Rust Dying

This is my first attempt at rust dying.

My son-in-law brought me home a rusted spoked wheel from his travels in New Brunswick over the summer. The wheel didn't actually work very well but I love all the other rusted bits and how they permanently marked the muslin.

Dispirited Restoration

Dispirited Restoration was made at the beginning of 2016. I was struggling to keep positive. It was all about feeling destroyed and I needed to focus on rebuilding. I came home from a particularly bad day at work. I went to my studio and just started cutting canvas. The first stroke with the razor blade and I drew blood on my thumb. That was a sign to continue...just cutting and tearing. Then I stitched it back together and dipped the whole canvas into Potassium Permanganate to antique the fabric. Once dry I added a layer of plaster, oil paint, ink, encaustic wax etc...until done.

This piece is very special to me. It helped me heal...

Detail picture of the stitching and skeletal bones.

Felted Vessel

I made another loom knitted vessel. Below is the before and after felting. This time I tried doing a linen stitch so that I didn't have the distinct knitting lines. I added some stitches on the top by hand stitch because I knew it would be incorporated once the piece was felted. The wool was purchased from my local farmers market.

I was really happy with the fuzzy effect once it was felted. I have since learned from a wet felter that the desire is to not have fuzz....but this is exactly what I wanted. In we felting you don't want the fuzz and you want a very compressed wool so that it can stand alone and actually be cut without fraying the edges.

Fiber Optics 24/7

I presented the Group of Eight challenge for the quarterly due date of November 2015. This challenge was to be art that could be viewed 24/7. It had to have built in lighting into the piece or be glow in dark...whatever it takes so that the art could be viewed day and night without exterior lighting. I had been dreaming of this challenge for years waiting for my turn and I was really excited about it. Not sure the group felt the same way but the results of this challenge were phenomenal.

I created this piece knowing that I wanted my 24/7 to incorporate fiber optics. This is the first piece I made with this technique and I will hopefully do more in the future. I started out with a machine embroidered tree that I made many many years ago in a workshop hosted by Sheree Schlote. I then created the cloth from a distressed canvas base, layering and painting as I went.  The fiber optics were hand stitched into place. It was then mounted on a wood art board and my husband cut the holes and he wired the fiber optics up to a battery. This piece lights up when switched on. The tree trunk bleeds yellow light and the tree tips and leaves light up red and yellow. I have not successfully been able to take a night shot of it.

Baby Blankie

I made this little quilt  from a workshop the Group of Eight hosted. Thanks to Linda Kittmer I was able to do a small quilt for my Grand-baby to come. My quilting days are over. I really have no desire to make them any more. I know that my years of quilting have left me knowing that I love making the quilt tops...hate the quilting part. Therefore, I have a surplus of quilts that need to be quilted....no need to have another. 

Jesika and I selected the flannel fabric together. It turns out that this little quilt is very heavy because of the layering and cutting method used. I think it would be better to be used as a quilt play mat rather than an actual quilt. I believe this quilt was completed in November 2015.

This is Fern Leah Hughes Deahl at five months old. She was born January 13, 2016.

SAQA Stratford Perth Museum

I just visited the SAQA show at the Stratford Perth Museum in Ontario Canada, this past weekend.
It was a wonderful show.  The piece below was my favorite piece. They told me I was able to take photos of the works if I mentioned the artist along with the piece if I was posting it. This is NOT my work and I would ask that anyone wanting to use this photo will also honor the artist.
It's not even the best picture...

Alice Vander Vennen workshop

The Group of Eight hosted Alice Vander Vennen for a workshop in March of this year. Her methods are inspiring and how she processes and moves through her creation was fascinating for me. I find that my methods of selecting materials to use is very similar to Alice's. What I'm using in my work needs to speak to me on a spiritual level for the piece to come together. This is why it takes me quite some time from start to finish in most cases when creating. Everyone in the workshop produced multiple pieces and I currently have another piece on my table waiting for completion someday.

This piece was created using my own oil painting at the bottom, a painted and stressed dryer sheet, hand made paper, misc fabric scraps, a shell from Ireland and a wild grape vine collected from my garden. Alice encouraged me to use a piece of her copper which she had gently heated for the multiple colour combination effect. This was all hand stitched and framed within the class.

"Feather" was created due to a conversation I had with Alice. She has never been successful using a feather in any of her work. Alice felt that using a feather would in some way limit the piece to being only about a feather...that is of course if I have her understanding right. With that in mind I just had to make something with a feather. I collect feathers when they are offered, presented to me by nature. I absolutely love them. There is something so delicate yet strong about them.

This framed piece was made with scraps of fabric, art cloth that I made with burned the edges, wild grape vine from my garden and a "Feather" that had been offered to me by nature.

Special thanks to Alice for a wonderful day, her inspiration and her gifts of sharing will be long remembered.