Nature's free show

Everything around us has been so negative these past few months. Just listening to the news is enough to send you in the deepest depression! May be it is time to remember that, even though times are hard and it will be difficult to find the extra cash to visit a show or buy an art book, there is a constant free exhibit around us if we care to look. I try to remind myself everyday and it seems to always improve my mood. A few days ago, I looked outside early in the morning and saw a beautiful dawn sky: just the edge of the clouds was colored. It was really very nice and I went back inside to get my camera. It did not quite capture it but is still a nice image.

Then just a few minutes ago, I was taking my dog out and a flock of birds of prey flew just overhead. The sun was very low and when these birds, which looked black against the sky, flapped their wings, the sun just caught their edges and it looked like blackbirds with golden wings. It was actually quite incredible. Unfortunately, no camera available and even so, I probably would not have gotten a good shot. But anyway, it really pays to look up or around!

New class, new samples

With the new year starting in a few days, I have been thinking about the new class I will be teaching at the Campbell School in March (Hand quilting: old technique, new possibilities). I want to create new samples to illustrate different ways to work. I really would like the class to be about stitching creatively but also creating the designs and the lines to be stitched. I think it will be a lot of fun. These images are close-ups of one of the samples I have been working on. Not finished yet.

So much fun!

I have been having so much fun in my studio recently that I have not wanted to do anything else, not even write a new entry for this blog! I have been making small textured enamel pieces and combining them with fabrics.

After texturing the copper and enameling it (and learning the hard way that you do not put your hand in front of the torch!), I open my drawers of hand-dyed silk and velvet pieces, pull all the fabrics out until I find those that look the best with the enamel pieces (and by then my studio looks like a tornado has been through) and then figure out how to stitch the fabric and add the enamel so that it looks nice.

Not everything is great but so far I have done a few pieces I really am pleased with. I also think it is a really good practice, both working with the metal and the enamel, and combining metal pieces and fabrics. A good reminder too that as artists, we have to produce a lot of not perfect work before we get a good piece once in a while. Here is one of my favorite quotes from the little book "Art and Fear, Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking" by David Bayles and Ted Orland: "The function of the overwhelming majority of your artwork is simply to teach you how to make the small faction of your artwork that soars."

By the way, I highly recommend that book. It is wonderful reading, and particularly encouraging when you feel in the dumps.

Merry Christmas!

Artspace Gallery in Arizona

I cannot believe how fast the days go by...and I have not been able to post anything in almost a month! Not that I have been idle, been teaching a lot, translating the quilting magazine and working a little in the studio. I have not started any new "Offerings" yet because I really needed to take a break after all the work and energy spent on the last one. But the new idea is beginning to boil in my head so I think I will have to start a new piece very soon. I have been playing with some little pieces involving fabrics and copper enamels and that has been lots of fun.

The highlight of these past weeks though was a quick trip to Scottsdale, Arizona, to visit the Artspace and Robert Roman Gallery, who represents my "Offerings" series. The only contact between Beverly Roman, the director of the gallery and Shirley Crane, her assistant, was by email and phone. So I felt I wanted to meet them in person and see the gallery: even though they were frantically getting ready for an exhibit opening that night, they still found time to talk to me and give me a tour of the gallery and I felt quite welcome. I love the collection of work they show in the gallery. There is a number of artists whose work is shown there whom I would love to meet because they work really touched me. The art is displayed beautifully and the space gave some very "positive" vibes, you know, when you feel good (or sometimes bad) somewhere without any rational reason for these feelings.

Anyway, I also went to the opening of the exhibit of new work by the artists working in the studios on the upper level of the gallery and it was an inspiring exhibit . So, if you ever happen to be passing through that region, the art district in downtown Scottsdale is fun and the Textures Gallery a definite place to visit.

Now, even though the Christmas season is on everybody's mind, including mine, I can't wait to get really "started" again in the studio!

New "Offering": it is finished!

I just put the finishing touches to my new "Offering" , titled "Mumtaz Mahal" and I took a few quick snapshots, which I am sharing here.
In the 17th century, Mumtaz Mahal was married to Emperor Kurram as his 3rd wife and she became his favorite. When she died, he was so devastated that he had a mausoleum built for her, the Taj Mahal. I am just wondering what sort of a woman she was to inspire such a love and become the reason for the creation of one of the wonders of the world. Can you imagine?

So I made this “Offering” thinking of her and used symbols and colors found in Indian art (the red color, the tree of life, and the paisley design, to name a few). Even though the box is not a representation of the Taj Mahal, that incredible building definitely fed my imagination.

After some 240 hours of work, I feel that I have put so much effort into it that I am not sure that I still like it. I know I need to leave it alone and go away from it for a few days before I can enjoy it again!

And now, on to the next thing!

Idea folder

Once in a while, I go through my old magazines (fiber, art, home decor...magazines) and tear out pages that instantly appeal to me. Then I cut the images out and put them in a binder, which I have divided in several categories: lines, shapes,textures, colors, ideas.

Obviously, often some images could be sorted in several categories so I have to make a choice. I have found it a very useful tool: first of all when I am in a "slump", I just leaf through it and most of the time an image will jump start my imagination. And it has also been quite interesting to consciously pay attention to the images that appeal to me (and conversely those that I do not like at all and do not want to cut out) and try to figure out why they appeal or do not appeal to me. It has been most interesting for example to see that I am always attracted to the same kind of color combinations, which curiously I seldom use in my own work. In any case, it is fun to create one's own image book and I think it is a useful tool, that I recommend to my students.

Back in the studio

I really need to be back in the studio and finish the blue piece I have been working on for weeks. I am in the process of beading the top....and why on earth did I decide on doing that? It seems that I will never see the end of it!

Fabric and enamel

I had to try it! I just wanted to play with one of the enamel pieces I did during my class and see how I could combine it with fabric to create a small image. Quite fun!

Campbell School, part 2

After being the teacher, I went back last week to the Campbell School but this time as a student. Two or three years ago while I was teaching, Steve Artz , an artist from California, was teaching enameling. When I went to see what he and his students were working on, I realized that they were doing with copper and enamel almost the same thing as what we were doing in my class with fabrics and thread. I was so fascinated and in awe that I had wanted to take his class ever since...and I finally did


The class, that he co-taught with another great enamelist and teacher, Jackie Spencer, was everything I was hoping for and more. My mind is still reeling at the possibilities and I can't wait to finish what I have to do and the project I am working on to start another one incorporating enamels and fabrics. I think it is soooo exciting


Steve and Jackie were so very generous with their knowledge, creativity, time and materials. Steve had made some beautiful albums that he gave us to display what we made during the week. He had brought many of these books that he had filled in the course of time and I tell you, what a pleasure for the eyes and for the mind


So here I am sharing some of what I did in class and I hope I will have time to work with these techniques and improve my skills. If you ever want to take a great class, there it is!

Campbell School, part 1

From September 16 to 25, I was teaching my "Fabric Pages ©" workshop at the John C. Campbell Folk School, in Brasstown, NC (Western-most tip of NC). If you don't know about it, the Campbell school is a wonderful place to spend 5 days and learn about all kinds of crafts, arts and traditional occupations. Classes range from blacksmith to quilting, felting, jewellery making, cooking. dulcimer playing...and building, all kinds of woodwork and pottery, painting...the list is too long to include here. Students and instructors stay on campus, have meals together in the dining hall and enjoy seeing what everyone else is doing.

This is a closed page


And this is what it looks when it is opened

So my class was about creating a sort of fabric envelope, as you can see, that includes photos transfers, embroidery, surface design and other embellishments. The 12 people in my class (which is the maximum) were an extremely creative group and the pages they created were wonderful. The quilting studio at the school is quite large, well lit and a great place to work. Here they are at work.

Our class picture at the student exhibit

On Friday, all the classes gather in the big community hall and there is a student exhibit of all the work which was produced that week. It is an amazing sight, what people can accomplish in a few days and how much creativity there is around when people let it out!

PS: If you would like to find out more about the school or ask for their catalogue, visit http://www.folkschool.org.

Also, a short "pub spot": I am teaching there again in a couple of weeks, starting on November 16 (surface design class called Fiber Fun and there is still room in the class!) and then again from March 29 to April 4, 2009 a class called "hand quilting: old technique, new possibilities". Check it out!

Nature wonders

The exhibit opening at the Burton Gallery was wonderful. It was a lot of fun to visit with other artists and talk to people. Demos were staged outside and the weather could not have been kinder. Outside the studio of one of my friends, that we were visiting the next day, a huge tulip tree was shedding seed pods.

It always amazed me how beautiful the little details of nature are. And I always see them with a needle, fabric and beads in mind. On days when other things are not going too well, when all the news in the media are rather grim, I think it does help to stop for a moment, look around and be thankful to be able to see and enjoy all these riches.

Burton Gallery exhibit

I am getting ready to leave to attend the opening of the 3rd annual show "The Art of Fiber" at the Burton gallery in Clarkesville, GA. I am thrilled to have been invited to be the "special guest artist" and I know that I will be in great company. So if you travel around that part of the country (until December 20) make sure to stop by, see the exhibit and all the other wonderful art in the gallery. And if you can, come on over tomorrow and join the fun!

discouraged, again

I am reaching the point when, after embroidering for hours and hours, I am beginning to put things together, and this involves glue. It always makes me very nervous because one wrong movement, one drop of glue that falls in the wrong place, and the whole element is wasted. I just have to keep reminding myself that should that happen, it is only time (yeah, sure!). I also know that I cannot do this part of the work when I am tired or nervous. So today would actually not be a good day. I think I have been working on this thing too long and I am beginning to wonder if I am not wasting my time altogether. May be tomorrow will be a more upbeat day!

New book

Lark Publishing has just released a new book about bead artists called "Beadweaving Masters" curated by Carol Wilcox Wells. It is a gorgeous book and I am so thrilled that the work of Amolia Willowong is included. She lives not too far from me and I have admired her work for many, many years. I love those books, which are not how-to books but collections of works by different artists. I find myself leafing through them when I am tired or when I am in a slump. The images just stir up my imagination and an assemblage of colors or a shape are usually enough to jump-start my creativity. Anyway, if you are interested in beads and beadwork, this is a great book!

an unexpected art form

If you have ever visited Great Britain, you know that pubs are much more than just bars. And you also know that part of what makes them so special are the wonderful signs that advertise them. I was listening to a program on The World (public radio) yesterday afternoon about the dire situation many pubs are facing these days and how many of them are closing. The report in itself was interesting but what caught my interest was the mention that the artists, who create the beautiful signs, are also in a difficult situation. Look at the link below to find out more about pub signs, their history and some of their designs. I think some of them are so beautiful and, to me, a reminder of life many, many centuries ago when every profession was advertised in such a way. http://www.innsignsociety.com/

(Image featured on the Inn Sign Society website)

We are more than ever surrounded by signs of all kinds. However, I think the emphasis and goals of many of these signs have changed: color and design psychology as well as marketing tools have taken over and the beauty of the sign or the illustration of the name have become secondary. I guess in a world where everything goes fast, signs have to be reduced to a logo or a specific color to be instantaneously recognizable. Who has time any more to look at all the details of such sign as the one on a pub? What a shame!

Shipping artwork

I am thrilled to report that my "Offerings" are going to be represented by Artspace and Textures Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ(http://www.artspaceaz.com/). So I needed to pack them and ship them. The more box-like pieces were not a problem. It was a bit more tricky with the flower-like ones.

I have found two very good information sources on packing artwork: the September 2008 issue of Art Calendar (http://www.artcalendar.com/) has a couple of interesting articles on the subject. The other is the book "Making & Marketing Better Artwork" by Milton Townsend (http://thebluemoonpress.com/). It has a whole chapter on packing art. Townsend is a glass maker so I guess he knows all about shipping fragile artwork!

By the way, his little book is packed full of all kind of practical information about the business aspect of being an artist. Anyway, I packed my pieces and took them to the shipping store for double boxing and shipping. And now, I will breathe again when I hear from the gallery that the pieces have arrived and are in good shape!

Working again on new piece

I finally got to spend a few hours in the studio stitching! This feels so nice since the past weeks have been very busy with studio work...but not stitching. I have been embroidering on the red panels (see previous post) and am almost done with them but to change a little, I started working on the outside panels for the box. Because the fabric is dark blue and the design very intricate, I had to use tissue paper: let me tell you about it because it is a great tip when you have quilting, appliqué or embroidery designs on dark fabric. Since a light pencil is necessary and since they brush off very quickly, it is essential to protect the traced design while you are working. Otherwise, by the time you are done with a small part of the design, all the markings for the rest are gone. Soooo frustrating!

So I deal with that, after the design is traced on the fabric, by basting a sheet of white tissue paper over the entire thing. Then I tear small bits of tissue paper just on the area I am working on. It tears easily and protects the rest of the markings. This has saved my sanity on many occasions. One word of caution, use only white tissue paper! If you use colored tissue paper and a drop of water falls on your project, the tissue will dye the fabric!

Zaida Ben-Yusuf

I was trying to catch up on reading some of my magazines and looking at the summer issue of ARTnews when I saw a short article called “Pictorialist and Pioneer, Zaida Ben-Yusuf: New York portrait photographer”. What attracted me at first was the little photo accompanying the article.

Zaida Ben-Yusuf was a professional photographer in the early 1900’s and apparently, after a brief career, disappeared from the public eye. Her work has been re-discovered by Frank H. Goodyear III and an exhibit of her photographic portraits was held at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC. I thought that I would definitely try to go see it, just to discover that the exhibit ended….today! It is however possible to see some images and find out a bit more on the links I am including below.
http://www.npg.si.edu/
http://www.si.edu/opa/insideresearch/articles/V16_PortraitPhotographer.html

I would love to get the catalogue written for the exhibit. I like her photographs and I would love to learn a bit more about her life.

Arrowmont

Some of you are most likely familiar with Arrowmont. For those of you who are not, Arrowmont is a wonderful craft and art learning center in Gatlinburg, Eastern Tennessee. You can find out a bit more about their programs by visiting the website: http://www.arrowmont.org/.
It seems that at this point the existence of the school is threatened by commercial developments of the land it now occupies. Please read the following message and visit the links included in that message. If you can, sign the on-line petition. I understand that nothing has been decided yet but I think it is never too early for us to show our support. I should also mention that Arrowcraft, which is one of the galleries representing artists of the Southern Highland Craft Guild and situated next to Arrowmont, is also directly concerned.

"Arrowmont Needs Saving!
Many of you may already have heard that Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts needs our support and help. The Pi Beta Phi Fraternity, specifically the seven person Grand Council, has started negotiations to sell and develop the property they have owned and used for education since 1912. It has been home to the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts since 1968. The developers have a nondisclosure agreement, but it is suspected that they are planning on building some kind of amusement park.
Please sign this petition in support of Arrowmont!
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/savearrowmont
Since this news became public in an article in Knoxville News Sentinel on August 16th, many people have come together to organize and do what they can to help Arrowmont and share information. Many outspoken supporters of Arrowmont are Pi Phi members who only learned of this sale through the article in the paper! This blog has a lot of information, links for articles, and posts comments http://savearrowmont.wordpress.com/
The original article in Knoxville News Sentinel with many comments after the article is : http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/aug/16/pi-beta-phi-fraternity-sell-arrowmont-land/
Please go to the blog or articles to read more. There really is too much to say here. This is a very crucial time for Arrowmont and all of its supporters need to come together. "

Trip to England, part 3

Life really gets crazy sometimes and it has taken me this long to finally post part 3 about my trip to England. I taught several workshops at the Festival and had a wonderful time with my students and I hope they did too. I did have a little time to take in a few lectures myself and I listened to Susan Brandeis from the University of North Carolina (strange that I had to go all that way to meet someone from my own state, whose name was quite familiar to me) and I also had a chance to listen to Maggie Gray's talk. I was excited to have the opportunity because I have admired her work for so long and own so many of her books. Both of these speakers were truly excellent and very inspirational. It seems that the use of digital imagery in art, and particularly in fiber art, is really the hot topic of the day. Even though I like designing the old fashion way with a pencil and paper, I think the technology available to us is incredible and well-worth the time and effort it takes to learn how to use it (or at least some of it!). The creative possibilities that scanners, computers and photo editing programs offer are huge and I am fully intending to keep learning and see how what I can create with digital technology will fit into my work.

In the meantime, I purchased Maggie Gray's newest book "From image to stitch". It is filled with ideas and possibilities and very inspirational.

Trip to England, part two

My second stop in England was the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham. I was teaching there 2 years ago and decided to go back again because it is really a fabulous show. I had 2 days of visiting before my 2 days of teaching so I had time to look at the quilts and… of course at the vendors. The general exhibit is so well hung, with wide rows on very light carpeting and black backdrop. It really sets off the quilts beautifully particularly since the lighting is quite good. One thing I found rather odd and did not like: each quilt was labeled with its title and its entry number but not the name of the maker. I assume that the goal was to “encourage” visitors to buy the catalogue but I thought it really was stealing each entrant of her/his moment of fame. In my opinion, the name of the maker should be displayed with the quilt even if the statement is kept to the catalogue.
I took a number of photos of my favorite quilts but I will not post them here since I could not request permission from their makers.

The merchants were numerous and very varied. It was possible to purchase just about anything related to quilting, either traditional or contemporary and surface design. I had the surprise to meet again with my friends Margrit and Josef from Hungary. Their business is called Foltvilág KFT. Margrit, a fiber artist and teacher herself, dyes the fabrics and some threads that they sell at shows and they also sell the brand of dye powder they use. Her fabric is cotton but feels like silk. Quite beautiful! You can find them in some major European shows, their next one being the European Patchwork Meeting in Sainte Marie aux Mines (Eastern part of France, close to Germany) in September.

But I think the best feature of the Festival is the group of the galleries showcasing individual artists or special exhibits by various groups. The “galleries” actually have solid walls (probably plywood) painted a very light grey. The signage and lighting are very professional so the quilts really look as if they hung in separate “real” galleries. It is quite impressive. Many of these exhibits were beautiful and very exciting but there is one, which really blew me away: the work of a Swiss artist, Jacqueline Heinz, who now lives in Germany. Her panels are “simple” in composition, usually two or three large areas of fairly solid color (mostly light hand-dyed colors) separated by a thin meandering line of small designs made of wool roving attached to the surface with different quilting than on the rest of the quilt. The large fields of light colors are covered with extremely dense and very interesting and unusual machine quilting, which creates amazing textures. The textures are very obvious because the fabrics are solid. Her elegant quilts brought me a strong sense of balance and peace. It is of course impossible to convey the beauty of these pieces with words and I hope that Jacqueline will soon have a website, where we can see her work.

Trip to England, part one

I am finally getting over jetlag and able to think back about what I saw in England. When I arrived, I went to Wolverhampton, not far from Birmingham, where my friend Janet had arranged for me to talk to her embroidery and quilting groups. The next day Janet took me and another friend to Wightwick Manor. The house, built at the end of the 1800 was meant to look much older.

As you can see from these few pictures, the building itself from outside is an incredible experience as far as lines, textures and proportions are concerned. Inside, the house is decorated in the style of Arts & Crafts Movement and many of the well-known artists from area are represented: wall-papers, rugs and textiles by William Morris, tiles by William de Morgan, stained-glass windows by Charles Kempe. I could go on and on. There are also a number of paintings by members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood such as Gabriel Rosetti, Edward Burne-Jones just to name only these two.

"Love among the ruins" by Edward Burne-Jones

It was such a treat because I am so partial to the Arts & Craft style and seeing the artwork in person was really something else! On any given day, selected rooms are opened to the public and they alternate to preserve them better. The rooms we could see that day had so much history, so much to see that I really wanted to be able to come back and see all the other rooms.
The gardens are also in the Arts& Craft style and very beautiful. The weather was on the cool side and somewhat rainy (which I really enjoyed after the heat-wave and drought that we’ve had in North Carolina this summer) and there again, there was so much color and textures all around that it was difficult to know where to look.

So I am just sharing a few images with you. If you are ever in the Birmingham area in England, make sure you stop by the Wightwick Manor, which is situated 3 miles west of Wolverhampton and part of the National Trust.
And I hope that one of my future pieces will have been inspired by what I saw there.

Musings

I have spent the last few days getting ready for my teaching trip to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England. I am really looking forward to this, both because of the teaching and visiting. I am going first to a town close-by to present a lecture and this will allow me to meet again with a student I had first encountered in France. I hope to see the piece that she started in my class , which had really impressed me. It will also be so nice to see her again and discover what her group does.
The Festival of Quilts is a fabulous event. The exhibits are truly inspirational, there is a huge merchant's mall. But what had most impressed me when I taught there 2 years ago was the personal displays of individual artists or groups: their booths were build with hard walls (plywood) painted a light grey color, so when you entered the booth, you really had the feeling of entering a real gallery. Both signage and lighting were excellent and it did so much to showcase the qualities and originality of each artist and the mission of each group. I can't wait to see the work of artists featured this year.

Of course, because of all that preparation, my work on the new piece has not progressed very much. The piece is in my mind all the time, I think about it, try to solve problems and find creative solutions for them and design the parts that still need to be created. Of course, since this is all in my mind, who knows if it will work when I physically try to implement these ideas. However, that stage, when thoughts become reality, is what I love even though it can also be a very uncomfortable time.

I did take the time to watch the opening ceremony of the Olympic games. All political and economic considerations apart, I was really blown away by the artistry and the combination of art and technology. I thought it was quite magical and almost made me feel that I was entering another world and dimension. One thing though that is at the edge of my consciousness and that I am not sure I can put into words: some of the elements of this production were so powerful because of the sheer number of participants. So where does that leave the individual participant? Doesn't the "person" disappear? Again, I am not sure that I can explain my feelings but there is something here that bothers me slightly.

Back in the studio

It has been a while since I have worked in the studio or been able to post anything but for a few days now, I have been working on a new piece. Once I decide on what style I am going to base a piece, it is so much fun and so interesting to do a bit more research about that particular style: lines, colors, symbols...Not that I am trying to remain perfectly faithful to the elements of that style but they serve as a basis for me to go on and create my own design. For this one, the Taj Mahal is such an incredible building and provides inspiration on so many levels that I decided to base my new "Offerings" piece on art from India. I searched on the Internet and also have been reading Sheila Paine's book "Embroidered Textiles" (I had mentioned it in an earlier post). I have found so much valuable and interesting information, for example on symbolism of colors (red background and the various colors used for the embroidery), of shapes (tree of life, carnation, pomegranate, birds...), all symbols that are relevant to the thoughts I want to express in my piece (and which I will talk about when the piece is further along or finished). So, I dyed the silk/coton fabric and some of the threads (the other threads were hand-dyed by my friend Nancy) and I have embroidered the first little panel (10" x 4 1/2"). And yes, it did take a number of hours. But I am quite pleased so far...except for one detail I am not sure I like: I don't know if the lines symbolizing the tree should remain black (black is one of the colors in my palette) because I feel as they are, they add too much weight to the rest of the embroidery. I will try other colors in the next panel (I don't know which yet). Any idea?

Quilt Fest in Jonesborough, TN

I am getting ready to go to Jonesborough, TN, charming little town, to teach at Quilt Fest. This is a yearly event organized by the quilt store Tennessee Quilts and lots of fun. Workshops are now held in a convention center in Johnson City. I am teaching some of my favorite subjects (hand quilting, crazy quilting with a modern twist) and the other is how to draw quilting designs. I know there are computer programs but for me, holding the pencil, drawing lines freely and seeing what happens when I reverse-combine-multiply the image with tracing paper, is such a pleasure and one of the design steps I enjoy the most.
So for now, the new piece I have in my head and just started working on has to wait! I have done some drawings and I have started building the structure that will be covered with embroidered/quilted fabric but this is really not much.

It's done!

My new "Offerings" piece is finally finished. I called it "Essence" and I will let you find your own interpretation. All I will say is that it was not a random choice. I am still not sure if I am completely satisfied with the piece or only with parts of it. Most likely if I have doubts, it is because something in my brain knows what I consciously can't put my finger on. I will see what other people have to say. Any comments on your part?
Here are some images (just snapshots for the moment!
"Essence", closed

And a close-up

And guess what is inside?

A beautiful little lampworked vial that I commissioned from glass artist Teresa Brittain of Oak Ridge ,Tennessee.

Fiber exhibit at Cloth Fiber Workshop

I found out this weekend that my piece "Reliquary" was accepted for the "Exploring Surface Design: Surface Design Techniques in Clay & Fiber" exhibit at Cloth Fiber Workshop in Asheville, NC. The opening will be on Friday, August 1 from 6 to 9 pm and will run to the end of August. If you have not been at Cloth Fiber Workshop before, this is a wonderful opportunity to see a great exhibit as well as check out this venue, where cool classes are offered and where you can purchase difficult-to-find natural fabrics. Check out the website, www.clothfiberworkshop.com, for more information and directions.
In the studio here, my new "Offerings" piece is just about finished. At this point, I think I am pleased with it but I will need a few days to decide for sure! Do you also have that feeling, after you have worked intensively on a piece, that you really don't know anymore if you like it or not? It is difficult at that point to have a fresh, objective perspective!

Workshop at QSDS

I just came back from taking my dyeing workshop at QSDS. Carol's workshop was without a doubt one of the most informative and enriching workshops I have taken. It was also quite intense at times, particularly when we had to calculate proportions and measurements to get a certain color (my brain has somewhat of an aversion for numbers!). One of the goals of the workshop was to put together a book of coded swatches, an invaluable resource to duplicate the colors or just get an idea of what colors would look like together. I am including a photo of some of the pages of my book. My mind is still reeling and as I was driving all the way back from Ohio, I found myself looking at the trees, flowers or rocks on the side of the road and trying to think what codes that might be! Was that a complete immersion (ha ha) in the world of dyeing or what?

In any case, to anyone interested in learning more about dyeing their own fabrics, yarns, threads or learning about color theory and using the color wheel in a way that makes sense (it never had really for me until now), Carol's workshop (or any other she teaches) is definitely well worth your time and money.