500 Art Quilts

Young Catherine, 12" x 16", mixed media

Smoke. Ode to Fragonard, 28" x36", wall quilt of satin, canvas and lace

I have two art works that will be included in Lark Books, 500 Art Quilts. It will hit the market soon. Run out and buy yourself a copy!

STILL WORKING

Okay, so I know you think by now I am no longer working and have succumb to artist block or something more dreary but truly I have not. Since the last thing I posted was a sketch for a painting I will take up there. I did indeed finish that sketch and gesso it in. I have not painted it yet as my studio is freezing! and I am now a wimpy southerner but I promise I will return to it. I did however, get on a roll on the drawing side of things and have completed many of this kind of portrait. Here is one entitled "First Communion", image courtesy of my good friend Dana. This piece will be a part of an overall show I am planning on Ritual and the Color White in a Womans' Life (or something like that).

First Communion, 19" x 24", gesso and charcoal on paper, 2009

I have also just come back from a symposium in Williamsburg, Virginia on 400 Years of Quilting - Quilted Fashions. this site gives a brief description of colonial Williamsburgs' workshops and lectures. Contrary to the title it was not all about fashion but just everything to do with quilting in the early times of our country. There was some absolutely outstanding academic and scholarly research presented on styles and periods of quilting, from the differences in stitching to particular styles coming from regions of our country. Here are links to some of the presenters Linda Baumgarten curator of textile and costume for Colonial Williamsburg , Lynne Zacek Bassett author of Massachusetts Quilts and Alden O'Brien curator of costume and textiles with DAR Museum in Washinton, D.C.and some images in case you are interested in doing a little of your own research. Please keep in mind that these are all done by hand, by women who probably had at least 6 children, but some of who probably also held slaves or indentured servants. The materials in these clothes indicate these women were most likely very wealthy but the impeccable and absolute awe inspiring detail of the work cannot be denied whom evers hands, slave or non-slave, white or wealthy worked on these items. These are works of art! Please click on these to see the astonishing hand worked details!









I also attempted to go to the Mid-Atlantic Quilt show as I had my piece "Smoke" accepted. I really wanted to take my children as they have not been to a quilt show yet and I thought they would love it but unfortunately we got taken down by all varieties of flu, bronchitis and general nasty viruses so we opted to lay low and catch the next one.



Smoke, 26" x 26" approx., satin, canvas and lace with acrylic paint, quilted, 2008

Finally, I have been working on my hand-stitching and quilt making in these cold days. It is so much nicer to sit under a blanket and stitch then stand in my freezing basement and paint as my hands turn to ice! So I leave you with a little bit of what I have been doing these days, a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Trying to find myself in my art.



Head of Leda, 12"x 12", silk embroidery on stabilizer,2009



Greek Weaving, 12" x 16", mixed media, including canvas weaving and encaustic, 2008/9



Kathryn Howard, 12" x 16", mixed media, fabric work, 2008/9



Anne of Cleves, 12" x 16", mixed media, fabric work, 2008/9

Hope you all have maintained health and happiness. Happy art making!

TWO NEW PIECES IN PROGRESS


This first piece is a silk art quilt. The photos are not very well taken at the moment as I am not yet done and have not taken the time to do proper photographing yet. The first image is also cropped but I could not get the full photo as it is not hanging. This piece is called 'Pondering' and it is created for the theme - Reflections. It is taken from an old daguerreotype and is a black woman holding a white baby, the image on the bottom is of a white woman holding a black baby.

"Posing", 2008, oil and charcoal on paper (not finished)

ODE TO FRAGONARD

I think this piece is finished. I may tweek it a tiny bit but for now it is done. Thoughts?

ODE TO FRAGONARD

This piece is fairly large, probably around 28" x 40". It is stitched and painted on a fashion fabric which has a satiny finish, lace and canvas. This will go through several more stages before it is finished.

ANNE BOLEYN

Here is a new piece I have been working on. It is almost complete except for a little tweeking.

KING HENRY
So I found it so ironic last week when I happened to turn on the T.V., a very rare occurrence these days, and was amazed to see my 'people' on the screen. They are airing the beginning of a series called "The Tudors", for ShowTime. Dont you just love it. Of course they have their own site. This is just one of those things to get you hooked and then, of course, you have to purchase ShowTime to follow through with the series. However, it was very fun to see how their crew has staged and costumed the show!

Also, "The Other Boleyn Girl" by Phillipa Gregory will be coming, or has come (I told you I don't keep up with media) to the big screen. Must be a time for looking back to supposed grandeur. Now I have only provided links to the popular cultures renditions of these events. There is plenty of real research, texts and fictional books, such as Phillipa Gregory's out there you can explore and I promise it could keep you very busy.

So here I have included my work and how it is proceeding. I am almost finished with Henry.
Just some final tweaking to be done. I have also included a couple images of how one of these works gets started as I am about to start yet another.

NEW WORK

I am right in the middle of a new piece. It is reminiscent of Catherine but it is, but of course, King Henry. I don't know why I am stuck in this era but for now I am. I promise I wont be here forever. There are plenty of other eras that are very cool. Such as the "Roaring 20's". Now that is a vibrant era! Click on the blue text to find out more about that fun era.

On that note, I'll take you back to the 1600's. Let me know your thoughts.
Remember, this is still a work in progress. What I have found is that from this point on it really starts to become more of a piece of art. Once I work on the faces and details everything starts to work together. I really love this part of the process.

DETAILS AND PROCESS

These works really evolve in such tiny steps but once the whole is completed it is cohesive...I hope. Here are some detail photos of what I am working on now and a bit more of my how I proceed with planning and execution.Here is a detail of some sequins and beads on the bodice of the dress.
Beading on the neck piece.
Hand stitched lettering. This is taking a LONG time!

An excerpt from my journal:
"BOUND" 11/12/07

I wanted to add text. I first thought I would do this on the boning (which is not added yet) but for many reasons this idea wont work. I remembered that 16th century portraits sometimes incorporated text. So, I have done some light research on the web. Most seem to incorporate the date with Roman numerals. It seems as if the sitters name, birth date, and portrait artists name are occasionally included. Sometimes it is a philosophical statement or something written by a notable (man) of the time. I chose to use a proverb supposedly first known to be used in the 16th or 17th century. "Silence is a womans best friend'. I chose to reproduce this, the date and my initials in Latin.

PROGRESS

My work continues on my next piece. I am gearing up for my show at 'The White Gallery', Richmond, VA on Nov. 17th. I am having to frame some pieces and am also getting photos done of some pieces. The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts artists Fellowship deadline is coming up so I am having slides done to prepare for that. There really is alot of other 'behind the scene work' that needs to be done as an artist. It is not the glamorous side but must be done all the same.

I just love this work. I hope I will love it as much in the end. The colors really seem to pop and work well together. Hope you enjoy it. It will be much changed by the end!

OFFICIALLY BACK
Okay, so I did disappear. It is truly amazing that you can just log right back on as if no time has gone by at all! Love it. So this is going to be a very short post as I have been working all evening and now am very tired. Just wanted to let you all know I am here again. My hard drive had crashed..........YEAKS!!!!!!!. Lost alot of work, that will teach me. However, it did give me a few more moments in the studio as I was not wasting time surfing!
The above work is 99 percent complete. Leaving you with a detail shot. ENJOY!

STAGES

Here is a little glimpse inside my head. All these ideas and so many of them not really good. Too bright, too shiny, not big enough, to0 big, not enough volume, not balanced, more purple, less pink. All these thoughts, too little time. (I might have to hit all the Dollar stores in town to find the right sparkley things!)Anyway, enough psyco babble; thought you may enjoy seeing all the transformations without knowing what the final result will be.........yet!

I NEED A CRITIQUE!!!!
Well, I thought I may be done and now I see the photographed images I am not as confident. I see some issues but I am not going to mention them because I need some objective advise. Let me know your thoughts about this piece. It could be anything. You could tell me you hate it and that would be fine but at least let me know why! I gave multiple vieiws so you could get a clearer idea of what it looks like. Okay, so done but not really done. Please send some thoughts!

CURTAIN TIME (ALMOST)I have included not only a photo of the work but also some of the environment it is in so you can see the process I am using to complete this work. Sometimes I feel as if the wooden frame the quilt is now halfway stretched on is like a dressmakers mannequin.
I am draping the curtains around the frame and will secure everything together when I have finished. In this way if I need to add or subtract anything at this point I can do it without harming the piece. The small image on the left is a bit blurry but if I use the flash it fades out the color of the fabric used in the trim. I took a detail of the trim so you can see the pleating,color and texture of the fabric. The trim has taken many hours! It was tedious but very gratifying. I love the way it is turning out. I have a few more fun details left to accomplish but will leave them a surprise. At this point I am so pleased with the way this work has come to fruition!

GETTING TO THE FINISH

I wanted to include an image that indicates how this piece will be finished off. I am framing these "quilted portraits". I will probably change that up in the next piece but for now I am happy with it. The detail shot is of one of the vertical ribbons that runs from the top of the piece down to one of the girls. It is actually two ribbons sewed to the foundation fabric and then hand beaded up the middle of the ribbons. Sorry about the lighting...had trouble getting the detail because of the sheen. I haven't mastered this camera. I have a few minor details to do and then "Girls" will be almost finished!

NEW STUFF

Hi to all of you I just met. I have participated in a great workshop here in Richmond Virginia. We took a surface design workshop with Diego Sanchez this weekend. Tons of exciting new ideas. It is amazing that one person can be such a fountain of information and creativity! Just so some of the people that were at the workshop with me can see some more of my work I have added some new detail (upclose) shots of some of process.





I have also included some of the fun work I did at the workshop. Thanks Diego!
Unfortuntely, these do not capture all the textures and detail that are so wonderful. The surface textures are amazing.
The top one here has a beeswax finish that is so etheral.
Many different techniques are used in the painting on the top. A detail is shown on bottom. It is done in oil paint that is scratched and scumbled. Also used is ink and a liquid used in asphalt repair! I wish I could remember the name of the artist we used to imitate. Does any one from class remember?

The piece above is not yet finished and I am looking forward to adding many more layers and depth to this piece.