dimension. I love it to bits now.

Enjoy it as well and do leave comments. I love the dialog!

Linking to Off the Wall Friday

An Urban Conversation

The MIX exhibit for this year is called Urban PDX. After photographing the city, I chose to work with two bridges: the 1930's built St Johns bridge and the newly introduced Tillicum Crossing. Our task was to create one large piece, with dimensions of 30x40 inches in portrait orientation and one piece that is 8x20 Inches.

For the large piece, I knew that I did not want to have a typical colored sky. I love this piece of discharged cloth  that to me resembles a sky at sunset and so the background is whole cloth. I chose to give the St Johns bridge elder statesman status and feature it very boldly. The new younger sister is juxtaposed across. She is created with a contemporary floral and a black and white graphic print. I don't usually put borders on art work but the sunset needed to be reigned in. This piece is named
An Urban Conversation.

For the smaller piece, I stepped out of the box completely. This bridge backdrop was created on my IPad with a photography app that distorted the bridge. It was then taken into Photoshop where the orange colorations were created and grunged. This was printed on my home printer and the black bridge was appliqued on top. I love working this way.

PDX Urban MIX

MIX is preparing a new exhibit. This year's challenge includes 

• a new theme, Urban PDX
• each piece measures 30” x 40”. 
• and contains some use of the yellow that is found on the ubiquitous #2 pencil

In addition, we each made a small piece, 8” x 20” that was some sort of abstraction of the main piece. Perhaps it was a warm up. Perhaps an afterthought. It will be fun!

 If you are in the area, do stop by for a look at some fabulous art.

Flying Geese Bridge

has been accepted into the Visions Art Museum Online Exhibit: Architecture.
See it here:

and then see what it is showing with by clicking here:

http://www.visionsartmuseum.org/online_gallery.asp?id=8

How fun is this!

Searching for Saffron

The theme for this challenge is the Orient Express. This train initially ran from Paris to Constantinople, now called Istanbul. Istanbul is known for it's spice markets. My quilt juxtaposes spice containers with the stepping stones to get to the markets.

I like to give myself a few side challenges when working on these quilts. For this, I wanted to continue a strong graphic look, a layered effect with see-through elements of surprise and hand stitching.

If you are interested in joining this group, let me know. The general size is A4 which is about 8.5 x 11. I have chosen to work at 11 x 14 size for my work. It just feels like more of a presence. These are a good place to experiment with ideas for larger works or new techniques. Think about it.

Linking to Off the Wall Friday

The Aunty Quilt

I love making traditional quilts as much as I like to make fiber art. There are only so many quilts one needs so way back in the day, I started making quilts for some of the women in my life. Sister and Sisters-in law have been recipients. This one was gifted to my niece, Katie Jones. It is so named because this scrap quilt contains many of the fabrics used in quilts made for Katie's aunties.

Making a scrap quilt sounds like a simple project. It often requires more thought and planning than any other. For this quilt, I unified the blocks by making the outer most edge of each block a black print of the same strip width. I did not want any two adjacent blocks to have the same print or same scale print. So a plan was required for this.

All of the spaces in between are made of white and black prints of differing scales. Since these needed to be spread across the quilt, I laid all of these out in the beginning. From there, I made groupings of 5 prints that would work together. The very center of each block looked best if it was a print. As I moved across the quilt, I selected a color family that was not in the nearby blocks. I used a foundation and flip and stitch technique for making the quarter blocks.

I loved working on the quilt. All the colors make me happy. And, with a little planning at the beginning, the flow of work is much quicker with a pleasing end result.

Shout out your take on scrap quilt making or anything else that suits your fancy.

Linking to Off the Wall Friday

Hello Yellow

When I lived in Missouri, my friends and I would regularly attend the Paducah Quilt show. The Moda vendor would hand out little packets of pure colored Moda marbles. After many years of gathering these little 4.5 inch square gems, it was launch time. 

I combined the marbles with other small printed fabric to make a pile of half square triangles. Placement was the really fun part. I started by making 9 patch groupings by color and then banded them with a small black and white print. From there I segued to this configuration by interrupting the single color nine patches with the black strips and occasionally I included a six patch. I often let an adjacent color play with a nine patch. It was a total joy to work with these colors. I think it's true of most quilts, that adding some layer of complexity causes the viewer to look a lot longer. that is a goal of mine in creating.

Shout out in the comments what you think.

Linking to Off the Wall Friday

When the Fairies Sing

This is where I started, a quilt from a pattern. I would like to give the designer credit but I am down south at the moment and do not know her name. (If you do, add it in the comments and I will post it here.) Her design was compelling enough for me to give it a go but I thought the value treatments on the pattern cover were not strong enough to see the design. And, I was determined to shape this quilt using blue and orange, my favorite colors but ones I have not worked with for awhile.  I did not think the pattern design ended at the best spot either. This first image shows the pattern as designed.

I carried on, continuing the white portion of the design to the edges and the coral portion is now a half diamond. I think this makes the pieces look more complete. When I added the final rows around the periphery, I had run out of the medium blue fabric. I found a solid blue of the same value and it works just fine. In fact I think it probably adds a bit of interest to the quilt.

My good friend Janet Fogg quilted this for me. Her work is stunning and makes this quilt.

Are you wondering how I named this quilt? When I was a child one of my favorite songs was "White Coral Bells". We would sing it in music class in four part harmony. The last line is "that will only happen when the fairies sing". It still makes me smile.

Linking to Off the Wall Friday