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

Commission Complete

This week I was finally able to work on commissioned art.  This one will be joining it's 'sister'.  It's a scene of done a few times in varying sizes.  The first and largest was in 2012 and I only recently had the heart to let it go.  It was real turning point in my work, where i felt like I was painting and not just colouring in or making things up.  It's like my work matured.  Maybe it's because I used a sketch book with this one.  And so, here's the newest version at 5x5".

It's 2 pieces of cotton fused onto a stabilizer, a bit of penciled in guide marks, and I begin free motion work on this blank slate.  Pretty bare bones so far!!

I stabilize pretty well so I don't have to hoop a square in a circular frame.  I teach with a hoop but when I do my art, I feel hoops get in my way.

95% of the time, I spend at least a half a day hand stitching.  I just do not feel it's complete until I have the handwork done.  Some things just cannot be the way I want with a machine.  Some of my canola fields might be an entire week just stitching the French Knots.  But for the most part, the machine work really doesn't take much time at all - usually not more that a day depending on size.  I probably spend as much time selecting blendable colours and changing thread as I do machine stitching.

Here it is... complete.  I hope you like it T.!  : )  I'll have it framed for the weekend.

another fall day at Cranberry Flats : )

Love it!

*** NOW ***  I have to clear our my studio mess and set up some tables and chairs.  I'm having company!!!  I'm having a sewing bee at my place with _________________ !!!  : )  I'll post about it Saturday.  

haha can you tell I'm excited!??

Have a great week,

Stitching for Melfort

Creative time!  There's about 2 weeks until the show in Melfort.  There will be crewel yarn embroideries, tea sets, prairie threadpaintings, vessels, and a few collaborations as well between me and potter Ken Wilkinson.

I can't wait to have the show up.  I'm stitching away.  I have all the scenes picked out and all the backgrounds prepped with the right colours of fabric and I'm ready to go.  I'm matching up colours between his pottery and my stitching.  I have a handful of photos printed out because my laptop is just too dark even on the brightest setting.  (p.s.  Dollarama has cheap Polaroid photo paper packs for your printer.)

my photos ready to inspire

This is all I really start with - two pieces of fabric.  One is for sky, one is for land.  It's that simple.

great sky find - thank you Dahn!  : )

I love batiks and hand dyes because they are so natural looking.  Some I buy.  Dye.  Some I barter for.  I love having huge pieces of dyed fabric and looking for that little tiny section that is just PERFECT for the piece.  Like the threads I use, finding that special piece of colour on a large cloth is like treasure hunting.

I keep my photo nearby and start drawing in the landscape with thread.  This is one I nearly finished this weekend.  It's ready for hand work now.

little peek of a work in progress - still bare bones

My studio is one huge mess between Gardenscape and classes.  I had managed to misplace a Bison.  Ha!  You know it's bad when...  How does one misplace a Bison!?
Well, truthfully, it was a little cloth shape of a bison for a small art quilt.  I found it though!  I'm putting this together for a friend who gifted me teacups and bison yarn.  I don't make art quilts, but I think I kind of enjoy it. : )

Neat, hey?  I'll do the binding in a solid charcoal colour.  It's based on a photo I took of a herd south of the city.  I kind of like this lone one.  Still needs to be stitched in place.

Well folks, back to work.  Enjoy this beautiful WINDY. noisy spring.  xo

Thread Paintings for Gardenscape 2015

AAAH!!!  Isn't it truly amazing out there?  It is spring in Saskatchewan.  Before you know it, Gardenscape will be here!  March 27, 28, 29 at Prairieland park.  This year I understand that the art will be in Hall E (not A as it has been in the past).  I think Hall E is the first entrance you see when you arrive into the parking lot.  You might recall that last year's attraction was the butterflies.  This year, it's Orchids!  That will be wonderful to see.  I have six threadpaintings completed for sale and a few more in the works of varying sizes.  Here's a couple of  sneak peeks of what I've been working on.

Above the Creek Bed, 2015 (work in progress)

It's mostly done.  I need to go back in and add some tree trunks by had and then sign the art as well with my stitches.

I'm working on this large, long piece.  It's from a cell phone capture while driving home from Pike Lake on the last hot day in September.  Here's how I start - photo nearby, and some batiks to block the main colours in place.  For big pieces, I sometimes sketch out some general shapes with coloured pencils.  It gives me a chance to move things if I need to.

I love this one so much!  I have the perfect frame for it.  It's ready for the hand stitching now. I'll be adding in the fence posts, wires, and lush blooms down in the foreground.  I love the way the evening light is working in this.  : )

work in progress - home from the lake

Mmmm.  I'm enjoying all the green. I have some Canola fields and a few Autumn scenes as well.  I'm actually quite SHOCKED at how quick and effortless threadpainting feels after months of hand stitching.  * I have a new appreciation for hand work. *  Now that we are fully resettled into our home, I have been so productive.  That feels GOOD!  I'll have a full display at Gardenscape and some new pieces for the MacKenzie Art Gallery shop as well.  I'm hoping to drop new work off there this weekend when I head through Regina.  I'll keep you posted with what goes where.

Have a lovely week!  Linking to WIP Wednesday @ TN&TN  

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.

Shine On.

The week continues to shine on.  

First, the weather this December is like the end of April.  So warm, it's unbelievable.

Second, this blog... check it out!  The counter on the right sidebar has exceeded ONE MILLION views.  1,000,000 !?  Wow. 

Thirdly (because you know good things come in threes, right?) the most marvelous mail arrived!

I did it I did it I did!  I also did a lot of squealing and bouncing.  And then I did it again.  Squeal.  Jump.  Scream.  Bounce.  Woop it up.  Hop around.  lol

Wow.  I applied for a provincial arts board grant in September when I was between studios.  It was a good time to catch up on paperwork.  It's not the first time I've tried for this funding.  This particular grant is to create larger-scale fibre artwork from January to July that is more abstract / impressionistic, but still prairie inspired.  Oh - it was pproved!  Being financially supported in order to expand my creativity is such an honour.  THANK YOU SK ARTS BOARD.  I will continue to create and sell my threadpaintings of course.  But it will be terrific to work so open-ended like I dream about.  I want to create closer up, but larger scale.  I want to stitch by hand with all those gorgeous yarns again like I did with 'Where Sunlight Falls'.  I want to explore what I can do and really move forward.  This money is so timely as well.  Maybe you heard?  Maybe you didn't.  But it looks like we are moving house very soon -which means grieving my studio and preparing for much work starting all over again with a new space and trying to making it mine.  I'm not afraid that we can't do it again.  I am afraid of being studio-less and not able to create until things get packed and unpacked.  I suppose it's all for the best.  I'll have all this pent up energy that will get me all fired up to move an as soon as my feet hit the ground.  In the mean time, I will dream.  Well - I also have the curated show to set up in a matter of weeks.  It all works out.  It always does.  : )

Before I sign off, I should tell you that I have one small threadpainting left.  If anyone is interested in purchasing art before the holidays, please feel free to email me.  It's pictured below.

5x5" framed to 10x10" in dark brown, under glass with the double mat with lots of French Knots : ) 

Another One Down!

I just finished this up!  I'm pretty happy with it.  It's a commission - the last of the small ones I have to do before the holidays.

It's based on a photo I took when the sun was setting to my right, and I was facing the other side of the river bank,  It was September and it was gorgeous at that moment.

There was a little walking bridge that I included.  The water was an orange piece of batik that I touched up with some coloured pencils, echoing the reflection of the darks and lights of the shoreline.  Then I put some of the water ripples in with a holographic blue.

Here's the photo from that very cold evening.  Mine doesn't look quite as dulled & peachy as I had my monitor set a little deeper and brighter to distinguish the colours.

view of Meewasin (beautiful valley) banks of the South Saskatchewan River

I picked my bright threads a little brighter, and my muddy colours a little more vibrant.  Now I get to mount it, frame it, and call the client to see what she thinks.

The next several that I'm doing will be very, very green and summery.  Perhaps that will inspire some winter art after the holidays?  : )

Talk soon!

* * * Around the World Blog Hop * * *

Welcome!  Today, I was tagged by a wonderful artist & online friend named Sharron Begg to be part of an artists' blog hop.  First let me tell you a bit about her.  Sharron's blog is "Threadpainters Art".  You can guess I found her by googling 'threadpainting'.  As it turns out, I happened to have fallen madly in love with her ink illustrations that can also be seen on her site.  There's just something about them - they look like stitching as well.  He art inspired me to begin sketching things out prior to stitching my art, which is something I had not done before.  I'm linking to her Blog Hop introductory post HERE, please stay a while and look around.  She does wonderful work with soluble stabilizers.

As for me, my name is Monika Kinner-Whalen.  (pronounced Moe-nee-ka, not Maw-nick-uh).  Welcome to my blog.  I live in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada with my family of 5.  I've been doing landscape threadwork for almost five years now, most of which is inspired by my deep attachment to the Canadian Prairie.  I was born and raised here, and moving away after university left me incredibly homesick.  Apparently, the Prairies can do that to you.  I had no idea what a strong attachment it had on me.  After setting up house with my husband and having three children, we moved back to Saskatoon; back to the big old flatland.  It was unreal.  It's like my spirit returned.  I could breath again.  It filled my heart to the brim with creative energy.  It was at the same time I had discovered fibre art, and everything just took off from there.  Our poured all this artwork!

I love what I do.  I work full time out of my home studio.  I teach creative sewing classes, but I see myself as an artist first and foremost.  Some of my key pieces are touring Canada (east and west) with juried exhibitions. I have had my art commissioned and sold around the world, including all over Canada, the USA, England, Scotland, New Zealand, Africa, and Australia.  I've won awards and have been extremely grateful to be published in books and magazines over the 5 years too.  Yeah, yeah... brag brag brag.  Well, this is a spotlight moment, right?  : )

So, what is it that I do?

I go on treasure hunts with my camera, looking for things to stitch.  I head out down little dirt roads to places unknown in any season and find beauty EVERY time.  Ditches are my favourite.  You might think the prairies are flat and lifeless - in fact, we are teased often that there's nothing to see here.  But like many of use here, I know how to look and where to look.  I find breathtaking beauty easily.  I look up.  I look down.  I look as far as the eye can see.  It's unrestricted and open, known as the quietest place on earth with some of the liveliest and biggest skies.

my daughter jumping waves on a wild & stormy day

And so, I sew it.  I collage a background with the right fabrics for my subject's colours, and then I bring it to life with thread.  I use a technique known as freemotion machine stitching to fill in the landscape.  I use freestyle hand embroidery to embellish and make my prairies pop.  Here are some examples of my work.  First up, She's Blooming!  This one is touring Canada with Dimensions, a juried collection of fine craft with the Saskatchewan Craft Council.

sideways - detail of canola field in bloom featuring thousands of French Knots

That's what you see in the summer.  Below is a piece that was inspired after a tornado warning had lifted one spring.  Trees at the Turnaround.  There was lots of rain and wind, and the sky began to clear.  This body of water was a flooded ditch lined with bullrushes.

This next one is called, The Skating Pond.  This brings back great memories of growing up on a farm.  I love winter so very much.  I truly enjoy our four distinct seasons here.  The landscape is always changing.

And autumn - lovely autumn when the wind changes yet again.  This was from a local conservation area called Cranberry Flats.  It's named, Autumn Blonde.

So, that's what I do.  Recently I've been experimenting with yarn.  I've played with the idea of stitching things a little closer to the earth but on a larger scale.  It's been really enjoyable.  I love what I do, and I look forward to the growth I see in my art with each new piece.

Awarded second place in Original Surface Design, Needlework.  Focus on Fibre Arts Association

What else can I tell you?  hmmm.  You can find me on Facebook HERE.
You can find my images sorted into albums on Flickr HERE.
You can shop for art, cards, and fabric postcard supplies in my Etsy Shop HERE.

You can also just hang out on this blog and click the tutorials or slideshow tabs at the top.  There's a lot to see here after five years.

I think this answers all the questions I was asked to address.  There was one more: 'What makes your art unique?'  I think my work is somewhat unique in that my threadpaintings are done without tracing, templates, or printing out backgrounds to stitch on.  It really is my own personal and original art.  I use only my own photographs as inspiration - so even right from the scenes themselves, they are my compositions from beginning to end.  They are completely my view of my world so to speak, and  done by hand and from the heart.  ; )

Thank you SO much for coming by!

June Grasses - in progress.  Currently touring with the Focus on Fibre Arts juried show in Alberta.

And now, let me pass the blog hop torch over to my friend Karen D. Miller.  Karen specializes in Hooked Fibre Art.  She lives and works in Ottawa, Ontario.  Karen blends alternative fibre art techniques with traditional yarn hand-hooking to create fresh landscapes and abstract close ups.  She has exhibited in Ontario, Alberta, Newfoundland, Ohio and Vermont and been featured in several publications, such as the forthcoming TextileArt Around the World.  Karen has been selected as an Honourable Mention (2014) and a Finalist (2013) in Rug Hooking Magazine’s annual “A Celebration of Hand-Hooked Rugs ”.  She blogs at Marzipan Road, and will be doing her blog hop post one week from today.  I'll put up a little remind for you at that time.

And thank you Sharron for including me. : )

Things I Love Thursday

I love matching thread colours.  It's like playing I Spy.  It's a most enjoyable process.

grey-green

charcoal / rusts

blondes / soft grey / a hint of smokey mauve

pewter

Then I start to 'paint'.

I call the the 'ugly phase'.  : )

I love the 'ugly phase' too.

I love the point where I am done the main threadpainting and move into the details.

I love how thread looks like grass.  I love how grass looks like thread.

: )  I will show you the finished version soon. : )

Happy Thursday!  I'm off to Regina / White City / Rouleau.  Looking forward to the fun!

linking to WIP Wednesday at TN&TN

Finished for Friday - See My Process

Gee - it sure was a big reaction on Facebook when I posted an image of my sewing machine 'in action'.  I don't show a lot of process photos because... well... I assume you can see or guess.  I don't have any secrets.  I just collage & sew what I see.  No tracing, no templates, no printing (with the exception of simplifying in order to teach).  I generally place background colours where I want them, and then I stitch it up.  I'll show you what I mean.  Here's a little more process...

loose land-and-sky combinations

I'm working on three 'minis' here.  I'm not working from photos as I usually do.  (That's a big first for me!)  Each landscape will be about 3x3" square.  That's really tough to hold, so I thought I would put then in a row and work on them like this so I have more to hang on to as I manipulate the pieces under the machine needle.

I have piles of fabrics.  It doesn't matter much to me whether they are hand dyes or commercial batiks.  I'm just looking for the right colour for the job.  The placed fabrics are fused onto a tough, stiff cotton weave, and then further stabilized.  I love stabilizer.  I hate puckering.  I use Sulky Peel&Stick exclusively (see sponsor link on sidebar).  It's my favourite.

Then I start stitching.  I put down the thread from farthest point to closes point.  Typically, the distant horizon will have shorter stitch lengths than the foregound.  And so, with my box of hundreds of tints, tones, and shades of green - I begin!  (This is a different trio, bit I thought the photo was clearer.)

I stitch some up.  I stitch some to the side.  This is purely experimental.  I have no idea of how these will turn out.  So far, I've used four different greens.  I pick a few more variations of greens and I keep sewing.  This is all free-motion stitching - sometimes straight stitch and sometimes zigzag.  I've used decorative stitches just for effect when I need a really random look.

Every now and then, I place a working mat on top just to see how the composition is coming along.  These pieces are bigger than what you'll view once it's in the frame.  I need to be sure that the flowers I stitch will be in the scene and not out of the 'margin'.  Using a working mat helps keep it all in balance.

Here I'm adding canola by machine.  I usually do this by hand in my larger pieces, bit this is so small to fiddle with, I find the free motion can get the effect I'm wanting for these minis.

I often 'sew upside-down'.  You are seeing the last image from my point of view while working.  Because I stitch back to front (horizon to foreground), I find that I can see where I'm stitching easier if the piece has it's finished portion facing me, and the unstitched cloth yet behind the needle.

After it's all filled in, I clean up the work.  I adore small, sharp snips that are curved.  My snips MUST be curved.  Too many times I have used fancy-schmancy staight embroidery scissors and damaged the work.  Curved snips are best for me - see how they don't touch or poke or get caught in any other threads?

snip

These are Singer embroidery scissors, and are just like cuticle scissors from the pharmacy.  

One last check with the potential frame and I think it's done.  I like it! : )

And here's another with blue flax.  I may still add trees out on the far horizon.  I'm not sure yet.  There's something beautiful to me about the openness.

a little flax

There you have it.  I'm not sure which of these will end up where.  Some will go to Handmade House, and some will be stockpiled for Roulleau / Dog River Days Farmers' Market at the end of the month.

p.s.  Isn't the colour great in these photos!?  I'm working at night here with no sunshine whatsoever.  I LOVE the day bulbs and my ottlight so much.  : )

Have a great weekend, and I hope you are enjoying summer!