Teaching Time!

Now that the shows are over and the galleries are stocked, I'm shifting over into teaching mode once again.  First, I am heading west to Innisfail AB to do a Threadpainting class for a quilting group there.  After I come back home, I head east to run a day long Postcards Workshop in Foam Lake, SK.  While I have all my supplies out and ready, I figured it's a great time to slot in some classes in my home studio.  If you are interested, Postcards will be the afternoon of Monday, November 16 (3 hrs, $30+kit) and Threadpainting will be the afternoon of Tuesday, November 17 (4 hrs, $40=kit).  Email me if you want a spot.  Monika@MySweetPrairie.ca  Monday is more creative and adventurous.  Tuesday is more technical and skill based.  Extra classroom machines are available for a $5 rental to cover maintenance.  : )

Janomes in my Studio

Right now, I'm getting the details prepared for a two day workshop I'm doing in Olds for the Fibre Pot Pourri weekend in the Spring of 2016.  It's a handwork / embroidery event and so I'm creating a new workshop for it based on what I's very excited about at the moment.  ; )  It will be all about going from Sketch to Stitch.  I took out some supplies and sat and waited for inspiration to come.  I thought, ' hmmm....  LOVE this bison photo I took several autumns ago.'

I love the sunlight on them.  And so I sketched it out with some horribly messy oil pastels.

I chose a group of five of them.  I dislike the sky, but I adore the grasses and the beasts in the sun.  And so with that positive experience under my belt, I did a couple more all based on personal photos I have kickin' around...

You likely know that one.  It's the 3 sweet shrubs at Cranberry Flats that I've stitched out many, many times.  I totally want to stitch this one with fat yarns on black.  I think it would be a blast.

My idea is to sketch out natural scenes like they were to be patterns for embroidery.  The lines are fairly thick and lend itself well to stitching.  Then I have all these Noro yarns which totally rock.

With just one ball, you get so many colour variations!  This is how I worked the Birch trees that sold at my open studio.  I'm so excited to do more and share it at the Workshop next spring.

Well.  Writing this post out is enough to inspire me to make more Noro embroideries!  I'm a tad addicted.  Linking to The Needle and Thread Network.  Now off to stitch : )

Have a lovely day,

Wrapping up September, Preparing for October

Woo!  What a weekend.  That was a long three days.  Friday, the artists set up at Solar Gardens.  Saturday and Sunday we sold our work.  I've never done a two day show before.  I'm totally exhausted both socially and physically.  : )  But it's a good kind of ache.  It means I was busy on my feet with a steady flow of people.  I was in the glass house, very hot I must say!  I drank and drank and drank water.  The weather was beautiful and the company of the other artists was wonderful.

@ Solar Gardens in the Glass House

That was my cell phone photo of part of my display area.  This shows three panel walls, but I had a fourth with another table.  It was a very good show for me in many ways.  I sold several threadpaintings including all three of the autumn ones I showed you last post!  That's pretty exciting.  One went to Regina, one to Davidson, and one in Saskatoon.  The art out there was fantastic - pottery, paintings, glass, illustrations, mixed media, metal...  It seemed like a much bigger group than when I was at Agar's 2 years ago.

I enjoyed quality time with a few painters after the first show day.  Well - quality time watching the painters critique each other after the show.  It was really great to witness.  With fibre, there's so much about technique, cleaning up loose threads, texture, what does the back look like?, to use glass or not to use glass...  The evening listening to painters was refreshing.  The particular group of women I was with spent their time talking about value and composition, line and contrast.  It was wonderful and gave me lots to reflect on later.  They do a lot of abstract, and it gave my some ideas on how to loosen up my work when stitching with yarns.

red winged black birds - photo from last autumn

I'm always awed by the comments of the people who come to look at the art.  Some get VERY happy, some are stopped in their tracks, some can't contain themselves.  They always have such incredible reactions and I wish I had a guest book for them to sign this past weekend.  I joked that I need a 'his' and 'hers' guest book.  The women offer beautiful, meaningful expressions of gratitude and awe.  The men often swear!  lol  I'm serious.  I don't know how many men said things like, 'ho#y Sh%t!  That's thread!?'  I was taken aback several times.  Why is that!?  I just giggled.  Maybe I need a swear jar.  ; )

All in all, I am grateful for all of the reactions from all of the folks.  There was never a dull moment.  And so, thank you to organizer Judy Wood, event host Solar Gardens, and all the artists and guests that came out.  It was a very fun weekend!

As for available art, four more of my threadpaintings are now relocated for sale at the Saskatchewan Craft Council Boutique.  I delivered them the next morning.  I'm caught up my commissions and so now I work on filling my sewing room with art in anticipation of next month's Open Studio.  !!  Yes, it's that time again.  I'm excited about this and a bit surprised to think it's been a whole year since I had my first studio show/gathering.  Save the date!  

Saturday, October 17th from 1pm to 8 pm

Have a lovely week!  Happy Autumn Equinox : )

I Finished It x3!

I can't tell you how relieved I am to have this done in time for the sale at Solar Gardens!  I took the photos on Sunday, and then worked all week non-stop to get this accomplished.  Here's the image that I couldn't resist.

I wanted to make my 5x5" square sizes, and thought, 'how great to make several sections of this view!'  And I away I went...

Day 1 - I will count that as the day I headed out to the hills and took the photographs.  Later, back in my studio I loaded the images, sorted through them, picked my favourites, made some crops and brightened a few up.

Day 2 - I spent this day selecting the right fabrics, pressing them, snipping them, coordinating then, fusing them, messing up, taking it apart, snipping and re-snipping and then fusing them.  With fabric markers, I marked out where I wanted the faded layer (too lazy/exhasted to snip a different green). Then I cleaned up my huge mess from the last project and started to select my thread colours.  This took an entire day.

Day 3 & 4 - Freemotion stitching.  It worked out fairly well to have three on the go at once.  I like how each is different, but look great together.  As always, I end up pulling way more threads than I start with.  Once I really look and work through a scene, I always discover colours I didn't notice the first time over.

The end of Day 3 is where I'm left with the ugly phase. Sorry.  No photos.  lol  It is the phase I question myself.  Can I do this?  WHY did I start this?  What was I thinking?  Should I just stop now?

By the end of Day 4, I am seeing the light.  YES!  I can see the finish line.  This is turning out to be awesome!

Day 5 - Today is Day 5.  I did it!  I finished all three.  I spent the rest of the day photograping my work and writing this blog post.   I just need to hand stitch in my signature on each.

Day 6 - I will be signing, cleaning glass, matting, framing, putting on the backing & the hardware, pricing, and packing it up.

I feel so good about this accomplishment!  I can't wait to set up in the Glass House out at Solar Gardens.  I need to thank my husband for making the treck to Weyburn for pick up and Regina for drop off on my behalf, and to Caryl at Handmade House for switching shifts so I could use Friday to work on the show.  THANK YOU both -  I got an entire week to produce art, and it was well worth it.

See you Saturday?  : )

Things I Love Thursday

I love that drive we took out to Solar Gardens last week.  Here are a few more images I captured - some of which I have been working on with thread in time for the show & sale this weekend.

I love that soft palette!  There was a light drizzle that morning and the hills were misty.  Doesn't it look 'fake'!?  Wow.

I love this next one very much.  It's a crop of a longer image I took.  I love the layers and layers...  I love how far you can see, or how far you can't see.  !  : )

Incredible.  It got very dark and the colours were so deep from the rain.  I love it so much!  I am very grateful to have had a view like this.

Up close was beautiful too,

I love how you can see every blade of grass.  I love how they each have their own colour.  It's so pretty.  (sigh)

On the way back to the city, we passed the softest, fluffiest fields.  The cattails were just in shock from the frost the night before.  Look at the colours and textures!

It was amazing.  I love this season.  I picked out some threads and have been stitching all week, every day, all day.  It's a pleasure to get to get to use some of these colours again! : )

I'll post once more before the weekend. : )  Please say hi if you come out to Solar Gardens.  There will be three buildings with art - the Dining Hall, the big Tent, and the Glass House.  You can find me set up in the Glass House.  : )  We are told that Solar Gardens has credit card point of sales available on site.  Bring a friend!

Happy Thursday!

Goldenrod at Pike Lake

I finished the most recent commission!  I'm pretty happy with it.  It's getting the sweetest of comments of facebook, I think because I showed the initial stages with the completed photo.  From a couple pieces of batik to the finished threadpainting, it is quite a transformation.

fabrics based on a photo I took

woo boy!  Photographing in the studio on a grey day is rough.  I will have to try again when the light changes.  My studio lights are so bright and all-encompassing that there tends to be no shadow in the photo, making it look rather flat.

And here it is!

Goldenrod at Pike Lake, 2015

I love the sunshine and shadows so much,  I think it's my first time threadpainting Goldenrod.  This is a place full of childhood (and possibly adult)  memories for her.  : )  I love that title.  It's personal, and I wonder how many people will say that out loud before they read the title.

Last week, I had mats cut and ordered a standard frame for it.  It's all ready to go.  My initials are hand stitched in the bottom corner.  Here it is photographed before the glass was put in.  This is what it will look like in it's new owner's home once it's put together and has the hardware added. : )  It will live in Edmonton, AB.

Now I'm on to the next commission which is a gift for a loved one.  : )  Back to the studio...

Reflection on Happy

Thanks so much to everyone who checked out the new website, shared it (nearly 200 shares on FB - WOW WOW), and for all the email signups.  That's outstanding!  I am only now recovered from the mental exhaustion of making that website.  That was so much stress and focus.  It took days and days.  Thank goodness it's done.  I really love it.  My husband said, 'I just can't stop looking at your website! It's so beautiful!'  I must say - I used to think the cost to pay someone else to make your website was super expensive.  Now that I've done it though, I think website developers are worth every penny.  !

sold art from a few years ago... on my website

Today I brought in a handful of my yarn embroideries for framing at Cindy Moleski's.  I've been getting my work framed there since my first big show in Winnipeg.  I can't wait to see how they look!  Some will head off to Handmade House.  All are for sale.  If anyone is interested in purchasing, the ones that are available are titled as such on the website.  I can ship worldwide.  I'll add new ones to the site as they come.  Minis too!  They don't make the website, but I put them here and on facebook.

Tomorrow I'm off to Handmade House.  I am brought in some minis earlier in the week, but have a couple more autumn scenes finished up that I'll put on my shelf there.  I know I've blabbed on and on about this, but I really enjoy it there.  I come away with great stories each time.  Last week, I watched a customer get teary eyed and choked up over one of my threadpaintings. 'This brings back so many memories,' she said as she held just a couple inches of prairie in her hands.  I introduced myself as the artist and we talked for a long time together.  Suddenly she panicked at the moment she though about an expired parking meter!  We said a quick goodbye and out she ran.  She took my contact information, so - if it's you reading this and you did get a ticket, please come back to the shop on a Friday and let me know!  I have a 'make it up to you' plan...

mini threadpaintings in 3" frames

Thanks everyone for your purchases at Handmade House & The Craft Council.  Those locations plus the Mackenzie Art Gallery in Regina all need to be stocked extra by the end of the fall.  I have my work cut out for me, so between those locations plus a couple fall sales, I decided again to postpone the Centre Galleries.  I like to keep my calendar cleared enough in order to take on a few commissions for the holidays.  Things are going really great and I feel I have a method - a balance happening right now and I don't want to tip it.

Come back tomorrow and see - I'm working on a bigger commissioned threadpainting.  I always take lots of process photos, so I have a post waiting for you! : )

Have a great long weekend friends,

lately...

Every week I bring a new batch of threadpaintings to Handmade House.  Here are a few of the latest I brought by earlier in the week.

Available at Handmade House.  You can find my larger threadpaintings across the street at the SK Craft Council.

These are my cell phone pictures.  I've been lazy, doing the quick snap of a pic and with a click of a button it's on Facebook or Instagram.

The minis are so fun to make, and more creative for me since I'm just inventing the landscapes from memories and intuition.  By 'mini', you can see that I mean mini.

And this... I was in the mood for winter colours last week.  Maybe it was because of the soft orange haze from the raging fires up north.   I had cattails and sunrise photos from a couple winters ago, that I had never stitched.  This one is done now - for no reason in particular other than I felt like it.  : )  It's ready for a frame and stitch-signed.

Gentle Winter, 2015

I tried to capture the mood from this photo session I did south east of the city.

Remember those?  They make me happy.  The frame is more of a shadow box style, and the matting is a creamier colour.  It'll look terrific I think!  Very gentle indeed.

Thanks for looking!  : )

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 : )

More Stitching Needles

I have been working on this one for a long time.  I got a commission to make the evergreens from Gardenscape.  I had a big 8x10 one that sold as it was being set up for that show.  Then I got an email from someone else asking for it via facebook.  Gotta love Facebook.  So away I went to stitch this.  The first time I did the evergreens, it just happened quite effortlessly and it turned out perfectly lovely.  This second one?   I have been stitching this out for a long time on and off.  It went through the longest ugly phase I have ever had to endure.  I was so close to throwing this out and restarting.  I think the problem was that I began with such drastically different colours of thread - brassy orangy green and blueish emerald.  It was a lot of thread colours before I felt I had it appearing blended properly.  Usually I start with medium tones and then add the deep shadows and highlights.  I'm not sure what possessed me to start the way I did this time.  I think I may have just picked my favourite colours first.  (never doin' that again!)

But - I am SUPER HAPPY.  This is done.  It has so many colours in it and it's all done free machine on straight stitch.  There's no zigzag used.  That's all manually manipulated.  It's a lot of threadwork.

9.5" x 7" commission

This will be heading to Alberta - an old friend from highschool has purchased it.  I haven't seen her in years but she's been following my art on FB.  We used to sit in art class together waaaay back in the early '80's.  I think I have a sketch of her and a couple friends still from those days when we had to do some continuous line drawing samples.  (Waving - Hello Mrs. Deptuch!)

: )

Here is a detailed part of the threadpainting cropped square.

And here is the same portion in black and white.  VERY interesting!

A friend of mine is having her art in the paper for Weyburn ArtWalk & Join the Thread.  She had to see which have the most variation in value so that they are still appealing if printed in black and white.  That makes me want to view all my work in black and white to ensure it's not blaaaaah.  Smart.

Okeedokee.  Off to frame & box it up.  I'm so excited for her to get this!  It's awesome - I've been shipping a lot of work to Alberta lately.

linking to TN&TN and yes - I will be stepping away from that if anyone is interested in taking over that blog.  : )

Have a good day!

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