The Glow of 25 Years

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Married 25 years...seems like such a long time... it sure went by quickly!

               

                   

No Apology Required

I am long past the days of apologizing for not posting here more regularly. It is an easy decision I can either be creating or wrestling with my computer and creating usually wins ....art wins over housecleaning as well which is why you don't get invited to our house unless we have 2 days notice to clean. There is an exception to this rule ...those of you who also let clutter win and I have seen it with my own eyes you know who you are. There are those out there who tell me their house is a mess and not to worry about it. I have seen their house when they are calling it a disaster and it is clear to me we don't share the same view on what a clean house looks like. I suspect a few minutes in the clutter palace (aka our home) might cause them discomfort. So sparing them this suffering seems to me to be the best course of action. Unless of course they want to come out and help me reorganize the studio.
I'll pay with artwork.

Working Studio

I am selfish with my time since I started working part-time. I call it the paycheck I can count on. It helps with some bills and keeps me in art supplies.  Friends are saying they never see me. I would have to say Paul Seibert from Straightup Magazine sees me more than anyone... Brad and I see him every time we are out in the world usually involving live local music, Cardinal baseball at 10th Street Baking Company (although we always seem to jink the broadcast) and local art events. Paul offered me the cover of his magazine and an opportunity to be a featured artist in his magazine. His staff writer Kathy Sax came out to my studio and believe me there was some tidying in advance! She took pictures and wrote a lovely piece. Paul even delivered me some copies of the magazine in the middle of a severe storm to 10th Street Baking Co where the Cardinal game was in rain delay...sorry Don!

Thank You to Paul and Kathy it was fun.

If you are interested here is the link to the article.

A Thread of the Everyday World

http://straightupmagazine.net/2015/07/a-thread-of-the-everyday-world/

Proving my point that good things happen on the beach... while there  I learned  On View magazine was covering the Art Cloth Networks Illumination exhibit and had selected 4 artists to showcase in the article:  Joy Lavrencik, Linda Dawson, Barbara Schneider and Jacque Davis. Believe me I had a bit of a tingle when I went to On View to see what they were about and saw a review of a Dale Chilhuly exhibit. The magazine wrote an exceptional article about art cloth perhaps one of the best descriptions I have ever seen. To see the article follow the link. For those of you traveling to Florida it is a great resource if you like to visit art galleries.

Illumination

http://onviewmagazine.com/pg-108-illumination-the-art-cloth-network/

I'll keep the clutter palace alive, continue making art, enjoying live music, baseball, art shows and running into Paul.

Tiadaghton House

 
 

Here is a preview of some of the art showing at the recently opened Tiadaghton House. Jim and Holly have done a beautiful job selecting and displaying the work of local artists.

I am honored to be showing my art here you can also find my hand-dyed scarves and one of a kind art to wear tee shirts.

The Tiadaghton House
111 W. St. Louis Street
Lebanon, Illinois 62254

Wednesday - Saturday from
10:00 am - 5:00 pm
Sunday from 12:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Kitten Love

This is how we first met last Sunday.... my dogs were barking like fools at these little ones who were sitting just outside our shed. This was a very distressing sight as it was raining they looked so pitiful and were meowing like crazy...to add to the drama my husband I were supposed to be leaving  in a couple hours for an overnight trip to Blue Sky Vineyard to celebrate our 23rd wedding anniversary.

After several calls to various and very closed animal clinics and humane societies (who had very annoying messages I might add).  My vets answering machine message was warbly and sounded like this "in case of emergency dial 539 -6 blib17 "what the hell was the number blib? So after dialing several wrong numbers I finally hit on the correct blib= number and left a message for my vet to please call me. Here is the sure sign that you have a good vet he actually returned my call in 5 minutes ( sheesh my doctor won't even do that! ).
 I explained the situation and he agreed with my suspicions that the momma was probably moving the kittens and was scared off by my dogs. He suggested we leave them overnight exactly where they were, do not touch them, keep the dogs away and the area quiet in hopes the momma would return for them. If she didn't  we would need to start bottle feeding them in the morning.  This vet is such a nice man ... he was so calm and matter of fact it eased my fears of these kittens dying any minute.  His advice was also practical the kittens would have a better chance of surviving if their momma was feeding them.

So we decided to head for the vineyard... leaving my very tenderhearted son in charge of keeping the dogs away and keeping an eye on the situation...I stressed how important it was not to touch the kittens or disturb the area but knew in my heart their pitiful meowing would tug at his heart... he is my son after all. He says he did not touch them and stayed away during the day but when it started getting colder at sundown he warmed up water bottles and put them out there next to them to try to keep them warm.... not touching them but definitely disturbing the area. He also went and purchased formula in case he needed to start feeding them in the morning. So we texted several times throughout the day still no sign of momma cat. 

When I texted for the morning report this was his return text  " I started feeding them this morning and have someone coming over to show me how to do it correctly she will take one of the kittens and will bottle feed it with the help of her grandparents" I was not even one little bit surprised. He had a plan in place and things under control. The truth of how that night actually went down will come out eventually! I have my suspicions but have to say I am proud to have a son who does not like to watch animals suffering.

I came home to see this little face in my kitchen.

So my son and I have been sharing feeding duties... every 4 hours... he does the night shift thankfully. We burp, and help the little bugger go to the bathroom... this stinks  to high heaven I might add! Then we give it a cat bath which is my favorite thing ( no I don't lick it)
 it purrs and relaxes completely falling asleep.

This morning we go see the vet and get this one checked out and weighed so we know how much formula it should be eating. Hopefully we can learn what the sex is so I can quit calling it the little bugger, this one, and the kitten. I think it is a female.

So life in the woods has taken this unexpected and sweet road...sometimes scratchy and frequently purring!

Meow!

Street Art Denver

I am in Denver this week spending some time with my daughter. It is really interesting to be in a city that has such a vibrant art presence. I am especially smitten with the these large posters we have seen on several walls throughout the city.

I would love to know who the artist or artists are. It is such an interesting addition to the street and I would love to hear the back story.

Explorations in Color.

I have been on a mission this summer to make cloth samples from every dye powder on my shelf ... a little bit boring to dye the small one color fabric samples ...but... during the course of the week I play on on a larger piece of cloth mixing and layering colors so I can explore the interactions between multiple colors and removing color. 

The shapes you see that look like bones ( to me) were created using soy wax for a resist before dyeing with golden yellow and medium blue.

 

 Over-dyed with fuchsia.

Then I applied Jacquard Discharge Paste in circle shapes using a muffin tin for a stamp. After covering the surface with these wonky looking circles I let the paste dry for a bit then steamed each circle to remove the color. The fuchsia disappeared leaving the underlying colors and was very exciting to watch during the steaming process. Yes Rosie... I was wearing my Darth Vader mask for safety!

Threads of Mine

Threads of Mine is a abstract textile interpretation of underground mining. In March my friend Gary and I displayed this exhibit at Governor French Gallery in Belleville, IL.

Fugitive Dust is a term companies use to describe mine dust that escapes the mine. Coal mining towns used to get a grimy appearance. This piece of discharged cloth was perfect for making this piece.Mining companies have gone to great lengths to clean up this type of pollution in the mining process.


Fugitive Dust
21 x 20
350.00


Stand Alone ( right hand column) was inspired by the writings of miners who described taking off their protective outer clothing at the end of a shift, so many of them wrote "My pants were so grimy they would stand alone" This was such a great image I had to create my own stand alone pants. Using a product called STIFFY to wet the pants. Geez ... this is starting to sound a bit weird! I put the folds of the cloth where I wanted them and let them harden and then painted them to get he grimy coal dust appearance.
Stand Alone
33W 32 L
100.00

Mining is dangerous work and we all owe so much to miners who are willing to work so that we might have comfortable homes. The latest tragedy in West Virginia is one of many mining disasters throughout history and my heart goes out to the families and miners living in this community. I wish them comfort today and the days ahead.

Dance Like Leona's Watching

Leona my puppy loves to watch me dance in the mornings. I think she would like to join me. How to teach a dog to dance? This is a good question. I am back to morning pages a habit I have done on and off for 12 years thanks to Julia Cameron's , The Artist's Way. I am using dance and the pages to clear the emotional and physical clutter left over from the hectic pace of the last 3 seasons. Now if dancing and writing would do something to clear the clutter in my house. I have not seen my camera since Christmas, my IPOD since November.

Spring,Summer, and Fall are when I design discharged tee shirts, dye scarves and cloth to sell at local boutiques and Holiday markets. These pictures were taken at Peace by Piece in Belleville, Illinois. The peace sign was a big hit this year.

These rayon burn-out scarves take the dye beautifully and make great gifts.

Meet the " Quilt Chicks"...

These ladies Carol ( holding Leona) ,Lisa, Kim a.k.a. ....mom, sister ,sister. We met once a week for several months to sew and have lunch while we made 2 bed sized quilts for Lisa'a daughters for Christmas. We used the fabric from a lifetime of homemade flannel nightgowns made for Lisa by her grandmother a.k.a..... Carole's mother! So as you can see this was a family project. I feel grateful to be included! We had quite a bit of fun... I gained a pound or two as well. These ladies can cook! They also were able to help me enjoy the first days of having a puppy in the house... can you say " potty outside?" As you can see Leona was one of the quilt helpers.

Meanwhile....
My daughter Savannah left for Europe for 3 weeks, Montana for 2 weeks, and college for now.

We left her here... a smile on her face... The flowers were blooming ... Summer... August 18... also our wedding anniversary I was experiencing the epitome of mixed feelings! From this day on.. I will think of college drop off when I see sunflowers.

This is where I run out of current pictures.. no worries I am certain my camera is buried somewhere in cloth.

January has me working deep.... in the mines. My friend Gary, a weaver, and I are working on pieces for a combined titled " Threads of Mine" that opens in March 2010. Our inspiration is underground mining. We both come from mining families and wanted to do some focused work on mines. I have read about mines, miners, and mining disasters, looked at pictures of mine shafts and now ... I dream about them.

This is challenging ...my goal is to create 9 new pieces of work for it. I am working with lots of black and very symmetrical work far from my bright , more fluid work, using rusted and discharged fabrics and raw edged applique. Rusting black fabric gave me some beautiful cloth to work with. If I could just find my camera....okay when I find my camera I will post some pictures.

So now back to the mines with me... I leave you with this link to ...

The Great Bell Chant
http://vimeo.com/6518109

Let it buffer completely before viewing.

In the meanwhile...don't forget to dance ... finger tapping, hip shaking, head nodding it all counts.

Remember ...these are the Sweet Years !

2010

Hello it has been a long time since I have posted... so long that it took me a week to track down my login name and password. Note to self keep this information in a file.

So happy new year to all who show up here.

Fiber Art Alliance Announcement

This picture is a detail of my new work Spring Unraveled to see the whole piece visit here...

http://www.fiberartalliance.com/links.html

Each member of the Alliance has committed to creating four pieces of art a year.

The entire collection will be available Spring 2010 to travel for exhibit in galleries until then each group will be shown online as it is completed.

I do hope you'll stop and see our first collection of work we are excited about it.

Be well and remember these are the Sweet Years and don't forget the woman who made that possible.... Mom!

Happy Mother's Day!