Beat the Winter Blues!

Today's mail brought a lovely cure for the Winter Blues. I received my part of a swap from a member of the The Thread Society, an online Yahoo group for thread junkies. My swappee is Michelle Goldsmith from NH. How can I not be cheered up by such a bright and colourful card on such a cold winter day!

Overall pic of the card approx 5x7




Come Spring - detail shot

looks like a thread painted detail attached over gold lame frayed

My part of the swap is still in progress due to ongoing deadlines and stanza drama. No hints until I get it in the mail early next week

You never know what you'll see walking thru town

This morning after I finished my usual computer things, I opened the drapes in my room....... this is what I saw - I managed to get a photo before she disappeared but missed her mate as my camera isn't real speedy in coming back to take another pic.

Doe crossing the church parking lot behind our houses

I live near the downtown core of our city

Right after that I went to the W store to pick up some foil to cover my turkey with plus some fusible cotton fabric I saw yesterday and was intrigued by it. On the way home I took a slightly different route and who should I see resting in the cemetary at the top of the avenue. I realized I needed a new battery to take more pics. So I went home and got the charged battery and back up to the cemetary to take some more pics. I took a few from the fence, then realized I could drive in the cemetary so I did and got some lovely shots of the 2 of them. This is the best shot of the buck.

Mule deer buck just standing and watching me in the car. Both deer seem very used to vehicles

The deer wander in town apparently at will. I have previously encountered them between 6-7 am in the dark on a busy street while driving a co-worker home......that time is was a family of 3-4 deer. We have lots of open space and sheltered areas that apparently attract them. I think they may wander in up through the creek bed or rail track corridor.

Stanza gets her own blog

I can't believe I'm saying this but today I spent time creating her own blog for Stanza. This blog is supposed to be MY creative efforts, but due to Stanza's recent health issues, there have been more posts about how she's doing to keep my online friends updated.

So, in order to have my efforts EMERGE as they come about, I've spent time moving all the posts about her over to her own blog. Those interested in her adventures can find her blog addy under Blog Links on the right side of my blog or click on here
http://www.stanzathecat.blogspot.com.

Another Sunday at the Gallery

I spent another stint as the featured artist doing a demo at the Art Gallery of Swift Current. This time I was at the traditional quilt event that took place at the library the day before and announced that I would be demonstrating Fusible Fibre Art. It was a "teaser" for the Fusible Fibre Art - Introduction to Fusibles workshop being offered through the Gallery on March 28.

I ended up with 4 - 6 women from Saturday's event who got chairs and set themselves down right in front, taking notes and everything. (grin). I quickly realized I needed to get them interested without giving them all the info I would be doing in class! This is basically a casual, artist doing what they do event, not a teaching moment. I had a whole variety of fusible products that we will be using in the workshop. More, if I get to Medicine Hat to pick them up before the workshop.

I spent time demonstrating using MistyFuse on sheers and angelina. It was fun to show the ladies how it bonds so nicely to the sheers and hardly changes the hand of the fabric.

Structures #104 by Lisa Call

6" x 6" mounted on a painted stretched canvas

photo from Lisa's Small Art for Sale page

http://blog.lisacall.com/small-artwork-for-sale

I received my new textile painting, Structures #104, from Lisa Call this am. I just love this piece. I ended up having to pay duty on it before I could get the package from the parcel guy, but it sure is worth it. Lisa let her blog readers know that her prices were increasing on February 1, so it gave us a chance to buy before then. I previously purchased one of her Home series ACEO's so I could own a piece of her work. I have hung it in the wall space between the two bedrooms that is about 7" wide for now so I will get see it often. I can also see it from my studio (which most ppl would use for a dining room) and it will get NO direct sunlight from any direction.

A short time later the mail was delivered (earlier than usual) with my "thanks but you didn't get the job" letter from my interview last week. I have mixed emotions. I'm glad I did well in the interview by the sounds of it since it's the first one of that type I've had in years. But, it means it's back to the daily job search before I can work on my art. On the other hand, it does give me more time to work on that art which I will need to get my Flatland Fibre piece done on time and also work on my workshop samples etc for March.

My plans for today include working through some of the exercises in the Learn to Make a Pop up Book to learn how to make pop ups.

Results may be posted later. First though, I need to design a postcard size info sheet for the gallery to put out (I offered) and that we can distribute to the traditional quilters who may be attending an event at the Library on Saturday afternoon.

I spent time this morning "playing" with peltex to get the dimensions figured out for my Flatland Fibre - Off the Wall Intent to Enter Work form so I could get it sent in before the deadline at 5 pm today. Here is the link for the exhibit http://www.saskcraftcouncil.org/Fibre%203D_CallforEntry.pdf I spoke to my "muse" - Laurie Wagner, Art Educator at the Art Gallery of Swift Current on the phone prior to playing to discuss options and sizes. She always seems to suggest things I would have never have thought of in my own process. I don't always use them but they are good to consider. It was interesting to start with one idea of the size I wanted then see how it worked in actuality. Lots of folding and measuring later, I finally got a size that I feel will work well and show the work well.

Then I was off to the Library/Art Gallery building to show Laurie what I came up with. We discussed a few more options that might happen with the piece and I finally had to make notes so I wouldn't forget them.

I will say that I am very excited about working on this piece, more excited than I have been for anything in quite some time. The inspiration came about when I was making a New Year's Day phone call to a friend in Nova Scotia and describing the fibre greeting card I'd made in December for an online exchange. His comment "oh, like a pop up book" resonated with me and made me try to get it figured out as my entry for this exhibit.

I got the entry faxed off before noon using the Library fax machine, a full 5 hrs before the deadline. Apparently old habits die hard although I am working on getting things done earlier these days.

I will try and give you glimpses of the project in process as I go along, but will not put completed pics on the blog because I have realized that I can enter it in other shows that may have a clause about not it not being shown online before the show. Sorry. I am also working through a lot of techniques that I may use to teach later on. I new the fibre card was going to send me off in some new directions but had no idea where it would be taking me.

After getting the fax off and picking up some books and dvds at the library, I headed out to do some errands and wander around Walmart craft section to see what other fusible items I could find to use in my Fusible Fibre Art - Intro to fusibles workshop at the Gallery the end of March.

I found a cute little package of 5 trial size bottles of Aleene's fabric glues that will be fun to experiment with. The package was $3.96.

L to R: Fabric Fusion, Flexible Stretchable fabric glue,OK to Wash IT fabric glue, Jewel-It Embellishing Glue, and No-Sew fabric glue

There was also a Fabric Fusion fabric glue pen which is permanent and dry cleanable. It

was $2.97 for 10 ml/.34 oz

The other interesting glue product I found was a tube/bottle of Adhesive Tech A Fine Line..... the glue you can write with. I think this glue would be good to use to do delicate foiling or writing on quilts and then foiling it. It says it's great for design work on paper and fabric. It was all of #1.36 for 42 ml/1.42 oz.

I may try some of these glues while doing my Fusible Fibre Art artist demo on Sundays at the Gallery this Sunday.

Today I finally got the workshop write up done for the Saturday No Sew Fibre Art workshop I will be doing at the Art Gallery of Swift Current at the end of March. We will be learning how to use the variety of fusibles on the market plus fusible embellishments, making some type of sample book for them and then spending time using the materials and techniques to create some small (8x10) or smaller fibre art works. There will be NO sewing involved so my challenge will be to find finishing techniques so a finished project(s) can be taken home at the end of the day.

It also means checking out some of the fusible embellishments I haven't yet bought or used to see if they are suitable for inclusion in the workshop. Most of that will happen after I get my Flatland Fibre Intent to Enter Work application off by fax in the next day. I will be playing with peltex today to decide on the dimensions of my piece. I'm quite excited about working on it but it seems many things are conspiring to keep me from it.

I was feeling fairly under the weather over the weekend so all this was supposed to be done then but didn't happen. Instead I spent time resting and watching movies on the puter. Obviously things were germinating in my brain since the writeup practically wrote itself this am. Amazing what enough sleep and echinachea can do for a person. That and the sun is shining away today which always helps me this time of year.