Mixed Reviews

Adrenalin was running high in the lunch room yesterday as 60+ artists gathered for a wonderful repast just before the Fifteenth Annual Encore! Lacombe Art Show and Sale opened its doors.  We'd been bustling in and out since Thursday afternoon, setting up our back-drops, tables, walls and works.  Anticipation was in the air.  As we left for the exhibit hall one wished another, "Have a great show!"

The first afternoon was -- as usual -- full of browsers.  The Red Hatters visited in full regalia; there were numerous very senior citizens (I'm guessing in their late seventies and upwards) -- and an abundance of young parents with kids in strollers.

Once again I'm the only textile artist in the place.  This year I'm situated between a potter (same gal as last year) and a painter -- a new fellow who paints carefully executed figures and detailed still life in oils.  My daughter, Gina, couldn't be with me this year as she was away all week on business and won't arrive home till late this evening (I believe)...but I had permission to intersperse some of her pieces in with mine as we did last year.  I was challenged to place pieces in a complementary way based on size, colour and theme; I think it makes for a very effective presentation, but it's definitely a challenge!  :-)

SOLD! A Silvery Moon, an Orange
Sky and Dhow (C) 2014
Photo credit: Bob Laws

Another viewer picked up my business card -- and I could tell by his furrowed brow that he was thinking.  It delighted me when I was able to confirm for him that yes, I was the same "Margaret Blank" who had a piece in the "Meet the Best of the West" SAQA Western Canada show that he saw at the Kiwanis Gallery in Red Deer earlier this year.

I had several post-cards about the current Western Threads collaborative exhibit to give away, and by the end of the afternoon they were all gone.  Luckily, I also have my own post-cards on which visitors can make note of that show.  Several did so; I'm hoping they'll get up to the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton to see it before it closes in early August.

The rest of the afternoon was quiet as to sales.  I sat and stitched on a "statement" piece I'd let lie dormant for the last couple of months.  It's part of a triptych with the working title, "Deteriorating Civility".  ( I managed to get the stitching finished in the early evening and laid it out on the display table with a note, "Work In Progress".  I'll be working on the second section today.)

A steady stream of viewers came by with an assortment of feedback:

• "Interesting; very interesting" (from a snowy-haired senior);
• "I remember when my grandmother used to do this, and we tied them" (another snowy-haired senior, referring to helping her grandmother make tied bed quilts):
• "So...you're retired now and this is what you do?"
• "So-o-o-o-o beautiful; so-o-o-o beautiful."
• "This is why I wish I had more walls [in my home]!"

After 5 p.m. the viewers changed up somewhat.  The ticketed event for the evening was "The Art of the Motor Cycle", featuring over a dozen amazingly air-brush painted Harley Davidson 'cycles, sponsored by a local dealer.  I've never wanted to ride a motor cycle, nor do they attract me, but these machines and the artwork they sported were pretty impressive!  

The testosterone level in the hall mounted, as the exhibit drew more men than I've ever seen at an art show.  The women accompanying many of them were equally interesting to observe.  Tattoos abounded on both genders, as did tee-shirts and jackets emblazoned with elaborate scrolled text proclaiming their favourite 'cycle brand.  Many of the women stood tall on spiked heels that had to be at least 6"; one wore vintage-look nylon stockings, complete with seams up the back, between her heels and short, narrow skirt.  Truly a colourful crowd.  

This portion of the evening audience weren't quite sure what to think about much of the art on exhibit; many gave only a passing glance to my textiles.  Others looked genuinely confused -- a bit like deer in the headlights.  

SOLD! Boot Dance (C) 2014

At the same time, there were in the crowd many who attended simply because it was guaranteed to be a different, fun event, and they wanted to support the Lacombe Foundation for the Arts, the beneficiary of the fund-raiser.  

The young woman who was selling beer and wine tickets turned out to be none other than the person who'd bought my piece at the September 10 x 10 fund-raiser.  

SOLD! Waxwings' Delight (C) 2014

After her shift she came by the booth with 3 friends, and bought two of the minis, effusing about all of the work and wishing she could afford more.  I'm completely tickled to think I might have a fan -- and one my daughter's age or younger, at that!

And now for the Most Unusual Comment (so far) -- made by a woman who took a good look at all the pieces hanging on my display and, standing in front of Waiting for the Train, complete with its painted Lutradur (R) and hand-dyed silk ribbon embroidery, asked:

So...when the show is over what will you do with these?  Will you take them home and put them altogether in a quilt?

Go figure.

P.S.: Linking to Nina Marie's "Off the Wall Friday" -- have a great weekend!

The Stack

It's all about facings, labels and sleeves in my sewdio today.  I've finished several pieces and have to get two ready to send off to that exhibit in France I mentioned.

The Stack

I like to use a 'pillow-case' facing when I have enough fabric, preferably to match the backing.  You can see that I'm not particular about what I use for backing -- I have yards of that brown-and-white print.  It was given me some years ago in a bag of fabric someone didn't want.  If I don't have enough fabric for a pillow-case facing, I will make one out of strips instead -- generally without mitred corners.  Life's too short to fuss with mitering!!

The top piece you see there is "Big Sky Country", and right underneath that is "Rural Rhythms".  The third piece down (see that bit of blue sticking out?) is one I set aside several months ago because I was having trouble with it.  I didn't like the way the ribbon I was using seemed to pouch out.  I removed the ribbon, densely free-motion stitched the underlying quilt -- and put it away.  I'd dyed more ribbon, but was still worried about how it would lie on the top.

Sunday, I decided "Enough is ENOUGH!" and I dug the piece out.  I worked on it most of the day; after adding the ribbon, I went back into the trees and the bush on the lower right with a bit of paint and pen to add some texture.  Here's what it looks like now, facing applied and waiting for a label so I can finish the back:

Waiting for the Train (C) 2014

Detail - water and rushes

Detail - truck and rushes

I accented the ribbon with a bit of tapestry yarn.  Then, in addition to having 'firmed up' the underlying quilt with dense stitching, I applied a very light dusting of Bo-Nash bonding powder on them and pressed the heck out of them.  They still have texture but they lie flat and don't 'pouch out' from the surface.  I'm happy with it at last!  (For the original inspirational photo, click HERE.)

And one thing actually got finished yesterday:

"Little Sheep" Pin Pillow

Design: One of the "Little Sheep Virtues" from Little House Needleworks. Size: 6" square before stuffing. Stuffed with 100% wool batting from stash.  :-)

'Scuse me now...I have some backings to finish!

You Do What You Can

This week I've been blooming where I was planted.  That included taking a dear friend for her second cataract surgery, and the follow-up doctor's appointment for check-up.  What that means for those of us living in "The Boonies" is the better part of two days away from the stewdio...and then...I worked yesterday per usual.  :-)

Today has been spent catching up at home: a stack of dirty dishes (no dish-washing machine); travelling to the pharmacy in Alix for a prescription -- and stopping in at the library to score 2 good books; garbage pick-up; correspondence, etc.  At last, late afternoon, I am out at my table under the largest of my ornamental fruit trees (Nancy C. - you have photos from me of the produce of this tree!) typing away to report my humble progress...

In my last post, I solicited advice about "Waiting for the Train" -- and I thank all of you who responded!  Here's what the piece looks like now:

See that bare spot -- including the water?  Soon to be re-covered with yarn and freshly-dyed silk ribbon.

Yes, I spent most of Monday with the acid dye pot:

I used one (of 2) spool of silk ribbon (which I buy at Dharma Trading, if you're curious)  and came up with 3 shades of "gold" for the rushes:

Light, lighter, lightest

Next up: re-create the rushes using irregular lengths of ribbon in various shades, combined with yarns and floss for texture.  Space it out; alter the angles so not everything is straight up-and-down like little soldiers...

And that may -- or may not -- begin tomorrow morning!

This is "what I know for sure" (to quote Ms. Winfrey):

• tomorrow afternoon I have an Artist's Date with my friend C.  We are participating in the Heritage House Tour 2013 in /Lacombe, which begins at 1 p.m. at the Michener House (birthplace of Roland Michener, one of Canada's Governors General) and ends with tea at Morrison House -- yum!!);
• Sunday means Sabbath here at the 3F Creations Stewdio, so there's church (a.m.) and rest (p.m.); and
• MONDAY means Back to Work in the Stewdio --  and miniatures (to show off to a gallery in Olds, Alberta) are on the top of the list.

I end this post with the note that the SAQA 2013 Benefit Auction is just over 2 weeks away!!  You can see wonderful work by clicking the previous link.  If you are particularly interested in the Aussies (i.e. Oceania Region), check out their "Blog Hop" HERE.   I had the privilege of hanging this exhibit for a short run at the SAQA Conference in Santa Fe.  It's wonderful -- and I encourage you to take a good, long look at these pieces.  I have to give a BIG Shout Out to the two -- count 'em -- women who are the co-reps for the entire region -- Ali George and Lisa Walton.  Their territory makes SAQA Western Canada's look small...

And on that note... SAQA WC's next Parlour Meeting is in Red Deer at the home of out-going Rep, Patti Morris, on Monday, September 16th...By which time the Burgess Shale Project will have begun its TREX into Alberta elementary schools...

"Rock" on!

And...maybe it's till okay to link to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday...

"Sometimes I sits and thinks..."

"and sometimes I just sits."*

It was hot yesterday, and I found myself between projects...in a manner of speaking.  Sometimes, you see, after I've spent several days sampling I find I need a day "off" to let the results of the sampling percolate in my brain.  The sensation is similar to that which I feel when I've completed a piece altogether, so I take a break.

Yesterday was one of those days.  I sats and thoughts -- er, sat and thought most of the day.  To keep my hands busy, I pruned an over-zealous ornamental almond shrub at the east side of my garage, and weeded thoroughly around it.  I also knit.

First, I finished Hat #3 in my "Ten Weeks, Ten Hats" personal challenge.  Here it is, being modelled by my favourite 1 kg. peanut butter jar:

Pattern: Rhinebeck Hat by Shelia January, knit in Phildar Phil' Laine in "Myrtille" (discontinued) and Sirdar Denim Tweed DK (off-white -- also discontinued).  This pattern is published in Clara Parkes' The Knitter's Book of Yarn.

Then I spent a good part of the afternoon making this pretty little cuff:

The pattern is Shepherd's Fingerless Mitts from Brenda Dayne's e-book, Welsh for Rainbow.  I'm knitting it in Louisa Harding's "Amitola" (Colour #109 - "Salsa"), a wool-silk blend of self-striping yarn with long colour repeats, using the inside of the ball for Colour A (the yellow) and the outside for Colour B (the background which is shading -- for the present -- from green to deep blue and into purple.  As the e-book is undergoing constant up-dating, the version of the pattern from which I'm working isn't quite perfect, but I've been able to manage thus far and really love the effect Ms. Dayne has created with the honeycomb look.  These will likely be a Christmas gift if all works well.

As I sat and knit, I thought about this:

This is "Waiting for the Train", still under construction.  I put it away some months ago, having used up the silk ribbon I'd dyed for the bull rushes.  I have more ribbon now, but have yet to dye it.  I thought it looked too thick and heavy the way I'd added it, and I didn't like the flat, static look of the water (really, just a puddle) in the foreground.  I still don't like the water, but I'm having second thoughts about the rushes....  Feedback would be appreciated from those of you who are willing!

Meanwhile, it will continue to sit, and I will continue to think.  Have a great weekend!  :-)


*either Satchel Paige or A.A. Milne or...?

The Pressure's Off

I've had to put "Waiting for the Train" away for a bit; I ran out of ribbon!  An order has been placed for two 50-metre spools, which won't arrive for at least a week and by then I'll be finishing up the Show and packing  in earnest for Santa Fe.  Ah, well.  A project for May.  :-)

When I left off last evening, "Waiting" looked like this:

I admit I'm not entirely happy with it.  The light tan 'rushes' are too heavy; there's not enough variety of weight and texture.  I'm considering taking some of this out and interspersing it with crewel wool from my stash.  And more grass has to be put near the water's edge -- and not by thread-painting, which is too fine.  So.  Just as well I can leave it; I have plenty to go in the show.

Instead I've spent this April Snow Day embroidering evergreens on the Atlantic Seaboard Sampler, and assembling another batch of 6.5" blocks for P's "Hunter's Star".  I now takes up my entire design wall -- and there's quite a number of blocks to make yet:

While sewing I was entertained by these unfamiliar black-and-white birds at the feeder in the tree right outside my sewing room window:

Though it may look like the sun is shining in that photo, it isn't!  It was (and is) still snowing, and the sky is white, meaning bright white "snow blind" conditions.  The feeder kept swaying in the wind, but the wee birdie (and two or three of his friends) were persistent and I do believe managed to dig through the snow to get some of the food!  Alas the poor robins are totally confused as they don't eat seed.  They've been making do with berries and sitting forlornly on tree branches wondering where the bugs are...

I tried to get more shots of them but they were moving too fast.  Here's the only other one that turned out:

See him in the centre there?  The building in the background is my garage...fronted by heavily-laden junipers.  My neighbour has been shovelling despite the fact it's still coming down steadily, simply because this stuff is pretty heavy and wet.  He has a flat roof (mine is peaked) so he's been up there shovelling it off.

April in Canada, eh?  Pity!

Are We There Yet?

I don't know how other artists do it.  Have shows one after another, that is.  Maybe they have staff.  :-)  I've entered only one per year -- and for only three years -- but it's preoccupying me so completely that it's been haunting my dreams. I wake up making lists, and fussing -- and hoping I can pull it all off.  Even though I know my daughter will be here to help me that weekend, it's the before stuff that's been filling those lists. I think I'm keeping up but also hope I don't forget anything!

Meanwhile, "Wonder" has its sleeve, and has been wrapped for the trip to Santa Fe.  Here's what it looked like in one last photo, hanging on my living room wall the other evening:

I'm quite happy to let SAQA take its own photograph for the online auction.  :-)  That blue-on-white-with-metallic-thread-and-beads is one heckuva thing to shoot, especially for a 'point-and-click' person like me!

The price list is finished and all pieces packed and priced, with artist's statement and a post-card enclosed -- except for "Waiting for the Train", which may or may not make it in time.

I managed to get the sky and water quilted:

Then I began adding that silk ribbon I dyed last week:

I've got quite a section of long bull-rushes added since that photo was taken -- enough to know that I had to add in the puddle of water and the glimpse of a bush on the right, both in the original photo, in order to give the piece better balance.

See what I mean?  

That's done now, and I'm back to the embroidery, which includes cotton floss accents along with 3 colours of silk ribbon (so far).  I like the way it's progressing, but it seems to be taking forever.

The weather forecast is for 5-15 cm wet snow between later this evening and tomorrow evening, so perhaps an April Snow Day is just what I need to keep me plugging away and 'git-er-dun'.

OH!  And I almost forgot (again)!  Thanks to arlee for keeping me on the path of the New Moon and the TUSAL 2013.  Here's how my Ort Jar looked on April 10:

Whoa!  If you compare it to last month, you'll see I've been working hard!

And another OH!  Here's the finished sleeveless turtleneck top -- which now needs a wash so it'll be ready for Santa Fe:

I'm linking this up to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday; seeing what others are up to is like getting a cyber-hug and reassurance that "All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well".  Have a great weekend!

Piece-full Sunday

After a busy week in the sewdio, concentrating on new and ongoing pieces, I often like to take a complete break on the weekend.  This weekend I turned to piecing, as I did when I was working on Easy Street.  My in-progress Block of the Month, "Cinnamon" is one example.  I finally finished that fussy Block #3 that I was worried about, shown here on the top of the triangle with her sisters.

This weekend I started another pieced quilt -- a form of Hunter's Star done in two 'colours', from a pattern in the June 2006 issue of Better Homes & Gardens Creative Collection: American Patchwork & Quilting.  The designer for this piece is Jackie Robinson, and she uses a rotary cut formula to create the star effect.

I'm making this piece for my friend P in Montreal, who's having a Significant Birthday in June (even more significant than my 60th last fall).  I'm making the quilt from stash, and will make it only as large as materials allow, because all of the fabrics in question are long out of print.  Here are the first blocks positioned on my design wall:

I'm using a small-scale tone-on-tone print for one 'colour' and a large print for the other, so that they read as mauve and blue respectively.  There's a glint of silver and a hint of turquoise in the large print, which may figure in the border(s) or binding.  So far, anyway, I'm delighted with it, and hope to have it finished by the time I see P on a trip down East later in her birthday month.

As for the reason I took the break?

"Vespers II" is properly finished and matted now:

And "Waiting for the Train" is partially quilted.  It was fun going 'round the graffiti:

The sun is now high and it's as warm outside as it's going to get today, so I'm off for a walk.  This evening, perhaps a bit more of the Hunter's Star will take shape.  Have a great rest of your Sunday!

Fantastic Friday

Though my week got off to a slow start, I'm having a great finish!

First, the Big News:  the application Gina and I made for a shared booth at "Encore: 14th Annual Art Sale & Celebration of Creative Expression" in Lacombe (April 19-21) has been accepted!  Now the work gets underway to finish the miniatures, order packaging, finish the price list, prepare remaining dowels for hanging, label the pieces etc.  Yay!






And on that front, I've made progress with the miniatures:

1. "Pristine" is finished and matted:

2. And "Vespers II" is coming along.  I say that because...I finished it once, and had second thoughts:

As my mother would have said, there was just too much of a muchness in that pink sky!  So...

A bit of oil paint stick...et voila!  (The mat in the above photo is just perching on the piece; I have to wait another day or so for it to dry so I can heat set it and apply the matt properly.)

3. Two more are prepped -- that is, their backgrounds are in place.  First, a reprise of "Prairie Autumn" (the one I sold) with some slightly different fabric...

And then a new one, which will be called "Can You Hear Me Now?"  ;-)

Aside from the miniatures I went back to "Waiting for the Train" and added a few features yesterday.

You can tell by my attempt at graffiti that I never would have made it in the big leagues!  ;-)

Next up: the quilting, followed by the hand embroidery.  Dharma has charged my order to my credit card, which means -- I hope -- that they've shipped it, so I may just have the silk ribbon in time to dye it and stitch in those grasses and bull rushes and get it finished for the show.  Fingers crossed!

Linking this up with Nina Marie's "Off the Wall" Friday...and then I'm off to the studio.  Have a great weekend!

Snow Dye Report

Yesterday, as I posted, in a pinch I cobbled together what I hope will be the last batch of snow dyeing till December.  I decided to use the dye powder directly on the snow, rather than mix it with liquid first.  Here's what it looked like at the outset:

Sky Blue/Golden Yellow/Hint of Fuchsia Red

Lemon Yellow, Golden Yellow, Some Scarlet, Fuchsia Red

I let it sit about 7 hours, and the snow was still there, though diminished in volume.  Quite a lot of dye left in the rinsing.  Once washed with Synthrapol and dried in the dryer, this is what turned out:

Pastel, indeed, but perfect for sunrises or sunsets or florals or funky skies.  The pastel results are likely due to a combination of things:  first, the fact that the fabric is recycled bed linen and therefore not likely pure cotton, but a cotton-polyester blend; and second, the fact that my soda ash solution wasn't fresh.  It had been preserved from the last batch of snow dyeing -- about 6 weeks ago, at the end of January.  But I am not disappointed.  I knew those things going in.  And so...the results are not unexpected and entirely satisfactory.

On the "Train" front, I assembled a larger truck-end yesterday.  Don't you think the proportions are better in this view?

The truck is not yet fused down; I am undecided as to whether or not to show a few of the grasses/cat-tails behind it.  I'm going to ponder that for a while, as I await an order of 1/8" silk ribbon from Dharma, which I will dye and use to put those in.  I have only a bright, sunny yellow and a selection of reds in my stash, and can't find any silk ribbon locally to save my soul.  Neither can I find it online except in large quantities, with 4 weeks requested for dyeing.

In the Dharma order, I included a yard of silk habotai and one of silk charmeuse to play with in my online class with Jane Dunnewold through Craftsy.com, and another jar of Sky Blue MX dye powder...for obvious reasons!

And now to prepare to head out to Edmonton.  It's snowing lightly and there's a bit of a breeze, so I'll venture out cautiously and see if I can make it up Highway 21...with a pit-stop at Lori's in Sherwood Park, just for fun.

Have a great rest of the weekend!

On and Off the Wall

Things have perked up around here since my last post.  I've managed to catch up on some much-needed sleep, and to get out and exercise in the fresh air, both of which bode well for creativity.  At least part of that exercise has involved wielding a snow shovel, but we won't talk about that.  ;-)  If it doesn't snow too much more between now and tomorrow noon, I've done enough shovelling to get me out of the driveway and down the alley to the street, where I can limp along in someone else's tire tracks to the highway and on up to Edmonton for the GRIT "Hope and Harmony" Gala Fund-raiser.

I realized while I was shovelling this a.m. that this snow was wonderfully clean and powdery, perfect for one last (hopefully last!) snow-dyeing adventure (until December, anyway).  I quickly prepped some fabric in soda ash, and it's now buried in two tubs of the white stuff.  Instead of concocting dye in liquid form, this time I decided to try sprinkling the dye powders directly on the snow.  I have one tub with sky-blue, turquoise and a hint of fuchsia (on one side only) and the other with lemon yellow, golden yellow and some scarlet as well as fuchsia.  We shall see...

The rest of yesterday and today have been spent in the sewdio, where I managed to do this:

1. Finish 2 more rows on that sampler -- and had the "two steps forward, one step back" on only a bit of the second-last one (the wee fishing boats):

Atlantic Seaboard Sampler
Jeannette Douglas Designs, Calgary, AB, Canada

2. Begin another larger piece, currently on the design wall:

This one is called "Waiting for the Train" -- based on a photo taken last year as I did just that at the Mirror tracks heading west out of town on Highway 50.  You can see the photo to the right, printed out at a full 8" x 10".

To make it a bit more colourful, I'm going to add the rear end of a truck:

Above's my sample truck...but it's a bit too small, so I've got to make a slightly larger one.  I also have to order some silk ribbon to do the grasses, as I have nothing in the colour I need and no white SR for dyeing.  As I can't use the CN rail logo on the train cars (no time to ask them for permission, either -- that could take months -- or longer!), I've decided to try to 'decorate' them with the other standard rail car embellishment: graffiti!  Now to do some research to get just the right look.  :-)

If this piece is finished for the show next month -- great; if not, so be it!

Before I get back to work, I'm going to link this up with Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday...and wish you all a great weekend!