Monthly Archives: August 2010

Artist Opening:Nellie Durand

I had the privilege of attending Nellie Durand’s opening at an art gallery, goodgoods, in Saugutuck, MI this weekend. It was a hot sunny day to visit this great little city about an hour from home. The town was packed with people trying to enjoy one of the last weeks of summer. This opening included two other artists, Sandra Adams and Dawn Edwards, and all were demonstrating their techniques and answering questions about their work.

Nellie’s work is just beautiful when you see pictures of it on her blog Nellie’s Needles. But seeing it in person just took my breath away! She had a great representation of all her work there-her crinkle work, her surface design pieces and of course the amazing Lake series. Nellie also demonstrated -very generously sharing -her techniques with us for creating the Lake pieces. She also showed me her crinkle work which is really intriguing with the application of hand stitching on a starched crinkled composition. She is a kind and patient teacher. (I must be a visual learner because it is so much easier to see the technique done and understand… ) She made it seem so easy but the art of her work is the perfect placing of color and stitch to make the piece just sing.

Nellie has obtained a coveted spot at the Devos Hall for one of her pieces during Artprize here in Grand Rapids. She gave us a peek by displaying two of the panels of the Lake at goodgoods this weekend. I can’t wait to see the whole piece and will remind you of it in September. DeVos Hall will be the perfect venue for it!

My 19 year old Erin went with me. As I was gushing at dinner that night and the family was patiently listening to me, I paused and realized Erin was gushing too. She chose the Lake piece as her favorite and was so inspired by seeing and enjoying art that she took back to college her jewelry making supplies. I saw her peeking through Nellie’s blog after dinner.

So, Nellie- Thanks for sharing, creating and inspiring. It was such a treat to meet you. Thanks Paula and Tod for the intro.

Happy Summer, my friends!

A Few Minutes of Peace

For the first time -in over two months- I AM ALONE. It’s quiet. It’s peaceful. And no one is talking. I will sit with my coffee and read my book that just came in the mail. I ordered it from Lisa Call although she has no more. You can find them on the SAQA website.

Ahhh….how nice is this. The book is from the Color Improvisations exihibit in Germany curated by Nancy Crow. And it is beautiful. I have never seen such a gorgeous catalogue. You thought I would give you a peek didn’t you? No, you have to get your own! Or- you could join me for a cup of coffee.

So What’s Next?

My oldest daughter left this weekend for college. The other two kids start school after Labor Day. As we have spent time shopping for school supplies, I became increasingly and foolishly jealous of my kids purchases. New pens, new pencils, new crayons and a new year at school. But then, I realized it wasn’t necessarily the new loot but the fresh start I was jealous of . They begin a new year as if the previous year wasn’t there and they get to start all over again. Learn new things, try new things and do the work.

I am a wannabee art quilter right now- so why couldn’t I do the same thing? A fresh start but not just jumping from one thing to another. I am doing the learning new things and the trying new things but I have no specific plan or purpose. So to give myself some goals for the rest of the year, I need a little more structure.

1. I am going to work in a series for 6 pieces at least 3×3. I will work in a simple motif or block that I started working on in Vermont. Series sounds- scary -but more serious. I think I need to learn to manipulate this little block until I have it how I want it. It’s just a little “L” so how scary can that be? Why that size? It’s just big enough I can feel I am working on my machine quilting. Not big enough to be overwhelmed.

2. Then I am also going to work smaller. 8×10 is the next size I have chosen. After being introduced to the work of Jeanne Williamson by Paula, I have been really inspired.

I picked Jeanne’s book, The Uncommon Quilter in the library after Paula mentioned her name and I was amazed after reading it. She made a quilt a week this size for seven years-365 to be exact. A perseverant and talented artist. I am going to try to work through some of the techniques she has outlined in this great book. The only thing I bought for it is a new box of crayons. The rest will be found objects or things I already have. I am very excited to do this.

So there is my fresh start and new box of crayons for the new school year! Just like that I have returned to school.

Happy Summer, my friends-for a few more weeks!

The End of the Week

Mmm…that’s about all I can say about my art life this week. It’s the end of the week. I seem to have underestimated the fact that I would need to move my oldest back to school tomorrow. And I had way too many appointments this week.

Whatever bits of time I did have, I worked on a memory quilt for a friend who lost her husband a few years ago. I don’t feel I can share that with you though as it’s hers and only hers. My precious friend that it is for is a private person- her grief is private-so no sharing this time. I finished piecing it this week and will try to wrap it up this weekend. Made me sad…

I also sat down and wrote out some goals for myself. I seem to do better with a list. One of them was updating the blog but in my attempt to do that, I have really screwed it up. So just bear with me until I can figure it out. Did Blogger change their templates….? I want my old one back….and can’t find it.

Happy Summer my friends!

Transition

I guess if you wonder where I am. Physically I am now home in Michigan. But , emotionally, I think I am just in transition. In between that lazy and relaxed vacation mode but dumped back into schedules and a list of things to do. Not really wanting summer to end and yet needing some kind of structure. Definitely, in between.

I sure crammed quite a bit into the last week of summer. I managed to take the kids to a quick trip to the Shelburne Museum just outside of Burlington. There were three exhibits I had wanted to see:

-Ansel Adams and Edward Burtinsky-a great photography exhibit
-Alzheimer’s:Forgetting Piece By Piece-another exhibit of quilts organized by Ami Simms, a tear jerker
-A Vermont ceramic artists exhibit

Each were very unique and I could have spent lots of time there. These exhibits made it a worthwhile trip. If you are in the area, take some time to stop and enjoy.

How would you like to use an iron like this?

I also spent some time working on using acrylic paints in a thin wash on some cottons I had dyed. Then I moved on to dye and print paste. Didn’t really know what I was doing but had fun.

Also, attended our last dairy show at the Addison County Field Days. Out of the four shows we attended, I always like this one best. Just lots to see and a great selection of fun foods…

I love the ceilings of the barns.

The craft barn at Addison County Field Days

The winning cow and Hope struggled a bit but pulled out a second place.

The last two days are a blur of packing and last minute things to do. But I clicked my little ruby red felted slippers(yeah squeezed that in too!)

and was back home in Michigan in 15 hours.

Whew-no wonder I am tired! It was a great week.

Camera has been brought to the shop so we will see the diagnosis tomorrow. Hope to start producing again this week. It was nice to unpack my studio today.

Enjoy the last few weeks of summer, my friends!

Just Having Fun

The last five days have been beautiful-in the 70’s and for the most part sunny. We did a few projects around the house and then decided to go to Burlington on Friday. It was really windy on Lake Champlain. Also visited art galleries, took in a baseball game and just people watched on the mall in the city. Great times.

I am just about to pack the rest of my sewing supplies up but wanted to give you a peek at what I have been doing. I owe you a few that were promised last week.

I had just small strips of this fabric and chose to do long strip pieces-really pretty Australian fabric pack that I bought at the Vermont Quilt Festival.

Then I decided to make one of my previous tops bigger. Don’t know if I like it or it needs to be even larger.

And then this one which is in the process of being pieced. I am FINALLY processing the idea of a moitf from my last Crow class. Ok that took long enough.

I am 20 minutes away from my house right now-so I apologize for this picture-can’t re-take it here at the coffee shop. I really like the feel of this and imagine it to be about 5×6 when it is done. So that’s what I have been working on. Very scattered and unrelated. Just felt like working along with the summer instead of being scheduled and pre-planned.

I can only imagine maybe one more post from here. We have another dairy show which takes up two days and then the big packing up and driving home. Oh and maybe we can squeeze in a trip to Shelburne Farms where there is a quilt exhibit….I am never bored. Have you noticed?

Hope you are having fun this summer.

Happy Summer,my friends!

The Softness of Silk

My husband, Marc, came back yesterday to spend the next five days with us. He came early enough in the day that we were able to take a day trip and enjoy some of the pretty countryside here.I love choosing new places to check out here. The weather has been especially nice and I took some great pictures which I hope to show you tomorrow. So nice to have him here …

I finished a little silk piece on Tuesday. I had picked up a package of silk scraps at the Vermont Quilt Show in June at this booth and could have spent hours in there searching through her bags of treasures.It is called Delectable Mountain and is located in Brattleboro, VT. If I take a trip that far south, I will definitely check the store out. She had lots of merchandise. This is what I have left over-

I loved working with the silk pieces and I did it entirely piece by piece without thinking of design on a design wall. Just laying it out on my table next to me and choosing another piece to add. No agonizing over what would come next. and I was done with it in an afternoon. And I love it. It’s nothing fancy as far as design is concerned and I could critique for you. But I am just going to enjoy it. I love it.

I will hand stitch this piece and it seems like a good project for the ride home next week. The edges fray like crazy so I need to sandwich it as soon as possible. I will use silk thread and hand dyed embroidery floss for the hand stitching. Any suggestions for me for those of you who have used silk before?

Off to help out with a kids golf tournament. Having trouble with this…so hope it publishes.

Happy Summer, my friends!

Summer Colors

I never do know what color is my favorite but I do like the yellow, greens and blues. Maybe because it reminds me of summer.

When you are in the Green Mountains, it is hard to know where the sky and the mountains divide…they all seem to blend together on a sunny day. Working on my third little top to show you this week. Finished number 2 last night, but too wet out to bring my silk piece outside.

I love how fabric dyeing makes you feel very productive. 25 more meters this weekend. The stack on the right is a pile of over dyes and I love how rich the color is.

I started out needing to make red. I guess I got distracted. Also working on doing some surface design with freezer paper. It’s a multistep process that I need to take my time with.

Speaking of time, I only have about 8 more days left here in Vermont. I am already thinking of how to get all this stuff home. And still have room for the two big dogs and two kids!