The Space Between, Part 2

I have made some progress on my latest piece for a juried invitational called “The Space Between,” which will be co-curated by Leslie Tucker Jenison and Jamie Fingal. I ignored my own advice, and quilted this piece, rather than thread sketching it first on just the top layer. So this piece is a bit wonky right now. It is exactly four weeks since my mother’s death, and I am still not thinking clearly. But it is helping me to work on this piece, to do something creative. 

I am hoping that with the rest of the quilting, it will lie nice and flat. If not, I will probably add another backing and perhaps some trapunto-ed areas behind the quills of the feathers or the whole feathers, and try to quilt out the wonkyness. Each piece brings with it its own challenges, and I try to not get too stressed out, reminding myself that such challenges often result in my learning new skills, or trying some new technique.

I am using only black and white thread, Aurifil Cotton Mako 50, a very fine thread. Black on the feathers, and white for the swirls in the negative space. The swirls make me think of air, or wind.

I thought you might like to see the photo on which this piece is based. I arranged four bluejay feathers on white paper, and shot them using the macro lens on my camera. Here is the photo:

The Space Between, Part 1

The morning of January 26, I started work on the piece above for a juried invitational called “The Space Between,” which will be co-curated by Leslie Tucker Jenison and Jamie Fingal. That afternoon, I got the news that my mother had died unexpectedly, in her sleep, early that morning.

In the three weeks since then, I have been consumed by grief, handling the details of affairs that came in the wake of my mother’s death, and trying to tread water. I have not had the time or the interest in working on my art. And the thought of returning to this piece, which was interrupted by such a devastating event, chilled me.

But the deadline for this exhibition looms. And making art is healing. So today I finished painting the fabric, cleaned my studio, and started stitching.

These two photos show the piece after painting, but before any stitching. It is 36" x 48".

This piece features four bluejay feathers I have found on my daily walks. Some of the feathers are blue on both sides, with interesting black splotches. Some are blue on one side and black and gray on the other. I have always collected feathers, nests and egg shells; as a child I loved to look for birds’ nests, and I even made them, out of mud and grass, let them dry, and perched them in trees. My mother gave me bits of brightly colored yarn to hang in branches in the springtime, for the birds to use as construction material, and then we would go on walks, looking for nests with glints of yellow, pink or purple. 

I read once that birds keep themselves warm by trapping and heating the air in the space between their feathers. The feathers themselves are not warm, in the same way that a blanket or quilt is not warm, but merely act to hold our body’s heat close to us. This phenomenon is what inspired this piece. I have not started thinking about a name yet.

In 2010, Leslie and Jamie’s exhibit Beneath the Surface premiered at International Quilt Festival in Long Beach, California, and also showed at International Quilt Festival in Houston. 

It included work by Jamie Fingal and Leslie Tucker Jenison, Natalya Aikens, Frances Holliday Alford, Loris Bogue, Deborah Boschert, Peggy Calvert, Phyllis Campbell, Paula Chung, Joanell Connolly, Gerrie Congdon, Cindy Cooksey, Jane Davila, Muna Elias, Barb Forrister, Terry Grant, Desiree Habicht, Pamela Price Klebaum, Sherry Kleinman, Jane LaFazio, Jayne Larson, Linda T. Minton, Susie Monday, Jeannie Palmer Moore, Rachel Parris, Karen Stiehl Osborn, Judy Perez, Yvonne Porcella, Wen Redmond, Karen Rips, Carolyn Ryan, Sarah Ann Smith, Virginia Spiegel, Cynthia St. Charles, Ann Turley, Terry Waldron and Kathy York.  

This year’s exhibit will also premiere at International Quilt Festival in Long Beach, July 29-31, 2011. I hope my piece is juried in. I’ll post more about my progress in the weeks ahead. 

My new book is coming out in July!

I have some very exciting news that I’ve been wanting to share with you for more than a year, but I had to wait until now… I’ve written a second book! It is called Point, Click, Quilt! Turn Your Photos into Fabulous Fabric Art, and it will be released by C&T Publishing this July.

The book includes 16 artful projects inspired by my digital photographs.

In the book, I show how to compose and shoot dynamic digital photos from a quilter’s perspective. You can follow the fun workshop-style exercises and step-by-step directions to turn your photos into small art quilts, both realistic and abstract. Most of my projects use fused batik and hand-dyed fabrics, but four projects include innovative materials (paint, Tyvek, Angelina fibers, and foils).

I think you’ll also be inspired by the gallery section of the book, which includes beautiful work by other gifted art quilters I know.

If you are interested in learning more about my book as it gets closer to the release date, please e-mail me at susan@bluemoonriver.com. I'll add you my mailing list and let you know when you can order the book.  

Here’s a peek at the projects:

I’ll be sharing lots more details about the book, the projects, and the process of making a book in the coming weeks.

2012 Quilting Arts Calendar

Today, I feel very honored. My work “Trouble in the Pumpkin Patch” (detail shot above) has been chosen for the 2012 Quilting Arts Calendar. This will be the fourth year in a row that my work will be included. The other pieces are:

“Candy Corn” (2011)

“Autumn’s Bounty” (2010)

“Citrus Slices” (2010)

“Home Planet” (2009)

I continue to struggle mightily to come to terms with my mother’s recent death. It is hard to be very happy about anything right now. But she was my biggest fan, and I know she would be proud to hear my good news. I just wish I could pick up the phone and tell her about it.

Happy Valentine’s Day

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly,
what is essential is invisible to the eye.
– Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The Pandoras play with gelatin plate printing

At this month’s meeting of The Pandoras, my local fiber arts group, we did gelatin plate printing. This is a process I won’t describe in detail here (a great source for information is Rayna Gillman’s excellent book Create Your Own Handprinted Cloth). Basically you make up unflavored, non-sweetened gellatin, and allow it to firm up in a shallow pan. Then you dump it out, roll paint onto it, place found objects on top to act as a resist, and press fabric or cloth on top. 


Here are some of my results. This was a very fun, serendipitous process; I'll definitely try it again.
 

I'm teaching at International Quilt Festival in Houston

I am pleased to announce that I will be teaching three classes this year at International Quilt Festival in Houston: 

Wholecloth Painting – Botanicals
Thursday, November 3, all day

***

 Start With a Photo
Friday, November 4, all day

***

 Thread Sketching – Dragonfly Wallhanging

Saturday, November 5, all day 

***

For details on the classes, please click here.

Aurifil’s free projects for February

Linda’s “Love Pillow”

Aurifil's Designer of the Month for February is Linda lum deBono. Linda has two fun and quick projects to share with you, the Love Pillow (above) and Love Card Holder (below).

Linda’s “Love Card Holder”

Linda’s “Love Card Holder” (detail)

Click over to Aurifil news page and read the interview with Linda, and download the free project she designed for this special month of love.

You can check out Pat Sloan’s interview with Linda on January 3 2011. Scroll down and listen on your computer or download.

Starting in March, Aurifil will pick one random winner each month who has made one of the designer projects; she or he will receive a special Aurifil thread prize. You can make any of the designer projects (and we hope you make them all!) To participate, simply share your photos at our Flickr Folder... we can't WAIT to see what you do.

Visit Linda all around the internet:
Website: http://www.lindalumdebono.com/
FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/lindalumdebono
Blog: http://www.lindalumdebono.blogspot.com/

GIVEAWAY!

Each month this year, I’m going to be giving away a pack of Aurifil minispools (like the one shown above) when the new project is announced. Just leave me a comment here to tell me what you think of Linda’s projects. I'll pull a name at random next Friday, Feb. 11 at noon. The sampler pack includes great colors in different weights. Congratulations to Kathleen in Montana; she won this giveaway. 

An amethyst remembrance

Me with my mom, Eleanor Carter Brubaker,
1936-2011

I held a jewel in my fingers

And went to sleep. 

The day was warm, the winds were prosy

I said: “’Twill keep.”

I woke and chid my honest fingers—

The gem was gone; 

And now an amethyst remembrance

Is all I own. 

– Emily Dickinson

2012 Quilting Arts Calendar competition

Detail from my submission for the 2012 Quilting Arts Calendar.

On Friday, I learned that the piece I submitted for consideration in the 2012 Quilting Arts Calendar has made the list of finalists! There are 21 artists and 22 pieces on the list on editor Pokey Bolton’s blog. And I know a bunch of them; all are wonderful artists. One, Faith Cleary, is a woman I met at International Quilt Festival last year while taking one of Judy Coates Perez’s classes. 

Faith Cleary with one of her pet portraits on a Christmas stocking.

Faith and I struck up a conversation, decided to have lunch together, and had the most wonderful time. Then this year, when I was back in Houston for Quilt Market, she showed up in a class I took with Bonnie McCaffery! It just seems like fate that we know each other. It was my birthday, and she offered to take me out for lunch at an authentic Mexican restaurant she knew, and then she drove me all over Houston to see points of interest, and took me to her house to see her darling studio. After seeing her wonderful work, I encouraged her to talk to Quilting Arts, and to enter the calendar competition, because it is right up her alley this year. 

Detail of Faith's work

Faith specializes in pet portraits sketched in thread, and this year, the theme of the competition is “Getting Pet-ty.” Take a look at Faith’s amazing work on her website. She creates very realistic thread-sketched portraits, then frames them or places them on pet carriers, handbags, chairs, pillows, stockings, you name it.

So imagine my excitement when I saw that both of Faith’s entries were on the list of finalists, too! I am so thrilled for her, because she is simply a sweetheart, and because she is an amazing artist.

This is part of what I love so much about being part of the quilting community. There are all these warm, wonderful people who share a passion for quilts, fabric and threads, and every time you turn around, you meet and make another fabulous friend.

I don't think there is any rule about showing the piece you have submitted, but I prefer to wait until the calendar comes out, or the pieces are shown for the first time (this year, at International Quilt Festival in Cincinnati). So the little photo at the top of this post is all I’m revealing for now. The final list of 13 pieces (one for each month and one for the cover) will be announced on Pokey’s blog on Feb. 11. I have my fingers crossed for both Faith and me.

The Sketchbook Challenge: Sketch #11

This is my latest sketch for The Sketchbook Challenge. While teaching this weekend in Georgia, I stayed with Mary and Dan Colley of Athens. I had stayed with them last fall when I was in town to speak and teach at the Cotton Patch Quilters. They are really kind and wonderful people. Dan is a professor of microbiology at the University of Georgia, and is doing ground-breaking research on schistosomiasis, a horrible parasitic disease that affects many people in developing countries. 

Mary kindly agreed to host me, even though they were in the middle of a major kitchen renovation. She warned me beforehand that things were kind of crazy at her house, but it didn’t scare me. It’s crazy all the time at my house!

While I stayed with them, I sketched this beautiful antique dresser in my room. I find dressers very appealing somehow. They all have very distinct personalities, and it is interesting to see how different the styles can be. I sketched a previous host’s dresser last week. I like the clean, spare lines in this drawing.

Teaching at Dragonfly Quilt Shop

I have just returned from teaching two classes at the Dragonfly Quilt Shop in Watkinsville, Georgia. (Watkinsville is just outside of Athens.) I taught two classes, Thread Sketching, in which students make a small piece with a thread-sketched dragonfly, and Start With a Photo, where students create my Round Red Barn design. (For details on these classes, click here.)

I had wonderful students of all levels – some were completely new to free-motion stitching, and some were already experts. I hope each one went home having learned something new. Some of my students had taken my Wholecloth Painting workshop from me when I visited the Cotton Patch Quilters in September. Here are some photos of my students and their work. It is always interesting to see how different each project turns out because of the fabric and thread choices of the students.

Dragonfly Quilt Shop is a gem of a quilt store, with a wonderful owner (Debora Exum) a very helpful and friendly staff, and a great selection of fabrics. The emphasis is on bright contemporary fabrics, including many by Kaffe Fassett & Brandon Mably, and Amy Butler. There are lots of small projects like purses, bags and aprons, great books, and patterns for children’s clothing. The classroom space was also great.

I get to come back to the beautiful Athens area this fall: I’m speaking and teaching at the Hall County Quilt Guild in Chestnut Mountain this October!

The Sketchbook Challenge: Sketch #10

Okay, I've now completed ten sketches for The Sketchbook Challenge so far this year. Ten sketches, 18 days. Not too bad. Today I sketched my reading glasses. “Highly prized” (this month’s theme) because it is getting to the point that I can’t do much of anything without them. Sigh. It makes me really mad, really crazy. Can you tell? 

I think the glasses look pretty good, pretty realistic. But perhaps I should have done the lenses with some of the color showing through? At least they stand out from the background this way. I am loving working with type in my sketches. It makes me wonder if I should do some fiber pieces using type. With my graphic design background, it makes sense. 

This is the kind of visual brainstorming I was hoping would take place by sketching regularly. It will be very interesting to see where this takes me this year, and how much the sketches affect my fiber art. 

Note: This is black ink on white paper, with water color and pencil (the words in the background). The size is about 8.5" x 11".

Martin Luther King, Jr., and creativity

Today, I am celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. While reading quotes by him this morning, I was interested to discover several that dealt with creativity:

“Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.”

“Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.”

“We must use time creatively.”

This made me think about how much King must have valued creativity. Perhaps not in the sense of the arts, but as a form of critical problem solving, a way of finding new solutions. (Which is also what artists do when they are being creative.)

Certainly King showed creativity in his push for civil rights. You can see it in his choice of protests and approaches, and in his glorious use of language in his sermons and speeches. 

I will finish this brief post with one of my favorite King quotes:

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” 

Today, let us all make that same decision: let’s stick with love.

The Sketchbook Challenge: Sketches #7, 8, 9

 

I did the pencil sketches in this post for The Sketchbook Challenge during my trip to Maryland last week. I took along a little Moleskine sketchbook, and drew this one (of my Dansko clog, above) at the gate in the airport, without taking my foot out of the shoe. I highly prize comfortable shoes, especially after my 18-month bout of plantar fasciitis, a very painful foot condition, several years ago. (If you are wondering about the scribbles all over the shoes, these clogs have French writing all over them.)

 

 This is a sketch of my host Coralyn’s lovely antique dresser, which was in the room where I stayed at her house. 

When I joined the Sketchbook Challenge, I vowed to take on faces and bodies, my greatest fears. This is a drawing of a young woman seated across from me at the airport waiting area. The proportions of her body to her face are not quite right, but it is not too bad, considering that I never draw people. Maybe I can do this after all! 

I am considering getting a book on drawing faces and figures, and working my way through it. Any suggestions on books you like?