TexStyle

Disappearing Nine Patch

2010-04-09T07:14:00.000-07:00

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

2010-02-04T10:30:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-29T09:02:00.000-08:00

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

2007-08-23T11:36:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-03T13:57:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-12-08T09:04:00.000-08:00

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.

Trip to Art Quilt Tahoe

2006-11-18T10:56:00.000-08:00

As I did last year, I attended Art Quilt Tahoe in California in November. This year I had a class with Gerry Chase whose art quilts I have admired for many years. We painted on fabric using a djanting tool that is usually used for wax batik. Then those paintings were ripped apart, literally, and the pieces used to compose quilt tops along with the other fabrics and embellishment we brought with us.

Gerry is a marvelous teacher and a mentor in professionalism in art quilting. The class was all I could have wanted and much, much more.
Thank you Gerry and all the other students in the class for a memorable event.

Day of the Dead

2006-11-18T10:44:00.000-08:00

We celebrated the Day of the Dead in San Miguel with visitors from the U.S., Rain Johnson and Amber Whitlatch and their sons, Ogden and Jubal. All of us made votive candles to welcome back from the dead our dear departed. Then we made this offrenda, an altar offering for them. It is traditional to scatter marigold blossoms to light the way and make offerrings of favorite foods and drink. A sugar skull and some pan de muerte (bread of the dead) rounded out the altar. We lit many candles and let them burn all night while we went to the Jardin to view some related entertainment. A very nice evening in all while we remembered those who could not be with us in person as they were in spirit.

Shopping the Mercado

2006-10-27T17:52:00.000-07:00

Tuesday is market day in San Miguel. We call it Tuesday Market, not to be confused with the Tuesday Morning shops in the U.S.A. Here you can buy all kinds of things from CD's to fresh tortillas. It is somewhat like a huge flea market of new goods and produce and other food.

Suzy bought a new velour sweater that fits both of us and cost only the equivalent of $2.00. I bought some huge avocados (about $1.00 each) and some barrettes for my growing hair. We did not buy the chicken feet nor the tortillas but may on another, more adventurous day.

Shopped out and happy we returned home to our daily siesta!

Pigs and Other Animal Neighbors

2006-10-11T07:41:00.000-07:00

Because we are living on the edge of San Miguel de Allende, some of the neighboring households raise pigs and chickens. Just below us on the hill is a sow and her 6 piglets, which my dogs have startled on their morning walk. Most endearing, though, is the solo black pig who wanders a large area around here. Lately he/she has been sleeping in the vacant lot across the street. I tried calling to him with a friendly midwestern "sooo-eee" but only frightened him senseless. He bolted and ran with the dogs in hot pursuit. All ended well with the pig escaping.

Then there are the roosters below us that start crowing at 2:30 a.m. It's like living with a cuckoo clock - you get used to it and no longer hear it.

We have plenty of neighborhood dogs, all of whom defend their own territory. No dog fights yet and my dogs have been very well behaved in that respect. Downstairs we have Rooney, a Pyranese Mountain Dog who is just a pup and big as a pony. Very friendly and playful.

I've started walking in the hills with the dogs, now that I have some earphones for my iPod and hope to encounter more wildlife -safely, I hope.

Festival of San Miguel

2006-10-04T17:28:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we attended part of the festival honoring the birthday of San Miguel. There were fireworks starting at 4:00 am (yes, that is a.m.!) on Saturday morning - skipped that. We went for the parade at 5 ish in the Jardin, the large plaza in front of the main church, La Parroquia. There were crowds of people, vendors of food and little folk art thingies. The parade was of dancers from the native tribes in the area, including the early natives conquered by the Spanish. Also the parade brought flowers to adorn the church. The flowers were mostly woven into ladders which were brought to the church and leaned on the walls. A large display of flowers was brought to adorn the gate of the church. There were also floats from local organizations. Some brass music but mostly drums for the dancers. Another feature of the day that we witness was the flyers or birdmen who fly in circles upside down from a pole while another man plays a flute atop the pole - very dramatic. More fireworks followed that as did the rain, which we walked through to get to the car. All the taxis were busy and so we walked. We arrived home dripping wet and cold at about 9 p.m. There were more festivities on Sunday, mostly masses and a smaller parade and more fireworks.

¿ Cual es Mexico Auténtico?

2006-10-01T17:28:00.000-07:00

Which is the real Mexico? Shopping for some "essentials" not available in San Miguel de Allende (SMA) we headed out to Queretero, the nearest city. After passing Home Depot, Office Max, Office Depot, Costco and Sams, we came to the local WalMart. Need I say more? Hm...I wonder if Hancocks or JoAnn Fabrics are there also?

Compare this to a typical street scene in SMA, where the streets are narrow and the sidewalks impassable for two at the same time. Oh, yeah, did I forget to mention the cobblestones?

I heard that 10,000 American ex-patriots live in SMA. I can believe it! Their influence is low key but ubiquitous. I'll observe more as I go along.

We've been putting sticky notes on things in the casa showing the Spanish word for the object. Such as mesa (table), cama (bed), puerto (door). These are helpful for increasing our vocabulary. On Thursday, Lourdes, our cleaning lady, showed us an error in our notes. On the window we had put "viuda" which is NOT the Spanish word for window (ventana) but the Spanish word for widow. A good laugh for the students and the teacher. With no English she mimed putting a ring on the fourth finger left hand saying "matrimonia" and then put her arms out and head down saying "muerte" (dead), then pointing to the sky saying "cielo". From this we deduced "widow." Just a slip of the finger on the dictionary page.

Working in Mexico

2006-09-27T14:14:00.000-07:00

I have moved to San Miguel de Allende in Mexico for six months. On a house swap with a woman of my acquaintance, my friend Suzy Reeves and I are now living in an upstairs unit of a three unit compound. Detached from our living area and connected to it by an outside walkway along the parapet of the compound is a beautiful room (sala) that we have turned into a textile studio. Light and airy with a wonderful view of the growing town of San Miguel, the studio meets our needs quite nicely.

The ton of fabric I brought with me seems like a small amount now that it is unpacked and put into the Mexican Folk Art cupboard. Alas, we may have to buy more!

Living at the local pace of life, we siesta each day and eat our meals in serenity on the terrace. Each day we think we'll unpack the art supplies and each day we say "Manana"

Follow our adventures here at this blog as we create marvelous textile treasures - in Spanish.

Fruits of my summer labor

2006-08-21T12:37:00.000-07:00

For three months this summer I have been working on fiber art projects at the summer camps held by WaterWorks, the Tulsa Park Department art studios. The theme of the camps this summer was "Art in Architecture". For the younger children, I led them through making quilt blocks by fusing fabric shapes onto a muslin background. They made images of buildings and bridges in an amazing array of shapes and colors. The staff sewed the blocks into small quilts and I quilted them. The photo, which shows a few of the quilts from the 27 quilts made, was made just yesterday at the gallery opening.

It was a fun project but exhausting. I'm looking forward to using my free time for my own art projects.

Doing the Arts Festival

2006-05-06T12:57:00.000-07:00

I was asked to participate in the Oklahoma City Arts Festival, demonstrating my fiber processes in the Artful Experience exhibit. There were 4 other artists in the tent, a potter, a clay sculptor and 2 silk screen artists. It rained all day! Things were pretty fine for me as I worked at turning a photo of my granddaughter Lily into a small quilted wall hanging. It is hard concentrating while people are asking you questions and I kept making mistakes with my templates and such. So I turned to making fabric postcards. The humidity caused problems with the photo transfer method I chose so I just used existing scraps of painted and dyed fabric and findings and transfers that I had on hand. Then the rain became much worse and the tent floor (cement) was awash in running water. Being one who doesn't relish electrocuting herself while sewing, I packed up for the day about an hour short of the end of the event. I managed to drive back to Tulsa between storms along that stretch of highway that is notorious as a "tornado alley." My photos of the festival are going to be used in my April journal quilt for Houston, but will very much be manipulated. The journal quilts may not be published until after November '06 so I'll be putting them up on the blog after that.

Tie Dyed Easter Eggs

2006-04-25T09:23:00.000-07:00

A friend sent me to a sight at the Kansas City Star with instructions for a quick and easy method to dye Easter eggs. Put your hard boiled eggs in a colander, splash with vinegar, then drop food coloring over the eggs, slightly rolling them around by jiggling the colander. When you have added all the colors you wish, rinse the eggs and allow them to dry on a paper towel. Simply beautiful eggs. Try it!

PlayDate with Kate and Peggy

2006-04-10T16:05:00.000-07:00

Once a month artists from a number of backgrounds meet at my studio for PlayDate. Peggy Spence and I bring new ideas and techniques to the group and they, in turn, share their techniques with the group. We have tons of art supplies to play with and try to keep our projects somewhat related to fiber. It is a free form group. The email list is huge and anywhere from 6 to 15 people show up. You can see from the photo that we have our priorities - note the Cheese Nips and Chips Ahoys in the foreground.

Lately we've been working on new methods of painting on fabrics and we're doing round robin art journals.

The day is always stimulating and more fun than one can imagine - exhausting, too.

Doll making

2006-04-10T15:55:00.000-07:00

In my dye group we've been making art dolls. I've finally finished her - first doll - no name yet. It was so much fun, I'll start another tomorrow when we meet.
This doll was made using a combination of patterns from Patty Culea's book on making dolls. She was painted with DynaFlow in an orangish brown skin tone. She's dressed in a hand dyed gauze and a knit (from an old turtle neck shirt of mine) Her jewelry came from the stash of broken jewelry at my studio. Since I made this photo, I've added various tatoos to her arms and feet.

Trip to the Fort Worth Modern

2006-04-03T08:57:00.000-07:00

In mid March I flew to Fort Worth to visit the Fort Worth Modern Museum of Art. In particular, I went to see the new Sean Scully exhibit. I'm always overwhelmed by the building and the entire collection there. There are textures that can be achieved by painters that are not so easy for textile artists, particular the quality of line and texture. I've been working with different techniques to achieve this quality in my work. Combining my interest in the texture and lines of old and new buildings and painting on fabric, I have been able to create some useful fabrics to use in my work.

Paths cross in interesting ways and renew my excitement in creating tangible expressions of what is in my soul.

2006-03-10T10:42:00.000-08:00

Old Buildings and Waterworks

I met with the director of Waterworks, the city parks' art studio, to talk about teaching children this summer. We will be doing some quilt things with the younger children and some photo transfers with the teens. The theme for the summer camps this year is "Buildings" which is great since I've been trying to work with my new photos of old buildings. I love the textures and faded colors of peeling paint, dirty bricks and rust stains. In teaching the kids "art" I suggested taking a walk with a camera and learn to "see" the beauty of the world. Hopefully we can do that and transfer some of their photos onto fabrics. Maybe we can also do a session of monoprinting on fabric first. This will be a fun activity for me as well as the teens. I imagine I'll get more creative stimulation from their young and vibrant minds than they get from mine.

2006-03-09T13:24:00.000-08:00

Tie Dyeing for the Tulsa Ballet

I was asked for assistance in tie dyeing shirts for an upcoming ballet performance. The factors to consider in this project were different than those in dyeing shirts for personal use. Although each shirt should and would be different, it was essential that the color pallet and intensity look good on stage under lights. Fortunately many of these decisions were made before I entered the picture. However we did have to experiment in getting the right balance between light and dark areas and patterning of the shirts. Sometimes a shirt was dipped a second time into the dye bath to tone down bright white areas. It was an enjoyable day spent in the costume shop for the Tulsa Ballet and I'm getting comp tickets for the production!

2006-03-07T20:56:00.000-08:00

Adventures in Textile Art

2006-03-07T13:05:00.000-08:00

I've decided to start a blog - why? I want to document in words and pictures my latest adventures with textiles.