Another Opening, Another Show!

My cyber-acquaintance, Arlee Barr, is part of a forthcoming exhibit at Resolution Gallery in Kensington, Calgary; the show opens Tuesday.  She and the other artists are part of Contextural, a collective of several like-minded textile artists.    I can't make the official Opening :-(  but will be in town the following week and plan to go then.  Should be terrific!

I Recommend

A visit to the Alberta Craft Council gallery in Edmonton to see both current exhibits. On the lower level until September 25 is "For the Love of Craft", mounted as a celebration of the ACC's 30th anniversary this year. Fibre artists are included -- and there are a couple of particularly good pieces; my favourite is "Off the Wall" -- a quilt that -- well, I'll let you see it for yourself!

In the Discovery Gallery on the main level, the featured artist is Linda McBain Cuyler, with an exhibit entitled "Aerial Landscapes" -- and this all textile art by an extraordinarily talented machine thread painter. I can't find a website for her, but she has a spot on Facebook, so if you are able to pop in there, you can see all the photos of the exhibit. It's on only through September 4, so if you can't get there, be sure to visit the Facebook site!

Ready for Formal Photos

May I present "Aspen"? With one other piece ("My Back Yard" is finished too), this hanging will be taken to my daughter's in Edmonton on Monday for a photo-shoot.

In this photo, it's pinned up on my slightly askew easel -- but it's bound and has its sleeve, so it's good to go.

DD's had a few other pieces for photography since mid-July, so sometime next week, my cock-eyed efforts at 3F Creations will be replaced by the crisp, the clear, and the captivating!

The results will end up on my website.

The art of painting...

House painting, that is! I have two windows that still have wooden frames and, with the pillars and railings of my back stoop, had begun to show the effects of the weather 'round these parts. For the past week, a wee bit at a time, I've managed to paint all of the stoop, plus the window frames, and three pair of shiny black metal shutters. Aren't they pretty? And yes, the job's all finished, the paint has dried, I've learned how to deal with mineral spirits and cleaning paintbrushes (paint for metal is quite different from indoor house paint!) and removing and re-installing shutters. Never a dull moment!

Other arty activities:

I've bound and labelled "My Back Yard", and am in the midst of auditioning the beads I want to add to the flower. I have 3 colours of glass beads: black, a sort of metallic black, and clear. I've begun by sewing 1 of each to one flower, but of course, the combinations could be quite extensive -- use only one of the colours for all the flowers; use 2 of one colour and 1 of another; use the 1 of each approach; use a different combination for each flower. Whadd'ya think?

Size is 8" square DETAIL

I've also begun a new piece for SAQA's "This is a Quilt!" exhibit. I decided I'd begin with a sample, but it's in the size range so that if it turns out well, I'll submit it 'as is'. I call it "Circle Play", and in it I used sequin waste for the first time, plus some fabric that I recently sun printed. (I'm quite hooked on that process, thanks to the gals at 3 Creative

Studios!)

And this morning.... I returned to "Aspen", a piece in my "Nature" Series that I've had hanging on my design wall for a few weeks now, waiting to get up the courage to created the leaves. I took photos of aspen leaves close up, on one of my walks, but creating them into little templates just didn't seem to work -- not the right proportions. That said, I couldn't face the notion of quilting them in tiny heart-like shapes and then painting inside the quilting... So I made a wee sample, and discovered that I could paint first with thickened fabric paint, for quilting later. I made two shades of green -- one more 'blue' and one more 'yellow' -- to show the sunshine and shade sides of the leaves, and had a lot of fun creating this:

Because the process was so much fun, the challenge became trying to figure out... when to stop!

More than a month...

has passed since my last post -- but there's a good reason! I've been busy, with a capital 'B'. Where shall I begin? Since April 9th, I've worked part-time at our local Library, gone to the 11th annual Lacombe Art Show, volunteered at Superfluity, the thrift shop in Stettler, sung at church (and had practices for same), gone to Calgary and to Edmonton twice each, endured two spring blizzards, and won a prize at a gallery show. It may have been over-the-top busy these past few weeks, but it's also been a great deal of fun!

The Art Show in Lacombe is a true 'Artist's Date', and a delight for the eyes. This year my favourite booths were those belonging to the Ponoka Potters Guild, and to a young woman named Sally Towers Sybblis. From the Guild, I bought a tall, slender mug fashioned in brown and blue glazes by Noni Chalmers, the wife of the fellow for whom I'm making the kilt hose. She does most her potting in caramel-coloured glazes, but this mug was very different, and I had to take it home with me. :-)

Sally is a calligrapher and artist who paints and writes on both paper and fabric -- mainly canvas. From her I bought a very pretty little canvas tote that was inscribed with one of my very favourite sayings: "Bloom where you're planted." It was decorated with a pot of purply flowers -- the name of which I forget at the moment! She and I had a long chat about painting and working with inks and dyes on fabric, and about showing work. She had a single booth, the cost of which was so reasonable for the 3 days, that I have decided to use next year's show as my Firm Visioning Goal -- and prepare my body of work with the show in mind. I hope to see Sally again then, if not before!

My first trip to Calgary was to my mid-April meeting of the Wild Rose Stitchers, the only Alberta Chapter of The Applique Society, which meets on the third Wednesday of each month -- year 'round -- at 10 a.m. at Addie's Creative Fabrics. That particular meeting was full of our last-minute plans for Quilt Canada 2010, which began shortly thereafter (April 24) and ran through May 1. Suddenly, the Week was upon us -- and we were ready!

Here's one of our members, L, sitting at the table at our 51-piece exhibit on the morning of April 28 (the exhibits were open from the evening of April 27 through to 5 p.m. on May 1). I was volunteering with her that day, and it was a full one indeed. We had lots of visitors, asking questions, and were thrilled to be able to link people up with TAS chapters near them, from Dawson City, Yukon, to the 'Cyberspace' chapter at Yahoo.com.

That night we had a spring blizzard, complete with heavy, wet snow, howling winds and icy roads. We awoke to 10 inches of snow on our vehicles and virtually impossible side streets. Still, the show must go on, and most of us volunteering managed to get back to the show. In fact, by the time I finished my second day as a volunteer (April 29), you could hardly tell we'd had the storm. Alberta in April; ya gotta love it!

Thursday, April 29, from noon through almost 6 p.m., I worked at the SAQA exhibit, Synthesis, which up till Quilt Canada 2010 had been travelling in Eastern Canada and the Maritimes. From Calgary, it's scheduled to go to Fibreworks on the Sunshine Coast of B.C. later this summer. I was blessed by J, one of the exhibit's other volunteers, when she took my picture next to my piece, "Snippets: An Art Quilter's Learning Curve". This was the first time I'd seen all of the pieces in one place -- and it was a thrill to be there with my heroines, Anna Hergert, Pamela Allen, Laurie Swim and Karen Goetzinger!

Another thrill came when a total stranger told me that as far as she was concerned, my piece, "Prairie Autumn" , was the best in the show! She asked me what I'd sell it for and when I told her, she said, "...reasonable, for a piece that size. I was over the moon to have my work validated by someone who was not a friend, colleague or family member. This, and my experience at the FFAA Show (see below) have given me renewed confidence, energy and motivation for my work, and for my future.

I had introduced myself to Pamela Allen at the Opening Reception on Tuesday evening, and we kept bumping into each other thereafter. This was great, because I felt we were well acquainted by the time I served as her "Class Angel" on Friday and Saturday. The name of this 2-day workshop was "What Makes a Good Composition?" Because there were only a few others in the class, I was invited to play too -- quite unexpectedly -- so I had to go to the Merchant Mall and buy some fabric (all together now: "Aw-w-w-w-w"). I participated in the first 2 exercises -- a black and white study, and a colour study -- but spent Day 2 stitching while the others worked on the linear study. Here are a few samples from the other participants (who shall remain nameless):

Left to Right: Black and White Studies ; a Colour Study; a Linear Study under construction

Stay tuned for forth-coming photos of my efforts!

I arrived home Sunday to no phone service. Turns out the storm had knocked out lines in the area, and my land line was affected. Blessedly, anyone I needed to contact was on e-mail!

Bright and early on Thursday, May 6th, I was on my way to Edmonton for a 3-day version of Anna Hergert's workshop, "Cause and Effect". As it's usually 5 days, it was a pretty intense time! There 11 of us had a great deal of fun melding layers of painted plastic wrap, and testing Tyvek, acrylic felt, used dryer sheets, paper napkins and landscape fabric with stitching, paint, heat guns and irons. I started a new sketchbook for this class; though I have expanded my horizons already with those 3 days, I know I have more experimenting to do -- and I have some great ideas for the next piece in my 'nature' series.

On the evening of May 7th, most of our class -- and Anna -- were present for the Opening of "Green", the latest show from the Focus on Fibre Arts Association. What a thrill to find that my entry, "Picked for the Ripening", won 3rd Place in my division: "Small Wall-hanging, Original Design"! (That's it next to me, the bottom of a trio of small hangings.) Even better, at least 1/2 dozen of us in Anna's workshop had entered -- and won -- so Anna was thrilled and proud of and for all of us. What a great group of which to be a part!

"Picked" was Picked!

Just received word that "Picked for the Ripening" has been picked to be part of the Focus on Fibre Arts upcoming exhibit, beginning in Edmonton in May and travelling through to the fall. Instructions for dropping it off and timelines for the first Opening, etc., will be in the mail to me shortly. I must credit my daughter's superb photography for helping my entry. :-)

To boot, I submitted my piece by the Early Bird deadline -- and won the draw for the Early Bird prize! Whoo Hoo! I was completely ignorant of the fact there was a prize, so was totally blown away when I got the news. What a great way to start a weekend!