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Archive for the ‘Art Cloth’ Category

Art Crush February

Friday, February 11th, 2011

I think it was June Underwood who introduced me to the art of Helen Frankenthaler. She is a major contributor to the history of postwar American painting. Having exhibited her work in six decades she has spanned several generations of abstract painters while continuing to produce vital and ever-changing new work. I love the bold colors that she incorporates in her paintings. I was reminded of her work when I saw a listing for an exhibition of her work in the New York Times, today. The exhibit is titled, East and Beyond and is at Knoedler & Company.

She is described as the doyenne of color field painting.  Color Field is about the tension created by overlapping and interacting areas of flat color. These areas of color can be amorphous or clearly geometric. This tension is the “action” or the content. It’s more subtle and cerebral than Action Painting. (think Jackson Pollack)

Here is a photo from the exhibit:

These photos are Brother Angel on the left and Tattoo. The Times article said the following about these paintings:

Two of the most striking paintings achieve a supreme balance between East and West, and less and more. These are the exquisitely Minimalist “Brother Angel” and “Tattoo,” both from 1983, in which wavering monochrome fields of cream and pale red are inflected with little dabs and scraps of color that seem to be on the verge of sinking from view, like flower petals on a watery surface. Daringly Whistlerian and indisputably modernist, they whet the appetite for a fuller account of Ms. Frankenthaler’s long, resolutely focused career.

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of her work and hearing a bit about Helen Frankenthaler. She was born in 1928 and still is alive and painting.

I had a good time working on my landscape for the sage/blue/brown challenge. I made a lot of progress today. I think I can finish it tomorrow and move on to my next exciting work which is top secret. I will not be able to reveal much.

If you like hearing about my daughter, Lisa, there is a great article about her scheduled for the San Francisco Chronicle Style Maker section,  this week-end.

We are all excited to have Steph come home from her photography adventure in Savannah, GA, tomorrow.  So proud of my brilliant daughters.  Hope you will have a great week-end.


Just One of Those Days

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

I was planning a nice long day of studio work today. I painted some new aspen bark fabric because I was not happy with what I have. I am not sure if I will find a use for the other bark, but it is only fabric.

I needed to clear off my work tables so that I could fuse the large whole cloth background and backing. I got a good start on that before I realized I needed to pick raspberries. With Scooter at my side, we picked almost 2 quarts today. Then, it was off for our morning walk.

After lunch, I had my latest minor medical emergency (LOL)! I had a spontaneous nasty nose bleed. It took the wind out of my sails, to say the least. My Dr. suggested that I go back on a baby aspirin a day when I saw her last week. Well, that was not a good idea. I mentioned this on Facebook and one of my friends told me that many foods are high in salicylates. They include blueberries, cherries, wine, almonds, omega 3 fish oils, vinegar, tea and many other common foods. I consume these almost every day (especially now – peak cherry season!) I am thinking that I eat a diet that does not require me to have a baby aspirin – or maybe only one a week.

After I recovered from that, I went back to the studio and finished felting a little piece for my sketchbook project. It is rather naive — I think maybe I should stick to abstract, but it is helping me learn how to manipulate the roving under the needles.

Here is the back of the piece.

I managed to get the front and back of the new aspen quilt Mistyfused. I rather like the paint on this. It was the undercloth for the other aspen piece. Here are a couple of detail shots.

I also received my autographed copy of Jane Dunnewold’s new book, Art Cloth. That required some of my time, too. Her book, Complex Cloth, literally changed my life.

It is filled with beautiful art cloth and great how tos. You can order it from Jane’s website: Complex Cloth.

Mother Lode

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

I have the pieces for the BIG quilt cut and fused to a large sheet of Teflon. I have cropped out some areas for sneak peeks. The title is Mother Lode. Heh!

I just love how the different fabrics interact with each other — sometimes my choice and sometimes, serendipity.

Of course, those who know me, know it is all about the fabric.

So, that is what I have been doing today. Tomorrow, I hope to get it fused to the batting. I may have to run out to get backing fabric for it. I am not sure if I have anything large enough in my stash. then the quilting will start.

I meant to post this link last night and forgot. There was a lovely interview with my daughter, Steph, here.

On the Move

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

leafycompplexcloth

My studio, that is. I have been frustrated that I was having a hard time getting any surface design work done. Earlier this year, Mr C was working on hiding the heating ducts in my office and studio. I had changed the configuration of the space at that time. I came to the realization that the layout was not at all conducive to doing the stuff that I love to do in that space. So, today, I moved everything and put my tables back in the middle of the room. I am already so much happier in the space. Maybe it si just that I need change!!

While sorting stuff, I found some things I had forgotten about. Like the leafy art cloth up there. It is a rayon piece that I did in a class with Jane Dunnewold. It was dyed and over dyed and then I printed and foiled with a leaf stencil that I made. I think I was going to make a pillow cover. Here is a detail:

leafyfabricdetail

I also found this radiant sun left over from a class I took with Cara Gulati, ages ago. It is sandwiched and partially quilted. It would make a nice pillow cover, too.

radiantsun

I had such a good experience today when I went to my local shopping area to do some errands. When I had my colonoscopy, they made me take my wedding ring off. Then, I couldn’t get it back on!! There is still an indent on my ring finger almost 4 weeks later. I took to the local jewelry store to have it made larger. Saturday is our 45th wedding anniversary and I thought it might be nice to wear it. Problem is, it needs new prongs and they said it would take until next week. They were so nice and told me they would have it done by Saturday.

Then, I went to the Post Office to mail the 3 Aspen quilts. Again, great service. Two of them had to be mailed to Canada, and she kindly showed my the best and least expensive way to ship them.

And now, for something completely different, here is a photo of my two favorite people.

mrcandscooter

Fabric Audition

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

dyepaintedorganza

I am in the process of auditioning fabrics for another Aspen landscape. One of the best parts of being a fiber artist is auditioning fabric for a piece. I get so excited when I make a discovery in my stash of art cloth such as this dye painted organza. I realized that if I cut it in strips, it would make perfect Aspens or Birches.

organzaaspens

I went to High Fiber Diet tonight, my art quilt group. I met Terry at the Mexican restaurant next door for dinner. I had a fabulous Pozole soup. We talked about our Line Dancing show and possible venues and our next show which will be View from the Top. I hope we change the name to View from Above.

For a little levity, here is my silly Scooter hanging out in the studio with me. He is always on the move when he is not prone so the photo is sort of blurry. He is such a good boy, learning new commands every day. He loves to play fetch, and I think he sometimes wishes he had younger humans.

scootersillyface