Stay tuned

I am working on a new piece which is quite large. It is called "Pecked to Pieces" and is autobiographical. Keep watching this space for a picture of the finished work.

Apple Picking

Apple Picking was created for a show at the Tulsa Artist Coalition. We were given three Robert Frost poems and challenged to create a piece of art based upon one of the poems. I chose "After Apple Picking." After studying the poem for some time, I chose to focus on several of the images and phrases that spoke to me. The ladder pointing to heaven still, the ice covered water, apples tumbling upon the ground. I drew an image of unlaced, worn boots and printed it onto raw canvas. All of the fabric is hand dyed and the main piece is rusted also. I printed out two lines from the poem, "But I am done with apple-picking now, Essence of winter sleep is on the night" to add to the front as a statement that summed up a life of hard work now drawing to a close. The piece was awarded an Honorable Mention.

Walkabout

Walkabout was created in 2011. It is a constructed piece, minimally quilted and stretched over an artist canvas. The materials are discharged, rusted fabrics, locust branch with thorns, rusty metal ring within a box created by adding a second, smaller artist canvas to the back and opening a hole in the front of the work.

Pavement Patchwork

Another new work, Pavement Patchwork, depicts the state of the roads over which I pass daily. It is made with hand dyed scrim, paint, and perl cotton.

The Fabric of Our Lives

This is my latest work. It was completed for a juried show with the theme Co-Exist. I chose to use images from the Library of Congress depicting child labor at the turn of the century (20th) as a metaphor for the abuses of labor today internationally in the name of big profits and cheap goods to feed our demands for the good life.

Disappearing Nine Patch

Even though I am primarily an art quilter, I am still drawn to create bed quilts, particularly when a clever pattern comes along. It's all in the process...
This Disappearing Nine Patch was created for a new baby in my extended family. It is an unusual selection of fabrics because the challenge for me was to use only what is in my stash. I could probably make quilts the rest of my life with what is in my stash, but getting them to go together in a reasonably pleasing manner is a trick. I'm pleased with the results here.

Cher in the Spotlight

Two of my chair pieces have been accepted into a juried show at All Souls Unitarian Church and so I going to work some more with my chairs. Works in progress (sort of) will be stacked chairs for an exhibit in the fall and a front view chair for the 5 x 5 show in the Spring (tell me, please, that Spring will actually arrive!) Both are planned to be applique pieces......we'll see.

Still working after all these years

Yes, yes..I have neglected my blog for 2+ years but I'm back. Snow day today giving me time to get caught up with all manner of things. This new piece was created for a show called Frost in Winter. It is my interpretation of a Robert Frost poem "After Apple Picking." It is quite large, about 36" x 48" and is done with rusted fabrics, rusted metal objects, hand drawn image and text printed directly onto fabric (unprimed canvas.) The piece won a judge's choice award at the Tulsa Artists Coalition Gallery.

THE BREAST PROJECT

Several local artists, including myself, were invited to participate in a fund raising project to aid in the fight against breast cancer. The artists were to "decorate" plaster casts taken from women who had lost a friend or relative to breast cancer.

Although it was a natural for me to collage the plaster cast with paper and fabric, I chose, instead to make fairly realistic breasts to celebrate the breast "au naturale" and breast health. I covered the cast on the outside with cotton quilt batting to soften them and then covered them with cotton/spandex in a flesh tone. I then made hands with the cotton/spandex and stuffed them with polyfil. Using oil pastels, I added some color contrast on the breasts and fingers. There was a lot of hand sewing involved in modeling the breasts and hands and attaching the hands. I found that a curved upholstery needle helped tremendously.

The breasts will be auctioned at a gala event in October.

Body of Work

I've been working in a grid style since the beginning of 2007 in order to produce a "body of work" which is consistent and recognizable as mine. For the most part, I am trying to work within self made parameters which are (1) using unprimed canvas as fabric and (2) using stitches, usually hand stitches of various kinds.

The works you see here are "Fragments", at the top, which is a large piece (about 22" x 44") stretched on wooden canvas stretchers and framed. It is hand dyed canvas with squares of hand painted cotton and hand stiched with cotton string.

The second piece "Knockout" is small (about 6" x 6") with hand painted cotton muslin stretched over an artist canvas. Unprimed and burnt canvas squares are fused on and galvanized metal knockouts are applied. Perl cotton is used to attach burlap threads. This piece is not framed and the hand painted fabric wrapping the sides become part of the artwork.

Several other gridded pieces are in progress. In addition I have several grid-style art quilts finished earlier this year which are now showing in Oklahoma art galleries.

Something there is that doesn't love a Fence!

Alas, it has finally happened. The owner of the huge subdivision (without houses, so far) has erected a fence to keep us out! No dogs, no pigs, no cows, no people will be allowed into the sub except those going through the big white archway seen in the picture. It is a gated community now. The biggest problem for me and the others on our street is that we have nowhere to walk our dogs or walk ourselves or jog (if that is what one is into). The road to which we lost access goes up into the hills from which we can access the Botanical Gardens without driving downtown and back up the hill on the other side of a steep and narrow canyon. Many local workers used this road to walk to and from work. One neighbor has dubbed it the Berlin Wall.