Seventh Dream

Here's number seven in the In Dreams series, finished over the weekend.  I just listed number four for sale at Etsy.   Number five is also ready to post later this week, likely on my sales blog.

I spent much of the holiday weekend getting ready for a big Liquidation Sale I'm having this coming Saturday, December 4, at Sproule Studios, 358 Main Street in Fortuna.  I'm selling off all my coned weaving yarns, handspun knitting and weaving yarns, oodles of knitting, beading and weaving magazines, some handwoven items I'm ready to let go of, ditto a beautiful handspun handknit winter tunic, spinning fiber, jewelry I made when I was making beaded jewelry, small bags of beads, and small art quilts.  If you're in the Humboldt area or plan to be on Saturday, stop by and pick up some wonderful things!

And don't forget:  I'm having a Holiday 25% Off Sale on everything listed in the Art For Sale Gallery on my website -- that's 25% off the listed prices. The sale is happening right now through Friday, December 10.

To order, go to the gallery, and click on any image to get more information on that piece.  Right under each image is a link to Inquire About This Work -- use that form to email me that you'd like to purchase, and I'll send you a PayPal invoice.  It's that simple.  Shipping and sales tax (CA only) will be added to the invoice.  All orders will be shipped in time for delivery before Christmas.

Have a wonderful week!

Sale Happening On My Website

I'm having a Holiday 25% Off Sale on everything listed in the Art For Sale Gallery on my website -- that's 25% off the listed prices. The sale is happening right now through Friday, December 10.

To order, go to the gallery, and click on any image to get more information on that piece.  Right under each image is a link to Inquire About This Work -- use that form to email me that you'd like to purchase, and I'll send you a PayPal invoice.  It's that simple.  Shipping and sales tax (CA only) will be added to the invoice.  All orders will be shipped in time for delivery before Christmas.

I have 27 quilts listed for sale in the gallery, and four art cloth wall/space hangings.  The listed prices for everything have already been reduced -- in some cases by 50% off the original price -- and now is your opportunity to save an additional 25%.

Thanks so much for your support and interest in my work.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Work in Process

A few months ago I made three quilts that really stood out from the rest of my work to date...and this is a fourth in that series that never quite became a series -- but could, still.  You can see those pieces here, here and here. 

Towards the end of those three pieces (the first of which, Going in Circles sold recently), I began piece number four -- that would be what you see in the photo, MINUS the orange/black discharged foundation fabric.  I nearly forgot about the black/white/turquoise piece, then found it and hung it in front of the orange/black fabric just to get it out of the way, and then realized it all looked too good together to not work into one quilt.  So that's what I'm doing.

The digital image in the center is one of my collages transferred onto fabric.  I printed the image on a transparency, then burnished onto fabric treated with acrylic medium.  It's too stiff for my liking but it will work well here.

I spent the weekend framing small quilts so I'll be posting new work for sale at Etsy and on my Sales Blog in the coming days.  Most of the 10x10" now-framed quilts, from my 2009 weekly quilt series, were never available for sale before.  I don't have room to keep all those "keepers" any longer!  So keep your eyes on those venues for wonderful holiday gifts!

Underwater

Number six of the In Dreams series.  This image was always one of my favorite collages.  I like it even better quilted.

I received great news the other day -- one of the two pieces I had in simply irRESISTible, the resist-themed show at Some Things Looming Gallery in Reading, PA, SOLD!  This is very exciting for me, it confirms that my vision for art quilting is marketable. 

I'll be doing a lot of framing this weekend, now that I have what I need.  Want to get In Dreams mounted on frames, as well as frame up the last batch of 2009 10x10" quilts that were among the very best. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Late Sunset

This is the fifth piece in my In Dreams series, completed on Monday.  I printed several more images on fabric yesterday -- I can see this being a big series because I'm loving these pieces.  As soon as I can get the frames painted, I'll start listing them for sale elsewhere.

Since my article on Abstract Digital Imagery was printed in Quilting Arts, I discovered an even better way to deal with digital printing on raw silk.  Cut the fabric to size, as usual, treat with Bubble Jet Set and dry.  Then iron it to a letter sized piece of card stock that's been treated with spray adhesive.  Works much better than double sheets of freezer paper, as I had recommended in the article.  You can use the same piece of card stock innumerable times, and one coat of spray adhesive will last for several fabric prints.

My Life Transformed

This is my Fiberactions "transformation" quilt, entitled Reconstruction.  I started with the background fabric -- one of my best loved early handprinted fabrics in cotton/linen -- then manipulated digital images of the fabric and printed one on homespun cotton, the other on raw silk. 

The quilt says a lot to me about taking things apart and putting them back together newly, which is pretty much what I've done with my entire life, recently.  The piece has a refreshing quality to me, complex in pattern but simple in design.

Further Abstraction

I finished number four of the In Dreams series late last week -- this is it.  Number five is just waiting for beaded embellishment.

I've been reading Marlena de Blasi's A Thousand Days in Venice, which chronologically comes before A Thousand Days in Tuscany, which I read a couple months ago.  I really love her writing and I plan to read all her books.  Not only does she rhapsodize Italy in all its splendors, but she's a terrific writer who has a gift for saying things lushly and beautifully.

Tomorrow is reveal day for the Fiberactions "transformation" quilt -- so plan to stop by and check them out.

I'll be holding an online 25% off sale of all work in my website Art For Sale gallery.  Stop by now to see what I've got listed -- then come back between November 26 and December 10 for the sale.  Everything listed there -- studio quilts and art cloth -- has already been reduced in price...and I'll be offering 25% off the listed prices during the sale.  I'll say more about this as the time draws near.

Working Again

After moping about for a few days, I caught a wind of inspiration the other evening, and got back into my In Dreams series.  This here is #3.  As soon as I get one of them mounted on their black canvas backgrounds, I'll post that.  Meanwhile, I've been experimenting with blacks, for the stretched canvas...meaning I've given plain black gesso a go and decided to put a coat of black matte paint on top of that.  Just need to get the new black acrylic paint.

Another issue that's been holding me back from moving forward, is that since I've been framing most of my quilts lately, the fact is I've run out of wall space to hang them and don't have much storage space in Rose Cottage.  So I decided I've got to get selling them to make room for more.  Over the weekend I'll be posting new work for sale at my Sales Blog, and probably Etsy as well.  I'll say more about this later.

Another quilt series in my imagination at this point will be wholecloth pieces of cool fabric I've designed -- different sizes and shapes, depending on the fabric itself.  I had a first piece for this series in mind, the fabric on a hanger in my studio, and I pulled out something else I began work on months ago and hung it in front of the other fabric just to get it out of the way.  Viola!  Unexpectedly, the two fabrics together will now make one quilt -- I love when that happens!

Far Afield

I've been so busy with this and that -- sorting and sifting, tossing, selling, paring down, organizing, reconfiguring -- that I've done virtually no art in the last week.  A few collages, but nothing else.  Nor do I have much to show for the last month.

This is rather perpetually how my life has been -- both my personal life and my art life.  I'll get just so far along in one medium or another, one home or another, one job or scenario or another, and then the universe shuffles the cards and things look altogether different when the dust settles.  I'm hoping the time will come, soon, when I'll feel re-inspired to get back into surface design and quilting.  The farther away I get, though, the harder it is to get my head around coming back. 

It's been really challenging for me to feel a sense of growth and development in a particular medium over time, because things have changed so frequently for me.  I'm not complaining, though...I feel grateful that I've been able to cover as much ground as I have in so many textile media throughout the years.  I just don't feel as though I've gotten really good at any one thing, and there is some regret in that.  Well, that's not totally true -- I got really good at spinning, but then my hands gave out.  But overall, I guess I'm more of a Jill of all trades than a true master at anything.

But maybe the issue in artmaking isn't about becoming a master at all.  Perhaps it's about trying a lot of things, experimenting with a lot of different media to find out what one likes best, then combining all those acquired skills and familiarity with materials into something new and different.  In other words, finding one's creative voice. In which case, I suspect I'm probably right where I should be in my own journey as an artist.

Adieu Isabel

I said goodbye today to Isabel, the lovely oak sideboard I'd had since the mid-1990s.  This photo was taken about a year ago, shortly after I completed Lakeview, the quilt hanging above her.

Although I am not sad to part with Isabel, because I was ready to let her go and move on, she did represent a number of things to me during her tenure in my life.  Having her as the centerpiece in my home for over 15 years made me feel as though I had had a loving family, that she was a family heirloom that had been bestowed upon me, as though I had a viable thread to the past.  Isabel also gave me the feeling of being settled, of being a family unto myself, the sense of having a place that I could always come back to.

Of course, all of that stuff was just the story I told myself for as long as my lifestyle could support having a huge piece of furniture and the space to accommodate her.  It was just that though, a story, and Isabel was just a beautiful piece of furniture.  As of this evening she is being installed in her new home, back down to southern Humboldt with friends I haven't seen in maybe eight years.  They are a family, there are young adults in the mix who will undoubtedly end up with Isabel, as she is passed down in the future to another generation of people who will love and appreciate her.

And now I am completely moved out of my recent former home...and almost completely out of the storage locker where I was housing a variety of things...and I've sold, dumped, or freecycled nearly everything superfluous to my life, now.  I can't tell you how good it feels.

Getting Things Done

Again, no fiber images to share -- although I finished two quilt projects over the weekend that I can't show yet.  One is the Fiberactions "transformation" quilt, which will be revealed on November 15.  The other is a commissioned quilted pet portrait that's a surprise for the recipient, so I don't feel good about showing that either. 

I sold my spinning wheel/spinning chair and lots of accessories late last week.  Today I started to inventory the spinning fiber and yarn I have for sale --  boxes and boxes of it!  I just listed a couple things at Etsy -- silk hankies for dyeing and spinning, and luxury fiber sample packs.  I'm planning a local sale on Saturday, December 4 here in Fortuna.  More on that later.  I'll be posting more stuff to Etsy throughout November.  So check back regularly.

We've got Indian Summer happening here now -- it was HOT (for us) today, in the 70s.  I've got the windows open, fans on in both rooms, and still I'm sweltering.  I wasn't meant for hot weather!