These little guys are based on sketches i did during college, and are based on Chinese figures from the Han Dynasty—they are not the ever vaunted, over-used Kokopelli. Though i like the way they turned out, the next time i’ll use a slightly lighter variegated grey so they’re a bit more visible.

Think i’ll give the monoprints a good “college try” by going through the rest of the thumbnails from lo those many years ago—-19?????????

PS I was asked for info on monoprinting–i’m not an expert, but this is the easiest way to add design to fabric–textile paint, or acrylic paint with textile medium (i use GAC 900: Golden acrylic medium for fabrics) smeared on a cheap plastic meat cutting “board”, drawn into with whatever, fabric slapped on and brayered–voila. Monoprinting is definitely not rocket science!

can’t wait to work on that one above with its ghosties

some of the deep blue above has already been turned into an”in progress”:

and i really like what stitch does to the line of this:

The heavily rusted areas were a pure hell to pull needles through–thank goodness for pliers–always a handy tool in the embroidery supply department Even though stitching on rust is a pain, i liken it to working on toast–all that mellow earth colour, a little crunchy, but adding so much flavour.

Sea Change

For those in the area (Alberta and Sask, maybe BC) the information is here, in 3 different flavours, er, locations and price points.

There are ducks close to the finishing line, ready to step up in the debutante line. I have 7″ of Sea Change left and will accomplish that this weekend. I figure that amount is what i can do each night on any given piece–as long as it’s not kilometres wide…..

Our cold snap is pretty much over–from -38C at the beginning of the week to -14C today, it’s time to get the shorts back out A Chinook Arch arrives today and at a predicted balmy 1C, i’ll be pulling out the sequined tube top to complete the ensemble!

I know Greyman will appreciate the look–it’s our 8th anniversary today. Mwuh mwuh mwuh, Sweet Bunny!

from Barb's show brochure

Wish i had gone to see it when it was all set up in the Triangle Gallery! (Now known as the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Calgary)

I know now that i have probably quite often walked past art by other artists, dismissing it as “uninteresting” or “pointless” (to me!), because either part of it was “missing”/censored by omission depending on the venue, or because the statement wasn’t clear, had been edited by the venue—how we hate that “50 words or less” rule!!!!!!–or the set up was dim or poorly staged–yeah i’ve seen that too. I’ll be a little more aware now of researching the artist, particularly when they use textiles as the main material,  or story as the focus–hey, i admit, most paintings leave me cold, i need that tactility of cloth and stitch. (Even if it is frowned upon to touch–and i don’t, with respect.)

Barb, getcher website up and full!!!!!!!!

Drawn from the Whyte Museum in Banff, Alberta, the textile art group “Articulation” exhibited works in situ inspired by various elements of the collection. I haven’t included statements or materials with these photos, letting the art speak for itself. (Karin has a more detailed look on the Alberta SDA blog.)

Much of the exhibit was focused on Catherine Whyte and the local glacier formations.

Catherine Whyte (nee Robb), portrait by Frederick Bosley

Several of us puzzled over the “eye” motif in this piece. Kayak? What’s shaped like that on a glacier? No answers as there was no statement accompanying this intricate embroidery accented hanging.

Glacier, Gloria S. Daly

I was quite taken especially by Ingrid Lincoln’s works, showing one here interpreted from Catherine’s wardrobe:

(title not noted) Ingrid Lincoln

I had read Lesley Turner’s blog as she compost dyed this fabric. Subtle stitch is added to the natural decay.

Valuing Women's Work/Lesley Turner

The (colourized) photo on the right in this below is of Catherine wearing the actual jacket:

(unsure of title) Vicky Newington

Wendy Klotz’s pieces showed a variety of approaches. Several of us were also wondering about the uterine shape: that is glacier inspired as well!

(unsure of title) Wendy Klotz

"Preservation" Wendy Klotz

There were several fibre related exhibits in the museum at this time, fashions from the area worn by socialites, a major retrospective show of local area Master weaver Mary Garnham Andrews,  and another small display by a local guild group. Included in the guild group were 2 3d mixed media pieces from Barbara J West’s “Drinking Games” installation, and had Barbara not been there to talk about her work, i’d never have been drawn to them. Not because they were uninteresting, but as she explained, because they were SO out of context due to the fact that the museum had picked the less controversial pieces from the series! (Barbara’s website is still under construction, but i found a bit here, and here about her work.)

Truly i had expected more cutting edge work also from Articulation members, but publicly funded tourist area exhibitions often are concerned about offending people. I still quite enjoyed the exhibits regardless of this factor. No doubt there are shows they have participated in, that were more expansive in treatment and use of materials. This isn’t a criticism by the way, merely an observation. Given the subject matter, the show was excellent–and if i’d been an uninformed member of the public, i would have been rather floored by the art. Something to remember when applying for shows, whether by submission to an association, or to a gallery space!

The exhibits are on until the end of January for any of you “locals” who read this blog

Longwise?

I might be getting ahead of myself, but until i know in what order and configuration i’m going to attach these together, i need to think!

Mmm. i think without the large one.

And one more adjustment:

Hand stitch has begun on these as well.

“Trapped” in the house this week–with -38 to -45C temps, frostbite can happen in 5 minutes on exposed skin–no long DogFaced Girl walkies! IF we have to go out, it’s a double time march down to the corner store for milk and back! (A very wonderful thing about Calgary is that public transit and a lot of stores are dog friendly, knowing that’s it’s cruel to have to leave dog out while you whip in, or have to walk 40 blocks with a frozen canine lump dragging at the end of a leash.) It’s the kind of cold that makes snow squeak when you walk on it, and even Nessie is gingerly examining the ground as she speeding fastly patrols on her constitutionals. Being a snow dog, she is quite puzzled by the wind bite and the fact that there is actually only 2″ of snow, so how can she not go out and stay out? GAH. Ha, the weatherman this AM says our “high” will be -29C! (I can still hardly believe that when i lived in Edmonton, i would walk 13 blocks in -40 weather regularly to get to work–and again to get home…..)

I’m staying warm in the stoodio with colour! I’ve been diligently stitching the border embroideries on Sea Change–and i  swear the thing got bigger when i wasn’t looking. It’s 21×37″, about 5″ taller and 7″ longer than i remembered! Winter Prairie has only a few nodules left and some bone borgles to flatten it a wee bit, though it’s hard to work on with all the white–feels cold I really am dedicated to FINISHING things right now! That’s another problem with “Blogarhea”: you get so inspired that you have 11tybazillion projects and rarely finish anything, because there’s always something else to try!  While i’ve always shown process, some progress in completed would be a great thing as well. I often wonder how many of the inspirational projects i see on the webs are finished…..:)

That being said, i do have a snippet of pile for new Artist’s Body work………

The latest colour works now have a name thanks to Joe of Manhandled Threads: he left a comment about the “buzz of lab equipment”, and that’s what they have become. When done and all attached to each other, the piece will be “Lab Explosion”

The official spanking new professional TAFA site is now live! Main site, members list, my page.

My joyful jump back into colour has me using machine stitch again. It feels less “intrusive” with the bright colours, though i did like the addition of it in judicious amounts on Padded Cell. These panels are all being used as my teaching aids in the advanced FrankenStitch class, and will be joined as a unit. Two more done this past weekend. (We had some power outages with the sudden winter winds 70-100kph and temps of -25C with windchill -36C: certainly a way to get off the computer and be in the stoodio!)

I have to say it is a real pleasure to watch what my basic FrankenStitch students are doing in the present class! The interaction and idea sharing is wonderful and some of the innovations they are coming up with are awesome! The first class was pretty quiet, with the exception of a very few students. For photos of work done from that one, checkout Cheryl’s post! (Scroll to the bottom.)

Random photo from the weekend:

No, not a hanging duck–we treat the birds right here: this is a shot of a snow laden bird bell!

And look at the dimension beginning in the second one:

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was just puddling around this morning, not trying to “make” anything, just playing with colour and shape on a small scale, sort of piano scales with Procion Instead of being just sampling, these are now bases for some hand work in the Advanced FrankenStitch class. (It is a hand oriented class, but nothing says you can’t mix or add or begin with machine.)

Now that i can finally get Procion to work, i’m thrilled with the results. The turquoise wasn’t quite as deep as i wanted, but still damn pleasing. A bit more powder next time i think for the intense result i got before by accident! Time to mix some of the other colours i desire, with confidence.

‘Kay, now after 4 hours of stitching and weebling happily, i really must walk DogFaced Girl in our sunny 3C weather–next week we expect snow and -22C tempos, so make walkies while the sun shines!