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!

Step Back in Time

One year ago I took this photograph out at Cranberry Flats.  Well, truth be told, I took nearly one hundred images!  It was a really good time of year for finding treasures.  I really loved the sweetness, curiousity, and closeness of this one.

The night before the my first annual Open Studio last October, I stitched out this one.  It's small at 3x5 inches... but it seemed the perfect size for the way I felt about that moment.  It's all free machine stitched with the exception of the French Knots.

This summer, I thought how nice it would to hand stitch a larger version.  So I started.  I picked a different crop of the same footpath at a closer view to make it more intimate.  (Isn't it pretty!?)  And after many days, I thought loudly to myself, 'WHAT WAS I THINKING!?' That is a lot of stitching.  I worked and I worked and contemplated how ridiculous this is if it doesn't work out.

But - you know me.  I finished it 'enough' in time to photograph for the grant project.

I'm not done.  I'm going to take out some of the long grasses and redo them with a lighter, brighter colour. It will add a little more curve to the path too.  My favourite part of my photo is the long whispy grasses that are hanging over the path.  The colours are off but I did what I could with what I had.  Other than that, I think it has the feel I wanted.  I suppose I should introduce this as a work in progress.

This is about 8 inches by 11 inches.  My favourite part of it is the sage clumps that are buried in the grasses.  They are clusters of French Knots.  Can you pick them out?  there's a lot of layering in this piece.  One more day and I should be done.  I'm looking forward to getting all my hand work framed before the month is over.

There you have it.  Next on my plate is 2 commissions that have been patiently waiting.  The first is a threadpainting of our nearby Pike Lake, a place full of fond memories for one woman and her family.  The second is a smaller threadpainting of prairies at sunrise.

There you have it!  Enjoy the rest of summer!

linking to WIP Wednesday at TN&TN

Friday Finish

I'm wondering... big finish?  or new beginning?
Today is it, the last day of my Saskatchewan Arts Board grant period.  Yesterday I handed in my final report and a CD full of 16 images of new work, all hand stitched with yarn.  Some of my work was more representational, some were impressionistic, some were abstract.  I started out with a few really great pieces, then made some really not-so-great pieces that I won't show you, and then finally ended with work I am extremely proud of.  I guess that's normal.  You can't force it, right?  You've seen most of my work (anything hand stitched with yarn since January) but I have this one I'd like to show you.  Some times I really like it.  Sometimes I don't.  It's inspired by a row of rocks at Sutherland Beach, an off-leash park with trails right in the city by the river.  I often go there with Buddy.

Now, this photo was taken after the art was started, to show you the spot where Buddy and I hike.  The art was started in my studio with just a very vivid memory of some early morning walks.  In my mind, there must have been a load of lovely flowers.  I laughed when I went back and realized there isn't much more than green and white here.  Oh well!  In the morning with my 'best friend', maybe I just feel a lot more colour.

Let's just go with that.

Here is how I started this particular one, placing felt and chopped yarns onto a felt sheet background.  Image this - I needle felted with a machine from Margot and nothing broke!  Woohoo - I guess that's a small miracle indeed.  I have struggled with felting and decided many times to give up.  hmmm... there's something about this Pfaff that works really well for me.

Above is me building up the background.  I'm not quite at the 'ugly phase' where I want to toss the whole thing.  No.  That comes after a couple long afternoons of handwork.  haha.  At least I recognize it when it happens and I know to push past it.

The top of the piece is the background.  The rocks are pieces of hand dyed felt I got years ago from Meinke Toy.  They are fabulous for rocks don't you think?  I felted them in, along with all the bits of yarns.  Then I began to stitch.

I stitched and stitched.  And I stitched some more.  This was a huge process.  I started it a few days before the Saskatoon Ex demo night.  That's when I began the pink flowers.

I personally love the pink.  There's some glistening purples in there too that look wet.  The choppy grey along the bottom was to be the path.  The rocks sit on a bit of a ledge, so I made the ground that would be more vertical have a deeper shade to it.  I've never the face of a slope like that so I'm not sure you can understand it without the original photo.

any who.

I stitched and stitched and did more and more stitching.  Some parts are still worked less than others, but I feel it's done.  Here it is - from my morning walk with Buddy the Border Collie.

8x15 inches, hand stitched

I wish you could see it as big as it really is!  It's 8x15 inches.  I could chop it in half and have a couple 8x6's.  yes/no?  One reason I like this embroidery is because it has my feelings in it.  It has the colours that express my joy and wonder and happiness from when I'm out with him.  This is good.  I feel like I was really able to express emotion in my work.  I did it!

So tell me: if you know the park and paths well, this is the spot where we sometimes turn off the main road loop, climb the little ledge, and cross over through a bit of an open field on a well work foot path.  See the golds at the top right?  that's the field you step up into.  If you know where am thinking about, do you feel the way my picture feels when you are there?  I'm curious.  I would love to hear from you!  : )

Again, thank you to the Saskatchewan Arts Board for supporting me to get to this point.  It's a good one!  Thank you also to Margot Lindsay for the use of the felting machine and the beautiful yarns of green, pink, and cream.  : )

Things I Love Thursday

I really look forward to Thursdays.  It's like a 'count my blessings' day.  Today I want to tell you how much I love the 'fans & followers' of my work.  I guess that means you!  ; )  I've had some really great emails from women who enjoyed the 'Let the Yarn Speak' article I had in Stitch UK earlier in the year.

It's really exciting for me to hear that my work influences others.  It's quite an honour!  A few people told me about how thrilled they were with the idea of letting the yarn speak and couldn't wait to try it out.  One woman in particular finished a rather large project!  She let the yarn colours dictate the stitches, and she let them dictate the entire composition.  She spent a long time on this and when she was done, she had it professionally framed and sent me a few photos.  It blew me away!  I love that she did exactly what I suggested in the article, and yet our pieces are so unique!  Her name is Marion Bicknell and I'm sharing this with her permission.  Below is her photo of the finished embroidery depicting a garden path.  The blocks of colour are the masses of flowers.  How beautiful.  It's like a garden map.  She mentioned in her letter to me how meditative this project was.  I agree.  There's something really relaxing when you don't have to make all the decisions.   You go by your feelings, without a pattern.  It is so interesting to experience.

Marion wrote, 'The exercise was a good one for me as I am such a precision, orderly person so I tried to let myself create the garden without planning or drawing.  When I thought I had enough of one colour I changed to the next colour.  The pattern/picture evolved and I decided to make a garden with a path.'  She used words like meditative, relaxing, and therapeutic.  Isn't that fantastic!?  Thank you Marion for sharing this.

What else happened... oh!  I received the most interesting and heartfelt letter mail this month from someone I don't think I've ever met, yet it was so personal and lovely.  This is from Nicole, and she sent me this stunning card filled with beautiful words, and a wonderful article!  In the article, I learned new words, like 'fizmer' (which is the sound the tall grasses make when they they move around in the bits of wind).  How wonderful!  : )

people are amazing

Fizmer.  I love it.

I can't explain how each of these people made my day so incredibly happy on such a deep level.  And - let it be known that I was having a very rough time when these sweet messages rolled in.  The timing was meant to be.

Have a lovely Thursday!  YAY - tomorrow I head to Handmade House.  : )

The Morning Light

This weekend as I was packing up for my trip to Weyburn, I came across some art I had forgotten about.  Doesn't that sound ridiculous?   I kind of didn't forget about it.  I just wasn't sure how I felt about it.  It's based on a sunrise from Christmas morning a couple years ago.  The sky was deliciously ON FIRE.  I love our fire skies, and so I made this.  The towers are all hand stitched.  I loved it, but I wasn't sure about it.  It's very, (how shall I say this?) very ORANGE.  lol  It's SO orange!  Yes, it is, isn't it!?

It's deeper orange than you are seeing on your screen, but every time I deepened it, the matting went grey, and it's not.  I's white.  So here it is, bright and fiery.

It's going to hang in Investors Group in downtown Weyburn for the whole summer.  Maybe, just maybe someone will connect with it.  I titled it The Morning Light and had it matted and framed in a warm dark brown wood.  You might have seen this partially done many times before, but I finally finished it up!  So, what do you think?  This next image is much closer to the true colour.

The Morning Light, 2013 (completed 2014, framed 2015) available art

Woo!  It's vibrant but very quiet at the same time.

See you later in the week!  I'll be posting on facebook most likely while I'm away : )

Things I Love Thursday

I love the moon.  I always have.  Since as far back as I can remember, I would watch her.  I would catch her light and play in her shadows.  I would see how she changed and notice that sometimes she would be up in the day, and sometimes not at all.  THIS might seem bittersweet, but it's the truth.  When I was little, and it was the middle of the night, and I needed talk - I would go to the window and she would be there, waiting.  She was never rushed; very patient.  I would tell the moon all my troubles, fears, and in her find calm and reassurance.  There's no drama with the moon.  She's steady, quiet, and when she changes, she does so slowly.  She's very solid and reliable.

As an adult, I thought it was the coolest thing ever to learn that moons and phases had names:  blue moon, harvest moon, dark moon, snow moon, honey moon...  And so these round hoops and eyelet stitches are such a perfect way to explore her beauty.

Luna #1 (detail)

I love how the eyelets remind me of moon craters.  I'm making moons in all different sizes.  This next one is the 'honey moon'.

Luna #2

Now I'm nearly finished the third one.  I just had to re-dye some silk to add a bit of orange to them to get closer to the colour of the blood moon.

I just have to add the glowing edge of this one, and then I think I'm on to something subtle again.

cell phone photo from my bedroom window

Happy Thursday,

Hello April!

Well, I fooled a whole lot of folks on Facebook!  On my art page, I posted that I have a new position starting September 1st as the TV host for a Canadian Fibre Arts program.  hehe.   It's not true.  It was an April Fool's prank, but it got a few people thinking about the idea. : )  On my personal page, I announced the birth of a litter of 6 new puppies, claiming I was sure they said my dog was a boy!  haha.  I never pull pranks on April 1, but I sure found it fun!

Thanks again to everyone regarding Gardenscape.  It was unbelievably successful.  I put in a few high end pieces to fill empty spaces and they all sold, along with half of my regular sized work.  I'm still in shock.  I enjoyed Monday, doing deliveries and getting to peek inside homes filled with orchids and artwork.  That's always so fun.  Then I split up the rest of my work and shipped them off:  2 threadpaintings to the SK Craft Council Boutique in Saskatoon and 2 threadpaintings to the MacKenzie Art Gallery Shop in Regina.  I would guess you can expect to see them up and available after Easter.  Both are also stocked with more Prairie Postcards.

Now it's April.  I teach several classes this month, have 4 commissions to get started on, and THIS to prepare for!  (Photo by Ashley Marshal - thank you!)

It's not the official show poster, but I hope it sparks your interest.  There will be a little bit of my art, a little it of his art, and a little bit of collaborated pieces.  hmmm....  Intrigued to see what we'll come up with?  I sure am!  It's the Year of Craft in Canada, and this will be a room full of Embroidery and Ceramics in time for Mother's Day.  That sounds just about perfect to me!  : )

Off to experiment and create!
Have a lovely weekend everyone.  Thank you so much for your support.

Linking to WIP Wednesday @ TN&TN

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

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,

One Down, Eleven to Go.

Did you think I've forgotten about you?  I have been trying to blog but we suddenly have the slowest internet connection possible (or so it seems).  It's painful.  2 hours to upload images and make one blog post is just plain painful.  BUT - here I am.  I did it.  I'm so excited to show you this!

It's done!  With the exception of deciding on matting & framing, this is complete.  This is my first finished piece as part of the SK Arts Board Grant.  I proposed that I would create at least 12 by July 1st.  One down, eleven to go.

This was stitched with yarns and threads - cottons, silks, synthetics and wool.  It's quite large compared to my finer threadwork.  I'm heading up to Melfort at the end of April / beginning of May. This may be part of my show there with Ken Wilkinson, potter.  We shall see.  We still have a long way to go to get that exhibition together.  My threadwork is under glass, but my large yarn work has not been.  I'll need to which artwork would be the best for that space as well.

By the way, if anyone has seen this week's Saskatoon Express, there's a write-up about the Our Prairie in Fibre show.  I cannot for the life of me find that paper anywhere.  It was supposed to be out on Monday I was told.  It didn't arrive at our home.  I went to 2 nearby malls and the Co-op grocery store lobby where I always see them, and each time the shelves were empty!  If you live in Saskatoon and see any, would you grab them for me?  They are free publications.

* * * On the topic of the exhibition, you can now see ALL pieces in the show!  They are online HERE (click to link).  Then scroll down a bit to click on 'current exhibition' and you will be able to view each piece until February 21, 2015.  Vivian Orr photographed every piece and has them up on the SK Craft Council Website.  I'll sign off here and let you go see them.

Again, a BIG THANK YOU to all the artists who provided work for this beautiful exhibit.  : )  It was a pleasure to curate and I'm so happy to be able to hare the exhibit with all of you who cannot be there at the gallery.

Have a great day!

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!