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.  😊

It's a Book!

The 'action' this week has been focused on Mark on the Body, where I posted -- as is my custom, on the 29th of the month -- about preparations for the installation, now just weeks away.

The book of the same name, to accompany the exhibit, is now available on Blurb.com; it's bright red cover is grinning at you from the side bar!  Click that link -- the picture of the book -- and you'll receive a preview of the first dozen or so pages.  I received word this a.m. from a Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) colleague in Texas that she's already ordered her copy!  What a way to start the Labour Day weekend -- I'm over the moon!

Meanwhile, the good folks at the City of Lacombe are working on posters etc. for publicity.  They've received my head shots (thanks again to my sweet daughter, Gina, whose photography skills are stupendous!)  and soon I'll have more information about the time of the Artist's Reception, scheduled almost a week into the show, on October 26.

Here's where I stand on the checklist:

• Quilt the background for Mark on the Body now that the hand-stitching is finished, and prepare it for hanging; Done! - Pinned for sleeve; pinned for stitching to finish edges. - Sept. 5.  Sampling done for 'syringe fringe' - Sept. 7.
• Assemble MOB II squares in a mobile;
• Finish knitting the ninth and last stump sock for MOB III;
• Put into final form the draft of my book for the MOB installation, and publish it;
• Approve and select final head shots for MOB publicity;
• Order post-cards for MOB. Draft done; proof sent to mentor for review;  Ordered! - Sept. 7
• Design and create the next piece for 15 x 15 Group, with the theme, "Botanicals".  Photos printed for tracing, inspiration;
• Finish a commission knit hat and start on another knitting commission (more hats);
• Work on three baby gifts (two knitted, one cross-stitch).  One baby (boy) born -- need to speed up knitting on blanket!
• Work extra days for The Shop, at two out-of-town Creative Stitches and Crafting Alive! shows -- one in Edmonton and one in Calgary.

I'm linking this to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday, where this week she's channelling Sonia Delauney, one of the artists I studied in one of my classes with Elizabeth Barton.

I'd say with the work on this book, I seem to have been channelling writers of memoir -- perhaps Joan Didion, who, like me, was widowed, and whose book, The Year of Magical Thinking, was an immense comfort...but in truth, I'm not in her league!

Who are you "channelling" this week?  Who's inspiring you to keep making your mark with art?

Something to ponder as we move into the weekend...Onward and upward!

Back in the Sewdio

It's not what you create; it's that you spend the time creating. - David Limrite

Reach for the Sky!
12" x 12"
For SAQA Benefit Auction 2014

Today?  Working on something inspired by this:

Friday Inspiration

Even though I'll be out of the studio the better part of the next four days, I am determined to focus and 'work on the work' when I am there -- at least 3 days per week for the foreseeable future, and as often as possible, 4.

I draw inspiration once again from Judy Martin...and from one who inspires her.

When I work on a quilt, I put away all thoughts that are not helpful and channel my energies towards relaxing and becoming one with my fabrics. 

Since I work intuitively, this is absolutely important. 

I begin to see shapes in my head and think about how to cut them out of my huge palette of colors that I have hand-dyed in my basement dye studio. 

Never, ever do I think about what others expect or want or what will sell, but rather I look at my time in my studio as a process of discovery. I love being inside my brain and pushing myself to think in ever more complex ways because I know the ideas are there for the taking. 

It’s all about being focused and disciplined and making use of one’s abilities. 

And about being alone, in solitude, so one can think and feel deeply without interruption. 

I have definitely grown far closer to myself rather than to others because I see my quilt-making as my experience which has nothing to do with other people.

-- Nancy Crow

Friends in High Places

I am so inspired by my SAQA colleagues!  Earlier today I read about Jean's recent acceptances (legion!) and her being the featured artist for a period of time online over at Empty Easel.  Now I read that Elaine's just won an Honourable Mention, and is going to be tootling off to France next spring as a featured artist -- with a teaching opportunity.  Whoa!

Time to get back to work!

Inspiration and Influence

are two key words as I begin my story board assignment today -- another step in the creation of my pieced quilt for the C&G.

And I am inspired by this.

This Whole Place...

is a quilt waiting to happen!  What fun!

Check it out here: Quiltville's Quips & Snips!!: Tiles, Tables & Triangles!:

'via Blog this'

Thanks, Bonnie!

No, I'm not.

Crazy, that is. It dawned on me when I got up this morning that my Word of the Year for 2009 has already started to move out of percolation in my brain, into my world.

The word is: DARE.

It's a word I put in beads on an early art quilt that I made in white, red and black, based on a process from Quilters' Playtime by Dianne S. Hire.

D A R E.

Not as in 'dare-devil' or being reckless or stupid about my safety (and/or that of others). No.

Rather, "DARE" as in 'daring', 'bold', 'audacious', 'courageous' -- particularly when it comes to creating and displaying my work, entering competitions etc.

Amazing. I hadn't even spoken the word, or declared it in writing -- even in my journal. It was just in my mind, tumbling about like a bright, beautiful glass marble. And what happens? I dared!