Sunday Snapshots

'From Humble Beginnings' - This image is on my business cards, has been in magazines (Fiber Art Now & Stitch UK), it is the homepage for my website too.

Tired of it?  Well, there's more.  Check this out!  The kind folks at the Country Register of Manitoba and Saskatchewan picked this image for their cover.  You know I really love the background colour. (swoon~) This paper is often referred to as the 'quilter's newspaper' since it's full of adds for fabric and fiber related shops.  Those are also the places where you will find this.  I picked mine up on Broadway at Periwinkle Quilting, knowing there's always a big stack in the front entry.

one for me, one for my mom, one for...

And speaking of those colours....

Are you ready?

Promise me you won't scream?

In just two more weeks it will be the Autumn Equinox.  I don't mind.  I love the smell in the air and the apples we've been cooking up are delicious.  Bring on the colour change!  : )

Happy Sunday!

Friday Finish - Just in a Nick of Time ; )

That's a funny phrase before Christmas - just in a Nick of time.  Anyone know where that comes from or what it really pertains to?

Well, I did it!  I finished my last commission for 2014, as promised.  This was no easy task.  It's a big one full of hand work; a remake of From Humble Beginnings.  A client asked for her own version of it.  I said yes... and later I really wondered how on earth I would create that building again!?  But I did it!  It worked and I am breathing a happy sigh of relief.

commission for the building on Bergheim road

I made the first version of this just before my Winnipeg show 2 years ago.  One of my favourite people in the world owns it.  It was very satisfying to recreate it.  It's a little different from the first in both the sky and the foliage.  The first version has a darker foreground.  This one has a brighter foreground.  Of course, I added those fat honey bees that were hanging off the alfalfa where I was kneeling down for the photo.  ; )

Now to email her the final results, and then I can ship it to her on Monday.  I hope she loves it.

Happy Winter Holidays everyone!  

See you on the flipside.

Published, again!

One of my threadpaintings made it into an American / International fibre art magazine!

This summer issue of Fiber Art Now is out on stands, and I was lucky enough to have my art selected for one of the sections titled, 'Flora and Fauna'.

woo!  on page 52 amongst many beautiful creations!

Fiber Art Now magazine had a call for entry earlier in the year specifically on the subject of Flora and Fauna.  I had JUST completed From Humble Beginnings and thought how perfect that this piece as both (alfalfa and honey bees at Bergheim).  So I gave it a try.

From Humble Beginnings, 2013 - a bigger piece I had framed 16x16"  (sold)

Out of all the entries, eighteen were selected.  Worldwide.  I didn't win any award, but I sure am proud of this!  (See all the selected works on pp 52, 53, 54, and 55 of the issue.)

Thank you Fiber Art Now!  This is a great perk in my summer.  : )

 

ps.  I know of one other Canadian sister who has work in there - Arlee Barr's A Mother's Heart is in the section on ecodyes, along with a write up on her process.  : )  Arlee is severely affected by her studio/home flooding in Calgary.  You can read more here...

Things I Love Thursdays - Finished it Fridays!

: )  Here's a 2 for 1 posting.  I love this latest one!  I love the building.  I love the pollen in the grasses.  I love the alfalfa.  I especially love the bumble bees!

From Humble Beginnings, 2013  8x8"

All I can say is, "!!!!"
I am loving dying and using all these ribbons from RibbonSmyth. 

So look!  There are three bumble bees.  I have since added some slight and shimmery white rayon wings.  They are just perfect - fat & and gorgeous.  I love bees.  When the flowers are at that stage, the ditches are full of nectar collectors.  You can stand right there and they are so busy that they don't even bother you (unlike wasps who are carnivorous).

From Humble Beginnings, 2013 (detail)

I snapped the original photo after teaching out at Bernie's sewing attic out near Bergheim last summer (was that last summer?  Maybe it was the year before?).  I didn't add it the farm machinery.  I was happy enough with the bees...

From Humble Beginnings, 2013 (detail)

I am so happy.  I think I did a really good job on this one.  It's very exciting taking on a new challenge and having it work out.  I hope I can get it in a frame that matches that shack.  (ps - see the pollen hanging off of those grasses?).   I didn't know what to call this.  I picked lots of silly phrases based on bees.  Beauty and the Bees.  Home Sweet Home.  lol.  Nothing was working.  I liked the way the shack was old, empty, 'no longer', decaying... and the flowers are at their peak, full of pollen with a bunch of humble bees just quietly working away.  Suddenly my 6 yr old quoted Sponge Bob from the other room and shouted in a loud announcer-style voice, "from humble beginnings!".  I just stopped in my tracks.  It was perfect!  hahaha  The little building and the bees and the country side are all very humble indeed.  (Thanks girl!)

Okay - ONE more piece on the go here...  See you soon!