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!