New Showcase in Saskatoon

I love gettin' things done.  LOVE IT.  Today I delivered a pile of threadpaintings and 40 new Prairie Postcards to the Sask Craft Council Boutique.

813 Broadway Avenue, Saskatoon

They're stocking up inventory for the you-know-what season.  ; )  I shipped another work of art off to an event.  I delivered some art to customers.  I restocked my Etsy Shop with postcard supplies & art.

Then this afternoon, I hung six framed embroideries on the walls at True Potential Health Services on 8th Street in Saskatoon for the offices of Dr. Jacqui Fleury, ND and her team.

#3 - 1810 8th Street East, Saskatoon SK

I met Jacqui 16 years ago when I was pregnant with my first.  I was a new patient and I thought she was amazing.  We've continued to stay in touch by coincidence, but maybe that's meant to be. She moved her practice not too long ago to a new space 8th Street, in the same parking lot as Dad's Nutrition / Organic Market and Bakery.  We see each other on Facebook, and this summer she asked if I would like to display my art in her offices.  WOW.  Yes, of course!  I went to visit and was thrilled to find lovely colourful walls.   I started to dream up what I would want to put in there and got to getting things framed.  Finally this afternoon, I was able to bring my work in and put it all up.

the front waiting room

Here are closeups of the two fibre art works that I have up over the chairs.  They are available for purchase but not at the clinic.  Anyone interested is asked to contact the artist directly.  Also, I am happy to ship world wide, so these pieces are not limited to being purchased by local folks.  I will be adding them to my website under, 'Available Artworks'.  I can go to the clinic at any time to pick up and ship art, and replace with new work.

click on image to view larger

That was one of Jacqui's favourites.  It's entirely hand stitched, 8x10 inches, framed under glass to 12x14".

The next one was part of the SCC's 40th Exhibition over the summer.  It is also available directly from me, but on display at True Potential Health Services.

And Roadside is still available as well.  It was hanging at Handmade House for the summer.  I had some pouts when I took it out for Jacqui, but it looks so good on her soft brown wall.

The photo doesn't do the art or the space or the wall colour justice, but there you have it.  Here's the close up image of the yarn embroidery, also available.

There are a few more, but they are in patient exam rooms.  So, what do you think?  : )  I feel so fortunate to have been given this opportunity.

I also have little yarn embroideries to add to Handmade House, along with more mini threadpaintings.  I'll be in there for my Friday shift, eagerly anticipating heading to the quilt show right after.  BUSY WEEK, yes indeed.  I will have to go with my littlest to the Prairie Ink Restaurant and listen to some music before bed on Friday night.  That's always a treat for us, and I could use the evening to celebrate.

Have a terrific day.  And THANK YOU again Dr. Fleury!  If you would like to learn more about her practice, she has a WEBSITE with a wonderful introductory video.

New Embroideries

I've been stitching and working at Handmade House and stitching and working at Handmade House.  I took a big plunge into more yarn embroideries.  After hanging out with the painters, I really wanted to push myself with the yarns and approach it like painting.  I had some variegated balls of yarn and took them apart, winding and twisting them into smaller skeins.  Then I had them all out before me and slowly put some pieces together based on some favourite images of mine.

September Winds, 2015

I finished off several in the last week.  They aren't framed.  I'm not sure what I'll do them.  Isn't that always the dilemma!?  Still, they were a wonderful personal challenge.  I did my best to keep it loose and chunky, and not get to perfect.  I really like how colourful they are!

Avens, 2015

Those pink blobs are from a photo I took at my friend Bernie's.  They open up into fluffs called, 'Prairie Smoke'.  The whole patch of them give the impression of smoke on the ground.  I'm not sure you can make it out.  I've been keeping this photo for a couple years now, waiting for the right moment.  This seemed like it.  The embroidery is busy, but I like it.  On the black background, it feels like an oil pastel.

The last one I want to show you was from a grove at Bridget's acreage.  We were standing on the hill taking in the big view when I looked down into the trees and say the yellow just glowing in the shadows!  I loved it so much.  And so...  I stitched it.

The blue/periwinkle blobs are meant to represent asters.  I wasn't planning on putting them in, but I think it really added to bring the piece to life.  These are all small, likely as big as you see them on your screen.   Well... whether you like them or not, they were a terrific experience for me.  Each blended streak of yarn just stitched itself out like a brushstroke thick with paints.  Let me know what you think, and maybe I'll show you more.  ; )

Always a work in progress!

Yarn Speak

Earlier in the year, I did a project article for the UK Embroidery Guild's Stitch magazine entitled, Letting the Yarn Speak.  It was about stitching with variegated yarns and changing the stitch when the colour changed - literally letting the yarn dictate the stitches.  I've done a few samples, inspired by an experiment I did that ended up in the Prairies show with Focus on Fibre Arts last spring.  With the end of my grant deadline fast approaching, I suddenly BURST with the desire to do just one more embroidery...

I'm so happy I did!  It's 8 inches / 20cm square.  It consists of seed stitches, and three knots: blue French Knots and Colonial knots, and yellow Sorbello Knots.

It's a good size (ignore the oversized pen there, it's throwing off the perspective!).  It's really quite full of texture too!

I just want to JUMP RIGHT IN!  ; )

I had a fun time photographing it's lusciousness!  : )  Stitching it took a long, long long many days.  Using these yarns was no nice though.  Each stitch was like a swoosh of blended paint.

I had originally stitched the top third of it with single French Knots of yellow, and decided it was horrid.  I cut them all out.  I changed to these big Sorbello Knots which look much less boring.

plus... yellow rhymed with sorbello.  lol

It doesn't have a name yes, and won't be framed for a couple weeks.  But... ta-da!  : ) I don't know if these images do it justice.  I am really proud of it, and proud of myself for not tossing it half way through.  In hand stitching, the 'ugly phase' seems to drag on a bit.  I perservered!

Next project, I plan to set a timer each time I sit to work to see how long these things really take.  : )  I'm really proud of this new body of work.  I have a couple pieces at HandMade House and last week I got the most wonderful reactions.  It's exciting to be there when it happens!  This one might just end up in Handmade House unless it gets snapped up beforehand.  My new work is moving pretty fast so if you ever see something you like, just say so.  Otherwise, I'll let you know when the next show & sale is.  There's one in September just outside of Saskatoon.

Enjoy the summer!
xo

Another Crewel Landscape in the Works

Thanks for all the well wishes everyone!  I've bounced back.  I lost a week, but got lots of stitching done.  I have been wrapping up the art I showed you on Sunday.  Oh my.  It's a LOT of stitching.  I loved every second of it.  Bear with me.  It's totally experimental.  Here's how it all started.  I had this photo last year on my cell phone.  I took it just before winter came along while heading back out of Sutherland Beach park one morning.

crappy cell phone pic of a beautiful moment

Back at home, I took out my pan pastels and picked out my favourite darks, lights and colours from the image above.  I tried to be loose and impressionistic like I was going for after taking the En Plein Air workshop with Bobbi Clackson-Walker.  (See Bobbi!?  You really inspired me!)

It felt amazing to do this.  I always aim for detail.  This really has none.  As I was painting it slowly. I noticed how the touches of colour off the applicator looked like squares or diamond shapes.  I have always loved geometrics.  I think that is what attracts me to cross stitch or the close up of some crewel work.  If you stitch 'satin stitch' of just a few fat stitches side by side, you get a square or diamond.  I have seen beautiful cross hatched embroideries in very, very old library books with the EAC.  I just love that look so much.

And so.  That is what I was going for when I posted on Sunday.  I was recreating my pastel art with fat yarn and one giant needle.

days and days and days later

It's not quite done.  I want to add some more 'leaning' and movement in the lower portion.  I'm considering incorporating some of the stalks I wisked in for the pastel version.  I have been rummaging through my stash looking for the right colour.  It can't be too distracting.  I love how the blues and greys look within the art and I'm thinking of using something similar to this, but maybe softer.

I don't know that it had turned out exactly as I had planned, but this combination of colour was so exciting to work with.  Likely - it was that bright chartreuse, love of my life.  : )  It just makes that orange highlighting kick.  Kazowee!

Thank you for looking.  I don't know if this is a style I will continue to explore, but I sure enjoyed the hand painting nature of it.

Have a great day!
xo

Linking to WIP Wednesday @ TN&TN

Sunday Snapshots

Working from a soft pastel sketch of Sutherland Beach...

lights and darks

in-betweens and reds

fat yarn stitches like thick paint brushes

I can't wait to tell you the story behind this one!  : )  You'll have to wait until the big finish.

Happy Sunday!

Secrets of a Fibre Artist

It's been a while since I've shown any process photos, so I thought you might like to see my latest.  Just don't tell anyone!  I have this wonderful vision in my head of what I want it to be, but I'm struggling with carrying it through.  I'm not exactly sure how to achieve what I'm aiming for so it's all learn-as-I-go.  

It all began with a scarf.  I'm not even kidding.  Here it is.

I discovered it at a thrift store and immediately thought, 'ploughed field'.  

PLOUGH.  My spell check says I'm doing it wrong, but I'm sure I am not.  (Am I?)  

Eventually I told myself, 'Gross. Who knows where this scarf has been.'  I began to leave the store.  I was almost out the door when the regret of leaving it behind was too much.  'Wait!  I can wash it. Yes. Okay. I am getting it.'  And so I did.

About a week later, my husband and I were returning home from Sutherland Beach (an off leash dog park in the city) when I spied that field.  I pulled over and grabbed my husband's cell phone, ran out and snapped a few pictures.  Obviously, the fence was in the way, but eventually I managed to climb a little snowbank and was able to reach up over to get more images.

Yeah - I know... not exactly art-worthy.  But I saw the frozen puddles and the stubble of what was last year's corn field here and thought I might like to try it out.  That scarf was just the thing.  I went home and played with the images until I came up with this:

you should be able to click on this to view it larger

I like that.  And though my finished piece will not be a carbon copy of the photo edit, I think it's the perfect inspiration for the original idea I had.  I'm going to work on a closer view of this.

So... I chopped up the scarf and felted it a bit by hand to create a background.  It's all hooked up on my scroll frame & stand.  I've been very slowly working on it for many days, but only for short intervals at a time because I really do not know what I'm doing.  Every once in a while, I still see a scarf and so I needle felt it down a little more.  Still, the bumps and lumps are good the way they fall into rows like the old corn field did.

The section I have is a couple feet wide, so it will take a lot of stitching to fill it up.  It's fun though!  I have so many yarns now that having the right colours, sheens, and sizes is pretty likely.  That makes the job much easier.

So far, I have stitched into the earth a bit more to refine some of it.  I used a shiny icy blue & white to stitch the frozen puddles.  I will pull some of the icy colour out and add more blue in some spots.  It needs to be more wet looking.  The silver flecks in the scarf are terrific though!  I have lots of dry looking yellowish beige yarns that will be great for the stubble.  So far, so good.  (p.s. this is very difficult to photograph.)

in progress, lots more to do

I'm really glad now that I didn't leave the thrift store without that scarf.  Maybe I'm more embarrassed admitting to you that I chopped up and mashed a scarf into my art.  lol  Ah well.

Wish me luck!  This will be the fourth piece that is part of the SK Arts Board Grant project.  *** I'm not showing you #3 because I think it was a bit of a flop.  I actually took a pair of scissors and hacked out about 150 French Knots.  I'll chalk it up as an abstract.  ;)

Finished it Friday - Earth & Heather

Here you go!  It is done.  : )

It's quite large.  I can't wait to see it matted and framed.  No glass.  It will likely have a dark linen mat.  This is a BIG piece.  It measures 15 inches by 6 inches / 38cm x 15cm.  Once matted and framed, it will be quite a substantial size for the wall.

This is the second finish for the SK Arts Board grant project.  If you click on it, you may be able to view it a little larger.  These long embroideries I have made look quite different when viewed vertically!  They take on a more contemporary feel.  That happened during the jurying process with Where Sunlight Falls.   I turned it vertically and they went, 'Woooooo!!!!" lol.  It was a totally different take than seeing it in traditional landscape mode.

I'm going to turn it here for you so that you can see how it feels different.  Of course, the choice of matting and framing will change how it feels significantly.

When I created it, it was made with the horizontal orientation in mine.  hmmm...  We shall see.

: )

Thanks for popping by everyone!  See you soon,

Spreading My Wings

The good thing about blogging half as often is that I'm creative twice as much.  I have such a full year.  I've been enjoying the new body of work I'm creating through the Sask Arts Board grant.  It's a whole project of larger pieces, all hand done.  This one is nearing completion.

The Earth & Heather piece I showed you earlier happens to be rolled up on the same frame, so as soon as I am finished this, I can scroll to the other piece and add the silk ribbon I planned on.  I didn't want it to crush it when rolling it again to move to this piece.  I won't be taking it off the frame until both are all done.  I did it that way, thinking I would save time by not having to set up the whole thing with a new background cloth.  Silly me.

I took an afternoon off to run some errands and stopped in at Prairie Lily Knitting.  I FOUND THIS.

SWOOOOOOON.  I don't know why but these colours are completely knocking my socks off.  I think it's the hot orange in there!  Charlene asked, "What are you going to do with that?"  I smiled, "Art."  In fact, I have just the piece that I'm going to work on.  Hopefully it will be a little more impressionistic again.  Oooh I just love this.  And there is even some sparkle in it!!!

my photo from the first year of this blog.  xo

I have several moody photos like the one above with all the colours of that delicious yarn.  Most are around sloughs or flooded ditches lined with autumn bullrushes.  Sweet Sweet Sweet.  ***Just a reminder that I use my photos as a basis for my art, so please do not print them out for your own use.

Since I'm on the topic of experimentation, I have a show booked in Melfort at the Shervin Smith Gallery with Ken Wilkinson, a ceramic artist.  I met him when I had my show at Handmade House.  I had been on the lookout for prairie themed pottery that I could have an exhibit with. He said yes.  Since then, we've been more interested in collaborating, so it's not just 'my art here, his art there'. Isn't that cool?  Ceramic and stitch.  I think that's a perfect fit for the 2015 Year of Craft.

It's fun to meet with him and watch as all these ideas pop into our heads.  If it were a retro cartoon, you'd see POOF!  SHAZAM!  and EUREEKA! showing up in bright colours all over the room.  I don't know if we will pull the collaborated part off, but it's amazing to be flooded with new ideas. On the creation end, I'd say I'm failing miserably at incorporating his work into mine.  I'll keep at 'er!  Here, I have tried my hand at creating a vessel.  I made the rope by combining yarns and stitching them to construct metres of rope. Then I did the coil thing by machine.  It was really enjoyable, but I think the next one will be hand woven.

We will have my art, his art, and then some collaborative pieces as well.  The show has been booked for the month of May 2015. That's coming up!   I have a LONG long way to go. Wish us luck!

Those Beautiful Ditches

I've been quietly dreaming, and quietly stitching though this busy month.

I've been keeping my distance from blogging.  Here's why.  I have a new laptop and I'm finding it extremely difficult to trust.  The screen is so high res & the brightest one in the shop, but here back at home, it's greyish pinkish even at it's brightest setting.  I have it hooked up to a larger monitor to edit images and see them properly, but what a pain. (Stupid dumb laptop, why did ya have to die on me!?)  The more I read, the more I find that this is in fact what photographers have to do.  I'm still shaking my head at it all, as my last 2 laptops were brilliantly bright and perfectly set for colours.  Why can't I still have it like that?   I thought technology would improve, but I guess it's these thinner screens?

So - I feel like blogging is now one huge chore.  Ah well.  Maybe I'm just getting set in my ways.  lol On my laptop, the light yarns on the left of the above photo look like a dark mustard... maybe a hin of orange in them.  On my big old monitor the same yarns look like a bright chartreuse, almost flourescent lime yellow.  what does yoru monitor show?  And if anyone knows of a good online test screen for setting colours, please share the link.  I can't be the only one needing this.

You know... the old VCR still works of course.  Of course.

Off my rant.  Back to my embroidery.  (Thanks for listening.)

I started this large piece last July at the NB Handcraft Festival.  I worked at it some more in August where my son and I were doing public demonstrations.  It's been a slow go of it.  It's inspired by a ditch of alfalfa.  I was stuck because of not having the right colours.  Since then I've got a few wonderful bundles of yarn skeins and so I thought I should get back at it.

I think it's quite beautiful now.  The colours make me so happy.  I love the background very much.  I used those fantastic yarns from Prairie Lily Knitting - those greens & blues that I put in Where Sunlight Falls.  The foreground and flowers need more stitching, but at lat least now I am past the ugly phase and seeing the potential in this.

I'm so happy with it, in fact, that I will show you the backside.  : )  It's huge by the way, 14" x 8" or so without matting.

Have a great week everyone!

linking up to WIP Wednesday on TN&TN

Enjoying the Process

Here's something you might not have seen yet.  It's inspired by images of heather I noticed in the background of an ad in a waiting room fashion magazine.  (I know... it's so not me).  However, I was smitten with the contrast of the pops of pink on such heavily shaded ground.  I could not stop thinking about those colours!  I headed for the studio and I pulled out a large section of black felt.  It's one of those things you keep but you don't know why.  Thank goodness I hung on to it!  I began stitching into it with black yarn to create texture.  Crazy, right?  It's loaded with seed stitches.  I added some gorgeous dyed curls that were a gift from a student (THANK YOU!!) and began little rows of French Knots in various pink cottons and silks.  I don't know if it's emulating heather perfectly, but I'm okay with that.  I stitched and I stitched.  The curls are needle felted in place.  I'm not exactly sure what this will look like when I'm done, but I have some ideas of how to incorporate silk ribbon into this.  It's somewhat experimental but I do have a vision for it.  And I AM enjoying this!

It feels good to spread my wings.  This is quite a big piece still in progress.  It is in the style of my 'Where Sunlight Falls'.  Deep shadows and bright highlights all done by hand of a ditch.  This won't but for sale right away.  It is part of my new body of work that I'm establishing thanks to the SK Arts Board grant.  (My contract asked to kindly promote that, so here you go...)

thank you!

I intend to create a whole new batch of work in the next several months thanks to this support.

AND guess what!?  Our Prairie in Fibre opens in ONE WEEK!   :)   I'll be spending time at the gallery mid-week to open up all the pieces that have been sent in.  From the bottom of my heart, thank you to all the artists involved in this show.  I am thrilled to be able to see all that amazing work in person.  Yes - I am enjoying the process of curating.  I promise to make up an artist list and link to their websites so you can peek around and enjoy.  PLEASE feel free to copy and paste this promotional poster below as it is intended for sharing.  : )

Prairie inspired Felting, Hooking, Crochet, Quilting, Knitting, Weaving, Embroidery
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Wall art - Sculptural - Wearable - Video Installation

One last thing - a bit of housekeeping.  If you look at the top tabs on my page, you'll see some things have changed.  My CV is linked off of 'About the Artist' and a new tab is there with information on how to purchase.

Have a great weekend everyone : )
Thanks for stopping by.