Vignettes and Textile Art

I have a solo show coming up that I will be hanging at the local hospital on the 30th, and I've yet to create a single piece for that show.  Nope instead I've been working on other projects, ideas I just can't seem to get out of my head.


It's no lie, I've been struggling with what I want to say, what I want others to see, how I see the world, and this ties into my brand, licensing, and a whole nuther ball of wax.

So today, as I was cleaning my sewing table in desperate search for a needle I lost in hopes that the fur kids wouldn't find it with their feet, somehow the idea of 'vignettes' crept into my mind.  So I wrote the word down and once I was done clearing my table, no I didn't find the needle, I got onto Google and looked up the definition of vignette.

Vignette in the literary world usually refers to a small impressionistic scene.  Vignette in the visual arts world in a nutshell means that the edges fade into the background.

Corn No. 51

With the exception of election years and natural disasters Iowa pretty much has mastered the ability to fade into the background, maybe this is why the 'coasters' refer to this part of the US as fly over country???


In Memory of Corn No. 1

So now I'm contemplating the concept of a vignette and how this relates to the prairie and plains states and to fiber and textiles in general.  And then I started digging through old photos I've taken of this great state, and of artwork I've already created and now see that I may have been creating vignettes all along.  Sometimes it takes the artist way longer to see, than it does their audience, what they have been saying all along, sounds counter intuitive but it is what it is.


Queen Anne's Crow No. 2 detail

 So I'm off to to do some more thinking, and possible some digital collage making tonight so that I can start printing fabric and paper first thing in the morning. The next eight days will be a flurry of creativity and most importantly stitching!

Busy, Busy


Holes detail. Machine and hand stitched painted timtex with aurifil threads.

I've been so busy with getting things done for an upcoming solo show, at Mary Greeley Hospital in Ames, Iowa, that I will be hanging on April 30th that I have forgotten to post here.  Lots of stitching and experimenting going on trying to hurry up and birth this new idea I have forming.  Photos and soon!

WIP - Bjorkboda

Found while cleaning my sewing studio this afternoon, buried in a pile o UFO's (Unfinished Objects or in my case Projects!)


I remember now why I put it away, I started attaching stuff to the surface and then got stuck.  I may have to rip it all off now and try something different.


The techniques I used to create this piece are covered in my eBook Rust and Clay Dyeing which can be purchased here.  

Studio Redux Part 2

Otherwise known as the overflow area!


Vintage dresser that's stuffed full of art supplies such as paints, etc.


Another view heading into my sewing studio, Oliver is not amused with all of this moving around.


This old chicken coop hutch divides my sewing area from the over flow area, as you saw in the previous post the backside of this hutch is where my extensive thread collection lives.  I want to get rid of the chicken coop, or find another place for it to live, but if I do so then I need to come up with a better way to keep Oliver out of my studio.  He's a thread, fabric, and paper thief, amongst other hobbies he has.


Cubbies filled with "stuff", an old Duncan phyfe table, my loom, several dress forms, deer antlers, skulls, and boxes and boxes of fabric.   You get the picture.


Shelf that holds painted papers, artwork, and the like, and the plastic drawer units?  Filled with silk, wool, cotton, and linen fibers.

More tomorrow, there shall be fiber kits assembled and ready to find new homes.

Studio Purge Part One

Over the next few days I will be posting not only images of my studio spaces, for accountability purposes, but also to let you know what is available.  I will be selling some items check out the studio purge tab for daily updates, and others will go to new homes for the sole cost of shipping!


In thinking about my "brand" I've had to make a decision as to which mediums and colors I will be working with and "why"!  This wall here contains beads, findings, and all sorts of mixed media objects that is and should be heaven for most artists.  Well this was true until today when I got into the last fight I ever want to have with myself over studio space EVER again!

Yes that is right, you know every time you scream in frustration because you can no longer move in your studio space, or find that book you need to finish a project at the last hour, you are fighting with yourself!

Stop fighting with yourself!


More beads, jars of silk cocoons, buttons, bells, baubles, and all sorts of nummies.  The crates above are filled with mixed media papers, findings, Angelina fibers, pine cones, silk carrier rods, and who knows what else.  Well I'm planning to start excavating tomorrow so we will soon find out what else lies within those crates.


Far shelf, more beads, findings, jars with little bells in them... you get the picture.  Foreground that's supposed to be my sewing table and right now it's loaded with drawing and painting supplies.


The other side of my sewing table.  The plastic drawer stuff (to the south of the table) are filled with vintage, antique, and somewhat modern laces, threads, buttons, ric rac, you name it, oh and a ton of handspun yarns from fibers I carded and dyed myself and in some cases even acquired from local sheep I used to sheer.


The wall of thread!  And those little plastic drawer organizers, if you guessed filled with beads you'd be correct.  And they are also over flowing with embroidery floss, pearl cottons, and the like.



More thread, and those plastic tubs are filled with... if you guessed vintage and antique trims you'd be correct! Two of the tubs are also filled with natural dyed wool, silk, and cotton fabrics.  All of those baskets and tubs on top are filled with more fibers, more threads, and more mixed media objects, seeing a theme here  yet???


And sweeping past the entrance to my sewing room... More threads under the clock.


More fabric, more threads, more fibers, and no place to put finished artwork!  This is the north wall in my sewing studio and I want ALL of this stuff to go bye bye, with the exception of the shelf (you see the side of it here) with the clock.  My goal is to put my drawing table and new flat file cabinet (that hubs is building for me) on this wall.


Finally the corner where I started, the NW corner of my studio.  Again more fibers, more threads, more fabric, all dyed with natural dyes.  Oh and a ton of knitting supplies and latruador that I'm never going to get to in this life time.

Stay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow the area of my studio known as the "overflow" area.

WIP - Documented Life Journal Cover


My journal cover is a work in progress, I just got my journal yesterday and we are now at the beginning of week 2, you can learn more about The Documented Life Challenge here.  Note that this is NOT my challenge it is being hosted by others, I decided I wanted to try the challenge and my focus for this year long odyssey will be my health.

Birds


Thanks to the 60 Day Bird Journal Challenge I'm back to drawing birds, and right now I'm in an art bird frame of mind!  Here is my half duck half water bird I'm working on this afternoon.

Tonight's activities include clearing my drawing and drafting tables so that I can start working on my crow panels once again.  It's snowing here today so it seems like the perfect day to focus exclusively on my studio.

I have a solo show coming up this spring and I have yet to decide what I will put in the show, this is code for I haven't started yet and I haven't a clue!  It'll be fiber art of some sort, 2D for the most part, and may involve more crows, and corn of course, and maybe some Queen Anne's lace???

Day 2 60 Day Bird Journal Challenge


Day 2 Story
Resting in arborvitae beside my house
Your song brings to the trees to life.
Is your song ushering in the coming storm?
Or are you singing a song of joy?
A tasty morsel to share,
No creature dares to leave the protection of the tree.
Branches shivering, the Sun twinkling, and the sky a brilliant blue,
Deceptive beauty as nature braces for a fatal blow.
The wind smells of snow.

Going back to Day 2, I had a head start by a couple of days because well I'm writing the prompts, etc., so noticed that I had made a couple of attempts at either a poem or story in my journal.  

I think the sketch pretty much sums it up, it's frigid out right now, the birds are all huddled in the neighbors arborvitaes, I know they are roosting in the tree because you can hear them chirping away if one listens closely enough.  I suspect that they are egging one another one (pun intended) to leave the tree for food and water and no one wants to give up their warm spot on the branch.

Day 1 of the 60 Day Bird Journal Challenge!


See the red circle in the lower left hand corner?  It's highlighting an old enamel dish pan filled with organic corn for the birds and the fat squirrel that's made it's home in our attic, I named the squirrel Trouble.

Since it's mid afternoon as I post this there are no birds out and about, I expect to be seeing some closer to evening time.  For now they are holed up in those arborvitae's to the north of our dog run, I could hear a few peeps over the sound of the traffic.

I'm still working on my poem for Day 1 and will post later this evening, other activities are pressing at the moment, like the making of black-eyed peas with greens for our New Years Dinner.  At the moment hubs is grinding organic corn for the corn bread he'll make to go with our meal.




60 Bird Journal Challenge Begins in Six Days!!!


Join me in 2015 for the 60 Day Bird Journal Challenge!!!

 Each day for 60 days you will receive a newsletter emailed to you from me that details an Observation, an Activity and finally a Challenge!  There will be plenty of opportunities to write, sketch, paint, and even sing during this challenge!  

 To join the challenge subscribe to my newsletter that I've created specifically for this challenge, the only way to receive the prompts is by subscribing to the newsletter.