Back from the Nancy Crow Workshop

I had a blast at the Nancy Crow workshop recently offered in Muskegon.  5 days of concentrating on lines and shapes and circles without a ruler in sight.

Here's my line study which I'll tweak and then quilt.  I'm calling it Midnight at Reeds Lake.  I've purchased some black batting to see if I can get the white seamlines to show. 

In addition to seeing what I have to do to progress, I met some really wonderful quilters.  Some are even in my own local guild. 

Kiwi Really Goes Walkabout

It's no seceret that I was very excited to have my Kiwi's Nocturne art quilt accepted into the Beneath the Southern Sky Exhibit.  So many venues in three countries! Well, it recently got even better when we learned that our wonderful curator Brenda Gael Smith had added the UK and South Africa to the list.

Images of  the whole exhibit--mine is near the middle

West Michigan Quilters Guild Show 2012

My quilt Kieran's Compass was sporting two Special Award ribbons at last weekend's West Michigan Quilters Guild Show at the Deltaplex.  These are my first ribbons and therefore very exciting.  One was awarded by a judge who represents a local quilt shop and the other was the President of the Grand Rapids Public Museum.

The quilt is back on my son's bed now after its happy adventure in the world outside our house.

Most gorgeous dryer lint

I'm signed up for a Nancy Crow workshop to be held in Muskegon Dec. 10-14 so I'm acquiring and pre-washing many yards of fabric in a very wide range of solid colors.  It's fun to look at dry, it's fun to look at wet--and the related-color loads I'm putting through the dryer make the most wonderfully complex colors of dryer lint.  Ironing has been an on-going project--glad I made a good ironing station a while back.

I acquired several of Nancy's books and have been reading a lot about color lately.  Quite enjoyable and can't help but influence the work to come.

As for my recent experiments in lower contrast, last week was the opening of the Women's Center Art Show on the GVSU campus.  My piece was hung rather high which is an entirely different perspective on it.  People seem to like it, but it is hard to point out detail (up too high!).

Pinterest

Just discovered that my quilt in the Beneath the Southern Sky exhibition has shown up in at least a few spots on Pinterest. 
pinterest.com/erlindam/things-i-think-miss-ellen-would-like
pinterest.com/joyehawk/quilts-animal-art/
pinterest.com/ginihoward/design/
pinterest.com/erlindam/pins/

Fun!

AQS Grand Rapids 2012

The thick envelope arrived!!! My quilt "Laddie's Garden" was juried into the AQS Show in Grand Rapids August 22-25, 2012. Technically that makes me a "semifinalist" and the packet included a media release. I deal in media releases all the time at work but they don't have my name on them, so this was a kick. I don't breathe the rarified atmosphere of the quilters who will actually win, but I'm very excited to have been juried into this show which will have had entries from all over the country. http://aqsshows.com/AQSGrandRapids/

And the knowledge that the Beneath the Southern Sky exhibition is going to AQS shows in Lancaster Peducah in 2013 makes this a banner year. Brenda Gael Smith is a wonderful organizer.

Certainly Not Nobody!

I was going to write a post about how I have the blog no one sees when I realized I had a comment on my last post from none other than the vibrant textile artist and really lovely person Pamela Priday.  That'll show me not to generalize.

Next week is dedicated to learning even more about quilt photography from a real pro.  Very thankful to work at a place that has a photography program.  One of my recent quilts presents some real challenges due to my use of a lot of black, but also some shiny fabrics and 3D stuff and some sections with a lot of different colors. 

Meanwhile, I'm making baby steps progress on a quilt based on a a photo I took that will later be spliced with versions made by Erica Spinks and Stephanie Knudsen.

No idea why these don't save upright, but here they are.  It's fun working in this scale.

Art dolls

I'm currently working on a pair of art dolls (Ars and Techne) to represent the free side of art and the highly technical side. So I'm using wildly mixed media in one and insertion lace and drafting in the other. Seems like I'm changing thread all the time. ;-)

Wombat Dreaming

This 26 by 56 inch quilt uses hand and machine quilting, embroidery, furroughing, beading, art string, Photoshopped images printed on fabric, thread painting, piping and other techniques.

Bluebirds

This little quilt will be on its way to my Aunt Marie today. We just lost my young cousin Ryan to a massive stroke. He did go for it in his life, but was not given very much time. Forty-something sounds very young to me nowadays.

This is a slightly reconfigured version of a commercial pattern, so not really my design.

Art project #2--Hawaiian petition against annexation

This quilt (40" x 40") is pieced, stenciled with blended paint sticks, hand echo quilted and machine lettered with the 1897 pettition against annexation text submitted by women of Oahu. Completed in about two weeks, it represents some very concerted work each day. Phew!  I intend to enter it into the GVSU Women's Center Art Show.

The text reads:

Petition Against Annexation
To His Excellency WILLIAM McKINLEY, President, and the Senate, of the United States of
America.
GREETINGS:-- WHEREAS, there has been submitted to the Senate of the United States of America a Treaty for the Annexation of the Hawaiian Islands to the said United States of America, for consideration at its regular session in December, A.D. 1897; therefore,
WE, the undersigned, native Hawaiian Women, citizens and residents of the District of Kona Honolulu, Island of Oahu, who are members of the Women’s Hawaiian Patriotic League
of the Hawaiian Islands, and other women who are in sympathy with the said League, earnestly protest against the annexation of the said Hawaiian Islands to the said United States of America in any form or shape.

Kiwi's Nocturne in Beneath the Southern Sky exhibit

What an exciting week! My 40cm by 100cm work called Kiwi's Nocturne: Stargazing through the Veil was accepted into a juried exhibition called Beneath the Southern Sky that will be visiting at least 8 shows/galleries/conventions. Do have a look at the Facebook page for the exhibit for the teaser pictures. The online gallery is coming soon.

I also managed to finish my mother-in-law's quilt (in the picture here) and get that in the mail. It is called Springtime.

Meanwhile, in class I've been busy on the background and stenciling for the next assignments (this time I'm working a Hawaiian theme). I've been stenciling using huge freezer-paper cut in the style of Hawaiian applique quilts. The studio smells like paint sticks.

By the by, I've been using Fuziboo lately (fusible cotton and bamboo batting) and I have had good results.

ART 340 sampler

I'm auditing a textiles course this term (well, the Mondays because I can't go on the Wednesdays) and we've just completed a tiny sampler to practice some embroidery, beading and quilting. I played with some "chicken feet" fill a la Brenda Gael Smith, some big stitching with pearle cotton in the busy border, lots of echo quilting at different intervals, 4 different kinds of applique...

Next we're working on one of two bigger projects so I was busy last night knocking back the color on my background fabrics with some diluted bleach.