Chary Sprouts

Bricolages - part deux

2009-07-11T14:30:00.008-04:00

The bricolage assemblages are done! I'm not certain what they "mean" or what they're "saying" yet. I tend to work very subconsciously and all of that needs to filter up before I can figure it out.

I made small shelves with balsa wood, painted them and then distressed them before attaching them to the illustration board. I used both glue and small screws to attach the shelves.

I auditioned a number of found objects for the shelves. In the end I used found chess pieces that I bought from Judy Gula in Houston last year.

The empty morphine vials came from a Facebook friend's etsy store.

The cardboard letters and vintage Japanese card came from another Facebook friend's etsy store. Etsy is the best. So is Facebook.

It's very tricky to photograph framed art because of the reflections on the glass and harder still to photograph shadow boxes because of the depth of the frames and the shadows they throw. These difficulties were compounded by having to use just one photoflood, since the other blew during a marathon photo shoot recently. B&H will be delivering new bulbs on Tuesday, so I'll set up and shoot again next week.

Printmaking Workshop - July

2009-07-10T20:35:00.005-04:00

Friday and Saturday, July 17 & 18, is the next session of my Printmaking for Art Quilters workshop. There are still a couple of spaces if you hurry!

collagraph with acrylic paint on pfd cotton

More details can be found on my website. We'll be working on a variety of printmaking techniques, adapted for printing on fabric with acrylic paints and mediums, with a good mix of hand and press printing processes. Come join us!

Bricolages

2009-07-10T10:09:00.008-04:00

One of the online collage groups that I belong to had been discussing the various terms that describe what we do and the word bricolage came up. I love this word!

Bricolage: [bree-kuh‑lahzh] a construction made of whatever materials are at hand; something created from a variety of available things.

I just happened to have three small IKEA shadowbox frames lying around the studio. I buy frames "on spec" when they're pretty and interesing (and inexpensive!) The frame opening is only 5 1/2" square and is about 1 1/4" deep. I've been wanting to work on three-dimensional assemblages (Joseph Cornell's work has inspired me) and layering colors and textures. So, cool new word in hand, I jumped in.

I had scraps of illustration board leftover from making collagraph plates, so I cut those down to fit the frames. I painted layers of washes of paint on the illustration board (and forgot to take a picture) and then tore and glued down pieces from an Italian newspaper.

After the glue was dry, I painted a wash of cream acrylic paint over each board and then stamped designs over everything with more of the same diluted paint.

The cream wash toned everything down and the stamps added visual texture and interest. Next I glued on a few paper mesh squares and strips, and found object papers and letters.

Right now I'm waiting for the paint to dry on the little shelf supports that I cut to fit in each frame. I'll take more pictures when the shelves are attached to the boards and I start auditioning found objects to place on them.

Oh, and a person who makes bricolages is a bricoleur - wouldn't that look great on a business card?

Quilters TV

2009-06-24T08:38:00.003-04:00

Ellen Lumpkin Brown caught up with Elin and me at the C&T Publishing booth at Spring Quilt Market in Pittsburgh in May. She taped us doing a couple of demos from our book, Art Quilts at Play and the interview is now playing on Quilters TV.

Art in the Studio

2009-06-13T12:22:00.004-04:00

I can't post anything that I've made lately (top secret and all that jazz), so I thought I'd show you some of the beautiful pieces I've been fortunate enough to acquire lately. I love how wonderful they look matted and framed, I love how well they work together, and I love how simpatico they all are with the string of birds Elin gave me years ago. A bright happy corner in my studio.

The piece on the top is an ACEO by Lisa Call - you have to see one of these in person, the detail and workmanship are astonishing. The middle piece is by the delightful and lovely Mati McDonough, I adore its positive, fresh, fun and bubbly vibe. And the bottom piece is by the incomparable Liz Berg. I've been hankering after one of hers for eons and was fortunate enough to get this during the recent Collage Mania.

Back to work, and as soon as I can, I'll show you what I've been up to!

Postcards from the edge

2009-06-09T22:28:00.005-04:00

Okay, maybe not from the edge, but some days are more interesting than others. Still transitioning into a whole new life, still trying to find structure and organization in the midst of change and still trying to get caught up, but I'm getting there.

I'm knocking things off my list and working toward some big deadlines. I have a wonderful group of people signed up for the June Printmaking for Art Quilters workshop next weekend.

And I've nearly finished the postcards that I owe to some very patient people. Postmark'd Art, the fantastic postcard group that I've belonged to for the past 4-5 years, had a theme of mixed media this spring and I used Loteria cards to create mine. Of course, I couldn't just mixed the media, I mixed the cultures too. The red stamp is one that my brother brought back for me from a trip to China. It's really beautiful, I love the scale of it with the Mexican loteria cards.

And to mix more culture in here, I finished a really good book last night, Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah, about his youth in Sierra Leone during the civil war. It was hard to read because of the subject matter but the honesty of the author made it very worthwhile. I highly recommend it.

Summer Workshops

2009-05-20T21:44:00.004-04:00

I'm excited to announce that I'll be offering workshops in our barn this summer. We're located about an hour north of NYC in Fairfield County, Connecticut. I have a list of local hotels, including a couple of charming B&Bs on or near our completely authentic New England Main Street, if you're coming from a distance and need to stay overnight (and one hotel to warn you away from, lol).

Each two-day workshop is offered on a Friday and Saturday, in June, July and August. We'll be working on a variety of printmaking techniques, both by hand and with printing equipment (hello, etching press!) You'll create a lot of fabric that you can incorporate into future art quilts and you'll have a fantastic time doing it! We'll even feed you lunch and snacks each day. I hope you can join me!

This summer's sessions are: June 19 & 20, July 17 & 18 or Aug 14 & 15. If you need more info, please email me.

PS: The June session is filling fast -- just so's ya knows.

Pittsburgh and back again

2009-05-18T10:41:00.006-04:00

Life has been a little busy lately! I've been madly dashing from one event/signing/class/show/something to the next since the store closed on March 31. Last week was International Quilt Market in Pittsburgh. I was there at the behest of C&T Publishing for the release of Art Quilts at Play. My co-author, Elin Waterston, and I signed books (at the Checker Distributors and United Notions booths), spoke to scads of people about it, taught a workshop on one of the techniques, demonstrated a few more in the C&T booth, taped a demo and an interview plus I had a booth as the Country Quilter. My mom and I had four new patterns between us and were busy connecting with old and new customers.

at the C&T booth

at the United Notions booth

Of all of the convention centers I've been to (quite a few), my favorite architecturally is the David L Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh. The food there was really awful, the hotel was terrible (Sheraton Station Square), but the convention center was gorgeous.

Country Quilter booth

I met a lot of internet friends - from different lists and from Facebook - isn't that the best? It was a wonderful week, although it's really good to be home! No more traveling or running for a while, time to catch up to myself.

Fern magic

2009-04-24T21:47:00.003-04:00

The ferns are coming up in the woods and garden, unfurling and uncurling. Can't you just imagine magical little creatures living under them?

I've done several series of quilts based on ferns and feel another one coming on. I'm waiting for some of the chaos to subside and my head to be quieter and then I'll hit the studio. The forced inaction is frustrating, but I'm looking forward to a hyper-productive period this summer. June, she chants, June.

April flowers

2009-04-15T22:11:00.005-04:00

Spring has sprung, the bulbs I planted last fall are up and most are blooming. There's a whole patch of "surprise" bulbs (I forgot what I planted, gotta write it down next time, oof).

Even in the midst of nutso packing for Quilt Festival in Chicago, I did a little decorating for Easter dinner. A couple of bouquets of flowers, a pretty floral fabric...

... and small sparkly chicks!

Upcoming...

2009-04-10T10:52:00.005-04:00

Coming up - lots of events and traveling and teaching!

Next week I'll be in Chicago for International Quilt Festival. I'll be vending in the mixed-media section as Flourish-Country Quilter. I'll be teaching a Make It University workshop on Friday afternoon (1:30 - 2:30) on collage pendant necklaces and then demonstrating in the Open Studios section both Friday and Saturday from 2:45 to 4:45. Please stop by and say hi!

Saturday, April 25th from 12 - 3 pm will find both me and Elin at Elm Street Books in New Canaan CT for a book signing and talk about art quilts. We'll be signing both Art Quilt Workbook and Art Quilts at Play. Elm Street Books is a gem of a bookstore, one of the last great independent booksellers in our area. They bring in lots of authors for signings and host lots of interesting events. I'd love to have a really big turnout for our signing - we aren't as mainstream as Calvin Trillin (a recent author there), but I like to think that our readers are just as dedicated.

Saturday and Sunday, May 2-3 is the quilt show in Somers, put on by the Northern Star Quilter's Guild. I'll be vending all weekend and demoing on Saturday afternoon. This is a fantastic show with something for everyone. It's on the train line from Manhattan and an easy drive from anywhere in the tri-state area (NY-NJ-CT).

And Saturday, May 23, I'll be at the City Quilter in NYC teaching a workshop on self-expression quilts. You'll learn a variety of direct and indirect photo-transfer techniques and lots about composition and design as you make a small art quilt that expresses you.

A busy, busy spring!

Sew Fetching

2009-04-07T21:35:00.006-04:00

So I'm going to be a proud mama for a minute and tell you about my daughter, Samantha. She just posted photos to her etsy store and has been working her tail off on adorable products for your furry friends. She makes gorgeous pet collars, toys and bedding for dogs, cats and ferrets. She's started stocking her store and has much more to come. She makes the cutest things -- fun, colorful and happy!

I love that she loves to sew and make and create. It's fun hanging out in the studio with her, each working on our own things with a convivial, creative hum and banter. Sometimes while we're making stuff we watch dvds and try to get caught up with "our" shows (Lost marathon, anyone?), other times we watch chick flicks, but mostly we tease and talk and chat and giggle and laugh. The best of times!

She's been sewing on a machine since she was five, knew how to use Wonder Under at four, and designed her own stuffed critters from age six on. She jumps in to everything with enthusiasm and verve, confident that she can realize her vision.

We applied for a really cool indie craft show in June and just found out that we didn't get in (boo), so now we'll look around for somewhere else to hawk our wares this summer. Can't pass up the idea of showing and selling together.

Simple Arts Podcast

2009-03-30T10:41:00.006-04:00

When I was teaching in Asilomar at the Empty Spools seminar a couple of weeks ago, I had the great pleasure of meeting Annie Smith, podcaster extraordinaire. She interviewed me one evening and we really hit it off. You can head to her website to listen to the podcast and hear us chatting about art and quilting and life and everything. Please leave a comment for me here - I'll be giving away a copy of my new book, Art Quilts at Play, on Wednesday, April 1st (no fooling!)

So you can follow along, in the podcast I talk about the books I've written with Elin Waterston, the shop that my mom and I opened in 1990 (that will continue as an internet store) and my husband's artwork.

UPDATE: The winner of the free book is "sewjoe"! Please contact me with your mailing address and I'll get an autographed copy of Art Quilts at Play right out to you. Thank you everyone for your very kind comments! And thank you Annie for the opportunity to talk to your listeners!

Workshop at Sew Inspired

2009-03-20T08:26:00.003-04:00

Elin Waterston and I will each be teaching a workshop at Sew Inspired Quilt Shop in Simsbury CT on Saturday April 4th. We'll also be signing copies of our new book, Art Quilts at Play from 1-2 pm.

Elin is teaching Artist Trading Cards with Angelina fibers, painted fusibles and Shiva Paintstiks from 10am - 1pm and I'll be teaching Fiber Art Postcards with Tsukineko inks, metallic foil and gel medium transfers from 2-5 pm.

Hope to see you there!

Auspicious beginnings and endings

2009-03-13T07:29:00.004-04:00

Happy Friday the 13th to me! The picture above is of me as a mere babe (of course, I'd like to think I'm still a babe, lol) and my mom outside of the house of one set of grandparents in Queens NY. Today we're both a number of years older, but no less cute than we were then. I think it's auspicious that, on the cusp of re-inventing myself for the next phase of my life, my birthday once again falls on a Friday.

Mom and I have worked together for the last 18 1/2 years at the shop we opened in 1990, The Country Quilter. What a ride it has been! We've seen trends and fads come and go, we started our own pattern design business, we've taught hundreds and hundreds of quilters and we've a blast doing it all. We've never had an argument or serious disagreement - which, if you had seen us doing my teenage years, you wouldn't believe. My mom is an inspiration and it's a joy to work with her. She and my dad are now retiring and planning to spend a lot of time at their house on the lake in the Adirondacks, traveling, and enjoying each other and the family. Richly deserved and highly anticipated!

So, this left me at a crossroads and I decided to take the path less traveled, the journey less certain. The shop closes in two weeks and I start a new chapter in my life. I will be expanding our online business of art quilting supplies, continuing our pattern business and exploring new avenues in teaching, writing and designing. Very exciting and a little bit scary all at once.

I am looking forward to being at home on Saturdays, not having had weekends off in nearly two decades. I'm also looking forward to having more time for art, family and friends, and to being open to whatever comes next. Stay tuned!

An afternoon at the aquarium

2009-03-08T11:35:00.005-04:00

As a special treat, Tracey Brookshier took me to the Monterey Bay Aquarium after we finished teaching on Friday. What a feast for the eyes! The aquarium is famous for its jellyfish exhibits and rightly so. I need to go back with my good camera, the jellies are hard to photograph with a point-and-shoot.

I found myself completely captivated with a tank of sea anemone. The colors were amazing. I feel a new series coming on...

Some of the pictures I took were disappointingly blurry - the leafy sea dragons (unbelievably cool and surreal-looking), the river and sea otters, and the sand dollars (we stared at these a long time while they moved in s l o w motion) so I'll need to try again next time. We bumped into some of my students who were practicing their observational skills at the aquarium before their flight home.

After we had our fill of the fishies, we headed to Cha-ya, a Japanese tea, art and antique store in an old part of Monterey, where I found origami paper, small dragonfly dishes, a couple of pretty chirimen bags and a tiny metal jizō statue (that caused my luggage to be searched at security the next day, I guess it looked more menacing in the x-ray machine than it does in real life!) Then on to an art supply store for a paper fix, gorgeous handmade paper with Thai writing on it, a vintage-looking map and more handmade paper with newspaper inclusions. And finally back to Tracey's house for a home-cooked meal with her family. All in all, a fantastic ending to a fantastic week.

A week in paradise

2009-03-08T11:05:00.005-04:00

Last week I taught at the Empty Spools Seminar in Asilomar, California. Despite the chilly, rainy weather, it's a magical place. The ocean is a very short walk from the conference center, is visible from many vantage points and the sound of the surf is omnipresent. It was a very inspiring setting for a very creative week.

The dining hall where everyone on campus gathered for meals. The speed with which they feed hundreds and hundreds of people is astounding.

Just beyond the dining hall is the boardwalk to the dunes and trails. Beautiful even in the grey drizzle.

There are warning signs along the trail to watch out for mountain lions and advice about what to do if confronted with one. I memorized the sign but didn't need to use the advice, phew. There were a lot of crows and racoons, and many almost tame deer wandering about.

My classroom was a cosy building standing by itself, filled with courageous, talented women. We had a wonderful week filled with art and laughter.

It didn't rain the entire week, one morning there was a gorgeous rainbow above the dunes.

The first day I was there my friend, Franki Kohler, and I went to Pacific Grove for lunch and shopping. This is the town where the monarch butterflies gathered by the tens of thousands every year during their migration. A sculpture in front of the post office:

Walking back from an exhibit at the art center I spied these gulls hanging out on top of a car and it struck me as funny.

Wednesday night a bunch of the teachers went to dinner on Cannery Row - Tracey Brookshier, Lura Schwarz Smith and Kerby Smith, Reynola Pakusich, Marcia Stein, Annie Smith and I feasted on seafood and cheesecake.

I'll be back next year during the July session and I'm really looking forward to it!

A group exhibition - in the truest sense

2009-03-01T13:32:00.004-05:00

FIBER + THREAD = ART

If you like art quilts and you find yourself in the NY metropolitan area next weekend, there's a marvelous show opening at the Mahopac Library. The group of art quilters who meet at the Country Quilter are putting on a group exhibtion that has truly been a group project. Together the group decided on a title for the show, the size range of the pieces, cohesive mounting of the art, specific pieces for the postcard and much more. We had a discussion about writing artist statements, a digital photography demonstration, and a mass attachment of art to canvas and application of screw eyes and wire for hanging. It's been a very rewarding experience and everyone has gotten to see firsthand what goes into mounting an exhibition - from contacting a gallery, to sending out press releases, to organizing the reception. We hope you can come!

Let's get this party started!

2009-02-20T06:58:00.005-05:00

Tomorrow is the big release party and book signing for Art Quilts at Play, the new book that Elin Waterston and I have written for C&T Publishing.

Please join us at the Country Quilter in Somers, NY from 1-4 pm for the celebration!

If you can't make it and you'd like to have your own party, you can order an autographed copy here.

We'll have an exhibit of a lot of the quilts from the book, great snacks, good music and as a bonus, the retirement sale is in full swing at the shop. A number of the contributing artists will be there and, of course, your favorite Most Inspirational authors - me and Elin!

Almost...

2009-02-18T19:14:00.006-05:00

The new office area in the barn studio is nearly complete. Sometimes I think I should have been an interior designer, the decorating part of any project really floats my boat (bad metaphor, I get seasick really easily, but you know what I mean). Or, putting my reno and carpentry skills together with the decorating, a contestant on one of those reality shows where you get two days, $100, half a sheet of plywood, six old planks of knotty pine, two rubber bands and one copy of the Sunday New York Times to make over a room. I would totally rock that.

This project did involve trips to Ikea, Home Depot, Lowe's and an office supply store, and didn't involve any rubber bands, but it still looks hot. The shelves on the other side of the room are getting containers and labels. I need another trip to Ikea to finish it up.

And yeah, it's snowing again. Even with the snow, the view is better with the window.

More art, another collage made in December:

pescados musicales

Ch-ch-ch-changes

2009-02-15T20:16:00.005-05:00

Lots of stuff going on, lots of changes happening and lots of time being eaten by said stuff and changes, which leaves little time for art. So, I'm going to distract you from the fact that I haven't posted a new Loteria collage in a while with some art I haven't shown yet.

las peras verdes

This is a mixed-media collage mounted on bristol board, using more of the mini-pear prints from last summer.

And this is a quick peek at one of the distractions in my life right now - another reno project, this time in Carlos' studio.

We decided that the shed attached to his studio would benefit from the addition of a window, among other things. Of course, there's always more to a project than that.

First I needed to clean everything out of the room and paint. I like to visualize things in advance (and I'm impatient), hence the blue tape to see where the window will go.

A quick trip to Ikea with a very focused list netted us some extra-tall shelves to create an impressive amount of storage along one wall of the room. I love Ikea.

Today we put in the new window and tomorrow, after the foamy, squirty insulation is dry and shaved down and the moulding is added, I'll take photos from inside. This is a picture from outside and in looking at it closely, I'd better add "paint the barn" to my To Do list for the Spring. Ignore the air conditioner lounging on the shed roof. It's a long story involving two ladders, a long rope, colorful words in several languages, rodent offspring and a slight miscommunication...

Have you noticed that when life-changing events are taking place that you have difficulty producing art? I certainly do. It isn't even a matter of having the time or desire, but rather the mental, emotional and creative energy necessary. So, a fallow and frustrating time.

El Violoncello

2009-01-29T08:11:00.002-05:00

Lotería Collage Project

18 El Violoncello (the cello)

My project got slightly derailed by a weekend away and an overload at work, but I'm getting back on track now. Next week I hope to start the matting and framing of some of the pieces, after a trip to Ikea. They have a marvelous 10" square frame that will be perfect.

News about books

2009-01-23T07:50:00.010-05:00

Art Quilts at Play, my new book written with Elin Waterston for C&T Publishing is now available. If you'd like an autographed copy you can order one from me here. The book is gorgeous, the designer and all of the folks at C&T did a knock-out job. I've been furiously packing up all of the books for people who pre-ordered a copy and should be caught up soon.

In other news, our first book, Art Quilt Workbook, was voted the Most Inspirational Book by the readers of Quilters Newsletter magazine in the latest issue. What an honor!

Sam's cool project

2009-01-19T22:43:00.004-05:00

So the big project that Sam started on Thanksgiving is finally finished. It's actually been done for a while and I didn't get around to posting the pictures. It's really remarkable!

She found a really neat pattern for a cat bed and decided to make it for her ferret, Paisley (good name, right?) It was quite an adventure, starting with an egregious error on the supply list. It called for 12 feet of 24" wide by 1" thick upholstery foam. There are places in the construction where you would be sewing five layers of this foam together. Wasn't gonna happen. Of course we didn't discover this until we had spent nearly $80 on the foam and she cut out all the pieces. Headliner fabric worked perfectly though. Anyone want a whole bunch of weird shapes cut out of 1" foam? We can hook you up...

She picked fabric from my stash and made hers a Rainbow Trout. I think it looks amazing. The mouth is the opening to the bed, the whole inside of the fish is hollow (and lined), the fins are quilted and the eyes are styrofoam balls cut in half with pupils painted on.

It's huge - nearly 30" from pouty lips to flirty tail. And Paisley loves it.

El Bandolon

2009-01-19T22:35:00.005-05:00

Lotería Collage Project

17 El Bandolon (the mandolin)