Friday, November 28, 2008

Coming together...

I have had an idea in mind for an art quilt for quite awhile now, and recently started working on it. I have hand-dyed all but one piece of the fabric I am using. I even embellished some of the fabric with acrylic paint, which is a first for me. I used to paint, but hadn't touched my acrylics in a long time. But a class in mixed media with cloth and paper caused me to revisit them, and I decided to get a little experimental with this piece:

So, I am just about ready to begin my free-motion quilting, but want to study it a little longer.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Thanksgiving Day

I am taking care of our neighbor's horses while she is in Phoenix for the holiday, and walking out to check on them, I saw this:

When we moved here in 2003, the area was in the midst of a severe drought. People who had lived here for a long time were depressed because we didn't have any snowfall until mid-December, and that was miniscule compared to what they were used to. This year, we have had at least 3 storms that left snow on the peaks so far, and one that left about 3 inches in our yard. I am hopeful that the drought is beginning to recede. This is such a beautiful area, and when there is snow on the peaks, the view is stunning!
Wishing you all a happy Thanksgiving...

Monday, November 24, 2008

Doodling

I have been trying lately to get into the habit of doodling... something I have never done much of. I want to do it to loosen up, to 'exercise' my creativity. So this weekend, while I was at the Craft fair, one of the things I did to occupy my time in between sales was to doodle. Here is one that I worked on for awhile, which actually took on a life of its own:

It's not done yet, although when I started it, I had no preconceived plan or idea of what it would end up like. I added the words after I created the shapes. Sometimes, little rhymes come to me, and this one was inspired by the curves of the doodle. I may make this into a wall hanging! Meanwhile, it did what it was supposed to do - helped me pass the time, and let me 'play'!

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Hand-stitched piece

Last spring, I started a hand-stitched piece using cotton crinkle cloth, hand-dyed, gauze, various colored threads, and embroidery floss. Lately, I adjusted one of the chimney rocks and added some boulders with more fabric and fusible interfacing. I thought I would post a picture of
where it's at so far:


This is one of those pieces that just meanders... I don't work at it all the time, just when I have time to sit for awhile. I don't know what more I will be doing to it, but seem to be inspired when I pick it up. Ideas come, and I have a photograph of the Monument Valley that I refer to for inspiration. I have an idea that this will end up being framed when it is complete, rather than adding a border. We'll see...

So far, so good!

Yesterday was the first of a 2-day show I have been selling at for 3 years now. What with the economy in a major world of hurt, I really wasn't expecting to have a great day yesterday, and my major hope was to a) make rent, and b) hopefully make enough to put a dent in my business' credit card debt. Well.... let's hear it for the buying public in Flagstaff! I made double my rent, and then some yesterday! And Saturday is usually the big sales day of this event, so I am looking forward to a brisk business today (oops! Shouldn't count my chickens before they hatch!). At any rate, the big sellers so far have been my silk/rayon Devore scarves from Dharm Trading... they dye up beautifully, as you can see - the Aqua one on the right is the 'Water' pattern. Other scarves are chiffon that I dyed last year:



And here's a shot of my booth:

I have a really nice ez-up canopy, but it's a @#!*? to put up, so I drug out the cheapie and washed and repaired my gauze cover... much easier to deal with! My neighbor Linda came and helped me set up, and promises to come this afternoon for take-down. I think I owe her a shirt, don't you?
I'll let you know tomorrow how the show goes today...

Monday, November 17, 2008

Mixed Media update

I am working on lesson 3 of my mixed media class, which has us painting on fabric, then adding the painted portion to a background. I did several backgrounds in lesson 1, but decided to try my painted bird on a couple pieces of fabric I had created prior to the class:

The background here is a leaf print I did awhile back... I am using the back of the fabric, because it is more muted, sort of 'misty'.


This background is a piece of rust-dyed fabric I did using rebar and rusty wire.
Then I remembered I have some collage papers I purchased for the class, and decided to try one of them:
I can't decide! What to do... what to do!
Meanwhile, I finished the last tie-dye yesterday for my upcoming 2-day show (at last!), so now I have a few days to get my stuff together for the show, and maybe work a little on dyeing fabrics for my next art quilt. The beat goes on...

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Well, it's come to this...

As usual, my project list keeps growing... I came across a dry-erase board I had from my former life, so decided to put it to good use, keeping track of my to do's:
Here's what is going on right now:
Work in progress for my Mixed Media class
Rust dyed fat quarter I'm working on for a swap
Line drawing for an art quilt of the Slot Canyons I am starting
Start of the fabric stash for the Slot Canyon quilt
tie-dye for my upcoming craft show, and a bunch of rusty bits waiting to be used on my rust dyeing fat quarter
It's always something!

Saturday, November 8, 2008

ACF Gallery opening

I am a member of the Artists' Coalition of Flagstaff, and last night we celebrated the opening of our very own gallery, just in time for First Friday Art Walk! Here are some shots I took:



We had a wonderful turnout for our first show, with lots of great feedback from folks who stopped by. We're hoping to be open on the weekends as well as First Friday Art Walk, with the help of volunteers from the members who are showing their art. BTW, the last picture is of a 'restored mannequin' by one of our members, Nancy DeBlois, who restores mannequins and makes Luminarias as well... there was a great story about her on the front page of our local paper yesterday! Great going, Nancy...

Thursday, November 6, 2008

New class

I am taking an on-line class in Mixed Media with fiber and paper by Jane LaFazio, which started last Thursday. Our first assignment was to create several backgrounds which will be used for upcoming lessons. We were asked to use untreated canvas, watercolor paper and muslin, and apply gesso, acrylic paints and liquid medium, stamp, stencil, etc., to create the backgrounds. It has been a long while since I used acrylics, and I have always been a little heavy-handed with color, so I had to rework the first backgrounds I created. Yesterday, I did several more, and this time I was able to tone down the colors some and come up with better results. Here is what I have done so far:
Now I'm waiting for lesson 2, which should be coming any minute! Stay tuned...

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

First Friday Art Walk coming up!

I am a member of the Flagstaff Artists' Coalition, and we recently opened a gallery downtown to showcase works by our members. Friday, November 7th, we will be participating in the First Friday Art Walk and if you are in the area, I hope you will stop by! I have 4 Art Quilts and a number of hand-dyed silk/rayon scarves on display, and we have a terrific display of work by several other members as well!
Click here for a link to the map of galleries that will be participating. I hope to see you there!

Sunday, November 2, 2008

New Blog

I have noticed of late several of the blogs that I follow get a little 'off topic' from time to time. Not that I don't have opinions about things, but I decided to create a new blog rather than 'muddy the waters' of this blog. So if you are interested in reading about what I think of things other than my creative pursuits, you are welcome to click on the link to my 'other' blog and read away. If it is of no interest to you, that's fine too! Either way, thanks for stopping by...

Judy