Hello Friends,

Summer is really upon us, although it has been very rainy and cool here in the north east.  I can not believe that Summer Solstice  is tomorrow.  Time is flying before me.  I have been busy with events almost every day for the  last two weeks,  so time really moves in my point of view.

I started out with the hanging of my solo show at the Maxwell library.  There are 17 piece in that show titled “Earth Tones” , many have

never been seen before in public with a few works from the “Goddess” show as well.   The work spans over four years and it was a good chance for me to reflect on how much I like and use browns and golds.   This show also shows examples of the wide variety of techniques I use in my work. ” Know Now” for example has copper and leather added to the surface with some dish washer soap discharged work in the black areas of the top.   “Rusty Rings” on the other hand,  is a rust dyed silk with embroidery on it.

I also added dark fabric below the white silk to make “shadow” circles appear in the quilt.

“Collapse ” is from the Warped Work series and is one quilt on top of another with snaps to allow for a warped surface of the top quilt.  I did five works in this fashion to explore folds and shadows with my work.   I enjoyed this series, but no one seemed to understand what I was doing so I stopped working in this direction.  I may yet go back and do further exploration with this idea later.

“Mummy Cave Ruins” ( see last May 31 posting) along with  Ancient Voices and Rain Run were also a part of this show.  Putting up this show was fun, but it took me a long time to do the job.  I will be taking it down in a week.

 

The day after that was a Play Group event were we all played with stamping.    This picture is of cut eraser stamps that I taught.   The stamped image to the left shows how one can make a really big image by making one of your elements warp around the four sides of the eraser, so it flows together( the white line from all four images.)  This shot is of Linda’s exploration page from her eraser  cuttings.     Then I showed everyone how to use ” fun foam” to make stamps and apply the images to clear plastic so you can easily see were you are placing the stamp.   Liz made some fanciful shapes and she used a whole punch to add detail to her work as well.   Then Corinne demonstrated how to cut  on a circular form with linoleum cutters.   The shape does seem to effect the style and way one thinks about the images.    I cut two and stamped them both.   It was quit enjoyable.  I think I will use the  stamp, printed in blue here,  on my Fossil quilt as it resembles a Trilobite.

The next event in my life was a trip to  Rochester to the Genesee Vally Quilt Show.  There are 600 members in that quilt group and the show was very enjoyable.  While there  I participated in  my second Iron Quilter event.  There were 19 quilters and in 3 1/2 hours we all produced a quilt that was at least 24 inches on a side.  The topic, told to us at  the start, was  “Vanishing Act”.   We all rushed to the table of fabric provided and pulled stuff from the collection.   I started pawing with no idea at all about how to show this concept.  But I came across someone’s discarded block with two small elephants printed on it  and I had my brain storm.  I was off and running then.     This first shot is of the work at noon when then made us all stop for  lunch.  At this point I had fabric ironed and pinned to the surface, but no stitches yet.   Back form Lunch and two hours later and we all had a piece done.    I was exhausted as were most of my peers.

The “Vanishing Color” ( center quilt here) won second place.

I neglected to take a photo of the winner.

My quilt titled  “Vanishing Environments”  is OK for a work with limited time.  I learned that I can really re-lie on my machine drawing skills to pull me through when time is  short.    When asked if I would do it again- sure I would.  It is fun to stretch every now and then.

I have lots more to talk about, but find I am getting tired, so look  for an extra post in the next day or two.

Keep Creating

Carol

To Be Continued

Dear Friends,

I am still walking in the mornings and this week it really payed off.   I live a  few blocks from an undeveloped portion of the Syracuse University campus and on Tuesday I decided to walk through that part of my world as I wanted to see if  there were any wild flowers blooming.  I spotted this young deer instead.  It looked me over very carefully and then turned his white tale toward me a bounded away.      It was a great experience.

This week has been a full one as they all seem to be at this time of year.  I went to a Fiber Show Opening at the Schweinfurth on Sat evening.  My friend Angela had a whole little gallery fullof her work as a suplementry part of this great show.   I am so proud of her and all her wonderful felted Hawaiian Petroglyphs.   She told me that by the end of the evening she had been asked to be a part of an upcoming article in “Fibers Today”.     I am so happy for her and look forward to seeing her in print.   A second pal had participated in some wild knitting for this show too.  Barbara did a cover for the sign in front of the Art Center and she posed for me  in front of her work.   She told me she had to draw each letter out life sized and then work each row to match the pattern to make it work.   Trees and sign posts were also covered with colorful yarn additions.  What a fun challenge.  There were lots of folks at the opening that I knew and it was good to see all of them as well.   The Art Center is a fine source of creative inspiration and I am always glad when ever I go through it’s doors.

Progress Report: Mummy Cave Ruins    I really had a good time working on this quilt.  The memories of the trip to Canyon de Chelly are very vivid and every time I create a project related to that experience I feel wonderful.  I did add the silk paper I had created with Ethel on Wed last week.  It is the reflective stuff  on the left hand side.  I added the painted inner facing on the top of the canyon section too.   I liked doing all the free motion drawing around the figures and creating the texture in the rock faces as well.         I used water solvable crayons and colored pencils on this work too.   All the work on this piece pushed me to work on the second canyon piece I had started.

Canyon Stains
   I have only just stared building more color on the top of the painted image here, but again I am enjoying the process.    I am off to visit the west again next week and I know the landscape will capture me again- but southern Idaho is quite different then the canyon lands of Arizona and New Mexico so I want the images of that experience far enough along before I go.  I am sure the experience will create new images for new directions.

Red Nebula   I continue to add beads and hand stitching to the surface of this work.   I think it needs a bit more dark fiber felted into the composition to make it flow a bit more.   The beading also needs more intensity in the “center” of the nebula to feel completed to me.  Taking pictures and looking at the images on a smaller scale really does help one see the design problems that get lost in life sized work.  At least that is true for me.

Fossil Bed   I mentioned before that I am off to Idaho and a part of that will be a geology lecture.  So I have fossils and land formations on my mind.  This piece is a result of that mind set I think.   I am still struggling with the light/medium/dark thing and this top is a part of that.  I now feel the medium colored fabric  is too light and gets lost, but it may still work as a back drop for the fossil stencils I want to add on top.   I  have three more stamps and stencils to use on this top.  I plan to make them in various tone and shades of the brown and golds.   The vision is not real clear at this point.

Struts and Gurders
This top is also a part of my efforts to control/plan consciously the lay out of light/medium/dark.   I am so filled with self doubt that I do not know how I feel or were I am going with this piece.  When I looked at it this morning I felt I had tried to do make it all too busy and that the orientation was wrong.  I designed it in a vertical format so if you want an idea of that turn your head to the right shoulder and look at the work.     I do not know what or were to go with this piece- so I will  keep it folded up and take it to the QuEG’s and Diva meetings next week and get some feed from some other artists.   Growth in a new style/direction is difficult!

   New work:    Block Varieations
I had started this last week and the old photo form last week  shows the work with the parts pinned up but unassembled.  Now each block is put together and that makes them easy to move about.  This was the start of the light/medium/dark work and it is not very far along from before.  I have really only changed the orientation of this work and decided it needs  four more small blocks so I can play with a different placements of  the light/medium/ dark parts in those new blocks. I can say that  I was so frustrated that I buried it  under white paper for the week and only pulled it out today.  I did my typical thing  when I am frustrated and started new stuff.   I see now all I have  really done is  compound the problem  buy creating three light/medium/dark challenges to deal with now instead of one…..   I guess we all play games with ourselves.

Keep Creating

Carol

PS.   Please remember that I will be leaving on June 5 and be  away until June 16.  So there will be three week with out a  post.

 

Hello,

As the drawing shows the leaves are really showing themselves now.  I am surprised and delighted by the changes that are occurring around me.  One day you can see into the neighbors back yard the next it is screened from view with tiny little leaves that will only thicken.    Its so wonderful to behold.

This week has been as full as they all seem to be.  I taught the stencil workshop last week and it went well. This photo is of Linda, Angela, Corinne and Liz looking at books for ideas for their personal stencils.    I provided everyone with a stencil of their name in a graffiti type layout.  I did this so they could all have something to work with at the beginning.  That meant that I could  give the instruction on how to use the oil stick at the start and then  everyone could work at their own pace.  The second  shot is of Linda’s stencil with several colors of oil stick and lots of over lap.   They quickly went on to creating their own stencils and working with them.   This photo is of Angela’s stencils.  The orange one in the upper right   is of a Hawaiian  petroglyph.   The blue is painters tape that we used to keep the stencil in place while we used them.

The other big event for me this week was hanging the Diva Quilt Show at  Kendell in Ithaca.   This shot shows Sandi Holland adjusting a piece.  There are 41 pieces in this show representing 13 different artists.  It is a visual feast.  There is so much variety in technique and color that I am always amazed at how well they all work together.  It is a real group effort to put up the show too  and I am very thankful for  all the help.  This last shot is of Liese and Sally as they add the tags and check on final details.Progress Report:   The Lost Buckle  This quilt has gone through some major changes sense the last time I posted it.  ( Check  April 4th).  It was called Cracked Up  and when I was all done with the facings and such it did not appeal to me.  I let the work hang  on the pin wall and decided that the square format was part of the problem. So I tried various ups and downs and blocks of portions of the surface and then cut away a strip.  This shot shows the cut.   I bound the sides and changed the big section.  It needed a focus point so I added an old shoe buckle – one remaining form a set that was lost by Aunt

May at a dance in the 40’s.    It was such a treasured item that it was  in the jewelry  box I inherited form my grandmother years later.   I feel this is a good way to honer that value.      The remaining portion of the quilt was on its way to the trash when  the dentist made a comment about how important smiles were to his business.   So I used the remainder  to make a banner for his office.  He will get in in a few weeks when I go again.

Before the Buds   I am making progress on this piece although the strong desire that prompted this work a few weeks back  ago when I could hardly wait for buds to open is now a reality.   I am machine drawing the thread tree down and adding branches as I go.  It is fun and I like how it is coming along.

DMC Marty’s Challenge- Slender Cuts    This is the second of the mono chromatic color challenge fabric unit works.  I enjoyed the personal part of the challenge were I was trying to learn how to do the slender cuts.  I feel confident with there use now.    There is also more exploitation possible with this technique.  With the three works in this challenge I learned that I like to have  more color in my work and that light, medium and dark still need a punch to work for my eye.  As  Dad always use to say” You learn something form every experience- Even if you only learn what you do not like!”

Thoth:  I cut this stencil at the workshop last Friday.   This is one of the prints I made .    I did three.  the best  will be a part of the new Egyptian  quilt I had pinned to the wall last week.

I hope spring is  filling your heart with joy and delight and that the creative juices are flowing for you too.

 

Keep Crating

Carol

 

PS- Sorry this got a late post.  I always re read the post after a few hours and then publish it.  I went off to dinner with the gals and there were two who were home from a trip.  We talked late and I simply forgot to sit down at the computer when I got home  hit the Publish button.

Hello Everyone,

It has been cold here in central New York, but the contrast of  today is delightful.  I  am just home from my walk for today.  It is beautiful with summer like temperatures an lots of fall color.  I enjoyed the crunch of  leaves, but  even more the falling ones.  There are many leaves drifting down on gentle breezes  so I played my favorite fall sport of catching as many as I could.  I stood for a long time under a golden Ginko, but was unsuccessful there.  They are just a little to solid and only drop down- no drifting there.  I did manege to get five however.  One very red Silver Maple leaf and four from Sugar Maples.  I had a grand time.( after checking on old posts I discovered that I talked of leaf catching last year in Nov.17 post)

This week has been a busy one out side the studio what with plays and meetings as I get back into the swing of fall activities.

Progress Report: Lauren’s Wedding Quilt  I worked away on this project but there is no real visible change.  All the blocks are in rows and ready for assembly.  I am creating the back greens and browns but in my usual scrap back method.   I will try to take more photos this week.

Slender Cuts
I started this method with the instructions I got from Marty in Idaho.   If you look back at the June 25 posting your will see that I have been struggling with  curved piecing for a while.  With the help Marty has given me the cuts are better and they are much flatter.  I like this method and now have about 20 pieces of various widths.  I guess I should stop fooling around and start something with these fellows. Composing in Purple
I decided to try a new approach to my compositions.  I pinned up  three different layouts using mostly the same units and then looking at the digital images selected the

stronger of the three an started the new work from that point.

I altered the work as I usually do- remembering what Dr Nichols always said about making “Visual decisions Visually”.   This is nearly assembled and I do not see too many changes before completion.

I hope you are all enjoying fall and the leaves.

Keep Creating

Carol

Hello,

This morning when I made my diary entry I realized today is 10-11-12.   I am not into numerology- but it did catch my eye when I had it written.  What did catch my eye happened today on my walk.  The sky was that  incredible deep blue that comes with the crispness of fall. The wind was busy pulling the leaves down  off the beech tree  and they swam like gold fish to the ground were they created a wonderful yellow carpet.  The colors plus one of my favorite sounds- the crunch and swish of those leaves as one walks through them- filled me with sensual joy today.  I do like this season.  I am working away on the wedding quilt commission and with a bit of concentrated effort this eve I will get the binding done and be able to finish the project on time.  I will admit that this has not been my favorite quilts.  I have a hard time with cream and black for a wedding quilt,but them it is not my choice.   I am just glad that she liked what I showed her last week when the client brought me the material that she wanted for the back.

 

 Progress  Report: Lace Layers  I was nearly finished with this piece before I went off to Idaho and I am glad as it made and easy transition back into getting to work.  When I came home I was so full of new ideas that I found it hard to get started on any one of them.   But finishing up this work made that a lot easier.  This is only a partial shot as it is twin sized and I really do not have a space to shoot anything that big.  The rest is more of the same idea

Two Spires     This quilt is done – at least I think it is.     I may need to live with it a while on the wall to make a final decision about that part of the process.   I am unsure about it and I can not tell what it is that is not working for me yet.

The detail shows the stitching and I am very happy with that part of this work.   I will let it hang on the wall for a while and perhaps I will walk in one morning and know what to do- or I can bring it to one of the group meeting and perhaps “new” eyes can see what it needs. The shot on the left is the  top  of  the spires and the other shot is of the left hand spire from about 10 inches back.

  Purple ???       I am not sure what to call this top.  I got inspired from the marbleized material with the  white, purple, blue and greens for this work.  It was again a easy and simple way to get back into the studio and back into doing something I really wanted to work on.    Goddesses
These images are drawings I did of primitive goddess that will become part of some future work  I need to get started on.  I have a show that is set to open in January and it is to feature goddess.  This is a start toward that.  All the drawings are based on images from the Marija  Gimbutas ” The Language of the Goddess” book.   It was a fun exercise.

Blocks  When I was with Marty a fellow quilter visited us and she showed us a quilt that used luminosity as  its main emphasis.   I am trying to recreate that idea with these blocks.  I need to now make two more cuts with reassembly in mind to pull this off.  So this is step one.   The colors that I have used here are the ones Lauren wants in her quilt so that is my second intention with this work.

I hope fall is filling you with a new sense of color as we approach the onset of winter.

Keep Creating

Carol

I am so sorry to admit that I had thought that this work was set up to publish while I was away.  It failed to do so- as a result I am publishing it today( Oct 4)

Hi to all,

I am enjoying my trip to the western part of the country.  Marty and I always have such a good time together.  I do not have access to my usual material so I am going to post some older photos of my trip to Arizona and New Mexico from earlier this summer.  I hope they inspire you.

The memories that looking at my photos bring to mind is how very stark all things appear.  The color that I enjoy where I live is all very muted here.  It has a sudle richness that makes me very aware of texture.The  tree root here really shows how nature adapts and uses color in such a different way.   I like the strong horizonal growth of this photo.  The fact that we could get very close to the petroglyphics was exciting to me as well.   I wish I knew how to read the message more clearly.

  The other thing I became aware of was how strong the contrasts often times were. The people who lived here must have felt a bit small in comparison to there landscape.    This shot shows two different sets on dwellings – the top is Anastazie and the bottom dwellings are Navaho- 2000 years later.

This shot shows the canyon stains with dwellings at the bottom.  I was struck by how much the stains looked like a New York City sky line.  Again note how high the canyon walls are.

This shot show how one section of the canyon looks against the high contrast of the sky.  It really make me feel small. The tree again shows the high constast of light and dark that is part of this area.  The tree lines become so strong when viewed this way.This shot from the rim shows Spider Woman’s Rock.   Note the high contrast in the shadows. The setting sun has a real impact on the color in the area too.   I think it brings up the differences in texture a lot.

Lastly I want to show this shot of the sky- it is so domainate in this part of the world and the clowds  take on a different grandure.  I had a grand time here in the south west .

Keep Crating and enjoy the wonders of the season where you are.

Hugs

Carol

Hello Friends,

I am home from my wonderful trip to Idaho with Marty.  At 2,000 feet in Sand Point-  fall is moving into that area and it is beautiful.  I love the soft color change of this maple planted in her yard.   There are lots more pines there too I did a lot of walking and just soaking you the differences in the landscape.   We got together with Dawn and compared our challenge results the day after we arrived.  Then  we made a  new challenge for next year and then  went shopping.  We all purchased three fabrics for the new  projects.  Went home and split the materials  and passed half yard pieces onto each other.   I will admit that I am anxious to start.    By the time we had done that cut up we were so excited we spent the afternoon doing little challenges that we just fused and  pinned up.    It was great fun to watch the other two gals work .   I sure enjoyed myself.    Marty also volunteers for her local library book sale.  We went a prepared for that event and picked up books from the free pile.  After getting her son to use his drill press to make wholes in the old books we added fixtures and created two lamps from the old volumes.  It was great fun.  The other big event of my visit was the day we spent driving along the west side of the lake.  It is all National Forest Land and so the road was primitive.  At 20 MPH it took a while to drive 120 mile loop.  It was glorious though and we had fun.  There was almost no traffic- we saw 8 All Tirane Vichials and 4 trucks coming in the opposite direction and only one truck passed us going our way.  Unfortunately my camera battery died so I did not take any images to share- but I have a lot of grand ones in my visual memory.

 

Progress Report  Because I did not work  in my studio this week I will just share the projects of  Dawn and Marty.    To refresh the memory the “rules” were: 1) Make three quilts using the fabric of all  three participants  had selected based on the color choices we made before we separated.   Those were: Dawn- Crimson: Marty- Deep Turquoise: Carol Blue Green  2)   The participants sent their fabric with some pieces pinned on the surface and they had to be used in these areas  3) Edge’s had to be irregular  4) extra fabric could be used. I was the only one with completed works- but then again I am the over achiever at most things.

   My Layout /Color Challenge:   This is my challenge and my lay out.  I did the exercise twice as I had the fabric and this one is the strongest of the two.

Dawn used lots of additional colors and expanded the surface a lot.  I like how Marty built up the Crimson square.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marty’s Layout /Color Challenge I found Marty’s Crimson to be the one I liked the best of all three.  She used it as the base fabric.  I must have flipped the fabric location when I started this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like how Marty used the turquoise  from both Dawn’s collection and mine in here work here. Dawn again added more fabric and  she also did a little discharge on the surface of the Crimson.  She really pushed the envelope and I hope I can do that this year a bit more.

 

  DAWN’S Layout/ Color ?Challenge  This is Dawn’s color choice and layout.  This is the piece that I had fun with as I added the frapping to it and made it a lot larger than the others.

I really like Marty’s use of black here.   As the next image shows Marty also used Dawn’s Crimson to enhance and frame one of her wonderful hand dyed and stitched works.  Her stitches are so very small.

Dawn again added lots of additional color to her top.

Again she did a little discharging to lighten up  her back ground fabric.   It sure was a fun challenge and the next one will be the same.

I have two more shots of Marty’s work.  She did this wonderful Nebula quilt  that I think is wonderful.   The detail shows the small stitches she uses.

I like her use of beads too.   She dose splendid work.  Then we have the last shot as one morning I got up to a strange sound and when I looked out my bedroom window I saw  three Moose.    The calf trimmed the willow and was only about 20 feet from the house.  This is the only shot that is in clear focus .  The Cow never came far enough out of the woods to allow for any picture to show anything except a brown blob.  The Bull had a small rack  and several locals said that they had never even seen a Bull.   He too was too timid to allow for any photo to look like much.

I hope you are all enjoying fall.

 

Keep Creating       Carol

Hello Friends,

I am just home from my walk on this glorious autumn day.  Here the sun is shinning and the temperature is oh so wonderfully mild with a slight breeze.  One would not know it was Sept except for a few little signs like the grasshoppers that jump and fly way from my path as I walk along.  Some  wall nuts have fallen and their green/yellow husks stain the streets.  I find myself looking for the skeletons of nuts that some squirrels clean out to look like hollow eye alien heads- or perhaps they are strange buttons.     The golden rod is blooming as are a few blue purple bachelor buttons.  What colors! The passing yellow school buses add to the feeling of fall too.   I like to store up these of images for colorful memories when the world is all blues and whites of winter.   I must really do a good job of that this week as I left my camera in Maine between the cushions of a friends house.  She will ship it to me, but for the time being memory must do all the work.  The absence of my camera also means that I can not show what  my wonderful students did in the card making class.   I was so very pleased with all there efforts as  the cards were all as beautiful and unique as all the gals who were there.  I really like teaching when it is as open ended as that class can be.  They cut there own stamps from erasers and stamped them with dyes and inks.  They them mixed those images  with great papers and fabric scraps into wonderful cards to send to there friends.  One gal said she was not going to send all her creations, but frame two of them instead.  We all had fun and laughed  together.    My lecture titled  “Playing to your Strengths” on Sat was well received too.    I felt very pleased as I drove home -a  1009 mile trip round trip – to be able to drive into a newly completed garage.  We have been planning that project for years and I am sure I will be even more delighted in mid winter when I do not have to scrap off my car before I can drive away.   I feel ready to take on what ever Mother Nature throws at me this year.

Progress Report:   Tides Out

  I am showing this quilt because I do have a photo of it.  I took the quilt to my  art quilters meeting a week ago Tue and when it was up on the wall I suddenly realized that the bottom was not adding to the work at all.   Just weighting it down.   So when I got home I cut 9.5 inches off the bottom got rid of the sand and most of the second fence and refaced that area.  I gave the improved and  finished quilt to my hostess as a thank you  gift.  She was delighted as she knew it was the coast of Maine that was the inspiration.   I know that I work too quickly some times and it take time and fresh eyes to sometimes see the errors.

 

Line Work  The only other area I have been working on is a little challenge of my own to work through the elements and principles of design this year.  I  have been reading art and design books and this mouth I am playing with line in my quilt work.  I will take photos when I get my camera and post the progress.

I hope you are enjoying the wonders of fall and creating great things.

Hugs

Carol