It All Begins with Inspiration

 This is a question that is often asked; that said, it never grows old: what are your sources of inspiration? 

I have two main sources: literature (mainly essays and poetry) and photographs (generally my own, but sometimes from my daughter Gina and sometimes from my friend Bob -- always used by permission).

Here are some examples:

This, from Bob...

Became this...

"Abandoned: Alaska"
5" x 7" on stretched canvas, floater frame

And this, from Gina...

Became this...

"Fire Moon" 
12" x 16", wrapped over stretched canvas,
floater frame

This, from my own photographs...

Believe it or not -- became this! 😆

"Red Pot" - 10" x 10"?  Can't remember!

As for inspiration from essays, lyrics and/or poetry...

This piece was inspired by Steve Martin's song, "Daddy Played the Banjo"... 

"Yellow Tree"
12" x 12"
SAQA Benefit Auction 2015

And this one -- available at Curiosity Art and Framing (Red Deer, AB) -- was inspired by Emily Dickenson...

"The Thing with Wings II" - 8" x 10"
Script & stitch on stretched linen,
floater frame

Clearly, creative inspiration can come from pretty much anywhere.  My "statement" pieces have come from the news -- like this one I created after the 2016 election in the US...

"Canada Weeps" - 19" W x 15" L
Fused applique, machine quilting, beading
Hanging sleeve/dowel

Or this one, for the theme "Garden", that I made when I belonged to the international art quilt group, Fifteen by Fifteen...

"Back to the Garden" (2013)
15" x 15"
Self-dyed cotton, machine quilted,
hand embroidery, beading

With that title, if you're a 'certain age', you might guess that it was inspired by lyrics from Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock".  We are stardust; we are golden...and we've got to get ourselves back to the Garden...

Well, now.  Turns out Joni was celebrated recently at this year's Newport Folk Festival, and well she should be.  I know for a fact that I carried her lyrics in my head and heart while I was clambering around the mountain trails and investigating CP Rail ruins at the Illecillewaet trail head in Rogers Pass on my Art in the Park adventure.

The artists for this project are all Canadian -- from B.C. (including Revelstoke itself), from Alberta, from Ontario.  There are 9 of us -- a photographer, a textile artist (c'est moi!), and 7 painters working in acrylic and/or watercolour and/or pencil/watercolour and/or oils.  We range in age from thirties to seventies; in education, from formal to self-taught.  Some of us are full-time artists, some teach, some simply exhibit when and where they can.

Marion Lake Trail

Three of us became friendly right off -- and hiked up a steep trail together (one we thought was "moderately" steep, but we were mistaken!)  Jolene (in her thirties) was recovering from an ankle strain; Tatjana (in her fifties) had some climbing experience but was unused to carrying a pack; I was the eldest and very used to walking -- but switch-backs?!  Whoa!

But...we made it in the end, and were very proud of ourselves!  We took photos to prove it, too.  Here's my 'victory' photo at the destination:

In my mind and heart with Joni was another Canadian folk icon -- Gordon Lightfoot -- with his Canadian Railroad Trilogy.  I walked on the "1885 Trail" that was part of the initial railroad venture through the Canadian Rockies, bringing the wealthy and adventurous to a grand hotel that once stood there -- before it was eclipsed by the venues in Banff and Lake Louise, Alberta, both of which were closer to the growing city of Calgary, and easier to access by the newer -- and reportedly safer -- alternative rail routes being built.

The photos I've taken have now been downloaded to my laptop, and I've started to print off a few, with visions of textural pieces, floral scenes, and something about the mixed blessing that is the railroad.  As I print them off, the lyrics resound in my ears.  Ideas for techniques are taking shape, enabling me to express my reflections on these photos.  

There'll be more about the process going forward, as I have to create at least three pieces for an exhibit at the Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre in the winter of 2023 -- to be followed by a tour.  Given COVID's impact, this biennial Art in the Park program was last run -- and exhibited -- in 2018/2019.  It's important to bring art to the people of the area, and to others in smaller centres where these pieces will be shown.

I've got three themes in mind:

"Flora" or "Meadow" 

Forest/mountains/sky

which will really focus on tree textures...

This one's been altered by my photo editting 
software already.  Texure.  Think: texture!

And...history...

Railway "navvies" -- not from Parks Canada info.

There's a lot there for reflection, pondering, planning, expressing.  All of this will be part of the "inspirational stew" swirling about in the next few weeks before I get down to the business of making fabric samples and going forward with creating final pieces.  As I consider my experience and the photos I've taken, I'll be concurrently thinking about materials I have to hand -- fabric types and colours, other media (paper, etc.), assorted threads and their purpose and potential (including colour, thickness, application).  

All of these thoughts, ideas and plans will appear in posts over the next several months as this work takes shape -- something very new and yet very familiar (landscape tradition).  Stay tuned!

Meanwhile, of course, there is a balance...currently achieved with knitting and cross-stitch.  It's going to be a "Very Stitchy Christmas" this year, as I've selected several small pieces to make for Very Special People.  One of the first on which I'm focusing (focussing??) because it's rather large -- well, long, anyway -- is the Growth Chart I mentioned in my last post (scroll down).  If you look at that "old" photo...and then at this one,  you'll see I've been working hard!

Even though the chart quality is abysmal (as I may have mentioned!) and there are multiple colour changes in leaves and stems (I've taken to keeping up to six (!) needles threaded at a time in those parts!), I'm having great fun with it.

Right now we're in a heat wave here -- and this will continue for the next several days if the forecast is right -- punctuated, if we're lucky, by thunderstorms!! -- so it's the perfect thing to work on in my shaded north-facing living room, with my table fan full on in front of me and a ceiling fan breezing away through the opening between my kitchen and living room.  

Mercy!  Now, I well know we've not had the temps experienced by my friends and Gentle Readers elsewhere, and I feel for you, but we Canucks are still not quite used to these temps in our summers.

Anyone denying the effects of human activity on the climate -- which didn't necessarily cause climate change, but which don't help in the least little bit -- well, y'all need to go back to school and take your science classes over!  This time, pay attention!!  😉💓

On that not-entirely cheerful note, I'm going to sign off -- before I get myself into trouble!  Well...maybe there's a P.S.

When I got back home, I found my sweet daughter had picked my first raspberries.  I've followed that with two more pickings plus the picking of several cherry tomatoes.  And making of raspberry jam.  And enjoying LOTS of salad.  So...a few garden photos to show you that all is not lost on this land yet...

Third raspberry picking -- and not the last!

Some of my lettuce, mesclun/mixed greens, and dill

The zucchini are trying to over-run the beans!

A bird-planted sunflower,
growing under a tree!

That's really all the news that's fit to print for now.  It's a long weekend ("Heritage Day") here in Alberta...and a similar one in other parts of Canada.  We're under heat/thunderstorm watch for the next 3 days anyway.  Perfect for stitching indoors with fans going.  (AC?  For 10 days in July? Not me!)  As I link this to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday, Gentle Readers, may you all have a lovely weekend, wherever you are.  Be well, be safe, find your centre in stitch, and...I'll be back in a week or two.  😊

Caught Up

Like many of my colleagues, friends and relatives, I've been caught up by the impending and then the actual transition of power in the U.S.  Nowadays it's not far from my thoughts, my journal entries, my online time.

As part of a music team at my church, there's a contemporary song we sing often, and the lyrics seem particularly right for this time in history -- especially, in my view, from one friend to another across the (currently) longest undefended border in the world.  It's called the "Servant Song"...

Brother, sister let me serve you.
Let me be as Christ to you.
Pray that I might have the grace
To let you be my servant, too.

We are pilgrims on a journey.
We are brothers on the road.
We are here to help each other
Walk the mile and bear the load.

I will hold the Christ-light for you
In the night time of your fear.
I will hold my hand out to you;
Speak the peace you long to hear.

I will weep when you are weeping.
When you laugh, I’ll laugh with you.
I will share your joy and sorrow
Till we’ve seen this journey through.

When we sing to God in heaven,
We shall find such harmony
Born of all we’ve known together
Of Christ’s love and agony.

Brother, sister let me serve you.
Let me be as Christ to you.
Pray that I might have the grace
To let you be my servant, too.

Richard Gillard of New Zealand - 1976-77 (emphasis mine)

I have vowed on Facebook and on my blog to try my best to be a light, a provider of thoughtful response/opinion, and a purveyor of "real" news and/or facts in light of the propensity nowadays for the opposite of those things.

And I have promised myself, if no-one else, that I will continue to make art, not (to the best of my ability) antagonism.

To that end, for the past couple of weeks (yes; it's really been that long since my last post!) I've ploughed ahead with various projects.

I entered this piece into the SAQA Spotlight Auction, which will take place at the conference in Lincoln, NE at the end of April and into early May:

Winter Walk: Astotin Lake (C) 2017

Look familiar?  It should! (GRIN)  It's the sample I made inspired by my daughter's wonderful photograph of herself doing exactly that -- walking out over the ice on Astotin Lake toward Elk Island (NE of Edmonton, Alberta).  

And it's the basis for this piece which is now finished but for sleeve, label and final photography:

Sometimes You Can Walk on Water (C) 2017
Approx. 42" W x 36" L

And...the basis for my latest piece for the 15 x 15 International Group, as we begin our 2017 year, focusing on working in a series.  

This is just a teaser...but you might 'get' where I'm going with this.  I have the facing to sew down and the sleeve to put in place -- and then final photos and write-up for the 15 x 15 website.  The full "Reveal" will be at the end of this month -- so stay tuned!

Yes...I am exploring two things concurrently (or maybe three, depending on how you look at it): abstraction, improvisational quilting and modern quilting.  To whit: 

• I've purchased a Craftsy.com class entitled "Designing Modern Quilts", taught by Weeks Ringle -- to which I've listened several times and have even done the assignments (which she refers to as 'explorations', which I like very much!);
• I've signed up for a class called "Mod Meets Improv" with one of my favourite teachers, Elizabeth Barton, over at The Academy of Quilting.  This starts January 27 online.  (Sorry; this class had a limited number of spaces and registration is now closed.  If you are interested in future offerings, sign up for e-mail notifications from the Academy HERE.); and 
• I've signed on for "Abstract-a-licious" a class on abstraction from my SAQA colleague, Lyric Montgomery Kinard, which begins in mid-February.  (Note: I met Lyric at the SAQA conference in Portland in 2015; she strode across the lobby to greet me, hand outstretched to shake mine, and said, "I'm Lyric".  Thunderstruck, it was all I could do to squeak out "I know" as I took her hand, my head nodding like some sort of dazed bobble-head doll.)

All of this is in aid of a larger purpose (or two): to expand my artistic repertoire and to enable me to make my DD a wonderful Modern Quilt for her next Big Birthday (a few fast-flying years away).  That would be the same DD whose photography has provided the head shot for Mark on the Body, has complemented my pieces at several of the annual Art Shows and Sales in Lacombe, and has inspired more than one piece of my work, including those mentioned above...

(C) Gina R. Blank, 2017.

So as I link up with Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday...I leave you with these thoughts...

 

The first, from the Apostle Paul -- for the days/weeks/months/years ahead:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails.... And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.  (1 Corinthians 13: 4-8, 13, New International Version)

The second, quoted recently by the wonderful Ms. Meryl Streep, from her colleague and friend, the late Carrie Fisher: 

Take your broken heart; make it into art.

The third, those lovely servant song words, sung by the composer:

Have a great rest of the weekend, everyone!

Sometimes You Can Walk on Water

On New Year's Day, my daughter posted another stupendous photograph on her blog.  I was immediately smitten.  I could see it in fabric.  I asked for -- and received -- her assent to use the photo, even when entering the piece into a show.

Why?

Well, the Ailsa Craig Quilt Festival in Ontario this year is focusing on Canada -- because of our 150th Anniversary of Confederation (and 150+ as an entity, if you go back far enough with our First Nations founders)...

I could just see this piece in my mind, fully formed -- BUT (there's always one of those, eh?!)...

• The entry deadline is January 31 at 11:59 p.m. EST (that would be 9:59 p.m. here in the Mountain Time Zone); and
• The piece must be a minimum of 30" x 30".

Goodness!  I have nothing on hand that's large enough; I've only twice made any art piece that large (or larger) and those pieces are in private hands (not mine).

And there's this wonderful photo:

Walking on Astotin Lake,
Elk Island Provincial Park, Alberta
Photo by Gina Blank, 2016, used by permission

Monday I awoke in the wee hours with it on my mind.  I'd have to dye the sky; did I have a large enough piece of white fabric?

I found a very large piece of heavy cotton -- rather like duck -- that Gina had given me some time ago.  I think it was a blind from IKEA in another life.  I cut it in half, put it to soak in a soda ash solution and went back to bed.

When I got up I put it into a low-water immersion dye bucket with "Sky Blue" dye solution (Dharma Trading, MX dye) and left it till the evening.  Rinsed, washed with Synthropol and machine dried, it looked pretty good.

Tuesday I worked at the shop.

I woke this morning knowing it wasn't quite the right blue.  I'd have to over-dye it with some turquoise...so back it went into a new soda ash soak and then the dye pot for a few hours.

While it soaked, I worked on plans for my next donation to the now-annual Spotlight Silent Auction at the up-coming SAQA Conference in Lincoln, NE at the end of April.  I'm not going but I can still contribute.  I decided to make a mini of the piece I'm entering into Ailsa Craig...so I prepped the background and chose thread with which to quilt the sky:

I also did a bunch of paperwork and took a walk to the Post Office...Not long after lunch, I decided to take the fabric out of the dye pot, rinse, wash and dry it...and then...mount it on the design wall.

Goodness!  It takes up the entire thing!  And I have to quilt that!  ;-)  

Miracle of miracles, I found some thread in the right colour for the sky, and will do a practice run on some of the fabric that I'll trim off one side.  I'm a bit concerned because it's heavier than quilting cotton.  I might keep it simple and use my walking foot for wavy lines and large swirls.

I also knew I'd have to enlarge the figure and the island/shoreline in the background.  This took some work with my light box and my scanner/copier, which blessedly enlarges up to 400% -- and I used every bit of that!  After several attempts, I got the entire figure together, and the island/trees...for this mock-up:

Hopeful finished size: 40" x 32"
Working title?  You guessed it:
Sometimes You Can Walk on Water

Of course, the figure and the island/shore won't be white... Just in case you were wondering...!  ;-)

Even if it's not accepted into the show, I'm thinking that if I can get the quilting right, it's going to be a wonderful piece!

So...that's my Work In Progress this week, which I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday over at The Needle and Thread Network.  Time to take a break and do some knitting!

Ciao!

Wisdom

This beautiful young woman is my daughter.  She, my son and I are on the Introvert Scale...as in...we seem to be introverts of varying degrees.

Their father, my late husband, was the only apparent extrovert in our family.  He balanced us out, each in our own way.

But he wasn't just gregarious, fun-loving, social.  He was also a listener, a rememberer, and a Wise Person.

From him, my sweet daughter developed her love for photography and learned her initial skills in that area...and from him, she learned a measure of wisdom.  Today, she shared some of that on her blog...which I invite you to read HERE.

Enjoy!

It's Never Over Till It's Over*

*attributed to both Sir Winston Churchill and Yogi Berra

Whoever said that, he was proven right in my life today.

I'm just back from my fifth foray into the weekend that is the Annual Lacombe Art Show and Sale.  Once again I shared a booth with my lovely and talented photographer daughter, Gina Blank.

The show opened yesterday afternoon at 1 p.m. and ran through to 8 p.m. with a funky Gala evening.  I sold 1 quilted card that afternoon; Gina sold a couple of photo cards and a photo-on-stretched canvas -- her coffee cups in black and white, which is a perennial favourite.  Neither of us sold a thing during the gala; one of the organizers admitted that the turn-out for that part of the show was rather disappointing.

Today was a new day; doors opened at 11 a.m.  The weather was sunny and pleasant (not too cool; not too hot; no rain or snow!)...and so people came out to the show -- parents and kids, including many high-schoolers eager to see their work and that of their friends hanging in the annual special Student Exhibit.

A lot of looking, a lot of interest, but all in all a bit quiet as to sales.

That said, by mid-afternoon, when the refreshments -- assorted "appies", wine and micro-brew beers -- were on offer, the atmosphere was light and I'd sold 3 minis and 2 more post-cards.

My sweet parish priest came by to support and admire, as did my buddy Anna from The Shop -- we overlap part-time work on Thursdays -- and Gwendy, one of our regular Knit Night customers.

A bonus and a sweet surprise: Anna is friends with a woman who's an artist in a painters' guild -- the Parlby Brushketeers -- and Anna had told her about my Mark on the Body project.  Late in the afternoon, there I was, putting in today's stitches on MOB I.  Anna brought her friend over...and now I have another encourager as I go forward with that work...for which I am tremendously grateful.

One of my purchasers today was a gal whose sister takes Tai Chi at our church with the wife of one of the musicians in the trio of which I'm a part, that plays for services once or twice a month.  The "wife" mentioned to the Tai Chi "sister" that I had a booth in the show; the "sister" thought that the "purchaser" would like my work...and in the end both bought minis!

Doncha just love small world connections? ;-)

Gina and I both made our expenses and a bit more -- given we were sharing the booth.  But...that was it.

And then...

5 p.m.  "Good afternoon everyone!  Thank you for coming to the 17th Annual Lacombe Art Show and Sale. The show is now over..."

But not quite.

At least, not for the gal who was furiously trying to take in our booth's wares even as we were preparing to pack up.

I went over to her...she asked me about the work and the fabric in each of two pieces.  She hemmed and hawed. Could she still buy?  I said "yes".  Would I take a cheque?  "Yes."  (There was an ATM in the lobby but the show's credit card service had been wound up.)

And...at 5:05 p.m....

SOLD!

Edging into Spring (C) 2015

The largest piece I've sold to date...completely by surprise!

And there was icing on this cake!  

My "neighbour" for the show was Marg, a painter and art show regular (all 17 years I think), now in her mid-to-late seventies, who took up painting when she retired over twenty years ago.

She had a very busy weekend because this was very likely her last show.  Her equally aging (and going deaf) dear hubby was moving more slowly, and she lived in terror that he'd fall off a ladder trying to help her put up her booth.  Both of them were very tired after Day 1...and found Day 2 a bit daunting.  

She'd visited my booth on Day 1...and intended to make it back as there were pieces in which she was very interested.  

I went to say 'good-bye' and 'best wishes' to her as I finished packing...and she expressed regret.  She really wanted a piece.  She tried to remember exactly what it was.  Ah yes!  But...it was in my car.  Could I fetch it for her?  NO -- she wouldn't let me but...I had my minis...and she chose one and paid for it, cash.  I was delighted; she was delighted.  She seemed to see me as a young (!) artist with promise...and again, I told her I hoped she'd keep painting...and hoped we'd meet again.  

Connections.  That's really what this art world really is about.  

Decades ago, an uncle of mine had said, "It's not what you know; it's who you know."  Of course, he was referring to obtaining employment after university...

Little did he know that what I've come to understand about that time-worn, somewhat mercenary phrase is that it's true...in that what really counts in one's work, is the relationships one builds through the years, along whatever path one travels.   And one's attitude and one's spirit are what brings people together.

Artists -- whatever their medium -- connect with viewers/listeners/"experiencers" because the art they create comes from their hearts and their expression of what's in their hearts -- their attitudes, perspectives, experiences and spirits.

One never really knows how successful one's "show" has been...because it's never over till it's over.

(Linking up to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday...and wishing you wonderful connections...till we meet again...")