It All Begins with Inspiration

 This is a question that is often asked; that said, it never grows old: what are your sources of inspiration? 

I have two main sources: literature (mainly essays and poetry) and photographs (generally my own, but sometimes from my daughter Gina and sometimes from my friend Bob -- always used by permission).

Here are some examples:

This, from Bob...

Became this...

"Abandoned: Alaska"
5" x 7" on stretched canvas, floater frame

And this, from Gina...

Became this...

"Fire Moon" 
12" x 16", wrapped over stretched canvas,
floater frame

This, from my own photographs...

Believe it or not -- became this! 😆

"Red Pot" - 10" x 10"?  Can't remember!

As for inspiration from essays, lyrics and/or poetry...

This piece was inspired by Steve Martin's song, "Daddy Played the Banjo"... 

"Yellow Tree"
12" x 12"
SAQA Benefit Auction 2015

And this one -- available at Curiosity Art and Framing (Red Deer, AB) -- was inspired by Emily Dickenson...

"The Thing with Wings II" - 8" x 10"
Script & stitch on stretched linen,
floater frame

Clearly, creative inspiration can come from pretty much anywhere.  My "statement" pieces have come from the news -- like this one I created after the 2016 election in the US...

"Canada Weeps" - 19" W x 15" L
Fused applique, machine quilting, beading
Hanging sleeve/dowel

Or this one, for the theme "Garden", that I made when I belonged to the international art quilt group, Fifteen by Fifteen...

"Back to the Garden" (2013)
15" x 15"
Self-dyed cotton, machine quilted,
hand embroidery, beading

With that title, if you're a 'certain age', you might guess that it was inspired by lyrics from Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock".  We are stardust; we are golden...and we've got to get ourselves back to the Garden...

Well, now.  Turns out Joni was celebrated recently at this year's Newport Folk Festival, and well she should be.  I know for a fact that I carried her lyrics in my head and heart while I was clambering around the mountain trails and investigating CP Rail ruins at the Illecillewaet trail head in Rogers Pass on my Art in the Park adventure.

The artists for this project are all Canadian -- from B.C. (including Revelstoke itself), from Alberta, from Ontario.  There are 9 of us -- a photographer, a textile artist (c'est moi!), and 7 painters working in acrylic and/or watercolour and/or pencil/watercolour and/or oils.  We range in age from thirties to seventies; in education, from formal to self-taught.  Some of us are full-time artists, some teach, some simply exhibit when and where they can.

Marion Lake Trail

Three of us became friendly right off -- and hiked up a steep trail together (one we thought was "moderately" steep, but we were mistaken!)  Jolene (in her thirties) was recovering from an ankle strain; Tatjana (in her fifties) had some climbing experience but was unused to carrying a pack; I was the eldest and very used to walking -- but switch-backs?!  Whoa!

But...we made it in the end, and were very proud of ourselves!  We took photos to prove it, too.  Here's my 'victory' photo at the destination:

In my mind and heart with Joni was another Canadian folk icon -- Gordon Lightfoot -- with his Canadian Railroad Trilogy.  I walked on the "1885 Trail" that was part of the initial railroad venture through the Canadian Rockies, bringing the wealthy and adventurous to a grand hotel that once stood there -- before it was eclipsed by the venues in Banff and Lake Louise, Alberta, both of which were closer to the growing city of Calgary, and easier to access by the newer -- and reportedly safer -- alternative rail routes being built.

The photos I've taken have now been downloaded to my laptop, and I've started to print off a few, with visions of textural pieces, floral scenes, and something about the mixed blessing that is the railroad.  As I print them off, the lyrics resound in my ears.  Ideas for techniques are taking shape, enabling me to express my reflections on these photos.  

There'll be more about the process going forward, as I have to create at least three pieces for an exhibit at the Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre in the winter of 2023 -- to be followed by a tour.  Given COVID's impact, this biennial Art in the Park program was last run -- and exhibited -- in 2018/2019.  It's important to bring art to the people of the area, and to others in smaller centres where these pieces will be shown.

I've got three themes in mind:

"Flora" or "Meadow" 

Forest/mountains/sky

which will really focus on tree textures...

This one's been altered by my photo editting 
software already.  Texure.  Think: texture!

And...history...

Railway "navvies" -- not from Parks Canada info.

There's a lot there for reflection, pondering, planning, expressing.  All of this will be part of the "inspirational stew" swirling about in the next few weeks before I get down to the business of making fabric samples and going forward with creating final pieces.  As I consider my experience and the photos I've taken, I'll be concurrently thinking about materials I have to hand -- fabric types and colours, other media (paper, etc.), assorted threads and their purpose and potential (including colour, thickness, application).  

All of these thoughts, ideas and plans will appear in posts over the next several months as this work takes shape -- something very new and yet very familiar (landscape tradition).  Stay tuned!

Meanwhile, of course, there is a balance...currently achieved with knitting and cross-stitch.  It's going to be a "Very Stitchy Christmas" this year, as I've selected several small pieces to make for Very Special People.  One of the first on which I'm focusing (focussing??) because it's rather large -- well, long, anyway -- is the Growth Chart I mentioned in my last post (scroll down).  If you look at that "old" photo...and then at this one,  you'll see I've been working hard!

Even though the chart quality is abysmal (as I may have mentioned!) and there are multiple colour changes in leaves and stems (I've taken to keeping up to six (!) needles threaded at a time in those parts!), I'm having great fun with it.

Right now we're in a heat wave here -- and this will continue for the next several days if the forecast is right -- punctuated, if we're lucky, by thunderstorms!! -- so it's the perfect thing to work on in my shaded north-facing living room, with my table fan full on in front of me and a ceiling fan breezing away through the opening between my kitchen and living room.  

Mercy!  Now, I well know we've not had the temps experienced by my friends and Gentle Readers elsewhere, and I feel for you, but we Canucks are still not quite used to these temps in our summers.

Anyone denying the effects of human activity on the climate -- which didn't necessarily cause climate change, but which don't help in the least little bit -- well, y'all need to go back to school and take your science classes over!  This time, pay attention!!  😉💓

On that not-entirely cheerful note, I'm going to sign off -- before I get myself into trouble!  Well...maybe there's a P.S.

When I got back home, I found my sweet daughter had picked my first raspberries.  I've followed that with two more pickings plus the picking of several cherry tomatoes.  And making of raspberry jam.  And enjoying LOTS of salad.  So...a few garden photos to show you that all is not lost on this land yet...

Third raspberry picking -- and not the last!

Some of my lettuce, mesclun/mixed greens, and dill

The zucchini are trying to over-run the beans!

A bird-planted sunflower,
growing under a tree!

That's really all the news that's fit to print for now.  It's a long weekend ("Heritage Day") here in Alberta...and a similar one in other parts of Canada.  We're under heat/thunderstorm watch for the next 3 days anyway.  Perfect for stitching indoors with fans going.  (AC?  For 10 days in July? Not me!)  As I link this to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday, Gentle Readers, may you all have a lovely weekend, wherever you are.  Be well, be safe, find your centre in stitch, and...I'll be back in a week or two.  😊

Thanks, Bob

The pre-Easter puttering paid off over this past weekend, giving me the boost I needed to try some new things, and put together four more pieces for the upcoming Lacombe Art Show & Sale.

Inspiration for three of them came from my friend Bob, whom I met in a prior life 😉.  I lived in Calgary then, and as an aspiring writer (long story) joined the Alexandra Writer's Society.  He was a member too, and both of us served on the organization's Board for a few years.  I was the librarian for the Society, and he...I think he was Chair or something important like that!

Now both of us write blogs -- and both make visual art: textiles for me, photography for him.

My first effort from his work was a mini, sold long ago -- so long ago that I had to dig the photo of it out of an old blog post; it wasn't in my files!

A Silvery Moon, An Orange Sky and Dhow

Friday's snowstorm found me in the studio with three of Bob's photos -- and one of my own -- in mind, digging through my books, working in my sketchbook.

This first one he took on a trip to Grenada -- and the aquas and blues seen through the skeleto of what must have been a home, once, simply captivated me.

I also knew I could get very caught up in the details of it, so I tried to break it down by printing it in black and white...

And then with an effect called "old photograph"...

In the end I took the colour photo, tracked a grid over it, and narrowed in on one section.  I did a colour study of that isolated bit, and then attempted to recreate it in a rather abstracted way. 

Grid and colour study with fabric scraps

I quilted it on a piece of white craft felt, stitching down the edges; it finished at 8" x 10", and added touches of water-colour pencil here and there as I felt called.  Then I secured it with matte gel medium to a 12" x 12" canvas that I'd painted to give it a 'tropical' feel.  I'll take it to be put in a floater frame later this week:

In light of all the hurricanes in that part of the world this past year,
I've titled it After the Storm: Grenada. 
Fabric collage, machine quilted on felt, painted;
 applied to stretched canvas. 
12" x 12" before framing

Can you tell which section I used?  Here's a hint:

I then moved on to something more "inside my box"...a pair of small canvases (5" x 7") that will be framed this week too.  Here's a photo of the prep of the backgrounds; both inspirational photos are of Alberta scenes that Bob took on drives around the countryside:

And here's one, finished and ready for framing...

I'm not sure of a title just yet...these are either old barns or grain bins near Beiseker, Alberta, taken on a wintry evening where faint pink hints of the Aurora in the starry sky added to the odd colouring of the snow on the ground.  "Beiseker Barns" just sounds too..."cute".  If anyone has an idea, just leave a comment -- with my thanks!

Inspired, I continued to play with paint, working finally on a piece of light-weight scrap canvas my framer gave me.  It had some discoloured spots, so I washed it, and in drying it, squeezed it, meaning that despite ironing (under a pressing cloth, on the side without gesso priming), it retained a bit of a 'crinkled' look.  I decided I liked that, as it gave an interesting texture to the painted surface. 

Un-stretched canvas, painted

You can see the inspirational photo at the top. I took it on my way to the studio of my long-arm quilter, Sylvia, who lives north-east of here just a wee bit.

Once it was painted, I put it under the needle, and added a bit more colour with water-colour pencils:

Then I found a mat for it -- thanks to some cast-offs recycling from my former water-colour teacher, Sharon Lynn Williams of Calgary, who went back to work in acrylics, oils and encaustic after several years of working in water-colour.

It's a good big mat (the canvas is 9" x 11") -- a double mat, in fact, and too me, it suits the piece down to the ground.  Before attaching it to the mat, I applied the piece to a slightly larger piece of mat board, again using mat gel medium.

I've decided, however, not to frame this one.  Whoever buys it can frame it the way they want to.  I just propped it in this stand for the photo:

End of the Road (C) 2018

All in all, it's been a good five or six days.  Today...taking it a bit easier, working on string blocks for that larger piece I've mentioned before, and which is still very much a work in progress.

It's snowing here (again!) today -- thick, fat flakes that melt on the pavement but pile up on the old snow and any icy patches that remain from earlier 'melts's, and there are plenty of those.

I'm seriously thinking of curling up for a nap, but before I do, I'll link this to WIP Wednesday over at The Needle and Thread Network, and leave you with this photo of the third (of three) blocks for The Quilt Show's 2018 Block of the Month, which I also finished this past weekend.  Sometimes, after original work, my brain needs a break, so I go back to piecing.  Ahhhhh....

Have a great rest of the week, everyone!