The Heron

I forgot to add my HERON in my last post about my up-coming gallery show. I don't know how he got left out since it is one of my favorites. I used one of my hand-dyed fabrics for its background. This quilt (approximately 22" x 28") is currently being shown at the Ozark Piecemakers Quilt Guild show in Springfield, Missouri. It was awarded a second place ribbon in the art quilt category. LATE BLOOMER, shown in the previous post, also received a second place ribbon in the wall quilt category.

Upcoming Gallery Show

The opening of my first ever gallery show is coming up October 3rd at Waverly House in Springfield, Missouri. The following works are a preview of what I will be showing.

COON (18.5" x 28.5") pictures a raccoon foraging in a dry creek bed. The beautiful background fabric in the upper half is a hand-dye I ordered from Dijanne Cevaal in Australia. It added just the right touch to this autumnal scene. The coon is thread-painted.

SAW WHET OWL (21" x 31") evolved after I did some research on owls and learned about this small bird. I thread-painted the owl. After placing the owl and the branches, I decided he should be in a fir tree and spent days free-motion stitching all those needles. I'm in no hurry to repeat this stitching adventure.

MATING SEASON (approx. 18" X 27") is a jolly quilt with lots of color. It was one of those pieces that come together rather quickly because of the joy of working with all the color and shapes. All the frogs are thread-painted.

GUSTAV'S GARDEN II (18" X 22") was inspired by a painting by Gustav Klimt. It was originally intended to be entered as my 2007 Journal Quilt but after I finished it I entered it into the juried section of the International Quilt Festival and it was accepted as a finalist.

STUDS TURTLE (approx. 18" x 26") is another jolly quilt with its turtle, lizard, dragonflies, leaves and flowers. Its background is a piece of my hand-dyed fabric.

SCENTUOUS (33" X 42.5") was inspired by a beautiful hand-dyed cotton sateen from Jeanettes Fabric To Dye For. I couldn't cut it up so used the whole piece as the background for some vines, irises, an out-size marigold and then a thread-painted skunk worked its way into the grass at the bottom.

RAIN FOREST FROLIC (34" X 39") is a piece I made a couple of years ago. I love its colorful dart frogs and the giant beetle. The border fabric is a hand-dye from Ellen Anne Eddy who is one of my quilt heroes.

SOLITUDE (approx. 18" x 24") was also made a couple of years ago using another of Ellen's hand-dyes as a background. It has a peaceful feeling I've enjoyed seeing on my wall.

LATE BLOOMER (49" x 64") has just returned from its journeys as part of the In Full Bloom IV Exhibit of the International Quilt Association. The blooms on the quilt are hand-painted and then thread-painted. I spent a long time working on this piece and had a wonderful critique from Cynthia Morgan that helped me improve the work.

Fast Friday Fabric Challenge

I belong to an art quilt group inspired by Project Runway. Someone got the notion two years ago on the Quiltart list to have a group with a monthly challenge. The resulting art quilt is, ideally, finished within one week and published on our Yahoo group and/or on our blog for critique. This group has been a wonderful learning tool for many of us. Since the group is getting ready to start its third year and has 25 new members I want to show some of my work during the past two years.

The very first challenge in September 2006 was to use fall colors and to attempt to show depth. My husband and I had just traveled to Alton, IL and one of our stops was a beautiful old cemetery. My first quilt was inspired by a picture I took and is called Final Fall. Those odd little beads are supposed to be headstones. This quilt is 9" x 12" since we originally had a goal of making journal size works.

The second challenge was to use the poem "Jabberwocky" for inspiration and to add texture. My little work is called "Jabberwocky and the Lost Green Pigs". Those odd little beads showed up again in this piece and are representing the lost green pigs. Anyway, that was the plan....

The next challenge was to make a quilt with a non-traditional or odd shape. I had just figured out a technique I call fractured quilts so I made one and added a thread-painted lizard that hadn't found a home. I'm happy to say I didn't add any of the green beads.

This November challenge was to be inspired by the first line of a book and to use value and contrast. I am a Dickens fan and pulled out Little Dorrit and used its first line: "Thirty years ago, Marseilles lay burning in the sun one day." I was in the middle of taking a Quilt University course on painting on fabric so decided to attempt to do this challenge in fabric paints. My piece was inspired by a painting of the Bay of Marseilles by Cezanne. For some reason, his work looks better than mine.

The next challenge was to create a still life, crop it and add form using the illusion of dimension. My Breakfast Table Still Life was inspired by this picture of what was sitting on my dining table.

After cropping the photo I made this:

I thought it would be fun to take the same elements and put them together in an abstract way so this is what the back of the quilt looks like:

Art Quilts, Fiber Arts, Textile Arts - who knows?

Whatever the name is (and there is a lot of debate about it) I make quilts that are for the wall and are considered art. I had a blog that I kept somewhat up to date with pictures of my art quilts until several months ago. The format changed and I could no longer figure out how to include the pictures with text. Go figure... Since my blog is more concerned with pictures than with words I decided to start all over.

I am currently preparing for my first ever gallery show at Waverly House Gallery in Springfield, Missouri. The artist's reception will be held October 3rd from 5:00 to 9:00 pm. My work is being shown along with that of two enamel artists, Sarah Perkins and Tammy Kirks and will be featured through the month of October.

I started exhibiting my work at Waverly House in February and have sold several pieces. Here are some pictures of those quilts that have gone to live with someone else:

This work is HIDDEN TREASURES II and represents the Ozarks where I live. It is approximately 20" x 26".

This small abstract is called BLUE CORN CANYON. It is approximately 14" x 18".

This work is GUSTAV'S GARDEN . It was inspired by a painting by Gustav Klimt. It is 23" x 27".
OUTBACK BOOGIE is one of my favorite quilts. It features a frilled lizard on keyboard that reminds me of Jerry Lee Lewis rockin' on out. It started with the koala and my idea that he should be playing a stand-up bass. This is one I sort of regret selling because it was a great deal of work and is fun. It is approximately 40" square.
GAILLARDIA was inspired by a photo I took in my backyard. It was the result of an assignment in one of Susan Brittingham's Quilt University classes. It is approximately 20" x 26".
IRIS II also resulted from Susan's class. I made another quilt, Big Blue Iris, for her class and liked it so much I used the pattern I had made to make this one. It is approximately 22" x 26".