Louise Schiele's Fiber Works and Words

New Year.....Getting Organized

2012-01-07T15:42:00.000-08:00

I am certainly in an organized mood this past week...lots of new things flying at me with being the new Prez of the gallery and I seem to be re-organizing my life a bit so this can fit without much pain....and not freak Lynn out too much as he gets a little nuts when I'm not where I'm supposed to be...here!!!! (according to Lynn)....today I recorganized my kitchen drawer and re-lined them again, tossed out a bunch of large knifes...didn't really chuk them into the trash, but put them in a cardboard box and I'm going to figure out what to do so with....then I got into our cloths closet and three large green bags later, emptied both my and Lynn's side down to barely nothing....oh there clothes there, but dang, I just don't wear much except slacks and a top so I have enough of those...have a couple of skirts and nice tops for weddings, funerals, parties...but what do I need a bunch of clothes for...if I need something, I"ll go purchase it then..why house it for years. Lynn got rid of nine pairs of jeans, leather coat, etc...he's the same way...never goes anywhere either, so we're downsizing, but not moving. Next is my hall closet which is fairly lean..sheets/towels and my stock of stuff, like toothpaste, etc.

Working as the new Prez has got me busy a minimum of an hour or more a day...calls, emails, printer, security, schedules, meetings, finding money...my list is growing...I have to really watch how much time I give to this group as I could go overboard and not have time to do my own work and/or take care of my CFA group and my husband. So far, I've been able to juggle...priorities a must.

Photo by my grandson, August Stewart, age 17...he's really gotten into photography..maybe he's found his calling..there are always jobs for photo journalists in this world.....

Published, Again......Yeah!!!!

2011-12-24T15:57:00.000-08:00

I was fortunate, again, to be selected to be included in the above publication by Sandra Sider....60 images included and I was one of them....yeah, yeah.....my "Gecko" piece.....I love this piece, but for some odd reason I can't seem to get anyone interested in purchasing it. It's strange how you have some pieces of your own work that you just adore and love and no one else does....I guess that's ok because then I"ll have them forever, but gee, what could be wrong with them if I like them so much????!!!!!

I did an entire series of graphic type pieces like Gecko and got a lot of response verbally, but nothing much in the way of buyers. Either folks are just afriad of putting something BOLD on their walls or the work is just not saleable.....I like to think it's the first reason. Same with my bird series, which I'm going to continue with...love my bird pieces and I've sold a few, but gee, they are great and not much acceptance...I guess I'm going to have to step them up a bit with more abstract backgrounds, more embellishments, something!!!!!

And I like to create things wacky but not many people like to purchase wacky, so I have to be careful because then I'd have a bunch of wacky. I worked up a load of coiled pots, sold some, but I have quite a few left and nothing is happening with them...think I'm going to sew on a bunch of wacky stuff on the surfaces and see if they will see at the gallery...of course then that's a second category for me which takes up my space so I'll have to be careful not to over extend myself and then not sell at all. Retail is a crazy business...especially in the art gallery...people tend to buy by color..."I want to match my color decor" instead of buying art because "the like it"......it takes all kinds. L

Latest Commission Piece and More

2011-12-15T19:29:00.000-08:00

Put together this commission piece today...started and finished and out the door by 4pm to FEDEX...shipped up to Chico from Sacramento, so the client had this piece before the holiday....again, she saw my work at the gallery and took one of my wall brochures and called and presto, I have another client. Those brochure I put out are the best idea yet...I've gotten many calls and about half the calls come through with an order. The last one before this had me do three pieces, so you just never know where any of this is going to lead.

So now I'm finished with all my commission orders and I have no pieces to work up for the holidays....so I'm a free bird...........and that's about what I'm going to start on over the weekend....a couple of pieces featuring larger birds.....the Gallery's January featured artists exhibit is a group show "New Year, New Work", so I thought I'd put something together that is totally different from what I have up on the walls in the back of the Gallery. And I want to do two birds separately that will hang side by side...large long necked birds...hand drawn and use my dyed fabrics and sewing stitch to fill in the feathering, etc.....we'll see how it all comes out at the end.

Holiday Geese - New Direction for Louise

2011-12-06T16:24:00.000-08:00

The gallery group is having their own featured artist exhibit for December, so I wanted to create something new and different for me to show. I wanted to do something outside what I have been creating this past year and I have been drawing these silly birds all the time in my fiber journal, so decided to take it a step further and create a new bird piece. I really have a fondness for birds for some reason. The above pink paper drawing is one of many I drew once evening and from those drawings I selected this one as my base to work from to create a finished piece.

And this is the piece fabric fused and ready to be sewn. Titled it "Holiday Geese" and it's 14" x 16" stretched to the back/finished for hanging. I will sew sequin snowflakes above the geese to top it off and give it a little glitz. Delivering it tomorrow to the gallery for 12/8 hanging of the exhibit for the month into January. In January the gallery is having another group show..."New Work" and I'm working on another new piece for that show, but not ready to exhibit on the blog yet. I'll take before, during and after pics so you can see the progress. Love the geese feet...pink w/yellow and darker pink spots...pink feet!!!!

I have decided that for 2012 I'm going to continue creating my Buried Deep series, mainly for the gallery and for a solo exhibit, but I'm also going to create other series featuring my favorite images....Birds, Fish, Glass Bottles in organza, new series of fiber vessels...experimentation and fun for the year to see what I can come up with creatively. Time to do a little play with a series in mind!!!!

Getting ready for the holidays and more

2011-11-25T18:53:00.000-08:00

In keeping with the current series of work that I have been creating this past year, I used an old photo from my past as the featured photos on my holiday cards that I send out each year...1956 in fact...my sisters and I standing in front of the holiday tree my Dad always went out to cut for the family. We always had a wonderful large tree as Dad would go back into land around Redding where he worked and cut trees for all the management at the lumber plant he worked at and he got to cut for our family as well, so we always had a beautiful tree. He always came home with about ten trees in the back of his truck..unloud ours first and off he's go to deliver all the others. By the time he came home we'd be working on decorating the tree. In those days we didn't have TV, so had lots of time to do all the fun things kids don't do these days.

Printed off the cards today and now I need to fold and put into the envelopes, all ready to go out next week...I know, I know....I'm early, but it's always been the first thing I do to get me into the spirit of the holidays...get the cards done and out and then I can get on with the rest of the process. I'll probably want a couple of weeks to put up the tree and house decorations, but yes, I'll be doing that also. I am having Christmas dinner here for my kids and grandkids, so I have to have a tree up, where else would I put all their gifts.....right????

Been busy creating a street number sign for the gallery...finished and plan to install this coming Monday....and I am working up a couple of new pieces of work to offer for their upcoming featured artist group exhibit for the gallery...they can select which one they want and I'll probably gift away the other one. I do have another commission coming in this coming week..from a prior customer..I like that to happen...they remembered what I done for them prior and liked it and now they want more....good business!!!! And she's going to show what I have done for her to her book club group, so maybe I'll get some business out of that lead also. Commission are were I make 100% and I like that.

Commission Work Completed

2011-11-12T09:25:00.000-08:00

"Camp Cook"....finished this commission last week and sent it off to it's owner in Mesa, Arizona...lovely photo of her Mom doing camp chores back in the 40's....and I added a little twinkle above her to give her that look of being quite the angel.

And just finished and delivered two of the above....the original photo was taken back in the 60's at Santa Cruz Beach...they placed their heads in the painted board with the bodies already painted on the background....so I tried to replicate as closely as possible to the original photos, as that is what she wanted and they turned out great. The gals are sister in laws and still remain very close today.

So two commission this month, finished and paid for ...I'm on the way to the bank this morning before going to my grand daughters soccer game.

Finished five new holiday glitz purses for the gallery; plan to deliver today/tomorrow timeframe along with hanging two new pieces, maybe three.....trying to keep my display fresh and new as much as possible.

Catch Up

2011-11-08T20:28:00.000-08:00

One of my latest new pieces "Sunshine Girl"....isn't she just the cutest....actually a photo of my friends Mom who was in a dance company in LA with Shirley Temple and this was one of her costumes...I made up a piece for her using this and some other images and she gave me permission to use as I like...so I've created this piece for the gallery.

Been sort of out of sight for a bit...hubby was in hospital again...now he's home and we're getting back into our routine and I need to catch up on my sewing for sure. I finished a commission pieces last week and I have two I'm working on this week..hoping to finish tomorrow so I can get them off and out of the studio. Then I have to finish the six small purses I'm creating for the gallery for the holiday display. And now that I'm going to the be next years president for the gallery, I need to make some time to get my info together, sort out my plans on what I'd like to do for the gallery and march forward with my team to make some money this next year. Going to be a hard task, but I'm sure we can make it happen!!!

Filling my art jounal with ideas for a new series...haven't found the right one yet, but something will grab hold, I'm sure. I have plenty of other stuff I can do until that happens...not worth beating myself up over something I can't seem to control. L

New Work, New Ideas

2011-10-21T18:53:00.000-07:00

"Waiting on the Side of the Road" is one of three new pieces finished this past week. I love how this woman appears to just love sitting on the back of this old automobile...but then the photo was taken years ago, so this may have been a new automobile to her. Check out the AAA sticker inthe back window...the license plate is from Washington DC...my grandparents lived there many moons ago.

I've been thinking about "new work".....this current series is starting to drag on me, but I keep going. I'm going to have to "up" the surface design a bit to keep my interest in check, otherwise I feel like I"m just pumping them out and I'm not getting that trill any longer. Have more in the end image that just the person, start adding other items, other people, odd people, things that shouldn't be there...we'll see what happens.

This week I got 2 commissions.....so, guess what I know what I'll be working on this weekend...first one is a larger piece..18 x 20 of a young girl cooking a meal at a camp site...very sweet and nice photo. The second comission photo is of two women with their heads inside a painted background of two young girls on the beach..she wants two of the same photo..one for her friend and one for her....nice jester. Time to get the sewing machine running again and get these sewn up and out of here.

Four more days being 64 years old.......Wed is the big 65!!!! Still not looking forward to this age, but the alternative isn't something I'm ready to face either, so on with the show. Breakfast w/my girls on Sunday morning and lunch with my sisters on Saturday the 29th....should be great fun!

I have been neglectfull of my blog!!!

2011-10-13T16:34:00.000-07:00

I just realized that I haven't posted to my blog in ages....yikes!!! I guess I've been busy with loads of other stuff and just haven't made the time or even remembered to do it. Not a good thing at all.

The above piece is being installed into an exhibit at the East Bay MUD Corporate Office Second Floor Gallery this next week with other California Fiber Artists members..group show: California Currents. Since they have everything to do with water here in the northern state, thought I'd show my piece with my grandpa and his two friends showing off their fishing catch.

The next exhibit is in about a month in Danville, Ca...which is about 20 miles east of Oakland...another California Fiber Artists exhibit titled: Surfaces. Jury isn't complete so I can't mention which piece is going into that exhibit yet.

And I've been busy with the gallery...projects and loose ends that I'm working on here and there and everywhere.

And then of course, I am creating some new work...have three finished, ready to be stretched, labeled and ready for hanging. Mainly created for the gallery, but can be sold anywhere. Been seriously thinking about my next series and have a ton of ideas, but haven't had the time to work on them yet....so need to clean out the paperwork and get down to creating more meaningful work.

Having a Good Month at the Gallery

2011-09-22T20:12:00.000-07:00

I've sold three pieces so far this month through the gallery: Planning the March (above), Toe Dippin' and A Ride in the Park.....wonderful news....I changed my display to include only my "Buried Deep" series...all the work is my work using old photos. The display looks great even though I'm in the back room...it's interesting to watch people come into the gallery and make their way into the back room and they stop, look to the left and stare at the wall for a long time, taking in each piece...at least I know they are interested and they stopped to look at the work. I've also had two people connect with me via the internet asking about commission work and a gallery has emailed me about a possible solo show late 2012 or 2013....wonderful!!!! So, this is keeping me going when I could easily get bored with all of these at this point....I do need to make some new work of some new photos....which I did today....used an old photo I had of myself and my girlfriends back in the early 50's all dressed in Halloween costumes...about seven of us...it's cute, so I think it will do well. I could see Ride in the Park, Toe Dippin and Sister Stroller over and over and over, but I'm getting bored with doing them over and over....I"ll have to have another set on hand for the next couple of months as I'm sure they will see over the holidays and they will need to be replaced.

I'm thinking the next group in this series will get a bit more complicated...not just the people images, but put more into the overall surface to add a little more interest...this might mean I'll have to charge more as it will take more time, but they will also be more interesting...I hope. KISS...keep it simple stupid!!!!

Changes throughout my life

2011-09-05T10:46:00.000-07:00

Mary Ann from Texas mentioned that she didn't like my dark purple background to my blog; that she couldn't stand to look at the blog because of that color...............normally I would have blown that off, but then I got to thinking about how she might be right. I might love that color of purple, but maybe a lot of others don't....so I took her advice and changed the colors on my blog...............to a lighter purple, softer and hopefully easier to read. I mean, reading is what this is all about, so I made the change. Thank you Mary Ann from Texas. If you hadn't mentioned anything, I would have continued on and never knew others were having trouble reading the print againt the darker color.

Change is such a difficult thing for most of us....I like to think I am easy going person and can spin on a dime when I need to, but I will admit that some change is hard to come by. Even at 64 (and yes, 65 is looming in the background) change is difficult at times....I've had to change the way I do my art to satisfy and accommodate the coop gallery I'm hanging in at this time....I've had to change how I market my work to get it out there and get some interest in solo shows....I've had to change and grow in what I create taking time to think it all out before jumping in and wasting time and supplies....and I"ve had to change my personal life to help out my husband who is ill and needs special care at time. All of this takes a great amount of energy, time and effort...all of which I have plenty of at this time in my life. I hope I'm moving forward toward future and great opportunites.

Today in the studio I'm cutting out the fabric pieces to re-cover four large back cushions for my step-daughters RV...they don't have much money, don't know how to sew (hard to believe there are people out there that don't sew). The existing cushions are falling apart; my studio roofline was leaking...we traded work and now I have to take care of my end of the bargin. Ordered the extra long zippers that needs to be used and will sew each of four up and wait for the zippers to arrive....then zip zip zip...finished. Easy peasy...right?????

Waldorf banners finished installed today

2011-08-31T16:08:00.000-07:00

Well........after a long month of working out the design and kinks, the Waldorf banners are finished and we installed them today...or I should say, my daughter and son-in-law installed them today...I brought the banners and supervised as any Mom should do, right???We had some hardware issues, several trips to the hardware store, but for the most part they are installed and they love how they look....above is the full and close up view of one set of banners and there are two more sets. Each larger banner is to banners sanwiched into one so both sides are similar but individual banners and the smaller banner is a single layer banner ... in all I created nine banners...first thing I did this morning was rid my studio of all the scrap nylon and rolled whatever larger pieces were left onto a storage roller and it is in storage. My vacuum will never be the same again after sucking up all those loose nylon threads...the nylon ravels terribly and the banners are a bit hairly in parts, but they will all get blown away once the wind hits them....not the banners, but the misc. hairs from the nylon. I'm sure the school kids will love them...already had good comments from the teachers who were on site getting the school ready for opening this coming Tuesday.

What I did learn while creating this project is that I can still work under extreme pressure. I used to work like this at FEDEX and at home with my first husband when he was ill and I had a house full of kids....but now I'm retired and my second husband is ill and this past month his illness was and is very stressful for me as his caregiver on top of working up these nine banners to have completed before Sept 1....and I made the deadline. But what I did learn about myself is that if I focus, listen and create all at the same time, I'm unbeatable and that's a good feeling.

Now I have a new project...four large cushions from an old RV need to be recreated from scratch...trade work with my son-in-law as he repaired my studio rooftop for the upcoming pending rains this fall/winter. Tediuos work with no deadline, so I can work on them here and there in and around my work for the gallery and for exhibits.

Taking a few days off to chill out from the banners and then I'll start in again...studio is clean, ready to begin again.

More Banner work

2011-08-21T08:55:00.000-07:00

No pictures today because nothing really has changed...I'm still pumping out banners when I can...actually started from beginning to end on one yesterday so I now know I can do one a day if I need to..and that was with a trip to the bank and Costco in the timeframe....but I'm exhausted today...and my hands hurt...arter-t-tus!!!!

The count now stands at needing three larger banners and two small...the small ones take about an hour as it's only a couple of strips and finishing....so if everything goes as planned, I should be finished by the end of this month for sure.

And now the four RV cushions I agreed to recover are here staring at me waiting to be recovered...my step daughter and her family inherited an old RV and they are remodeling it...she washed the old covers from the cushions and they fell apart from old age....and they are large odd shapes to fit a seating area inside the RV...at least the insides can still be used. That's a freebee as her hubby Roy just sealed my studio roof again hoping to catch the leaks that developed over the years constant sun. Trade off!!!!!

My husband gave up his car this weekend...gave it to his daughter....with the back pain meds he's on, he cannot drive safely for himself or anyone else...and the car just sits and runs out of battery because he's not driving, so he decided to give it away to his daughter as she needed another car to get around in to/from work, etc. So we're down to one car, I'm the driver and he really misses driving....driving means freedom and I don't think he feels really free right now. Oh well, when he gets rid of the pain and no longer on the drugs, then he can go out and get himself another car...easy as that!!!! Don't see that happening real soon, but it's a possiblity down the road.

Off to work the gallery's early shift today...haven't been down in over a month and I have things to take care of in my own display, let alone the entire gallery....the weather is cool today, so maybe we'll get some shoppers.

Banner project up and running

2011-08-13T12:59:00.000-07:00

Here is the original drawing of the banners I am making for the Camelia Waldorf School here in Sacramento.....

and here is the first two sided banner....I originally was going to make one banner and cut out the back fabric so the image showed through to the other side, but it looked terrible...we have too much design..didn't work at all......so I started the banner over again, made two and layed them back to back, sewed up the sides and put a sleeve on the top and it's ready to hang...all it now needs is a grommet at the base inside to hold it on the pole so it doesn't flap all over the place. And the half banner is on the sewing table right now...I'll only have to make one of them as it's only strips and I can cut the back out of the white stripe and it will look OK....Now I need to make two more sets...by the end of the month....and I've run out of the base baby blue color, so I'm out the door in a few minutes to see if I can track some down locally....I've ordered through the internet and it's being shipped, but I need to start NOW...so I can at least find something close enough to the blue to make another set before the other fabric arrives.....huge project for me..lots of detail work and this nylon fabric doesn't cooperate...I've even come to gluing a few pieces that are mini so they stay on before I sew them down. I now know why these flag companies charge so much for the finished piece...lots of work!!!!

Catching Up

2011-07-30T15:43:00.000-07:00

Life has been crazy and this past week is still a blur....been mainly finishing up a group of 4 new pieces of work for the gallery and I was about to start the banners this past week, but my hubby decided to end up in the hospital and everything went to hell in a hand basket. Pneumonia....he's home after five days in the hospital and he is doing much better, but still weak and fragile and he has a lot of new medical issues to deal with and go to doc appointments about, etc....but he'll make it through..mainly we need to get his back pain under control and out of his life forever...whether he will agree to surgery is another thing...only way to make it go away. I hope he considers it.

Started the banners for the Waldorf school this morning....somewhat confusing the way it goes together..I'm cutting and making one first before cutting for all three...mainly to see how fast and how easy it all goes together..so far it's slow and painful...I have a month to create three full and three half sized banners...I have got to get out there early and get them made...my goal on the first one is to complete by Wednesday..make all the mistakes on this first one and move to the next. Working with nylon fabric is strange...it does shed or pull so I have to fold raw edges in and top baste...lots of work for making no money...it's for the school and for the kids and for my daughter who works at the school..this is her project so I can't let her down. Onward and upward...right!!!!!

Fourth of July

2011-07-04T12:20:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo of my Grandpa....the one on the right hidden in the scrubs...he loved to fish and he and his buddies caught all these fish somewhere up in Northern Cal...I remember he and my Dad used to go fishing for several days and bring back a bunch of fish....and my Mother could never cook fish right, so we all hated all those fish he brought back.

I've been working on some new work for the gallery and plan to install in late July/August time frame....and I'm going to work on coming up with an Art Purse....artsy surface designs on a hand made purse that I hope will be juried into the gallery as a 3-D item...doing this means I loose some space on the wall, but it might be worth it if the purses start to sell.....I'm going to work up a couple, use them and see how they are accepted by those who know me and see the purse...you just never know how something is going to be received until you put it out there so, I think I'm going to make a go of it. Give me a surface and I'll put some kind of design on it.

My sister retired from the school district this past week and her retirement party is this coming Saturday....I printed off an old picture of the four of us sisters in 1964 all in our graduation best..going to work up a piece for her as a retirement gift..I'm sure she will like it!!!!

Time Flies When you are Having Fun!!!!

2011-06-29T09:58:00.000-07:00

No pictures today...just words..........I realized it had been a couple of weeks since I had posted...I've got a lot of stuff on my plate and don't make the time to post as much as I used to post. Where is the time going...it's already been 6 months since the holidays and it's the middle of summer and it's hot hot hot and it just seems like each day flies past so fast for me. I am busy and don't realize how fast each day moves through all the hours and minutes.

Worked up three new pieces over the weekend and just about to stretch them this morning. Last night it rained and I forgot to remove my work from the worktable under where I have a roof leak and this morning, one of my pieces was discovered "wet"....and that means the colored pencil work I did ran a bit and changed color and shade...but the more I look at it the more I like it and will probably go ahead with the piece as is. Letting it dry a bit before I iron it out and see whether it's usable. The other two didn't get harmed......Sometimes mistakes make for the best art work!!!!

Decided I need to replace my Bernina 150...It really is on it's last leg...trying to keep up with my demand and sewing speed. It no longer functions other than a straight stitch...but then that's all I really do with it...until NOW...the banners I need to create for the Waldorf school need to be zig zagged for strength purposes so I'm going to have to borrow my sisters machine to make that happen....but I have time, they haven't decided yet on their final design and colors and then once they do, I have to order the special outdoor fabric...who knows, I might have a new machine by the time that project flies in my face.

Have two exhibits I need to have new work for...or should I say, I think I need new work for...I might be able to use something I've already created, but I do like to make new work for each exhibit..keeps my fresh and not lazy. One is titled Surfaces and the other is California Currents.....I thnk I have Surfaces completed with my last piece Overspill...but I need to do something similar with the netting fabric for the California Currents exhibit....need to go to the fabric store and stock up on netting to do what I think I need to do....fun!

Ready to Ship and Starting New Project

2011-06-12T10:22:00.000-07:00

This is what my family room looks like this morning.....full of boxes being shipped out tomorrow FEDEX Ground to Eureka, Ca...going to the Eureka Museum of Art for a California Fiber Artists exhibit "Fiber Enriched"...open June 22 and goes through August 21.....Wed three CFA pals came over and helped me pack up what I had at that point, but then 12 new pieces arrived up until Friday afternoon, so I finished it all up Saturday morning. Inventory in each box, spreadsheet of the entire body of work, return airbills, return labels, programs, post cards...you name it, it's there along with the work. A huge undertaking getting this size of an exhibit to a museum, but it's DONE. Now I just walk past it and don't worry about it at all...it's going to work out fine, the museum will have it now and take very good care of the entire exhibit. Late August all of this comes back to me and then I have to dismantle everything back into their individual boxes and back out again to their owners. Seems sort of crazy at times, but it's what it takes to put on a huge exhibit like this.

Now, on to the new project....six outdoor light pole banners for the Waldorf Camellia school here in Sacramento...they are 28" wide by 60" long....I'm working up the first draft in regular cotton fabric as a sample to make sure the design is what they want....the bottom has this big water wave, the top will have a half sun and three camellias falling down the side on a background of sky colors and green grass colors....this is the first stage....once the design is finished and presented to the school NEXT week..then I'll purchase the outdoor banner fabric and go at it making six two sided banners...they want them up before school starts early September....there goes my summer!!!!

New Work, Catching Up With Other Projects

2011-06-05T13:59:00.000-07:00

Finished "Overspill" yesterday and hung today....hard to see the background black..it's machine quilted with gold threads and looks great against the finished net piece....I took layers of netting w/tinsel and "stuff" inside the netting and covered back/front with water soluble plastic...sewed through all the layers all over the surface to make sure everything was sewn down and then put it under the kitchen sink faucet and washed the plastic away ... and what I had was a new piece of fabric.....made two actually..one darker than the other...after drying, I cut each up into strips and then wove them back together to form the image...before I wove the strips I did sew crystals and beads up/down each strip of net fabric...once the image was all together, then I put on the beads/crystals at the top.....it sat for a while until I machine quilted the background black piece this past Fri/Sat..stretched the back to stretcher bars and placed the image onto the black background..finished off the back for hanging with wire. 30" x 28"............project complete.

I also fixed up an old wallet my son-in-law asked me to repair...sewed the complete wallet back up again..it's was falling apart...man's wallet so there were not snaps or anything..just layers of used leather. Now it's as good as new and ready for use again. My granddaughter Sami asked me to put on her Brownie/Girl Scout patches onto her vest...I just can't image someone who doesn't know how to sew my hand, but her Mom doesn't, so I sewed them all on this morning with the machine and they will never fall off again. I think the scouts need to teach their girls how to sew on their own badges and give them a badge to prove it.
And now I'm about to go out and draw up a banner design for the Waldorf school my daughter teaches at...this summer they have asked me to create 6 outdoor banners that will be hung from light poles in their school parking lot...28" w x 60" long...made out of out door fabrics....need to draft up the design and make a sample out of regular fabrics to make sure that's what they want and then I'll purchase the special fabric off the internet and get to work creating two sided banners this summmer...they need to be done and installed before school in September so I have time, but once the design and color is set, I'm working on them as I HATE LAST MINUTE work..............I like to be done way ahead of time so I have time to make changes or correct things in time for the final showing.
I also had to create something for something else...my husband has cronic back pain and he now wants to wear his old back brace...he actually has two and niether one fit him, so I cut them up and created one that does fit...but wow, what a contraption....I went out and bought him a newer version at the drug store and I'm hoping this will work better than the other old school things. There isn't much that I haven't sewn on my little machine...pool table cover, back brace, wallet, purses, jeans anything that needle will go through I'll try.

New Work, Sold a Piece of Work, Creating New Work

2011-05-30T08:24:00.000-07:00

New Work: Just finished the piece above...actually two new pieces....18"h x 30"w...took ten different hotos of my grandkids and meshed them togehter into these two pieces. Grandkids on the top are my husbands, those on the bottom piece are mine...His and Her....OK, there's the new title. Hanging in my family room as these are actually for "me"....I don't make much work for myself and this was a good excerise. The hardest part when printing them off in the correct sizes as if they were standing next to each other as each photos was taken in different locations, etc. Used colored pencil to enchange them a bit, cut them out and fused them to the background and then stitched each of them in different colors, finished the background. Feel good that I followed through on my plan to create something for myself.

Sold a larger piece of work through the gallery this past Friday....."Man with Blues Guitar"....I've had that piece for quite a while and finally someone who enjoys music purchased it...the owner of a company that builds musical instruments...sold on the Jazz Festival weekend which makes it even more special. Made my month at the gallery and I needed the boost...my sales slumpped off a bit, but now I'm picked up and ready for more. Funny how that happens...ready to jump off the cliff, but got saved. You just never know who is going to walk through that door and purchase the one thing you think will never sell.

Now I'm back to finishing the two projects that I've had on hold for some time...the netting piece..nd to machine quilt a black background piece and place the netting piece on top of that stretched...will look stunning. And the Woven Words is back on the creative board....I've thought of a new way to sew the words and then weave them into the piece, so I'm moving forward on that piece also.

I've got all the materials now to make the windchimes out of the lead crystal chandelier spears and I'd like to start making a few of those to see how they go...these will not be for sale, mainly for myself and family members..I'm not a 3-D artist at all...this is just figuring out how to put the puzzle together to make something glitterly and has good sounds. Sort of a side thing.

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-09T08:48:00.000-07:00

The above pieces was created for my daughter Jennifer....took two photos of my grandsons, printed them individually off onto white cotton, colored them with colored pencils, fused them to the dyed background and stitched them and the background, stretched to stretcher bars and finished off the back for hanging with wire.

And this piece was crated for my step daughter Christine with her three kids....my husbands grandchildren, mine by marriage...they are a crazy bunch of kids, full of energy and fun which you can see in their smiling faces.

And this piece was done for my other step daughter Pam...they are actually her step-children, the dog is hers...Miley. I found it interesting to see how each of the kids posed for their pictures....some just stood there like slugs, while some actually showed their personalities....I also created a fourth piece, but lack a photo right now as I quickly put it out to FEDEX without taking my photo...darn!!!!!

Had a good Mother's Day.....my oldest daughter sent me roses, my middle daughter came over to the house and we exchanged gifts and sat and talked for a while and my son and his wife took me to breakfast.....Mother's Day for me in the past hasn't always been good, but this year we just perfect...not too much attention..just enough.

Now I'm working on a piece for me with all the grandkids....actually making two pieces...my 5 grandkids on one piece and Lynn's 5 grandkids on the other and they will hang together....since the kids really don't mix much at all in real life, I didn't want to mix them on the wall....they are their own separate units and I will keep that them way.

Looking ahead to creating some new work to hang in the gallery when I change wall locations in June...I'm assuming I will change, but you never know....BUT I like to keep new work up and moving on the wall as much as possible so my work doesn't become stale. Three/Four new pieces in the mix will help...geared toward summer and summer fun.

May 1................already!!!!!

2011-05-01T08:56:00.000-07:00

My garden is huge this year...I have more purple iris blooming than ever and they are spreading out thicker than ever before...which is what I want...by next year, my small front area where they are housed will be totally full of the iris and against the yellow ice plant and orange poppies, it does look wonderful...loaded with color and full with flowers. Compared to my desert like back yard, it's like wandering betwenn two different worlds....working on the back yard this spring/summer and next year it should appear better.

From my last post I mentioned that I had a deliquent customer and I can happily report that she paid!!! Or I should say her bank paid...."in the mail" never panned out, so from long distance (she was in Minn) she arranged to have her bank send me the money....it's cashed and in my stash. Lesson learned..take a deposit to cover your costs at least.

Drove up to Auburn yesterday to take my sister out to lunch for her birthday..she used to live in Auburn and her favorite place to eat is Awful Annie's...after our meal we wandered a bit, hit the local Auburn coop gallery...very nice gallery I must say...and some very interesting artists..some I think we shoud pursue for our Sacto gallery...took their cards and will start chatting with them on email to see if they are interested. The biggie is splitting your time between both galleries...that's very difficult as time is very important to an artist. The Auburn gallery has more light coming in from outside, has much more space, doesn't have the high ceilings and their floor space is used better than ours...just a different site and it was enjoyable to see such a nice shop. I bought a glass wind chime from Michael Larson, glass artrist...wonderful colors/great sun catcher in my studio window.

And I can't believe it's May already...time is just flying by me and I'm loosing ground on this time thing. I'm able to keep up with the production demand, but other stuff is hitting the floor for sure. Speaking of my floor, I need to vacuum!!!!!

Working on a project for Mother's Day...putting together photo pieces in fiber for my two girls and Lynn's two girls...photos of all our grandkids in fiber...16" x 18" and they are turning out great...once I finish I will photo and post....after I have finished I'm actually going to make a piece for my wall with all ten of the grandkids spread along the length..20" x 60" against a dyed red background, hang against my gold front room walls...a permanent piece for my collection.

Thread holder project successful

2011-04-23T08:57:00.000-07:00

I couldn't stand having all my thread in drawers and looking through to not find the right color when I needed it, so I checked out the internet for some sort of thread holder that was upright and visual and really never found what I really wanted. So, one day I just sketched out what would be the perfect holder to work in my studio space and now severals weeks later I have one...no one else in this world has this piece, just me!!!! I purchased the actual thread holder portion (they are supposed to attach to your wall) and then my son in law attached them to the base holder that we came up with...it's on wheels so all you have to do is move it around using the handle on the front...I designed it low enough so that I can use it sitting right at my right side while I'm sewing...I change threads a lot during the course of one piece, this will help me greatly..plus now I have a full vision of my thread inventory....along with my bobbins also. If I had him do it again, I would have asked for the shelves to pull out as they are low and narrow and it's difficult to place anything in them. Now I need to make a cover as the thread now sits out in the sun through my studio windows at times and the sun can definitely bleach out the thread color over time.

I am such a trusting soul...I've always been...and when there are those times when I just might get burned, humans come through and things get resolved. I worked up a commission piece for a woman who contacted me off my brochure, lives up in Loomis, CA...she sent me a small pic of her on a horse during her youth and asked for a 20" x 24" piece..which I did, finished and sent to her, she verified receipt and as you now have deducted, she hasn't paid for it yet.....says "the check is in the mail"....but it's now been two weeks and nothing has come my way. Now she's in MN for a family event, can't check her return mail because she's not at home, is sending me a check through her bank...we'll see what happens.....I'm kicking myself for not asking for a deposit, but I just trusted her for some reason and now I'm sick about not getting paid for my time. Lesson learned....she probably will be a repeat customer, but until she pays me, no way...and the next piece will require a deposit to at least cover my materials and shipping. I am always so honest & out front with others, I assume they are the same back to me and darned if I sometimes don't get burned.

New work up in the gallery..in fact I couldn't put in any more without spilling over into someone elses work....at first I didn't like being on the back wall in the back room, but now I'm getting used to it and I hope they don't change my location in May because I wouldn't be able to have as much on the wall as I do right now...give/take..that's what it's all about. Working this Monday...day after Easter...mainly a cleaning day for me after the big weekend.

Keeping Busy, Staying Busy

2011-04-15T16:06:00.000-07:00

Reality check....not selling much at the gallery lately..not sure whether it's because my work has been moved to the back of the bus (meaning it's been moved to the back wall in the anti-room) or whether it's run it's course...knowing that a good part of our customers are tourist, a major change might not be smart, but putting in some other work might not hurt. With the Jazz festival coming up, I've decided to install two to three pieces with musical instruments in them...Guitar Man, Jazz in the Park and Fractured Strings...depends on the room available on the wall. Sunday I work the gallery and I plan on going in early to rearrange my display and add some other work. I'm also taking in the cell phone holders w/rack and adding some new purses I'm sewing up right now along with some matted work for sale. Now that the KVIE event and the CFA Eureka Museum jury process is over, I seem to have more time and I'm actually back out in the studio working a bit. Feels great!!!!!
Finished up on the commissioned piece, sent it on to her and waiting for payment....makes me a bit nervous but I am a trusting soul when it comes to money.
My daughter is talking to me about creating six light post banners for the Waldorf school over the summer vacation...32" w x 65" long in outdoor vinyl fabric....and this one wouldn't be donation, which I'm used to doing, they actually may pay me a bit for the work. We'll see if this pans out.
With the sale of "Tweet" and the commission piece, I'm feeling OK about not selling much at the gallery as I do have some funds coming in to cover my rent for several months or more..but I need to sell again, so I'm concentrating on making some new work to change out in June timeframe, after the jazz festival and into the summer..work that can stay up through the end of the year. I have to pace myself as I have other work needing to be completed for other exhibits I've committed to along the way.
I need a secretary to juggle all the stuff I have on my plate...as long as I can keep my head above water I'll be fine, but once I take a dive because I have too much, then I'll have to cut back and I'm not sure where I would cut right now...it all means so much to me that it would be hard to make that decision. Don't need to worry about it now, as I don't have that problem yet. Onward and upward.....

Not Enough Time to Work in Studio

2011-04-02T20:25:00.000-07:00

These last couple of weeks have been totally crazy....but I did get a chance to read to great books on my new Kindle...love my Kindle. Riding Lessons by Sara Gruen and They Dirty Parts of the Bible by Sam Torode...both great fictional books and every enjoyable to read....my get away from my crazy days.

I've got work going here and there and everywhere..which is good and I sold a big piece this week through the gallery in Folsom, Ca.,...Tweet....the birds piece sold, delivering it on Monday. And I have my Safety Pin Pot in Kentucky, sending off two pieces to The Artery in Davis for a month long exhibit "Great & Small"..everyone has to be 8" x 8" or smaller, all my work down at the gallery, I have a new commission that I'm working on and need to get finished by the end of this next week, I have a piece of work at the Bakersfield Museum of Art CFA exhibit, Old Faithful and the KVIE event that is happening this Wed...gallery related, one night show to raise funds for the local public broadcast tv station...right now my family room is full of work from all the artists at the gallery who are showing along with me in this event. Five of us are setting it, selling and tearing it down all within a five hour period of time..........my last volunteer job for the year with the gallery...they are eating me alive with idea and wanting me to help so much...I need a break.

So, I'm keeping this short, need to find a couple of new books on Amazon to download into my Kindle and get some rest.....plan to work all day tomorrow in my studio..maybe I can finish this new commission piece ahead of time, which is always my goal.

Exhibits and more

2011-03-21T12:27:00.000-07:00

"Safety Pin Pot" has been mailed out to "Fantastic Fibers 2011" in Padukah, KY...on a whim I decided to include the pot along with three flat fiber pieces to this exhibit and they took the pot...go figure. It's different and that's probably why it's in the exhibit. OK with me...the more I show my work, the more exposure I get..looks good on the resume. Oh yeah, I guess I had better update my resume with my 2011 happenings. All this paperwork and not enough time to create!!! I need an assistant to keep me up to date with all my paperwork and stuff.

I sent off three pieces of work for the California Fiber Artists Bakersfield exhibit opening this next Friday evening...big event...we're opening with three other exhibits in the museum...should be a good crowd. Again, exposure exposure exposure. The same with my work being in the gallery in downtown Sacto...exposure. I know my work is different and unique from others and most visitors to the gallery don't take to it right away unless they take some time to really look at what it all is, but again it's exposure. Some months I have very low sales, but that's OK for now, it's worth it for the "exposure". Enough already...I get the drift. I just have to keep reminding myself that it's worth it for the exposure.

Cold in the studio because it's cold outside and no amount of heat will bring up the temp much, but I'm putting on my jacket, thick soled shoes and I'm going out there to at least clean up and rearrange my tables...I'm really feel that itch to move something and start anew and that's a good sign for me....I've got all my paperwork taken care of this morning, done my facebook thing, updated my exhibit spreadsheets and now I'm ready to wander out into the studio...no sun today...hasn't been sun for over a week...supposed to rain for another week...soon it will be great weather and a delight to work in the studio.

Great and Small

2011-03-06T10:09:00.000-08:00

Newest Piece: Great and Small: Napoleon...created for an upcoming exhibit at The Artery in Davis, Ca in April...all work submitted must be no larger than 8" x 8"....the exhibit size is 8" x 8" or smaller, thus the two pieces 8" x 8"...

and this is "Great and Small: Sister Stroller"..........photo is of my two youngest sisters playing in the backyard of our house when we lived in Redding, Ca. in the 50's. Dang that's an old photo.

Worked up these two yesterday, all finished off, ready to hang in April. I also started a new piece yesterday where I fused together netting with scrapes of stuff inbetween to create my own fabric and now I've cut those two larger pieces of fabric into strips that I'm eventually going to weave together into a piece that will sit on top of a quilted black background....The vertical pieces I'm hand sewing beads all over and the horizontal pieces will be woven through the vertical pieces and the beads cut through to the top...plus I"ll add more embellishment after I see how the original woven pieces look. I really wanted to glue the beads, but because this is going to be displayed in a museum setting, I wanted to do it right, sewing each bead on by hand/thread. Takes much longer, but in the long run, it's the right thing to do for the final work. I beaded half the vertical pieces last night and hope to finish the other half sometime today so I can weave the piece this next week to determine the next step.

I'm also finalizing two graphics projects I've been working on...the CFA 2011 Portfolio book is ready to print and the program for the Bakersfield Museum exhibit CFA has happening at the end of March through May. Both are like one day away from going to the printer and that's a great feeling of accomplishment for me as they have taken a great deal of my studio time away and I really really really need to get back into the studio to create some new work..not only for exhibits, but for myself.

I've decided I need to do some work for myself...not just exhibits....things I've put off because the gallery and exhibits always seem to come first....Since I have a large inventory of work hanging around moving from here and there, I can take some "me" time and create some new work for myself, while satisfity that process urge that seems to take over my work. One of my big projects is to create a piece of work that would cover or sort of cover my front room window space...I hate drapes or curtains...all my windows have blinds, but I have an idea for something for my front room window that hangs over the wooden blinds and I'm going to work on putting that together this Spring. I've done a few drawings, haven't completely settled on the end product, but it's getting near.

Enough for today...I need to sew some beads, beads, beads...good thing I can sew and listen to a movie at the same time.

Fantastic Fibers 2011

2011-02-24T15:29:00.000-08:00

Was notifed today that "Be Prepared: Safety Pin Pot" was accepted into Fantastic Fibers 2011 at Yeiser Art Center in Paducah, KY for the month of April....yahoo!!!! I'm very excited that one of my 3-D pieces was selected for this exhibit, especially since Peducah is the hub for quilters and quilts from all over the U.S. I am trying to shed myself of the art quilt title, replacing it with Fiber Collage Artists title and it's starting to take hold. The pin pot is in an exhibit right now in Folsom, CA., and as soon as it's returned, it's off through FEDEX to Kentucky for this exhibit...hopefully a sale!!!!!

Dang it's cold today....my hands are frozen right now!!! No amount of heat is going to warm up my studio right now. It's 3pm and the outside temp has dropped considerably over the last two hours and it's started to rain and they are talking about snow tonight and possibly tomorrow....and I'm starting to believe it. I worked out there for about three hours and it was confortable enough for me with my new hvac duct...but I just closed it up for the day as the outside temp and all those windows are bringing the temp in the room plummeting down into the 50's in the room.....yikes, it's cold!!!!!

Finished the pieces for "Great and Small" at The Artery in Davis, today...all it needs is to be stretched and I'm waiting on my stretcher bar order from Dick Blick to arrive and then I can finish it off. I love to get work done ahead of time as I hate to rush a piece......it's due early April, so I'm way ahead of time. I also built myself a large flat folder out of carboard and duct tape to house all my photo samples I consult for my latest series...all the old photos I've scanned and blown up in black/white for reference/sizing. Titled the large folder "Paper Morgue" so I have easy access...they where all hanging from a line around the room near the ceiling edge, but decided to pull them down after over six months of looking at them...time to put up some new ideas for new work for motivation purposes. I also started sewing through the stacked netting and tinsel to create new fabric once I wash away the plastic housing around the fabric....love to work this way, just sewing all over in many different directions, no reason except to keep it all tightly together so when I wash it the fabric all stay in tact.....then I'll strip the two section and weave them back together, embellish with beads and secure it down to a black quilted stretched background....usually turns out looking great.

My back is feeling better from the fall almost four weeks ago...back to bowling tomorrow playing with my friends..................L

Broke the Spell, Back Into the Studio

2011-02-19T11:33:00.000-08:00

Well, a couple of hours in the studio and I'm back like I've never been away..........have five projects in the works in different stages..which I normally don't do right now, but it's my way of trying to find my next series...I think I've pretty much run the old photo idea out...still doing a few here and there and have plenty to sell in inventory, so time to ease off a bit and find another idea to work toward.

I was invited to participate in an exhibit at The Artery in Davis, Ca., in April..."Great & Small".has to be 8" x 8", which is very small for me..I find it very confining....but had an idea...using the photo idea I found a copyright free photo of Napoleon on his horse and I'm colorzing it with pencils, fusing it onto a while dyed background and finishing it off with machine stitching....stretching to the 8" x 8" stretcher bars and it's done. Napoleon was Great and Small......should bring some snickers to the customers at the exhibit and maybe it will sell...if not, I'll put it in the gallery...you just never know what people will like.

Speaking of that....what people like and buy......for Spring I've decided to do an entire new layout of work for the gallery.....mainly because I hang in three rows across my wall space area...I'm going to create three new series to test whether they are marketable or not.....first layer: Tea pots and tea cups; second layer: Insects and bugs; third layer: botanicals......a lot of new work, but that's what I feel like doing....I just can't stand to leave my work on the wall for a long time and hope someone will purchase it...I know that most of the traffic through the gallery is tourists and they probably haven't seen any of my work, but I just feel I need to test the waters and bring out new work. What it means to me: more work, more time, experimenting.

Early spring about to change back into winter!!!

2011-02-13T15:50:00.000-08:00

Even though my daisies and daffodills are blooming in the front yard with this unusal warm weather, all of this is about to change...rain is forcast for the next six days........which we need. Really isn't a welcome because it's way to early for Spring. Does this every year here in north cal, nothing different really from year to year.

I've been in a bit of a slump...but I attribute that to the fact that I injuried my back in a fall two weeks ago...just when I think I've gotten over the fall, that back muscle says "hi" again and I'm back to square one. Been doing hot/cold on and off over the weekend and I just did a walk on the treadmill...walked through the pain until it was gone...will continue doing that througout the week until I'm up to over a mile a day...that will help heal and strengthen that muscle....pulled it falling up a set of stairs at the bowling alley...haven't bowled since and I'm on a league so it does drive me nuts that I can't go out and play. Taking longer to get back into shape after the fall...badly bruised my right lower arm and elbow..elbow still slightly swollen and soft but going down each day.

My featured artists status at the gallery is over...sold five wall pieces and misc 3-D art that I had scattered around. All in all it was a good month of sales for me and I'd do it again as soon as my name comes up again. Of course I'd do all new work...I hung over 30 pieces of work, so I need time to create again. I've got a piece started sewing buttons on the surface for the color...a fun piece, we'll see how it turns out. And I started a woven piece..stretched black/white yarn across a black painted canvas surface and I'm going to weave across the piece and embellish with all sorts of stuff I've collected from around the studio. And I've started coloring a new photo piece for an exhibit in June....now I want to mesh together a bunch of netting and odds and ends into a new piece of fabric, cut and weave and set against a machine quilted background adding beads and such to embellish.....it's like I'm looking for something new and haven't found it yet...I've been making lists and lists of ideas, nothing catching on yet....I just need to place myself physically in the studio until something happens. So that said....signing off, moving myself out of the computer room and into my space.

Text & Texture CFA Folsom Exhibit

2011-01-23T10:47:00.000-08:00

The two pieces above are currently featured in a new CFA exhibit "Text & Texture" at The Gallery @ 48 Natoma, Folsom, Ca.............running thru March 10, 2011.....about 55 pieces of fiber art are on display and the exhibit is wonderful....those who paticipated really put it out there this time and we all should be proud. A pieces was sold within the first hour of the reception, so something seems to be going right.

My biggest news of the day is that I just signed a contract with my heating/air company to have air/heat duct work installed into my art studio/room built onto the back of my house 14 years ago...I've played around with window units and floor standing fans/heaters for ever and nothing has worked...so, we decided to take the plunge and have it done....will happen this coming Thursday.....we'll see if this makes a different...a high cost to experiment, but the experts say it will bring down the temp 15 degrees, so that's workable. I have made a personal commitment to devote more time on my art work, so I need to make the working conditions possible so I can do that. Time will tell if this all works out.

My gallery featured artists exhibit has been going very well....I've now sold five wall pieces along with smaller 3-D pieces, matted stitched pieces and cards....I am getting great pleasure in showing the other members that January isn't a bad month to have an exhibit after all and that fiber can sell in an art setting.

Thoughts on being Featured Artist at the Gallery

2011-01-14T21:23:00.000-08:00

My 30 wall pieces have been up at the Artists' Collaborative Gallery for 1 1/2 weeks along with 15 3-D pieces.....my reception was last Saturday and I sold two pieces off the wall along with multiple 3-d work....and yesterday I sold a third piece off the wall. Three weeks to go and we'll see how well I fared...I had the largest crowd ever for a Second Saturday event as well as the higher sales for a Second Saturday event...a great success. I was out to prove to the other members that January wasn't the worst month to have an exhibit and you have to put your heart and soul into every moment up to when it happens to get everything ready and out on the floor. I mixed half/half new and old pieces and created a lot of smaller inexpensive 3-D pieces that sold quickly...my price ranges from cards @ $4.50 to the piece above @ $350....don't expect to sell anything high in price, but so far I've done very well. I will tell you right out, I was exhausted when the reception was over.......all that hard work and it paid off and I worked hard. I had the food catered but I set up everything myself. I also mapped out the wall space and had created a paper map as to where everything was supposed to be hung for maximum coverage....and it worked. Planning, hard work, great reception...and yes, a lot of those who attended my reception were family, but the family came out and bought other items withing the gallery, so they just weren't moochers, they were customers. And for a lot of them, this was their first time down into Old Sac and I know they will be return customers now that they have seen what the gallery has to offer. I have always hated art receptions, but this one was great, loads of fun, the converation and connections were great......................I now have four pieces going into a California Fiber Artists exhibit happening January 21-March 10 at Gallery @ 48 Natoma in Folsom, Ca....delivered the work, reception is for next Friday 1/21/11 6-8pm....hopefully it will be another good time.

New Year Coming!!!

2010-12-27T16:54:00.000-08:00

I've always loved this piece...created it several years ago and it was one of those times when I just let my guard down, took my camera and photoed areas around the outside of my house, downloaded them into my computer and played with the photos in photoshop and printed to cotton fabric and presto...a new piece was born.......and it looks as good today as it did the day I printed the fabric. The yard has changed, but this piece remains the same forever.

And today is Ded 27...only four more days left in this 2010 year...and it's been a good year for me fiber wise. California Fiber Artists group is going strong and now I'm a new member of Artist's Collaborative Gallery and of course, involved up to my nose in making the gallery work smoothly and bring in the sales. It's made me look at my work differently and now I create two types of work...work for the gallery and work for group exhibits...two different scenarios that require two different types of production. I really didn't think there would be a difference, but there is............the customers who shop the gallery are mainly tourist and they could care less about how something is created, they are shopping and looking for a value. While customers who visit a gallery or museum location, the work can be larger is size and priced higher and be a different quality. So I've had to adjust my work a bit. Work for the coop gallery needs to be priced lower than my other work, so I have to create a smaller piece of work and it has to visually be something many people can relate to...abstract doesn't seem to do well at all....I love abstract art, but I'm not the customer. It's been a humbling experience to watch and listen to what customers say when they are in the shop looking at all the art on our walls. I'm already planning my next series of work to change out after January's featured artist exhibit to help with my sales.

For the museum and gallery exhibits with California Fiber Artists, the work can be much larger and have more depth in technique so it can be priced higher and I can get a better return on all my labor. I have four large gallery/musuem shows coming up in 2011 and I'm anxious to see how my larger work will fair in these venues. I have two pieces completed and need to start the third asap as it will take a great deal of time with the bead work I intend to include on the finished piece.

My new years resolution.....only one this year.........."BE MORE PRODUCTIVE".

Wishing everyone a wonderful new year celebration and a happy and prosperous new year "2011".

Studio time and the Winter Blues

2010-12-22T07:59:00.000-08:00

New gallery card............this is our current hand out card along with our new advertising format for 2011...as you can see I'm on the publicity committee developing ads for the gallery and it's been fun, but very time consuming. The new 2011 Board of the gallery is much more organized and focused on the future of the gallery and that's a plus in our favor also. Not only must you do quality work, but you need to run the gallery in a professional manner.

The winter months are upon us full force, especially this week and I've realized that I really enjoy the sunlight though my studio windows instead of just light....it's gray outside, has been for days, which doesn't warm up my room, but it also just doesn't give me the light I need to get activated. Now that all things have been completed for the holidays, studio time comes next. I seem to be finding other things to do besides going out into the studio and decided last night, that instead of beating myself up over that delimea, just go for it and when I'm ready to go out there, I will. I think I may have over created myself preparing for the featured artists show I'm putting on in January and I'm needing to do other things to even it out. I do need to do some clean up around the house, so today is my balancing act day....cleaning the kitchen cupboards, frig and pantry. Even with just two people in the house, these areas get to the point that they need help and today is that day.

Already Thinking about New Year Resolutions

2010-12-10T10:12:00.000-08:00

I realized this morning that it had been a while since I posted to my blog...I have been so busy with working up new work for the gallery and for my featured artist show in January, that a lot of other things have been put on hold. Now that I have pretty much completed everything planned, I know can move forward with the things I want to do...but then I'm thinking this morning, if I sell anything at the gallery this month, I need to work up some replacement pieces to drive down to fill the hold created on the wall...so I'm back putting together a couple of "extra" pieces to have hanging around in case that happens. Let's hope it happens as I really could use some sales and so could the gallery.

I've also been thinking about my new year resolutions relative to my art work....and I think I'm going to have only one resolution this year: BE MORE PRODUCTION! I'm really struggling with the thought that I need to have an inventory of what I call quick work that sells at a lower level than I'd like my work to sell for and I have the desire to create high quality, more intense work that has more meaning for me, more creativity and really makes me stretch...this work would not sell at the gallery as it would be priced too high...this work would be for exhibits in and around the US that I would jury into when they come available. It's been difficult to carry off creating for both of these types of venues, but I keep working. Once all the confusion of the gallery transitioning from one Board to another and all the pieces are in place, things will settle down and I will feel like I have more time to devote to my art work.

Autumn Meadowlarks signing Happing Thanksgiving!!!

2010-11-25T08:45:00.000-08:00

This is my latest piece of work...Autumn Meadowlarks...the gallery is featuring all of it's members for the month of December, so I put together this new piece to be included in that display...it's 14"x 20"..no photos, just plain ole applique....I just love these little birds and have now decided to work up four 8" x 8" bird pieces for my Jan featured artists exhibit and then in Feb/March, update my gallery display with a new set of bird pieces much larger in size...everyone relates to birds one way or another, maybe they can be a seller. I'd love to work up some abstract art pieces also, but this gallery doesn't seem to cater to those who enjoy abstract art. Most that come through that gallery door are tourist visting Sacramento and like most tourist, they are "just looking"...small items under $10 sell fast....I reorganized my portion of the wall, added four new pieces and grouped my work a little better than the display folks did so it looks neater and easier to see all of my work...and I lowered my prices...I can't go lower than what is on the wall right now...after being featuried artist in January, I plan to increase my prices as I feel I'm getting more established in the gallery and more work would have seen over that months period of time than what I currently have in the gallery. As usual, I have jumped into this project 200% and I need to back off and just let my work do it's thing on the wall....if the right person wants my work, then it will sell....if it doesn't sell, remove it, put something else up and move on to the next event.

California Fiber Artists group that I manage is opening a new exhibit Dec 3 in Woodland..Fiber Art TO GO and it should prove to be a great exhibit....only problem with this exhibit is that it's only open weekends during business hours because this gallery is in the hallway of the Woodland Admin Bldg on Court Street...we've shown here before and sold work, so we're back again. I have three new pieces hanging and I'm hoping to get some commission work off of what I have on the walls. Then in January we have an exhibit at 48 Natoma Gallery in Folsom...Text & Texture...I'm hoping to have two new pieces of work in this exhibit..they are complete, just need to be included in the jury process with our group.

I'm busy and that's the way I like to work...keeps my mind busy creating instead of maybe feeling sorry for others things happening in my world. Not that I don't pay attention to everything else that is going on, I just don't dwell on it as much as I could be, which is a good thing.

What do I give thanks for today? I am thankful that I have good health, a loving husband, great kids and grandkids, warm and wonderful sisters, extended family and friends.

New Work for the Gallery

2010-11-18T17:09:00.000-08:00

Three new pieces finalized today for hanging. All three are 10" x 12", the perfect size for individual images...the top pieces is "Cowgirl" and she's proud to be on her horse...second piece is "Sister Stroller"..an actual photo of my sisters Kim and Claire in the back yard of our home in Redding...Claire certainly doesn't look happy in that stroller. And the third piece is titled "Wash Day"....this is a phot of my Dad placed in a basket type pot on a table in the back yard while my Grandmother hung the daily wash..one way to keep track of the little ones....apparently they didn't have play pens in those days.

Sent off three juried pieces to the California Fiber Artist's Woodland show "Fiber Art TO GO", which opens on December 3 thru January 9, 2011...hoping to sell a few pieces or get some commission of of the three pices I'll have displayed.

My plate is very full right now with all that is going on with CFA and the gallery and my personal life...oh wait, do I have a personal life, not sure right now. Anyway, some days I think the peas are overflowing over the side of the plate and other days I'm able to maintain.....finished 8 of the 16 things on my TO DO LIST today so I'm feeling pretty good about that.

Time Travelers

2010-10-29T10:28:00.000-07:00

Finished another larger piece this week, actually this morning....stretched and backed the piece early this morning, photographed and now I'm posting. Larger piece...26"h x 30"w and I'm getting larger and larger as I go through the pieces I want to create. The images are each around 19" tall...printed onto cotton using my new HP 7000 printer that takes a size up to 19" long x 13" wide....best tool I'm purchased lately. If I go larger, then I'll be piecing the images together which is OK...I just have to sew and color where they come to together and you would never now it exists. I have on to go under the sewing machine right now that I'm pieced and it's working out fine. The background fabric is a piece of silk noil I marbleized many moons ago and have an abundance of this fabric...love it and I'm using it up on pieces that won't show together. For some reason I really love these images, but I think their time has ended in my work...maybe one more, but not so sure...right now I need to turn my attention to the five new smaller pieces I need to create to round out the pieces I'm installing at the Artists' Collaborative Gallery in January when I'm their featured artist.

Changes & Opportunities

2010-10-25T10:20:00.000-07:00

"Planning the March"

Planning the March" closeup

"Planning the March" close up

Finished "Planning the March" by adding sequins and beads on the background fabric...the unexpected and it really sets off the images fused and sewn to the background...it's 24"h x 32"w stretched...larger than I usually do and I like it...working on another piece that is even larger and a third is already basted and ready to go under the sewing needle when the second is complete. What I liked about this one is the changes I made to make it different and look better...I removed three images from the background original photo and changed one of the heads/faces on one of the ladies I left in....for some reason one of the ladies had a very large head on her normal sized body and it looked very strange, so I removed the head of one of the disposed ladies and presto, she was included and the large head was gone....sounds sort of crazy, but it worked. I also added the placards and they fit directly into their hands as some where holding other objects in the original picture..covered them up with signs and presto again...a changed photo!!! If I can do this, image how changed some of the photos we see now in the news...things can always be changed for the viewer.

Today is the last day of my 63rd year....WOW!!! I've accomplished a lot of my goals this past year and am very pleased with most of them...mainly getting my work into the gallery and the success of California Fiber Artists. So now I have another year before I become officially over the hill...and I intend to make the best of it..always looking ahead at opportunities and change.

It's not a waste of time.

2010-10-16T08:35:00.000-07:00

This is a preview of my latest piece "Planning the March"....I finished the machine sewing yesterday and now I'm sewing beads/sequins onto the background...the unexpected...it's hard to image the sequins right now, but in person they look fantastic...not your usual ones, very colorful, round, ribbed and perfect to set this piece off as being different. Size: 24"h x 32"w and I'm going to stretch it...hoping to get it juried into the upcoming CFA exhibit in Folsom Jan-Feb 2011.

I just read my friend Carol Larson's blog talking about spending too much time on the internet versus working in the studio..........and it got me thinking about wasting time. When I retired, I took a couple of weeks vacation and suddenly realized when I was back that now I had all the time I wanted to do all the things I wanted to do.............and then after months of finding out that wasn't totally true, I had to do some adjustments, learn to use my time and also learn to enjoy the time I had. Retirement is full of time and if you realize that then you can manage it...I have to manage my time, not the other way around. I also don't want to end up sitting in the corneer chair looking out the window for hours at a time. I remember hearing my Dad complaining to my Mom about her Mother just sitting all day long doing nothing!!! I think my Grandmother was depressed and frozen from that depression....that is NOT what I intend for myself. Fortunately my folks raised me to be self sufficient, to do for myself...and that's is still running strong through my veins. I want to remain well balanced, full of life and full of ideas..........as I approach the ripe ole age of 64 (in 10 days but who is counting) I am taking stock a bit...I don't feel I waste any time right now..sure you might find me sitting and watching Dr. Phil in the afternoon, but that's my relaxing time, my refueling time...that doesn't mean I've been watching TV all day...no way....I just took 60 minutes out of my day to sit, relax, enjoy myself for a while...then I'm up out of the chair, onto the PC for my late afternoon connection and then it's dinner time, clean up, etc, etc, etc, etc.....................wasting time is your own state of mind......enjoy yourself, know you have tons of time to do what you want and work from there....life is too short to do anything else.

Documentary Production and more

2010-10-10T09:08:00.000-07:00

Why is it that when it rains it pours??? I personally need some "me" time in the studio and there seems to be others that need my time elsewhere....I retired so I would have time and now I'm busier than I've ever been...again, I just can't say "no".

My son in law, who is in his senior year at Sac State in video production, has teamed up with me and we're going to produce a documentary on the coop gallery I joined in July...he can use the docu for a class project, I'll put the experience on my resume and the gallery gets a docu they can show on a loop at the gallery during business hours featuring gallery artists, shows them working in their work spaces/studios and ask them questions on why to do what they do.
We're in the very beginning stages with a final goal of late summer 2011...we need to shoot all the footage first and then start the editing process. We both have a lot of work to do...me first in scheduling the interviews around both Marc and my schedule is the biggest hurdle...the editing will come much later in the scheme of things. Anyway, I'm excited about being a part of this project..just another notch in my belt of things to do.

And as discussed in previous postings, I've gotten involved in the gallery....they have asked me to help them with recruitment efforts, which I can work on from home and I'm on the slate for next year as VP, helping the President manage the gallery...my main input would be budget which I'm trained from my years at FEDEX.
They definitely need to "think" about their future, plan for it and budget for it...something that hasn't been done in the past.

Had a lovely afternoon this past week visiting with a friend and her hubby from Huntsville, Alabama...she used to live here in Sacto, came through on a visit and final destination of Carmel. Even though the visit was short, we got a lot covered in a short period of time and off they went for the remainder of their trip out West.

Working on a new pieces that I'm submitting for an upcoming CFA show in Jan/Feb 2011 in Folsom, Ca....Text and Textures....no photo yet, it's going under the sewing machine needle today...hope to finish up this week so I can photo and submit along with two others for the jury and post card photos. I like to stay at least one to two exhibits ahead of myself in case something comes in between to delay me on my deadlines. I have learned from personal experience, "stuff happens" and like a good girl scout, "I'm prepared".

The Big Catch

2010-10-02T10:15:00.000-07:00

I've loved this photo for years, mainly because the man on the right is my Grandpa...Grandpa Red we used to call him as kids...he used to take myself and my three sisters to the park and we'd eat oranges and play on the big tires and swings. He passed away when I was a teenager, many years ago, but I still have very fond memories of him. So I decided to create a piece using this photo of the three men holding a huge haul of fish they had caught one day up in Northern California...they loved to fish and it's sure proven here.

This piece and two others: Riding Partners and Ostrich in the Park were created for a upcoming CFA exhibit in Woodland, Ca., Dec 1 thru Jan 26....I hope to generate some commission from these pieces, if not sell them off the walls.

January 2011 is also the month I will be the featured artist at the gallery I recently joined in Old Sacramento...being featured aritst means I can also show "other work" that I create besides what I was juried into the gallery and I plan to put on a really great exhibit with the very small space allowed for featured artist...I will be the 2-D and 3-D featured aritst and that's great...more space, more of my work to show. I realize January could be the worst month to have an exhibit, but I'm going to make it memoriable...knock their socks off...as they say.

I've got a long list of new pieces to create on the "to do list"......now that Woodland is done, I can work on a new piece for the upcoming CFA exhibit in Folsom (January 2011) Text and Texture...and another exhibit in March at the Bakersfield Museum of Art...again, I want to create new work and knock their socks off...I really feel the energy to create some new work and I'm going for it......................L

Working the gallery

2010-09-23T14:26:00.000-07:00

Worked the gallery this Sunday and took a bunch of digital pictures because there was very little traffic through the door. It rained a bit and then a bunch of people were walking around but not shopping...and those that did stop into the store liked what they saw, but didn't have the funds to purchase anything..they were browsers, not buyers. Some days are like that and you have to take the good with the bad.

Finished a new piece yesterday, "Gone Fishing" but I havne't photoed it yet as it's not stretched and I'm waiting for my order of stretcher bars...they are in route, should get them today/tomorrow. And I have two others ready to go under the sewing machine needle..I'll work and finish them up this weekend as I have no outside the home plans for Sunday or Monday and I need some good solid sturio time. Far too many errands have taken me away from my studio and I need to cut those back a bit.

Gallery Sales and more

2010-09-12T13:39:00.000-07:00

Good news from the gallery last night....the above piece of work, "Lovers" sold and they called to say that I need to replace it with another piece...there is a hole or open place in the gallery display. Unfortunately there is no place at the gallery to have an extra couple of pieces of work to put out on the wall if a piece is sold. No storage space at all..all we have is a large closet like space that holds the security system, ladder, tools, file cabinet...small stuff to keep things running at the gallery.

So this morning I had to put it in gear and create a new piece to replace the size that was purchased as the only work I have hanging around is duplicate of what is on the wall right now. So, printed off the little boy cowboy image, colored it with colors pencils (my favorite thing to do in this process), sewed the image to the background dyed fabric and then machine quilted the background piece...now I need to stretch it, back it and we're good to go.....the replacement. It's now around 2pm in the studio and it's too hot to sew anymore...will have to wait to finish it tomorrow.

It's great to have a larger sale...I've had about four other smaller sales, but when you sell a larger piece, then that's what this is all about. Knowing that I've had this type of sale helps me judge what else to create and have out there on the walls. And I've been asked to be the featured artist in January (I know January isn't the greatest month, but you know what..it's an opportunity and I'm going to make the best of it)...I get to put up 2-D and 3-D and that's a plus for me..and I get to put up work that has not been juried into the gallery..my larger work and that's a plus also.

Spent many hours yesterday planning out the next 16 months for California Fiber Artists and then myself..planning on what pieces I needed to create for what upcoming exhibit, when I needed them complete and when they needed to ship. So now I have the next six exhibits planned out to the best that I can right now and I have a ton of work to create..but that's how I like to work. I know there will be a few extras in there that come up, but I plan for that also. When you are retired, you have a ton of time...what matter is how you use it!!!!

Napkins, Travelers, Horses and more.

2010-09-03T16:15:00.000-07:00

Spent some of my week back with my sewing machine, sewing up the edges on 100 napkins/placemats for my daughters Waldorf kindergarten class. Apparently she uses these on a daily basis with her kids teaching them how to search food and eat off of a clean surface using the fabric as the base source. And they are washed and washed and washed over the school year, so let's hope all those edges stay together as this fabric really can fray. At least they are done in time for her class which begins this next week.

Time Travelers is one of my newest pieces that I'm creating for an upcoming exhibit in 2011...Worked up the surface design, now I need to do the surface sewing to create shadow and design over the surface. I enlarged the images to 19" and colored them with colored pencils, fusing them to the marbelized background..I marbeled this fabric many years ago and have never used it, but I think it looks great as a background for these travelers...fused a clock face in behind them to depict the time traveler theme. I really like this piece, very anxious to get this completed prior to the exhibit.

This is the second piece I've created using these two images..the first went to my friends the Alfonso's who purchased it as a commission and ended up giving it to their parents (the images are their parents as children)...so now I'm putting together a new one for just them, they don't know, so don't tell them....and I'm shipping it to them as a surprise...no charge..on me!!!! I would have done the same if my parents wanted something I had and it's only right that John and Cindy have a replacement.

And this is a new piece I'm waiting to sew the surface sewing onto...this is a photo of my Mom, it's about 30" high on a marbeled background again...My Mom had black hair so she wore RED a lot....this is here RED DRESS period....photo was taken of her on the Jersey Shore, dress being blown by the wind...great photo...hope I can pull this one off once I work in the sewing lines.

So, I'm back sewing again...finished all the gallery work and now I'm working on "my" work...pieces for upcoming exhibit in 2011 in two galleries and two museum....I want only new work so I had better get to working more hours in the studio.

I'm beginning to understand........

2010-08-26T07:25:00.000-07:00

I'm beginning to understand what other artists had mentioned to me when I expressed my excitement in joining a cooperative gallery.....it's really very challenging to deal with 30+ ideas of what is the right way to do business. I'm on my second month and I'm really still trying to figure everything out as not much is written down about the inner workings of the group. Don't get me wrong, they have the paperwork and all, but it's the everyday stuff that not everyone knows about and no one has ever put it down in a ledger or something for members to refer to when they come across the issue...and they will come across it if they work in the store.

I've been asked by a member that is soon to be the new president of this group, to take on the publicity chair for the gallery....a lot of work besides what I already do for California Fiber Artists and my own fiber work in my studio....along with my real life and my husband who is ill. I like the diversion, but as I told her, too many meetings and I start to go crazy...I'm not a big fan of sitting in a room with people talking about nothing...it reminds me too much of corporate america...a lot of time is wasted in the board room. I haven't said I would do it yet, but she's already got me looking into things and helping out a bit...and I've already got a million ideas in my head on how we can improve what they do now and add some great publicity ideas for the next year. We'll see what happens......

I still don't have my sewing machine back and I think that's what is driving me nuts the most...I'm feeling very anxious and unable to settle down...this is the fifth week without my sewing machine..work has certainly stacked up and I'm unable to finish anything...8 pieces ready to go under the needle. I've resorted to sorting buttons by color and size for sewing buttons onto a surface design to keep my hands busy.

And on top of all of this...it's 107 degrees in the valley but there are signs of a cooling trend......................it's almost fall...I can smell it in the morning air...cooler temps means more time in the studio...it's become my santcuary, my place to unwind, my "getting away from everything" place which we all need.

Never Say Never & KISS

2010-08-21T08:19:00.000-07:00

NEVER SAY NEVER......How many times do we say something and then we have to take it back? Well, here I am taking it back...I said I would never change my work to make a sale and here I am doing just that. Not that I wouldn't do a commission, that's a given...but I wasn't about to make work that was sold for very little money just to make a little bit of money or to have a sale. Yet here I am doing just that. I decided that I needed to have more work in the gallery and that my range of pricing needed to be from smaller to my higher pricing currently on the wall. I'm not even putting my larger pieces into the gallery as the pricing is far to high for the customers that come into that store front. So, I started some pieces that eventually will be 8" x 8" square, simple images like those above, fused to the black background and eventually (when my sewing machine gets back from the sewing machine hospital) they will be stitched and the black will be machine quilted..then each piece will be stretched and backed and wired to hang. Right now my pricing ranges from $75-$225...these will allow me to have a lower start range..thinking $35. I also put together greeting cards with six images on them, printed them up from my PC to printer and clear bagged them..those are $4 like all the others in the gallery. It's not that I need to sell my work to survive, but I'd like to sell my work just as recognition..that someone out there likes what I'm doing besides "me".

KISS.....KEEP IT SIMPLE, SILLY.......when I started the above project, I really dove into the pool and had all these wonderful and heavy ideas for images and then once I got into them and started placing them on the background and realizing how much more work I had to do for them and keep them at the price range I wanted, I suddenly realized KISS....make them more simple...strong but simple. So, I stopped production, went back to the binder full of images I have designed over the years and pulled them out..I particularly like the pre-columbian images that I designed like the dog and plan to do more of those. KEEP IT SIMPLE, SILLY....don't go off on a rant to get to the end. It's just like right now I feel the urge to create a piece sewing different colored small buttons, beads and sequins all over the surface and I'm tempted to start a piece..but something in my brain is telling me to hold off, don't get so involved with a new technique, new ideas just yet....pull back and work with what you have going....what I have going right now is eight (8) pieces stacked up waiting for the sewing machine to get back....my hands and brain need to keep busy and they are at a stalemate right now. I guess I had better put on a bathing cap, because I'm jumping into the pool!!!!

Artist's Collaborative Gallery

2010-08-16T18:23:00.000-07:00

Sunday I worked the Artist's Collaborative Gallery for the first time...and it was eventful. My first fear happened, I didn't put the code key into the security alarm correctly and the alarm sounded and it was LOUD...I finally got the code right and got it entered within the one minute we're allowed without the police being summoned to find out who broke into the gallery. After that everything else was a piece of cake. Count the money in the drawer, turn on the a/c, all the lights (which there are ton of lights throughout the room and all the display cases), get the music started, clean the counter, dust and vacuum....ready to open at 11am....and surprisingly enough for a Sunday morning, there was traffic through the front door. And they weren't all tourists since the gallery is located in what is called "Old Sacramento"...an area of town that has been made to look like the old West full of shops that sell T-shirts, candy, tourist junk, restaurants, galleries, train station, etc...and the Delta King is sitting along side the river front with hotel rooms, dining, live theatre, etc....So there is loads of activity going on outside the doors to the gallery. Mainly the customer were lookers, some purchased cards with images of the artist's art work on them, items that were cheap and small. Sunday lookers, not hard paying art lover customers. My shift ended at 2:30, the relief artist was late and finally showed, only to ask for more time so he could move his car in the parking garage..so I got out of there by 3pm...drove home and felt exhausted...it has been a long time since I have WORKED...that dreaded word...as I have said in other postings, retirement is GOOD!!!

California Fiber Artists Chico Art Center Exhibit

2010-08-06T09:31:00.000-07:00

Photos above were taken last Saturday evening at the Chico Art Center, Chico, Ca., where the California Fiber Artists have their current exhibit. The gallery looked great, the CAC staff did a wonderful job hanging, the flow of the room was good and the work was hung very well..despite some of our own mistakes. It's so interesting how you learn from each exhibit...and when you have to work with a gallery that doesn't have the greatest layout, it can be challenging. When you walk into this exhibit you are instantly in what they call their gift shop. And the gift shop was crowded making it very difficult to get into the gallery. The other problem with this gallery is their signage...from the street you don't even know this gallery exists..the only reason I finally found the place was that I recognized a fellow CFA member and followed her into the building that wasn't marked with a street number or the name of the business. YIKES!!!! I'm really reluctant to tell people to go see our exhibit, if you can find it. I think the gallery feels that locals know where it is and the out of towners will find their way. If there is a will, there is way, right? The secret is the gallery is located behind the railroad car that has been converted into a tea house...if the rail car was moved, you would see the gallery.

Besides this problem, the exhibit looked great, hoping for some sales in this tough economy. Dee Danley Brown, curator and CFA member, did a wonderful job..she worked her fingers to the bone on this one...and it looks great!!!!

Commission Work Competed/Posted

2010-07-29T08:48:00.000-07:00

These are the latest two commission pieces I finished for my friends in Mesa, AZ..the first piece is "Missouri Moon Light"...they sent me a black/white photo of the couple laying in the waters of the Missouri River and wanted me to put it into fiber...getting water to look right is difficult in fiber..thought about it for a while and decided to take the "plunge"..no pun intended. Because the images we up out of the water on top and under the water at the legs and hands, I used blue organza overtop a background blue/green and the images were visible like you would see them in real water..and once I machine quilted the background and organza, it all came together...quilted vertically randomly throughout the background and then hand sewed the beads across the surface to give it a firefly or twinkling star affect. I was pleased with the outcome...hard to photograph, looks much better in person.

The second piece is "Russ Light - Red Roses for a Blue Lady"....this was a challenge because the phone I was originally given was of four men sitting together as a band and they only wanted one person featured in their finished piece...so good ole photoshop aided me in separating that person from the rest and then I had to draw in some parts/pieces to make it look correct. I used a background piece I had created with tissue paper dye and wrote the words to one of his favorite musical pieces his band always sang across the background "Red Roses for a Blue Lady" and then fused Russ Light to the background, machine quilted the heck out of it and presto, I have another finished piece.......................and the customer loves both pieces.

I am really enjoying being able to take images from one situation and putting them into another...sort of like giving them new life in a way. My sewing machine, my third arm, is in the sewing machine hospital for the week...something inside was scrapping and making a loud ugly noise and I just couldn't take the sound any longer..it's either an easy fix or an expensive one..no matter, it has to be repaired for me to continue on, I don't own another machine. I'm put a large amount of miles on this Bernina and I love it's performance and hope to get more miles from her as we role along.

Toe Dippin' at the Jersey Shore

2010-07-21T10:30:00.000-07:00

Finished two pieces this morning, only showing this one...Toe Dippin' at the Jersey Shore....don't you just love how the ladies have their dresses raised and the water is only about 1" deep...what a hoot!!! This was a photo taken back in the 40's..the gal on the left is my Grandmother Edith, the other woman I do not know, but she is sure having a great time...kids again in a sense.

The second piece I finished I'm not showing yet, as it's a commission piece and the work hasn't been shipped/delivered to the customer in Arizona. Once they have received the work, then I will post. This piece involved water and I put a lot of thought on how I was going to pull the water/underwater image off and make it still look right. I think I nailed it, we'll see once they receive the work and approve.

Starting a larger piece of my Mother, Edythe...a photo taken of her posing at the Jersey Shore in her Sunday best..wind is blowing her clothes a bit and she's dressed with hat/coat, the works!!! This piece is planned for an upcoming exhibit at the Bakersfield Museum in March 2011. I also have two pieces planned for an exhibit with CFA at a gallery in Folsom, Ca., January/Feb 2011...I like to plan ahead and complete my work way ahead of schedule so if I run into problem, I have time to work them out before the deadline. I am not a last minute get it done kind of person...that's the training from corporate america I'm afraid!!! At least I'm never behind and I'm never late for anything.

VICTORY GARDEN COMPLETE

2010-07-13T07:39:00.000-07:00

Victory Garden is complete....ready to hang, ready to help raise some $$$$ to support the SAQA 12 Voices exhibit coming to the Pence Gallery, Davis, Ca. in August 2010.

I will say that several potential disasters occurred while I was putting this piece together...things that don't normally happen to me in my own work, but luckily I was able to correct the problems and come out with a great result. For example: one panel was returned and it was shorter than the other, which meant all the others had to be made the same size as the shorter piece..easy fix. Once I had the surface pieced together and pinned to the backing/batting I realized while taking pictures that one of the panels was in upside down...fortunately I had not started the machine quilting yet, so I spent an hour unpinning the bottom portion of the surface from the backing, removed and replaced the panel into the lower section, repinning and then I could start machine quilting the surface panels as a whole. Then once complete with the machine quilting I noticed two small "black" areas on one of the panels and realized that some residue from my machine had soiled two areas on a specific panel...could not remove it..resorted to fusing a similar piece/color of fabric over the soiled areas, resewed the pieces down and presto, just like it was prior to the event.

So, I've labeled it, included the rod/wiring and photographed the piece...ready to hang once the gallery director gets back to me with her schedule as to when I can deliver and hand it over to her for their purposes.

I want to personally thank the other 11 artists who participated in this finished piece as without their contribution, there would be do finished Victory Garden:
Marjan Kluepfel - artichoke; Camille Ahern - lemon/lime; Yvonne Porcella - cherries;
Deb Hosler - oranges; Carol Larson - rainbow chard; Peig Fiarbrook - Kiwi Man; Terry Waldron - string beans; Dee Danley Brown - Grapes, Marjie McWilliams - onion; Sara Kelly - romaine lettuce and Karen Flame - carrots. THANK YOU ALL!!!

New Work; New Gallery: Victory Garden update

2010-07-09T07:00:00.000-07:00

Victory Garden is shown pinned and ready to go under the sewing machine needle...BUT after taking this picture I realized that one I put one of the panel in upside down...yikes...so reluctantly I unpinned half the project, took the panel out and resewed in back the correct way, repinned the bottom half and then I was on my way to sewing. This morning the background is machine quilted; have three panels that need surface sewing to make sure the images stay secure. Then I can edge and hand sew the outside binding. Then I plan on creating a second piece or canapy type piece that will hang just over the top..make it look like an awning in a veggie marke with VICTORY GARDEN in read across the top. Guess what I'll be doing this weekend?

These two pieces are new; both going into the Artists Collaborative Gallery...that's right, my work and I got accepted into this coop in Old Sacramento, California and I'm very excited about this adventure. For years I have been managing a similar group without a store front and now I'm a member at large of this group and the shoe is on the other foot..I'm not in charge, I'm one of the members and I'm making my way through their policies, their gallery sitting instructions, how to open/close the storefront, what to do if you have a sale, etc....I have seven pieces of work up on the wall as of yesterday with the big Second Saturday blast happening this Saturday...learning how they do things and working all the training and scheduled gallery sittings into my schedule will be a challenge for me and for my hubby. He knows how important this is to me, but on the other hand he doesn't like me to be away from the house/studio very long...what's a gal to do??? Whatever she wants to do!!!!

Finished Commission Piece & Great News

2010-07-01T13:29:00.000-07:00

Ridin' the Range is my recent commissioned piece...given two photos taken of two different people who believe it or not, actually married later and now they are together on their horses for ever and ever....created this piece for a couple that I used to work with at FEDEX many years ago..they saw my work on Facebook and asked me to create this piece for them....they just received it Tuesday and they love it and want me to do some additional pieces for their Mesa, AZ home.

And the Great News of the weeks is that Gecko was accepted into the Infinity Art Gallery On-Line Summer Exhibit....I took a huge step and submitted two pieces of my folk art work, paid my fees and crossed my fingers and my work actually was accepted out of 160 artists into a field of 48 artists from around the work...I am so excited that I made it into this exhibit. You just never know what is going to take place unless you put yourself out there once in a while. Here is the link: http://www.infinityartgallery.com/SU10/gallery/ < If you are so inclined, visit the link for some great art work.

On count down days until Tuesday 6/6 when I submit my body of work to Artists Coop for jury...finished three pieces today and need to stretch them...labeling, backing, wiring...almost finished. I want to be done by Sunday with all that needs to be completed....nearing my goal.

Victory Garden Panels

2010-06-24T16:14:00.000-07:00

All twelve panels have been returned to me...I did a photo shoot today and these are the results....

Grapes by Dee Danley Bailey
Crunchy Corn by Louise Schiele
Cherries, U Pick Em' by Yvonne Porcella
Carrots by Karen Flamme
Artichoke by Marjan Kluepfel

Rainbow Chard by Carol Larson
Oranges by Debra Hosler
Onion by Marjie McWilliams
Line in Lemon's Clothing? Camille Ahern
Kiwi Peig Fairbrook

String Beans by Terry Waldron
Romaine by Sara Kelly

Twelve panels.......now I need to put these twelve panels into one finished piece that is no wider than 43" (gallery requirements)....they are pressed and I've moved them around ten thousand times on my studio table into the final design that I think will be the most eye pleasing....going to let them sit overnight before I tackle putting them together into the final surface design....

All the fiber artists that participated did a wonderful job creating clever tight panel designs...a great challenge and everyone finished a week ahead of the deadline....wow, that's a first for me!!!!!

When It Rains It Pours

2010-06-16T07:33:00.000-07:00

When it rains it pours....not one day from delivering the two commission pieces shown earlier in my blog, did I pick up another commission. I posted the two images on Facebook and bingo...a couple I know from FEDEX contacted me, liked what they saw, asked about the process and want me to do up to SIX pieces for them, two of which they want 60" x 80" for two long walls in their new home in Mesa, AZ.

The picture above is how it all starts....they have sent me these two images and asked me to create something...the wheels are already moving...Working on this piece today...and I'm thinking I will put them in one piece together..although the pictures were taken in two different parts of the universe at different times, these two people are now a couple, so let's just put them together as a young couple. Anyway that's the plan.

And I'm getting three new pieces started and hopefully finished before my July 6th deadline to jury into the local artists coop here in Sacramento...cross all your fingers and all your toes as this is a one of my major goals this year that I'm willing to put out the time and energy to achieve...plus all the work once getting into the coop. It costs money, a specific amount of time per month and they take a percentage of your sales...but it's exposure in the best shopping location in Sacramento..worth it all!!!!

Discharging Fabric

2010-06-06T08:42:00.000-07:00

This past Wednesday was critique day with a handful of fellow fiber artist friends. This was the first time I had put my new work out in front of others and surprisingly it was accepted well with very few negative or improvement comments. That helped as I was sure I was on to something, but now I really do believe I am on the right path and I'll move forward with more of my ideas. It always feel good to know others appreciate what you are creating and encourage you to do more.

After our critique session and "food", we had a mini workshop by Marjan Kluepfel on fabric discharging using bleach on cotton fabrics...the clothesline shows some of our results..we mainly were experimenting what different types of fabric would do in the bleach situation and we had a good time....easy process, your hands come out of it really really clean and we found out that some blacks don't bleach out at all.

Those of us that work independently in our own studios each day don't have much contact with other artists except when we come together for these types of days and we had a great time, the weather was wonderful outside on the back patio, the chat was good and we all enjoyed each others company.

Photos: clothesline, Peig and Marjie gathering up their treasures, Pam and Maryan working at the workshop table.

Finished Commission Work; New Projects

2010-05-29T10:24:00.000-07:00

This week I finished the two pieces I was commissioned to do using the image/color pencil technique that I've been working with for a couple of weeks. They both turned out OK...I really feel the piece with the ostrich is difficult to see and it was difficult to color because it was so dark..plus the image just isn't large enough, but it works. The image of the girl dancing, is doubled, as you can see..titled, Seeing Double...it's actually an image of her Mother who used to dance in this dance troupe in LA that was very famous...I liked that I made it a little more interesting by doubling the image. Again I had a difficult time finding stretcher bars here in my fair city of Sacramento, so now I'm only going to order on line..just have to plan ahead and know what sizes to purchase before finishing so the bars arrive around when I finish the surface design..I don't like to have half finished work sitting around in my studio. Either I'm working on it or it's finished...yikes, I think I need to be a bit more flexible with myself.'

I've printed off an image of my Mom that is much larger than what I have been working up...about twice the size..coloring it right now with the colored pencils and plan to fuse it to a new piece of dyed fabric...my goal is to create larger pieces for gallery exhibits and a few for the museum exhibits CFA has coming up in 2011. I've also got a new mini-gecko piece fused and ready to sew..this will go toward my batch of work that I'll be presenting to the Artist's Coop here in Sacto in July to be juried into their coop. Hoping I will make it in this time as I really feel that if I had some good exposure I would sell more...just makes sense.

"Victory Garden" project panels are out to the 12 artists that have volunteered to crate a panel for the end product..due back by end of June and I'll post as they start to filter back to me.

When It Rains It Pours

2010-05-20T08:35:00.000-07:00

I can certainly tell that winter is over, spring is just about over and summer is approaching...we've had such cool wonderful weather here in Northern California that I predict we'll instantly go into summer one of these days and never look back. I'm not a summer type of gal..I don't like the scorching heat.

When It Rains It Pours....all of a sudden I have a work plate that is running over the edges...along with my normal three to four projects going on in my studio, I've added a few more projects from outside my universe and I feel very full right now. I've decided to jury into the Artist's Coop here in Sacto..the jury date is early July so I'm way ahead of the game as far as getting a bunch of work ready, but I do have a few I'd like to create along with the work I have decided to exhibit. If selected, the exposure would be great, but it also adds additional expense and time away from the studio, but it all is worth it for sure.

The Pence Gallery in Davis contacted me asking me to coordinate and create along with 12 other artists an art quilt for a fund raiser in conjunction with the 12 Voices exhibit happening in mid-August at their gallery. After much discussion (she had her own ideas, I had mine) we settled and I'm connecting with other artists getting commitments for work..it's a short deadline, but we'll make it work. 12 Voices is an exhibit out of SAQA group.

SDA has a committee that awards students grants and I'm on the latest committee group reading their submissions and selecting a winner for this year. Haven't received the info yet, but am anxious to participate and have an impact on another young artists career.

Signed up for Art Sketchbook 2010....they send you a sketchbook to fill up for the year and you return the sketchbook and it's catalogs into a touring artists exhibit that travels all around the US...even though I don't like to journal, I do like to sketch, so maybe I can do both and then send it out for others to enjoy...a little humor and fun from a 63 year old fiber artist.

I'm also working on two pieces someone commissioned me to create..having fun with those, but need to finish up so I can move on with all my other "wants" to do....
ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, I can hear the rain on my studio rooftop...must mean more fun is coming my way.

"Lovers" and more

2010-05-09T07:45:00.000-07:00

Finished this new piece this past week and just now got to filming it for documentation..."Lovers"...I did something different this time, I machine quilted the background hand dyed fabric by itself, stretched it and then printed the image onto organza fabric, colored it with colored pencil, sewed the background of the organza and then stretched it separately over the already stretched dyed background. The finished produce is much more muted, softer than the others. The process is different and I like the organza softness affect. I have plans to create a long pieces placing several different images across the surface on the organza..like a tribute to the women in my life, etc. Could be powerful since we're celebrating Mother's Day today.

I've started another photo piece, this time it's much larger, so will take a lot more time to color with the pencils...right now it's in four panels fused together in it's raw stage...the image having been printed to four 11x17 sheets of fabric, which have been fused up to match each other to complete the total larger image. I originally sewed all four sheets together, but didn't like the seam allowance showing through once fused to a stabilizer piece, so I took it all apart, cut off the seam allowance and fused it together, butting the edges up against each other for the full image. Now I need to colorize it and sew colored thread onto it to give it live before sewing it to the background piece (which has not been determined yet). I need to dye some fabric either today or tomorrow as I have used up all my tied dyed/multi colored background fabrics.

A friend saw my work in Facebook and has commissioned me to create two pieces for her using two of her old family photos...crazy fun!!!

And I have decided to start a new process...I read about a painter who described her process of creating her work and I thought "hey, why can't I do that is fiber"....and why not. So in order to work in the size I want to work it, I needed to create a larger iron table...the one I use now I made in 2' x 4'...not large enough to place the entire surface on the board so I can cut and fuse as I go without moving the background surface around....I don't work by placing the work on the wall upright, I work with it down on the surface, face up. So, I went to Lowe's and they cut me a piece 3' x 4' (couldn't put anything larger inside my car) and I covered it with batting and a piece of cotton fabric, stapled it to the back and I now have a 3' x 4' iron board that I can work on out on my main table. Once I get it set up, I'll photo it and post. And I'll tell you about the process.

A Ride in the Park and more

2010-05-02T14:30:00.000-07:00

Started and finished this piece this week..."A Ride in the Park"...three cyclist from the 1940's..actually they are three friends of my Mom's that she hung out with before she even met my Dad, before I was even thought of happening.

I started a much larger piece using the same technique...it's an old photo of my Mom taken in the 40's in New Jersey..she's all dressed up with coat, hat, gloves, the works and the wind has her coat a flying...printed it off and it's 22"h x 16"w..will be slightly smaller once I color it and cut it all out of the background. Because it's a much larger image, it's going to take me much longer to color, but I'm not in any rush on this one. Taking my time and doing it right the first time.

I'm also starting a much larger project along with this one...I've decided to create an overall piece using the rubbing techqniue / paint sticks rubbing onto cotton fabric...using wood cuts underneath as the rubbing source. I'll photo as I go and post so you can see the details.

I could go on and on with all the projects I want to start, but that might jinx me into not doing them if I spill my guts today. This past week I've been dabbling in the studio, but today I feel strong and focused and moving forward. Some days you just want to sit and read (Angels and Demons by Dan Brown) and then others where you can't sit still and you're out in the yard weeding or planting or changing an entire area altogether. My energy level is high right now, so expect more to come.

Gridfusion

2010-04-26T08:58:00.000-07:00

Another finished piece...Gridfusion....40" x 40" and heavily heavily sewn..it reminds me of a canvas floor mat it's got so much thread sewn onto it...it's very difficult to see in the photos, but every inch of fabric is stitched heavily with thread. The color in some of the shapes throughout the surfice is hand dyed organza and the circles or sort of circles are just randomly cut to appear like a circle but they are not circles (huh!!!)...I wanted this stark ridged surface to have some softness...many layers upon layers upon layers....it's complete now and that's what matters because I have so many other ideas that have come from this exercise. Isn't that why we're doing this..learning along the way, even if we are our own teacher?

A new piece already under the sewing machine needle and two others in the fiber selection phase........can't stop now, have to continue on and on and on and on....

Travelers

2010-04-17T10:30:00.000-07:00

Latest finished piece using old photos fused to new bright hand dyed fabric...really love using the colored pencils to highlight the black/white photos I'm printing to the cotton..this piece is only 14" x 18", but have plans to do this image again in a much larger version with an old time pieces behind them all..time travelers.

While finishing up this piece and working on the current grid piece, I find myself thinking while sewing about my next several works that I'm planning in my head and wondering if others do the same thing...or are they more in the moment. My head seems to be swimming at times with ideas and it's somewhat overwhelming and exhausting..like I'm not using my time wisely enough to get all these thoughts and ideas down on paper. I've started writing in a rough draft journal every evening after dinner what I did for the day and any ideas/drawings that are hanging around in my head from the day. Seems to be helping a bit so I can concentrate on what I'm current working on.

CFA has an exhibit coming up at the Chico Art Center (summer time) and I've decided to enter three pieces using the above process...have two completed now, staying small for sales purposes, but after I've finished for Chico, I'm going to go larger on the old images for four exhibits in 2011 that I'm planning for now. I don't like to be creating at the last minute and you never know what comes along while I wait for the exhibit.

Early Spring Has Sprung in California

2010-04-14T09:07:00.000-07:00

Even though we continue to have rain and cool weather here in California, there is evidence that Spring has sprung....took a digital walk around my front yard yesterday afternoon and captured these photos..the pollen is definitely all over the place and new plants are springing up daily. My iris garden has about twenty in bloom, with hundreds more just waiting to pop out. It's calling for rain again later in the week/weekend, hoping it won't spoil the iris heads. Everything pretty much is yellow and purple in my yard with a touch or red/pink here and there to break up the color.

My backyard is where I get all of the sun and it's like a wasteland...that's where I plant my veggie garden, which is not in yet because of the weather...too cool yet..so pictures will have to wait.

New Portfolio

2010-04-02T09:10:00.000-07:00

I've finished producing my portfolio for a second time...made considerable changes to the content and cover as I love change. Over the years I've learned to roll with the punches fairly well and even now into retirement, I seek change in my own small ways.
Now my portfolio is 40 pages of images with work from 2000-present and I can change it before each printing so it's always got my latest work in it.

Been "under the weather" all week...picked up some sort of a tummy bug that I can't seem to shake..one day feel great, the next not so great..makes for an unproductive week studio wise.

Work in Progress

2010-03-26T08:42:00.000-07:00

I really don't like to show work in progress, but here's my latest piece at the layout stage...just about to safety pin the three layers together for the machine sewing that starts today. Something different for me...I am working on several pieces based on the grid and drew this up several months ago and I'm following my original idea to the end....I might try this with a white background and black lines for a companion piece..negative/positive...I think I just named the idea. The color fabric I fused in different locations inside the grid is dyed organza and it's just enough color to make sure you eye knows something is there...the OOOO's are cotton colors randomly cut and placed..without the OOOO's, the piece was way to wild, but the small use of the OOOO's cut it down and made it manageable. I was going to stretch at 40" x 40", but am reconsidering for shipping reason..it I can roll this one it would be easier to ship to exhibits that find or have a box made 40x40...haven't made my final decision yet because I really like the padded stretch piece at the end.

Collected about 30 full body images out of my sister's old photo collection..she's become the keeper of all family photos and it was crazy looking through all her boxes of old photos...I'm scanning them into my pc, working them up in Photoshop Element and plan on using several for more pieces similar to the Bailie Girls in the Fantasy Garden piece..getting larger and more daring as I go along. I have several museum venues coming up through 2011 and I'm thinking these just might be the types of work I will enter/exhibit in these venues. Certainly something different for me and for the viewers...the old images against the color and magic of tied dyed fabric puts a different spin on the pieces as art.

I create art using fabric and techniques similar to quilt making, but they are not quilts.....fiber collage (a collection of fabric placed on a background and embellished with art like tehniques).

Two new finished projects

2010-03-15T15:39:00.000-07:00

Finished two new pieces over the weekend...stretched them, backed each of them, wired and made their permanent coverings for transportation, photographed and documented..........there is way more than just creating the piece, you have to "finish it off" once you are done with it.

Bailie Girls in Their Fantasy Garden was a lot of fun...ran a photo of my grandmother and her two sisters through the scanner, played with in it Photoshop, printed it off black/white onto fabric and colorized it using color pencils...first time using the pencils and had a blast shading and coloring their clothing. Then I cut them out of the cloth, backed it with fusing and fused them to the background dyed fabric from my latest dye baths...added some color at their feet and machine sewed all over the surface design to give it that punch....stretched it on stretcher bars and the rest is history. Really like how this all worked out...definitely going to go bigger now that I have my new HP printer where I can poster size and create large images.

Yours, Mine and Ours: Family is a spoof on how you need an idex card with everyones name on it when you meet families these days...right in my own family we run into this same problem....I still am playing around with the stark color for the background with the whimsey images played over the back fabric...wanted to try all these colors on the red.

Ever since I started working these two projects, new ideas are just flooding my mind and my note book...don't want to forget them...let them simmer for a couple of days before I start them...so if they fade out, I won't bother..but if they stay strong, then I will proceed...thinking about stretching fabric on bars and layering colors over the stretched bars in bands with images/raw edges...I'm no longer making quilt like pieces which was my goal!!!!!

Having a Sewing and Dyeing Day Together

2010-03-06T13:48:00.000-08:00

Woke up this morning full of energy, so I decided I would do some gradation dyeing today as well as start sewing on my current two projects....right now on the back clothes line I have two graditions drying...one gray/green and the other maroon brown...both turned out wonderful....and I have marigold cookin right now....have about another half hour before I need to rinse...............tomorrow a couple more to do unless I run out of fabric and steam.

I started sewing the red background on my gators....similar to my gecko piece, but cut out gators with sharp edged backs in two shapes...they are placed two by two in color and I'm calling it "Mine, Yours and Ours".....couples and kids and her kids and his kids and their kids and everyones kids....every family needs an index card to know who belongs to who these days, right???

And they I scanned a photo images of my grandmother and her two sisters in black/white and then used colored pencils to give them some life...placed them on a piece of tie-dyed fabric I created...very yellow, orange, red and green...added a touch of dyed fabrics to looks like a garden and I'm going to machine stitch all over the surface as if they are in some sort of a fantasy garden....

both pieces are going to The Artery in Davis for the month of April on an invite I got from a member..hope to sell something, as I have there in the past.

Struggling to get work started/finished

2010-03-01T09:35:00.000-08:00

I really seem to be struggling to get any work started, let along finished. I just had to go through all my finished pieces images I have stored to remind myself that I can put it all together and make things work. I seem to go through this period of time doubting myself about once a year...I guess I'm finally recognizing it for what it is and telling myself it's only a phase.

Yesterday I did make myself work in the studio and started three different projects...I have always worked in threes and seem to work better this way..working on one piece for a while and then spinning over to the other, etc....working on one piece at a time is boring to me, I need the challenge of managing more than one thing. This comes from working full time in corporate america where I worked a facility managers desk for years..having many many project running at one time or another in multiple locations...I can't seem to shake that scenario of handling more than one project at a time. I know I have slowed down a bit from aging, but really don't want to slow down totally to one at a time...my thinking is this will really show me that I'm not capable or have lost it. I know, I'm my own worst enemy...but I really have this think about keeping my mind sharp, my fingers working, my sense of humor on edge....it's a difficult thing to go through life at full tilt and then when you retire, full tilt is not necessary....it's a hard lesson to learn how to relax!!! I don't do it very well and it bothers me at times when I can't seem to relax when I need to do so.

I've finalized and updated the 2010 California Fiber Artists portfolio and it's amazing...just uploaded it to blurb.com and ordered my proof copy before I order over 80 copies...I don't want any errors in 80 copies..best to catch then with one copy then after printing over 80 and sending them out to everyone. 74 pages with 104 images...each member has three images in the book randomly placed in and around each other....I think the next portfolio I put together I'll group each members images together with a photo of each artist and make it more like a who-who type portfolio...it's a thought, not set in concrete.

Time to get this day started in the studio again...and on the treadmill later this afternoon for my hour of walking fun....later.

New Work, Crazy Heart and Dragon Tatoo

2010-02-17T16:06:00.001-08:00

Finished "Tweet" last night and I'm finally documenting, putting on the label and putting it into the ever growing inventory...size 30"w x 38"h...showing the full piece and a close up...really enjoy creating the individual birds while listening to the birds in my yard outside my studio windows. This piece took a while, but then I didn't work on it every day either. Sort of like my winter piece because of the "weather" in my studio.

Took in a great movie earlier this week: Crazy Heart with Jeff Bridges...excellent study on the hard side of life and Jeff Bridges did a wonderful acting job on this one...worthy of the awards he is receiving..the story was great and the MUSIC was wonderful...now I'm looking for the sound track for the car.

Also finished my latest book, The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo by Larrson...long and tough reading, but I finally got into the story and loved all the twists and turns throughout until the end. Sometimes the Swedish translation didn't come out right in English, but you got the jest of the story as you read along. Off to Barns & Noble for my next supply of reading materials.

We Dyed All Sunday

2010-02-08T13:29:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday was "dye" day....we dyed the 12 colors of a color wheel and with two of us plus grandson Jack, it took us a great deal of time...but with great results.

The first photo shows the end results...hanging out to dry...Jenny dyed the class fat quarter along with silk scarves in each color and her colors came out vivid and bright....I only dyed one piece of fabric in each of my dye baths and the colors came out dark and vivid..some where very dark.

The second photo is my 12 colors ironed up in order...the first two reds were very close as were the third /fourth oranges..same happened with the purples....

we had a great time...lots of measuring, lots of mixing, lots of rinsing and drying time...we didn't have the sun Sunday so it took longer.

And grandson Jack brought white yarn and dyed half in one color, squeezed it out and turned it over and dyed in another colors...when we rinsed it out the colors were pastel and beautiful...now it has to dry a while...he's planning on knitting up something (he goes to Waldorf where all the kids learn to knit in class).

We're going to take this next Sunday off from dyeing as we have a four person birthday party planned so no time to dye fabric....

Lesson 3 - Fabric Dye Class Gradations & Jack

2010-02-04T12:45:00.000-08:00

Lesson 3 of the cotton fabric dye class was gradations and we had a great time working with multiple colors. This past Sunday my daughter dyed the brown to beige and I dyed the dark green to almost white green gradation and we were helped by my grandson, Jack...9 years old and he gave us a run for our money for sure. This young boy is a thinker...he helped us measure and pour and put some of the fabric into the baths and then came up with all different types of scenarios about what if we do this and what if we do that and thus.......the string. He wanted to know what would happen if you put string into the different baths so you have a continue amount of string in all different types of color. So, we set up the dye baths right next to each other and besides our fabric there was a clump of string in each dye bath soaking up the color from one bath to the other.
And here's his end result....Jack goes to Waldorf school where they are taught how to crochet and knit at a very young age....so when I asked him what he was going to do with it, there wasn't a moment of silence..he knew right off that he was going to knit it into something...I'm anxious to see if he returns this next Sunday with it complete and ready for the next lesson.
This is the brown to beige, which really turned into a dark red/brown to beige...more experimenting to go through to reach the right color.

My daughter had to leave mid-afternoon with her other son to watch him play rugby, but Jack stayed with me and we pulled all the fabric off the outside drying line, ironed it all, folded and got it ready for Mom's return. It was a great day of fabric dyeing and I can see in my future, many many more.

Does Every Piece you Create Have to Say Something?

2010-01-28T09:39:00.001-08:00

Cotton Dye Class - update - week two...added secondary colors: orange, green and purple...dyed in a very small container to get that mottling on the surface...the green turned out wonderful, actually looks like leaves randomly spread all over the surface. Enjoyed Lesson 2. Lesson 3 is this next weekend where we learn to do gradations of colors.

Does Every Piece I Create Have to Say Something? An interesting question and one all artists should ask themselves...mainly because sometimes it's just fun to play...but then when you play are you actually creating something that's forever or is it just an exercise in technique and you should really never put it out there for sale. I will admit that lately when I start planning a piece that comes to me and I'm drafting it out on paper to make sure I don't forget it later, I do think "is this going to be a for sale pieces or one I keep or give away" and I don't like myself when I think that. I like to do work because it's there and it's inside my brain and I need to get it out and onto a surface..no other reason. And if it turns out to be a piece I can place out into a gallery venue, then that's a plus. I have several pieces that I've considered just cutting up into something else...create a vessel, weave them into something different...why not if you don't want to put them out there for view. I don't think every piece you create has to say something...sometimes it just "is"....beautiful color, love the thread, love the embellishment, something about it...but doesn't it have to say something.........NO.....sometimes we don't have a voice for everything we create. At least that's my take on it.

Fun Weekend Dye Class

2010-01-18T08:58:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my daughter Jennifer and I took our first lesson in fabric dyeing cotton fabric...an on line lesson from Marjie McWilliams who lives in near by Woodland, Ca. Both Jenny and I had done dyeing before using veggie dyes, but never with Procison dyes, masks, formulas...and we loved what happened. What seemed like a long period of adding color, salt and soda ash and soaking...the end results was stunning. The colors were so vivid it knocked out eyes out. Then we started playing with mixing the three colors and doing a quick dye on a bunch of scraps Jenny brought over and that produced a bunch of colors also. Jenny really got into it, taking home bags of wet dyed fabric to throw into her dryer. Normally we would have hung it outside to dry, but here in California right now it's NOT dry...rained all day yesterday, will do so today and for the next week by the forecast. This morning, I'll press my finished pieces, cut off some color to use for reference in my weekly entries to my dye jounal along with formulas and comments to keep track as I will continue dyeing fabric after this five week course. The piece that looks like a flag was our bonus lesson where we folded a fat quarter and dipped corners and sides into our color baths...Jenny's flag, that's what they look like, was more colorful and she say instantly something she could do with her kindergarten students this spring in making a bunch of flags for their classroom and their school. We had a great time together which we had done for a long time...in between the dyeing process we got time to chat while we mixed and stirred and that was the added plus in the process. Looking forward to next Sunday lesson.

Wild at the Edges & Eva Henneberry

2010-01-13T09:16:00.000-08:00

I wanted to forward on to all those who read my blog from time to time, a great inspirational book to have at your side..."Wild at the Edges: Inspiration from a Creative Life by Virginia A. Spiegel. I personally purchased this for myself as a holiday gift and want a find. Read it from cover to cover with a cup of tea and a quiet house and loved it. The adventures Virginia and her sister have had over the years while exploring the wilds is just wonderful. And her art work and photography can't be matched. I recommend this book to any artist looking for inspiration and during those times when we search for reasons why we do what we do...Virginia has certainly found the answer. Where to purchase Virginia's book?

A new sadness came yesterday with the announcement that my friend, Eva Henneberry passed away from her fight with brain cancer. Eva's art work was certainly one of a kind and her experimentation and the subjects she selected to concur where what made her a wonderful fiver artist. Besides being an accomplished medical doctor, Eva was a free soul, one of a kind, tough cookie so to say....but her fight with cancer was just too much for anyone and so now we grieve our loss. If you aren't familiar with her work Eva Henneberry

2010-01-10T14:06:00.001-08:00

I'm working on the above piece titled "Tweet"...the above shows a portion of the whole without any sewing lines on it...it's been under the sewing machine needle, background is complete, now I start on the birds. I've also decided to add a 3" strip on the left side the same background color with the word "tweet" from the bottom up to mid-top to give it a bit more jazz...overall the birds are great, but it needs something and this added bit really does change it the way I'd like it to go.

I'm also starting a new grid piece...have a series of about six that I'd like to do, from basic to abstract grid. Still in the drawing and thought phase, but ready to start the first and then many others will come pouring out.

Dealing in the positive is keeping me on track through this past week...although there are negatives out there, I deal with them and keep on going.

I just finished reading the entire Twilight series..all four books...what a story. I'm not much into fantasy and vampires and werewolves, but this one did intrigue me. But that's it for vampires for now...on to some other types of stores as I do like to read. And my handwork has suffered as I haven't figured out how to crochet while I'm reading yet.

Regrowth - Reinvention for 2010

2010-01-02T11:31:00.000-08:00

The photo above is of my beautiful jade plant that sits next to my front door...it "was" such a wonderful plant...you notice that's in past tense...yesterday I had to cut it down to practically nothing as it got hit by a sudden frost we had here last month. I forgot to put a bag on her that night and yikes....she was hit hard and I've been hoping for her to come back...but noticed yesterday all of her blackened leaves falling around the base of the pot, so I decided to cut her back...there is a part that is still growing, it's small but strong. With some care, she will grow back again.

That is how I feel about my work sometimes....it get's hit with being dull or the same and I crave for something new to happen. I sometimes feel myself dropping my leaves of creativity around my base, but noticing that, I seem to be able to make the right changes and bounce back before I've got the wrong way.

2010 is my year for reinvention...at least that's the plan. Mid-Jan I start a fabric dying class that I'm sure will take to a new direction in my color palette and I plan to continue with the dyeing classes into silks and yarn. Taking the class on line from Marjorie McWilliams along with my daughter Jennifer..good mom/daughter time that we need to do together. Anxious for this to get started.

I also plan on slowly changing how I do things..thinking more like an artist than what some call a quilter. I am not a quilt maker and I want my work to reflect that when it's finished. Changing how I finish and display my work is another on my list of reinvention..like others, I want the finished piece to be more gallery ready.

I have a goals list in my 2010 jounal...I'm not going to post yet..still fine tuning..have more to think about and I have plenty of time to do that.

The last ten years has passed like a rocket and so much has happened in my life and my art work...I hope the next ten slow a bit as I want to savor and enjoy ten more productive years of creating art.

Focusing on the New Year

2009-12-11T09:43:00.000-08:00

I've been working hard getting all the holiday things complete and working on cleaning and reorganizing my studio to start the 2010 year which is right around the corner. I have all but two gifts purchased and wrapped, now I need to make cookies to add to my food baskets for the kids and I'm done. Not that I want to be done, but that will take care of everyone...if I didn't use restraints, I'd buy gifts right up to the deadline if I had that kind of money and a husband that would understand my wanting to give them everything. But I hold back, keep to my plan, purchase one gift per grandchild and a combined gift for our kids/spouses. His girls decided "no gift exchange" between them and us this year..I'm still going to get them a box of "see's" candy..it's tradition. The tree is up, the gift are wrapped and under the tree, the Schiele family holiday party is tomorrow "all day", I've made my salad for tomorrow, now cup cakes this afternoon. Still not sure what we're going to be doing Christmas day, but there is plenty of time to plan.

I have been working in my studio..no new pieces, but cleaning and re-arranging my studio furniture and getting rid of stuff as I hate clutter. I'm also getting ready to use my studio as I'm going to take an on-line fabric dyeing class from my friend, Margie McWilliams..my daughter and I are going to do this together in Jan/Feb and I'm getting excited about learning from Marjie. She's a wonderful person besides being a fabulous dyer. I'm not real keen on water in my studio, so I'm setting it up to avoid spill overs onto current projects, etc.

And I've been working on my 2010 goals for my art work, myself and California Fiber Artists, which I'm so totally absorbed into it's nuts. One of my goals is to get involved in the new Sacto Artists co-op opening up in Old Sacto this coming Saturday...first I need to visit the site, but from my friends, Marjan Kluepfel, it's a wonderful site and they need fiber artists. We'll see what happens with that goal.

So, I think I'm going to take some time off from the blog for the rest of December..concentrate on getting my art side of my life in order, more cleaning, more purging, more focus. I'm hoping 2010 is the year something big happens in my art...you just never know what can happen from one day to the next.

Happy Holidays to everyone who read my blog...and let's look forward to a wonderful and prosperous New Year.

Inventory & Storage

2009-12-02T16:12:00.000-08:00

One of my pet peeves creating all my art work is what to do with it when it's not out for an exhibit. I rotate approx 20 pieces of art on my own walls, but I have much much more that has been put here and there and everywhere and this morning I got a bunch of energy and decided to clean it all up. I pulled all my inventory out onto the table and started rolling each of them separately, stacking them up until they all were cleaned up and in one place. Then, were to house them all...I had an old trunk that I used to store old quilt tops I'd finished year ago..cleaned them all out and created one location where I could stand my rolls, stretched pieces, and my flat file full of about 40 pieces of smaller work..all in one place, off the floor, out of the path of leaking studio ceiling and the picture above shows it all. I even had space for some of my coiled pots..but I'm going to have to clear a shelf somewhere or install one in the studio as there more pots out coming back soon. Soon I'll be forced to start giving some of this work away just to make space for my newer work. My husband made the "smart" remark..oh well, I guess you'll have to find something else to do as you don't have enough space....wrong oh dear one..very wrong! It was a great exercise, I feel much better knowing where it's all at in one place, safe and sound and easy to find when someone what to see something. Maybe having it out and visible someone will be more interested.

I found an ad in one of my fiber magazine where this printer would make a puzzle out of your own image...so I sent in my "Gecko" image and presto, I was sent back a puzzle....several hundred pieces..I have the edge done which was difficult, now the middle...something to do on a rainy day!!!! Right, like I need something to do!

Chloe and Jack

2009-11-30T09:21:00.000-08:00

My grandson's doggie, Chloe, was put down early last week after years of being a member of their family unit. Jack went to the vet with Chloe and his Mom and the vet told him nothing could be done to ease Chloe's pain and old age, so they decided it was best to give her a shot and let her go to sleep. When Jack got back from the vet and they gathered around to talk about Chloe, Jack announced he wanted to write a book about her. So, with his new used electric typewriter, he started out on his first ever book....Thanksgiving evening Jack approached me after dinner with a large envelope asking me if I would publish his book...of course, how could I not publish his first book, so we went over the eight pages and photos and I took it home to enter it all into blurb.com. It was short and sweet, not sappy or anything, just facts about Chloe and how this dog lived with their family...along with the other dog, cat, chickens, fish and bunny. It's like a zoo over at my daugher's house. The author came over to view the finished book on my computer, we changed some stuff, added a few pictures and a drawing his 9 year old friend had done of the two dogs and presto..we have a book. I uploaded it to blurb last night...it was so sort in pages that it wouldn't let me upload unless I added some blank pages to the back of the story, but it's ok...now he'll have pages to write down things he remembers when he looks at his book. Grandma paid for this first edition hard cover 8x10 book...he's going to have to downsize the book size and go to softcover if he continues his writing career as Grandma can't be paying these high costs on her fixed income!!! I loved working with my grandson on this project..he's such a matter of fact kind of guy...no frills, no funny business, just the facts maam and then we're done. Someday he'll make a great journalist!

Grasshoppers and more

2009-11-18T09:20:00.000-08:00

I decided my last roller with the ants, bee and dragonfly was just too busy once printed, so I changed it...that's another reason I like this process. If you don't like what's on the roller, you can remove it and change the surface design. I removed the bee and dragonfly and filled it in with my triangles and presto, I like the finished design. The photo above shows the ants crawling in the grass and all the triangles are grasshoppers hopping all over the place. Growing up in hot hot hot Redding, Ca..our summers were filled with playing in the areas behind our house that was full of dried up weeds and brush...and yes, you guessed it...thousands of little beige grasshoppers that would jump on you when you ran through the grass. I hated them and still do to this day....but thought I'd do a piece about grasshoppers to help curb my dislike...of course my grasshopper that is being placed over this background fabric will not be "just beige"...he will be full of color and design and he will be LARGE....those are the ones my Dad used as fishing bait when we were kids. The huge green grasshoppers were in our yard on Mom's rose bushes and we'd run from them at the very site of them as they could really hop hop hop onto your blouse or jeans and spit up on you...at least we thought they could. Oh those long hot summer days in Northern California...fond memories as a kid, hate them now as an adult as the sun just gives no relief at all.

Start another not so fiber project on the side this morning...I purchased a good sized sturdy stretch canvas, painted in bright pink and today I started gluing on "stuff"....I've always wanted to do something with all the stuff one gets or keeps and what better way than to glue them onto something to preserve them and keep them hung on your walls.....so I roamed around my studio yesterday collecting stuff into my basket and yikes I have a lot of stuff to put on this canvas...started this morning with a mound of different sized buttons...with a dolls head glued right in the middle of the mound...brown haired...just like "me"...I'll have to draw a pair of glasses on her face to represent me in my mound of buttons...sometimes I do feel like I'm drowning in my sea of stuff..that's probably why I constantly rid myself of stuff...I guess this is my Ode de la Stuff....yikes, I just found my title. I'll take photos as I progress so you can see how it's going.

Working on my 2010 goals for my art, my CFA group and for myself personally...I've always been a goal type person, that's what seems to keep me going straight ahead full steam..don't knock it until you've tried it.

Repetition...repetition....repetition.....and changes!

2009-11-13T09:03:00.000-08:00

Above is a sample of what I did with the rubbings I took from the wood cut. Now I remember I don't like to do repetitive things...doing the repetitive rubbings and then placing them the way I did was almost impossible for me....I had removed myself from that traditional way of doing things and then when I saw this in my mind for placement, I couldn't believe I was going back there again. But here it is...15 blocks sewn into a surface layer....and this morning while thinking about the piece while waking up, I saw in my head that I was going to sew lines of black the length and width as if they were inside a cell or screened in...that's what I plan to do at this point. I've hung it behind my sewing table and I'll look at it for a while as I work on another piece, but I think I'm going to heavily sew over the top of the images to darken them and make them look more mysterious, more dangerous which is what I want them to look like in the end.

Been thinking ahead to 2010 and what my goals will be for that year...getting ready to write them down and ready myself for some tough goals ahead. Stretching myself artistically and experimenting more are on the top of the list for sure. And looking for some changes in my style and the way I display my work will come into the list also. I like change, so I'm going to go for it in 2010!!!!

Rolling and Rubbing

2009-11-05T08:18:00.001-08:00

Monday I attended a critique session with three other fiber artists locally grown here in northern california and I brought out my rollers to share and see what they thought. They liked the invention and the end product, but surprisingly they thought I could probably find the rollers cheaper at the "dollar store"...oh well, that shows you the economic climate even with us artists. Anyway, they liked the concept, wanted to see more, so I'm back to the drawing table, thinking up new ideas and working on changes and end products.

Meanwhile, I did some "rubbings"........a little bit of rubbing can go a long way!
Using a design cut into a piece of wood, I decided to do some rubbings using oil sticks and it really gave me something different to work with.

Above is a wood cut that is ready for rubbing. I place a piece of fabric overtop the wood cut and rub across it with a Shiva paint stik.

Paint stiks.....it's purposely stiks on the package.

Now the wood cut is ready to be rubbed across the fabric. I tried this with paper, but the paper wan't as flexible as the cloth and the image wasn't as clear.

As you rub the image appears on the fabric and you can see whether you want only a portion of the wood cut or the entire surface.

And now the rubbing is complete. Remove it from on top of the wood cut and set aside to dry. The paint is oil paint and needs to air dry to at least 24 hours. I hang them from a line around the top of my studio so they are up and out of the way from damage.

To set the color and get rid of excess oil paint, I iron them from the back, placing the front surface on newsprint to absorb excess paint when the iron hits the back. The heat from the iron flatens any lumbs, sets the paint and it's good to use from that point on. One draw back, there is the smell of oil paint, it's faint, but it's there.

Now to the final quest...make something with what you have rubbed! More later.

More Rollers, More New Prints

2009-10-29T09:55:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend I created two more rollers....I guess you could say "I'm on a roll"....anyway.....I'm really enjoying the creative side to this project and the possibilities are endless in my mind....

Here's what the two new rollers look like...one has a spiders web with two spiders worked into the web....

and the second has ants crawling in the grass with a bee and a dragonfly flying above the grass....

I'm thinking of doing a small series of pieces around "bugs" and both of these would be great background sources behind the colorful bugs I've got planned.

My granddaughter Rachel and I spent some time yesterday afternoon rolling the new rollers onto card stock paper roll...she had a great time.

Fabric Background Rollers - More Play Time

2009-10-23T08:27:00.000-07:00

I read an article a while back in one of the fiber magazines about creating rollers to repeat designs over and over for background use in work and I've been thinking about them for a long time...finally put my ideas down and created two large rollers in my own designs and my own way and got great results...in fact I'm on to making a few more as the ideas are pouring out of my brain...watch out, it's dangerous now.

First of all, I didn't want to deal with rollers that were difficult to manage in the printing process, so I purchased rolling pins as they have handles that easily turn and a great surface to work on. I measured the rolling pin surface so I knew my space, drew it out on paper and went to work designing some images. Instead of cutting the design into the foam sheets, I cut the designs individually out of the foam and adhered them directly onto the roller as I had designed them on the paper.

The foam has an adhesive backing that is very sticky and they adhere to the wooden rolling pin quickly and stay in place even after they have been washed after using.

I created two rollers..one with two types of leaf patterns and one with two types of trees..I also placed small shapes in the vacant areas to fill empty spaces.

Now it's time to print...so here is my setup...board to spread the paint, paper (used paper instead of fabric for the test run) and paint...I used an acrylic paint for the first test run with plans to test with ink and fabric paint in the near future.

After spreading the paint out on the board, I then rolled my roller into the paint several times and moved to the paper to see what designs unfolded.

Above is what the tree roller creates.......

And this one is rolled from the leaf design. Besides printing on fabric, one could also print onto wrapping paper to create unique and one of kind gifts.

My plan is to use the rollers as background fillers..printing is soft shades so that a larger image can be placed in front of the softer images as the full focus of the finished project.

Had a great fun creating the rollers....they are different from the ones in the article, I thought about how I wanted to use them and came up with my own process and finished projects.

This is What's It's All About

2009-10-21T10:23:00.000-07:00

I handed over the girl scout banner to the troup leader over the weekend and the photo above is what I got in return....it's it wonderful....a hand made card that all the girls signed and included their recent photo from a trip to a pumpkin farm. Volunteering to do something for someone else with no strings attached is a wonderful thing to experience....I am the one that needs to thank the girls for the great opportunity...they will look slick marching down the parade route in the November Roseville holiday parade and I'm proud to be a part of their success!!!

Long Rod's Made Shorter for Shipping

2009-10-16T16:42:00.000-07:00

The Girl Scout parade banner is finished!!!! Yeah!!!! The picture shows it rolled on a pool noodle and next to the outside bag I made to fit the rolled piece along with the bar that goes into the back of the banner so the girls can march with two of them holding the bar on each side.

The big news is that I found a new way to couple two rods together that is sturdy and cheap and easy to create. I found the "right guy" at Home Depot and he steered me to the electrical department where we found conduit that has a built-in couple that accepted another piece of the conduit to create a bar. I wanted the bar for the banner to be three feet so it fit in the bag, but I needed six feet to house the banner.

For under $2, I purchased a ten food piece of "Rigid Non-Metallic Conduit Above ground & Underground PVC" 3/4". On one of the the conduit there is a built in coupling. I cut three feet from the couple and then I cut another three foot length.

Here's a picture of the two pieces almost joined together.

And here's the two pieces joined together using the built in coupling. It's very strong, 3/4" round (comes in smaller and larger sizes) and if you want to use to mount to the wall, you can drill holes through the conduit to hang on the wall. I cut the conduit with a hand saw in less than a minutes...very easy to do. No need for power tools at all.

And if you don't have a piece with the coupling on the end, you can purchase a coupler that both pieces fit into for around 25 cents....it works, it's strong and it's easy to create.

So for those of us who create large work that we ship all over the place, but have to use longer boxes because of the long hanging rod...this is one solution.

San Francisco Design Center

2009-10-11T08:17:00.000-07:00

Thursday I was advised by Laurel Spriggs of Laurel Spriggs, Inc. that she would display my "Gecko" is her interior design show room for the next month of the "Fall into Fabric" at the San Francisco Design Center...this is a wholesale design building where interior designers and anyone with a wholesale card can browse and purchase. And of course she needed the work on Friday, the next day in San Francisco...only a two hour drive from Sacramento, BUT the traffic in SF is the worse ever, let alone find a place to park ..long story short, we agreed that I would send FEDEX for Monday delivery..all she has to do is open the box, it's stretched, wired and ready to hang. Great opportunity and I hope something comes from it order wise...great exposure and good for the resume. Several other artits from northern cal SAQA took the call and got accepted also...good luck to us all.

Although my birthday isn't until the 26th of this month, my kids celebrated put on a birthday party for me last night!!! Seems one daughter is going to be out of town, another has another commitment and my son, well, what can I say, he had forgotten as usual, so it would have passed right on by unless his sister had given him the jab. Had a nice visit, a nice meal and good family fun. BUT I'm not one year older yet and I refuse until the 26th. Can I stay "62"...I like "62".

What is this thing called "Passion"?

2009-10-07T09:24:00.000-07:00

I had a discussion last week with three other fiber artists and the subject of "passion" came up...not the type of passion we find with a partner/spouse/significant other, but the passion of life..................and how some people have it and so many do not have it..meaning they don't have any passion in their lives. Personally I can get passionate just about anything if I was inclined to do so. Over the years I have learned to conserve my passion at times as I was labeled someone that got very wrapped up in things...but it was my passion that got me wrapped up. As I've aged I begun to understand that it's this passion that keeps you young, healthy and alive...not necessarily physically, but definitely mentally.
I am very passionate about my art work and all the things related to it. I jump in and sometimes come up for air. Of course I have my days when I'm not involved at all in my art, but that doesn't mean I'm not passionate about it; it means I've got other obligations and things to do that take me away from it..I always go back.

On the other hand, my husband lacks any passion in his life..we've talked about it and he just doesn't understand where I get this passion and why I have it. His passion, like so many other men, was his work and now that he's retired, he hasn't replaced that passion with anything else. So his life is, what he says, slow. He sleeps a lot, he watches TV a lot, he works cross word puzzles a lot and once in a while we do something together...but getting him to be passionate about any one thing, I have learned, is fruitless.

What is strange is that he appreciates my passion. He enjoys seeing me work in my art studio and finalize a project. He always points it out to visitors as one of my latest accomplishments, but he always make note that I'm always busy, never sit down much to relax and I make him dizzy!!! At least I have an impact on someone!!!

GS Parade Banner and more

2009-10-05T08:47:00.000-07:00

Above are shots I took this morning of the girl scout parade banner I'm making for my step daughters girls scout troup...it's coming along with only a few clitches...ready to just start sewing which is the part I really like to do. I used an alternative fusing on the emblems which makes then heavy and very very stiff and the sewing needle has trouble because of the thickness, but I"ll make it work. It's sandwiched and ready for random quilting on the white background and black on the lettering. I pre-set the emblems around the edges so they won't come off the banner when in use. My only concern is that when this banner isn't in use, it will be rolled and I'm not so sure how this new fusible will react to being rolled for long periods of time...we'll just have to see how it works. I'll get a pool roll so it rolls large and that should solve the problem. Anyway, it's well on it's way to being completed as I have some new ideas of my own that I'd like to dive into, but I have to finish this first, otherwise it won't be finished in time for their next parade.

This week our CFA exhibit at Arts Visalia in Visalia, Ca. opens...Layer upon Layer opens Wed, Oct 7, reception Oct 9...not planning on driving to Visalia for a two hour event...other members will have to volunteer for that part of the gig.

Created a proposal for Pro Arts Gallery in Oakland as they have a call out for 2010 group shows..was a huge undertaking, but I finished over the weekend and it's to bed now...on to the next CFA project...which there are many.

A long time quilting friend is near to death with cancer...Emma Allebes. I've known her for over 40 years through my sewing and quilting here in the Sacramento area. We've served together many times for quilt guilds, sewing clubs, SAQA and more...she's had a long wonderful full life and she chose to go on her own rather than seek treatment...such a noble act but she knew it was the right choice. Good by ole friend.

Be Prepared

2009-09-23T09:32:00.000-07:00

I found the solution to the rubber stamp issue I was facing in the prep for the girl scout banner I'm creating from scratch. I started making my own vinyl wood cut of "be prepared" in reverse and after several mistakes and mis-cuts came to the conclusion that I was reinventing the wheel..called a few stamping shops in the area with no luck but decided I needed to go to JoAnn's for the fabric, I'd look in their rubber stamp department to see if I could find a solution. And I did. I almost missed it, but there it was staring back at me on the wall...made by "Fiskars" it's an alphabet of clear rubber letters mounted to a plastic sheet (all in reverse) and you stick them to an acrylic see-thru block to create your one of a kind lettered stamp. The photo above shows the product and "be prepared" in girl scout green on the background of a softer green. Now I'm creating the large applique of the modern day girl scout emblem and the troups' own waterfall emblem, letterings indicating the troup number, council, etc....so a lot of what I just printed on the background will be covered which is a good thing because it's not perfect. But as we know in life, nothing is perfect and if it appears to be, there is usually something wrong with it...right???? Anyway, if there is anyone out there that reads this blog, this is a great product for printing on anything..because you can use your own words and not something predetermined by the manufacturers of rubber stamps. A must for any album or card maker for sure.

CFA update - packages arrive daily this week with the work going to Arts Visalia..it's like Christmas opening all the boxes, only problem is I don't get to keep any of them!

New Work, New Project

2009-09-17T10:08:00.000-07:00

"Eight Ships Sailing" above..just finished last night and took some quick shots this morning while the light was good in the studio. Originally I was going to sew on all the little plastic feet, but after attaching about 20, it looked terrible...so settled for the Chinese coins I just purchased off of ebay. Still want to do something with the plastic feet, something will happen with them, I'm sure.

Now I'm going to work on creating pots vertically..not in the round...will have to do a lot of samples and make a lot of mistakes until I find the right solution, but that's part of the fun, right????

My step-daughter asked me to create a parade banner for their girl scout troup and being a tried and true girl scout from way back, of course I said yes. They want something they can carry down a parade street hung on a bar between two scouts..no problem...already made the design in the pc and printed it off for my pattern. But now I want to get a little creative..I'd like to have the scout motto softly printed onto the background fabric, so instead of re-creating the wheel, I called the girl scouts to find out if they had fabric for sale....and of course, they don't have fabric for sale any longer...so, back to the drawing board....I'm going to cut out a block that I can either rub or stamp with and lighting impress "Be Prepared" onto the background light green fabric...then I'll create the two large pieces to applique, the modern girl scout pin and their troup crest (waterfall) and all the lettering to announce who they are...fuse it all on and then machine quilt the heck all over all the images and the background...bind it off, sleeve in the top and two on the sides so they can stand it in the ground and presto...a parade banner. We'll see if it's as easy as I think it will be....encouragement needed!

Just finished the jury process for an upcoming California Fiber Artists exhibit with four other members...it was very interesting in how we all voted without knowing what the other was doing and we were pretty much right on....and it's interesting how each of our personal preferences really came out on what we like and don't like in the way of technique and the finished product. All in all, the exhibit will be great and I'm pleased with the outcome. Now I'm starting to receive all the work as my studio will become "packing central" for shipping out the entire exhibit to the gallery the last week of September. At least I get to see all of them up close and personal as I know I won't be able to travel to Visalia for the opening reception. That's the one drawback of living in such a large state area...it's not like it's a short drive, we talking at least four hours one way and that's not even to LA area.....next time for sure.

Boxes full of Surprises

2009-09-04T09:34:00.000-07:00

You just never know what you're going to find when you open a box!!! Especially once coming back from an exhibit. This week my two pieces that were juried into the fiber exhibit at the Sixth Street Gallery in Vancouver, WA, arrived on Wednesday and I just chucked them into my HOT studio and went on with my day inside my nice cool home. The next morning, in the cool of the day, I opened the boxes to check my inventory and there on the top were a stack of postcard used for the show along with a newspaper article from their local rag. And one of my pieces was one of two featured on the front of the postcard and the same photo was used by the newspaper on half a page advertising the exhibit at the gallery. I was very pleased with the gallery taking the time to send that to me....gave me a boost I really needed at that moment in time. As much as I would have loved to sell the work, getting it back with the extra bonus was worth it to me. This is the third time I have participated in their fiber show and I hope to continue this in an annual basis.

This past Wed was a critique day for a small group of local fiber artists...I say that loosely because I really don't like having my work critiqued...we each work differently and sometimes their opinions become the critique and that's not what I'm looking for...so I take some work in progress and sometimes a finished piece, but I don't ask for a critique...even though I get one once in a while. My friend Marjie is the only one that really asks questions...like what were you trying to get across in this piece...or why did you create this...or what were you feeling when you worked on this piece??? While others just say, I don't like it or maybe if you put something here or there it would look better.........not what I'm looking for....mainly for me it's the communication and coming together with artists that have similar interests...to socialize, talk about resources and upcoming exhibits and future possibilities. Now they want to do this every month and that's just too often for me...I like every other month as I do have a life and I do need time to do work...meaningful work. If this group starts to become a "quilt guild", I'm out...can't stand that stuff any longer. Feel better now getting this out and off my back.

Celebrating my 9th wedding anniversary this next Tuesday...seems just like yesterday that we got married and began this crazy ride. Whew.................

P.S....I would credit the other artist on the postcard cover, but the card doesn't give either of us credit and I don't know that information.

Long Summer Days and Nights

2009-08-30T08:43:00.000-07:00

For some reason, it's been a while since I've posted.....it must be the heat!!! This morning it actually is very nice outside, there is a breeze and my chimes are chiming and there is a light at the end of the long hot tunnel that says it's cooling a bit. But I still can't "smell" fall coming, not yet.

I've been working on a larger set of ballet girls...created 8 of them and they stand about 8" tall in pink and yellow this time...I'm placing them on a quilted black background that I'll quilt today while I wait for the ordered stretcher bars (12x36)...can't find 36" long stretcher anywhere in this city, had to order through Dick Blick and should have them Mon/Tues of this week.

September is the busiest month....more family birthdays (7), anniversaries (2), doctor appointments (2), bowling start up (2), CFA exhibit pre (1) and it's not even September yet........stuff happens is in full bloom this coming month. From the sixth through the 11'th we celebrate 5 close family birthdays and our ninth wedding anniversary...yikes!!! Two of the birthdays are my step-daughters and I decided to purchase them gifts that they wouldn't get for themselves...but they will like them. They usually ask for walmart gift cards or dvd's or movie tickets...but yikes, let's get them something for "only them"...one daughter is getting dinner plates for her holiday china dishes and the other her favorite expensive perfume that I splurged and got at Macy's....am I worried that they will read my blog and know ahead of time what they are getting...NOT!!! They don't even know that I have a blog so I'm not worried a bit.

CFA - is going strong..just brought on two new members that will add big time value to the group...Sharon Seale and Ruth Tabancay...both very accomplished fiber artists who came to me and asked for membership. Their work is fantastic and can't wait to see them involved more in the group. Our upcoming exhibit "Layer Upon Layer" at the Arts Visalia gallery opens Oct 7th and I know the exhibit will be strong and good...now if we could only have some sales, I'd feel better.

On that note, I'm off to the studio to do some work before that blasted heater outside called the "sun" kicks into high gear.

Birthdays, Grandkids, Niece and Studio Work

2009-08-16T09:56:00.000-07:00

The above picture is of my oldest grandchild, August Zachery Stewart....who turned 15 this week...this photo was taken about five years ago at his brother's birthday party where they all painted their faces, climbed trees, played in the plastic pool until it broke........now, he wouldn't be caught dead painting his face as he's "cool" now...neck length hair, dresses fairly cool and is a bike rider like Lance Armstrong. And now he has two bikes..one to ride to school and one to race with..probably the motorcycle comes next when he gets to 18, if he can buy it himself. Mom and Dad aren't in any shape or form able to help him financially for such a large purchase plus they believe he should earn the money himself for such a large idea and they are right. Anyway, he wanted Grandma Weezee to throw him a family birthday party and make a birthday meal and have lots of gifts...mainly he got money, which was alright by him..he's probably at the bike store right now getting all those bits and pieces he needs to rebuild his new old bike.

Started a new project (again)....doing another piece with the ballet theme but making the ballet dancers larger, changing the color, changing the amount of them..thinking about doing a long piece with about twice the amount of dancers. Enjoying working with the images as I enjoy the shading and shadows to create the finished image.

My niece has finally gotten approval from the State Department to travel and live in Sweden...took over six months for them to be investigated here in the US and Sweden before she got her passport back with the stamp of approval in Swedish. So, next month she's packing up all her belongings and moving the Sweden to live with her boyfriend and his family...live, work and stay in Sweden. A big step for a small town gal to take, but when love happens........off she goes. We're hoping to have a big family event and send off before she leaves, I hope we can make that work.

Mainly worked on CFA events this past week...I need to get back into the studio even though it's going to be hot hot hot again this week...early mornings in the studio until about 11 or noon....then I can do the computer work in the house with the a/c. Also getting back on the treadmill..haven't been doing my daily exercise as much as I should and I need to do it daily...only need to walk a mile a day for now..just do it!!!!

Ballet Recital complete

2009-08-07T09:42:00.000-07:00

The above is what I have been working on this past week along with everything else going on in my life....I'm really pleased that it turned out as well as it did, mainly because it's small work and I usually don't work small...the details are hard to photograph and I probably need to have someone else other than me do the photos again...the finished piece is 9"h x 18" wide and I've framing it in a shadow box frame without glass...I don't like the glare off the glass, so I'm leaving it off for now. After finishing this piece of course my mind is wondering what it would be like in a larger size with more dancers layered on each other down the wall...and it probably will happen after I finish some other pieces that are in the "let's finish" stage. I actually created these like paper dolls...made a template of the full image and drew the clothing and color in making templates to cut to fuse to the base image...sewed them with three images on the base for stability and then cut them out like paper dolls. My sisters and I used to make our own paper dolls back in the day...and my youngest sister still collects paper dolls and has a great collection. I will most likely create more images in this small shadow box as it lends itself to some detail, but keeps the image size down, thus the wall price down at the gallery. It's still fiber and it's NOT quilting..which is what I really want to get away from that stigma of grandma quilting bee.

Jumping Again!!!!

2009-07-27T07:08:00.000-07:00

Well, it happened again....I jumped into another project without finishing any of the many I'm working on....which is unusual for me. I took some time out on Sunday to go over my stack of ideas I keep on my "thinking" desk and opps, the above photo of ballet dancers jumped into my hands and I'm now working on a new project. I went to my computer and played with it in photo shop and now I'm cutting and fusing and sewing away...I guess I have to confess that the process in what I do is what I like...working out the how to put something together and then once I do it, I tend to loose a little interest and find another one to work on. I'm going to have to put my foot down and finish some of these pieces as I really don't like to have so many on my plate at one time..makes me anxious and uneasy.

Woke up this morning with a full head....meaning now I know why I had that sinus headache yesterday...the north winds started to blow hot yesterday and now I'm suffering..I don't know what it blows, but whenever the north winds come up my sinuses let me know about it. Makes my balance off a bit and I certainly don't need to be tipsy.

My friend Carol wrote in her blog today about volunteering her time for a certain fiber related group and how they take take take until the volunteer can't take it any longer. Having been there myself with this group, I wonder why "they" haven't figured out why they continue to loose their volunteers or if they just figure they have a large membership, we'll just go through as many as we can until we get them back again. I will admit that I did volunteer again when asked a second time and again I learned my lesson. With my own full focus and involvement in California Fiber Artists, I have no time to any other volunteer positions, let along time in my own studio. I know for myself it's a replacement for my working in the outside world, a gap I'm filling to keep my organizational skills in top form, the need to be in contact with other people that do and like the same thing I do and the satisfaction that I'm not wasting my time as a retiree. I know I'm a fixer and I like to help people, so I accept the fact that what I do, I"ve chosen to do and I'm the only one that can get myself out of it when I want to...right now, I'm OK with the time and effort and having great fun doing it.

Long Hot Summer Days and It Isn't Even August

2009-07-20T08:51:00.000-07:00

This last week has been one of the hottest I remember here in Sacramento...but then when your brain in fried from the heat, what can you remember. Six straight days of triple digit weather with this week dropping into the high 90's. And my studio is only cooled by a wall unit which isn't very effective....so, I only get early morning hours in to work in that room. I find that I keep hand work available outside the studio that I can work on when it's to hot in the studio. And I read a lot...just finished the Friday Night Knitting Club and enjoyed it very much. On to Angles and Demons for this week.

The pic above is "Tweet"....I've laid out the birds to audition them against this fabric, which I like, but I'm not totally OK and ready to fuse down...need to add flora and fauna and square everything up before I iron them all down for the next step. I wanted the full piece to be full of the birds, like I took a snapshot of the birds and cropped them so that's all you see....something I like to do even with my own digital photo shots. Anyway, it's coming along...I'll fuse it down this week.

I stretched black cotton on stretcher bars and applied the roses as above...need to sew them down in places in case the fabric glue fails as I don't want them to fall off and then I'll make the shadow box frame to size or slightly larger for the piece to sit inside. Titled it "He Never Promised Me A Rose Garden".

And a great surprise this past week, these two pieces were accepted into the Sixth Street Galleries annual fiber show..they are in Vancouver, Washington and this is the third year they have shown my work...excited that they took both pieces, both recently finished and using different and new techniques for me. Out today to find boxes for shipping so I can get them into the FEDEX ground system for next week delivery at a lower cost to my pocketbook.

Nothing much on my schedule this week..working hard on California Fiber Artist projects and new venues that are pouring in since we produced our portfolio booklet...my son turns 36 this week...yikes, my baby is 36!!! Celebration happens this coming Saturday with dinner here with my kids and their families...a big Italian dinner for all that attend.

Best Laid Plans Seem to Alwqys Change

2009-07-13T08:27:00.000-07:00

My weeks started out with great plans to tackle several of my ideas but as the week progressed, "life happened" and of course plans changed. I did manage to get some time into working with the netting to create the base fabric for my "roses" piece and I created the four grids to house the roses. Then later in the week I found some time to create and work on the roses...today I'm out the door to the art supply to get stretchers as I've decided to stretch black fabric on stretchers and mount the roses on the black background and then make a shadowbox type frame also painted black to house the finished piece. This photo is taken on my worktable against the green background of the cutting board, against black it's much more dramatic and I'll have new photos next Monday of the finished product. Title of the piece: "He Never Promised Me A Rose Garden"...I worked on creating a rose that was more 3-D, but they turned out "ugly" so nixed that idea..the roses are not secured totally to the background and they have enough of a lift on the sides to give the illusion that they have some fullness...used a plastic braid in the center of each rose and glued seed beads on each rose which helped in the color and depth....once mounted and framed, I'm convinced it's a keeper.

Revved up the sewing machine to work a bit on the bridge piece...filling in the bridge upper and under sections and some of the foilage under the bridge...now I need to tackle the upper wiring on the bridge and then the background/lettering...tough to work on as it's size doesn't fit well in the opening of the sewing machine and it's fused to heavy/stiff fusable interfacing..so I have to crunch at times, but it does iron out OK.

And I was able to jar up a bunch of cucumbers into dill pickles this week also...one of my daughters and her two sons helped cut and jar and cook the pickles for our first batch of many...I was just in the garden this morning collecting for the next batch probably later this week..bread/butter pickles this time..quick and easy and very effective in producing a final finished product. The taste will be the final test, but that a couple of week of soaking down the road. Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

But my week was not with sadness as I lost a friend this past week and that set me back a spell, surprisingly for me....It was a total surprise and unexpected and I'm just now getting my head around the fact that she's gone from our lives. I've dealt with enough death so far to realize life does go on, but one needs to reflect a bit on the issue and remember the good times and how the person added value to your own. Rest in Peace, Margaret....Rest in Peace.

For some fun this week, we took in the movie, Public Enemey with Johnny Depp..good flick and my sister and I took in the Maxwell Parrish exhibit at our local Crocker museum...my grandmother had a Parrish in her living room forever, another sister has it now, loved his work.

So this week my plans are to finished the roses and work on the fish piece I've had sitting off the side for a while, continue working on the bridge and start the birds piece...the birds are still sitting on the background I probably will use, they need to find a home for sure.

Birds, Roses, Bridges, Wood Cuts and Pickles...What a Week!

2009-07-06T08:57:00.000-07:00

These are cucumbers from my garden...this is another project I'm going to work on this week..pickling cucumbers....Wed or Thurs the first batch should be the right size to pick and pickle and I'm gathering all the supplies tomorrow on the way home from bowling...easy recipe, not too much fuss in prep and the final product. I love dill pickles, so that's what I'm making in abundance...now everyone will know what they are getting for Christmas!!!!!!!!!

My late husband was an aritst and this stack of wood cuts have been collecting dust in the garage...it hit me like a rock the other day...why aren't I using them...why not try rubbings and/or block prints over pieces of fabric to see what can be created from the outcome....so, they are now out of the garage and stacked on one of my desks in the studio...I'm thinking I'll do some rubbings first to see what they actually look like once printed as everything is in reverse...my first husband was a very creative artist, but his work was toward the dark side at times and some of these just might be to "dark" in content for me as I'm not from that side of the world. But whatever they are, they will be exquisite as the blocks are magnificant as they are pieces of art as they appear. Should be fun and I'm curious at the outcome.

a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Pa9lnsOnd-Q/SlIfr6P3eYI/AAAAAAAAAhU/gYIy3Zob4iI/s1600-h/P7050032.JPG">

And this is a piece I'm now sewing on the surface...I took a photo of the Golden Gate bridge, added the lettering in photoshop and printed it onto organza which was then fused onto another fabric with the large blotches on it that show through and add a different look to the overall surface design....NOW I'm sewing each area to enhance and shadow the original piece. I love to use my needle on the machine like a pencil or pen to add to the overall picture.

And this is the beginnings of one of my pieces I'll submit for Arts Visalia CFA exhibit coming up in October...I created the green background by sandwiching green netting and different colors of tensel, sewing through the water soluble plastic with metallic threads, washing away the plastic and now I have a new piece of fabric to work on...the plan is to create three to four green woven bases that a separate rose will sit upon each base...all will be mounted against a black background inside a long shadow box frame...theme being "layer upon layer". Now the cutting and weaving begins before I create the roses/leaves to attach to the base.

Well, the birds are cut from their muslin nest and are waiting to fly onto their background for permanent placement...I think this is the background piece I'm going to use..I'll add limbs and leaves and the birds will be sitting/chatting - "tweet".
At least that's the plan today.

Louise Schiele's Fiber Works and Words

New Year.....Getting Organized

Published, Again......Yeah!!!!

Latest Commission Piece and More

Holiday Geese - New Direction for Louise

Getting ready for the holidays and more

Commission Work Completed

Catch Up

New Work, New Ideas

I have been neglectfull of my blog!!!

Having a Good Month at the Gallery

Changes throughout my life

Waldorf banners finished installed today

More Banner work

Banner project up and running

Catching Up

Fourth of July

Time Flies When you are Having Fun!!!!

Ready to Ship and Starting New Project

New Work, Catching Up With Other Projects

New Work, Sold a Piece of Work, Creating New Work

Happy Mother's Day

May 1................already!!!!!

Thread holder project successful

Keeping Busy, Staying Busy

Not Enough Time to Work in Studio

Exhibits and more

Great and Small

Fantastic Fibers 2011

Broke the Spell, Back Into the Studio

Early spring about to change back into winter!!!

Text & Texture CFA Folsom Exhibit

Thoughts on being Featured Artist at the Gallery

New Year Coming!!!

Studio time and the Winter Blues

Already Thinking about New Year Resolutions

Autumn Meadowlarks signing Happing Thanksgiving!!!

New Work for the Gallery

Time Travelers

Changes & Opportunities

It's not a waste of time.

Documentary Production and more

The Big Catch

Working the gallery

Gallery Sales and more

Napkins, Travelers, Horses and more.

I'm beginning to understand........

Never Say Never & KISS

Artist's Collaborative Gallery

California Fiber Artists Chico Art Center Exhibit

Commission Work Competed/Posted

Toe Dippin' at the Jersey Shore

VICTORY GARDEN COMPLETE

New Work; New Gallery: Victory Garden update

Finished Commission Piece & Great News

Victory Garden Panels

When It Rains It Pours

Discharging Fabric

Finished Commission Work; New Projects

When It Rains It Pours

"Lovers" and more

A Ride in the Park and more

Gridfusion

Travelers

Early Spring Has Sprung in California

New Portfolio

Work in Progress

Two new finished projects

Having a Sewing and Dyeing Day Together

Struggling to get work started/finished

New Work, Crazy Heart and Dragon Tatoo

We Dyed All Sunday

Lesson 3 - Fabric Dye Class Gradations & Jack

Does Every Piece you Create Have to Say Something?

Fun Weekend Dye Class

Wild at the Edges & Eva Henneberry

TWEET

Regrowth - Reinvention for 2010

Focusing on the New Year

Inventory & Storage