I have been in a creative zone for some time. My work space shows the evidence of the spree I have been on.

The design wall is full and I just moved to the floor. After months of procrastination I am finally producing some good work.

this morning I finally completed the task of writing the curators statement for A Sense of Place. For me it has been a steep learning experience. I feel that the exhibit is good and am hopeful that it will be well received. So now I guess I will have to make reservations for Houston!

full design wall

My design wall is chocked full of work! Yippi

After a period of doing little work things seem to be coming in batches. I now have 8 pieces on the wall in various stages of completion.

Dialogue VI is ready for some work on the silk. I want to do some embroidery before I put on the backing and do the actual quilting.

I most likely need to take a close up to show the surface design work..but that will have to wait for another day.

On another note, most of the images for A Sense of Place: Artists working in a series, with landscapes as their inspiration are in. I am excited about the exhibit. It was truly amazing to me to discover h0w each artist has a highly personal view of their "landscape." The diversity is an interesting study within itself. I need to sit down and write the curator's statement and get the images off for the catalogue.

Sing

Finally finished Sing. Here is a small view while still on the sewing table.

I thought I had it finished in April, but was not happy with it. So I put a lot more quilting in the background and it looks wonderful.

You can not tell from this photo but it is a Kirkland warbler...a small bird with a yellowish chest. It only nests in young jack pine forests. And then in the grass at the base of the trees.

Kirkland's winter in the Bahamas and nest in northern Michigan. Experts say that it is about a seventeen day trip for them to fly either way.

They were listed as an endangered species in the early '70's and have been recovering well sense the DNR agreed to manage a section of the forest for young jack pine growth. The whole process was helped two years ago when there was a wildfire that burned several thousand acres. The result was natural jack pine regeneration = more Kirkland habitat.

Nature does have a way of taking care of its own, if only we humans understood that better.

A walk in the woods

Yesterday was a beautiful day. Jerry and I decided to go for a short hike. There was a soft breeze which helped keep away the flying critters...which made it even more pleasent. We chose a section of the North Country Trail that is located in Wilderness State Park. It follows along and old dune ridge...which is now an almost mature forest.

We were looking for a nesting pair of bald eagles...And we found them. The nest is huge...in a white pine tree just off the trail. Both the male and female were there...sitting in the branches.

We sat on the ground for at least a half hour and just watched in amazement as they soared, swooped and hunted .

We never saw the babies, but could hear them.

I wish I could have gotten a good picture of them flying

I will just have to remember it in my mind.

Continued

This is a quick and dirty shot of one of the pieces I am working on. It started with a piece of fabric that Virginia Spiegel had painted during her virtual studio in Chicago.

When I came home I added a little to the surface and them cut it up into approximately 15 pieces.

Then I dyed and painted some cheesecloth light blue to blue green...and now I am about to quilt all those little squares BEFORE I mount them on the background.

Quick and dirty image of new work

Dialogue V is up o the design wall. It is about stories and how they develop from fragments of information. The central story is a piece of hand dyed silk with markings. I still need to do some more stamping or painting on the blue areas...

I have been defining the marks with hand stitching.For me hand stitching is akin to meditation. I love the feel of thread and fabric and the rhythmic movement of stitching.

I have three other pieces in the design stage and they are all crying for some form of hand work.

Enriching your "voice"

Last night I finished reading a really wonderful and informative article in the SAQA’s Spring Journal. It was written by Katie Pasquini Masopust on her experiences taking classes outside her medium. She writes about her experiences over the past 10 years which include photography, chalk and painting classes. Each class led her in a new direction and added greatly to her growth as an artist. She ends her article by encouraging every artist to study with someone outside their medium and see where it will take you as an art quilter.

If you are looking for such an experience I would encourage you to go to the Fabrications Retreat web site http://fabricationsretreat.com
and look at the class description for Del Michel. Del is a mixed media artist whose work is exhibited internationally. He has a wealth of teaching experience and on top of that is a thoroughly delightful man.

I had the wonderful opportunity to spend a day with a small group of artists working in his studio. The result of that experience helped me see possibilities I had never considered. I felt it was instrumental in enriching my “voice

Reworked

One of the interesting sessions at the Studio Art Quilt Associations conference was a workshop intitled Eye of the Artist: Approaches to critiquing quilt art conducted by Sandra Sider.

Sanda stated that every successful studio qult develops from a concept, theme or aesthetic focus. She presented basic principles of design which she organized to suggest certain priorities for fiber art l

Primary principles

texture

line
color
mass
Secondary principles

contrast

repetition

variation

balance

focus

The workship was small and each person brought a work to be critiqued.

The work was put on the wall and the artist given time to state the inspiration for their work and what they intended.

After that the group discussed the work on the basis of the priniciples and made suggestions if needed.

We had been incouraged to bring work in process that we were having difficulty with...or a work that we were not pleased with

This is the work that I took...which was ready for the cutting block!!!

After an interesting discussion...someone suggested turning the piece upside down...

I can away from the critiquewith a postive feeling that I could make some changes and the work would definately be stronger

so voila...new Dialogue III