this butterfly is finished

I guess really only nature knows how long it truly takes to make a butterfly but this is my version. The final layer has been added to liken an early 19th century corset ~ a couple of my friends have already picked up on that!

I will let you know if it gets juried in to the show I have made entry to ~ for showing in the spring into summer.

Truthfully, that is not the important part ~ I had a great deal of fun, enjoyment and learning from completing this piece and hope that you like it, too!

Wishing you a wonderful weekend ~

next stage of the butterfly project

This is where this is going ~ I have finished the perimeter in soft cream and white varigated, 12 wt. cotton Sulky, the extremities could suggest paths and wanderings. The next and final stage is a sheer layer but I am still (of course) working on the sketches and on paper cut-outs before I actually use the fabric.

Now that I can see the end stages of this work ~ my mind has been straying to my next piece ~ I am thinking landscape ...

Wishing you all a great and happy week

Butterfly project

Well, it has a temporary name ... and here are some of photos as to how it is going. This batch of photos turned out much better than the last in terms of the light ~ so the colours are so much more acurately depicted. The last detail photo above shows the final point of this piece ~ the female form. This is for a juried show and the ideas are still coming together but it will be a statement and contrast of the female image and self image. I am still avoiding the sewing-machine but I do have a sister piece completed by myself and my daughter with all free-motion, when I take my next batch of photgraphs ... I will include it. ~wishing you well ~

new work ~ progress

Hello ~ on this snowy evening, the winds are up and the snow is blowing, who knows what it will look like in the morning. Beautiful, I am sure ...

I am so excited about where this is going, it is a slow process but I love every twist and turn and stitch. My debate was if I should take it to my machine or keep working by hand ... for now I am keeping my hand to my work. I find I have more control by hand ... so I worked on a similiar piece strictly by machine ... I love it too but they have different personalities.

This piece will have a final sheer vintage fabric over the top that will let the image peek through, it may not be that far away!

New Fibre Work

I am thinking to myself ... what have I been doing, and then I remember that Christmas is almost upon us. The handknits to finish, the packages to post and the unwrapping of those decorations that have been around forever but come back every year as old friends. There are stories to read, cards and cookies to make ... it never all gets done as one might envision but that is perfectly fine by me. I find it is the small things that make it special ~ the walks at night, the music and more time by the fireplace ... I think those are the things I cherish the most.

And of course, starting a new piece (which has no name or final goal yet) but will eventually have layers of sheers, some vintage fabric and perhaps the addition of watercolours. I am looking forward just working on this in which ever direction it might take me.

I wish you time to linger!

Lilies 2 of 2 ~ in progress

a little closer detail

First, I hope that eveyone is in the middle of a lovely weekend.

Here is the second of the "lilies" set (still in progress) ~ shown with a little detail work.

I find that as I explore this medium more and more ~ that I am using my reference sketches less and less. More intuitively following the composition of the piece as it sits in front of me, letting the work dictate to me how I go from place to place.

This is watercolour on muslin, wool rovings and hand stitch

Lilies 1 of 2

and some detail work below

I showed this as a work in progress a while ago ... so here it is finished (with some details) and the second piece of "Lilies" is well underway. I have been reading about everyone working in their gardens, collecting,and harvesting. It has been the same here ... I love this time of year and find it so hard to come inside.

This is watercolour on muslin, with wool rovings and hand stitch

Lilies in Progress

details

This piece is progressing well, although sometimes it heads in a totally different direction that I certainly never expected ... and then I say "hmmm' that is not what I had in mind a week ago. I find it very interesting how the work progresses and changes through apparently no cause of my own, at times I really like it and then other times, I take it out and work in a different direction. I find my work with fibre is more susceptable to that than my paintings were, perhaps I am planning less now. Not a bad thing ~

I hope to work a lot this long weekend and to all of you I wish a wonderful September weekend.

New work ~ getting started

Details ~ (and pardon my basting stitches)

OK ~ I think I am back, this is a piece I have started in the last week or so, inspired by lilies in the garden. This is the first of two ... also watercolour on muslin, wool rovings and hand-stitch. I have discovered for myself that hand-stitiching is so very calming, methodical and quiet. I love my machine but find that I have to walk away after awhile as the sound can become too much.

I hope to do a good mix of both over the next few months ...

Will post the finished piece when it is done!

The Sedum Series

This is the second in the series ... of sedum heads from last fall. I hope you like the colours and the stitches, and the bits and pieces of stitch left behind. The second piece seemed softer that the first ... maybe not so controlled or anticipated.

This is watercolour on muslin, with rovings and handstitch.

Looking for suggestions !

I am wondering if anyone has some suggestions or ideas to help me out? I am adrift and stuggling with the framing/presentation of my work. I have been doing OK but the framing/mounting is just not what I am happy with. My work is on the smaller side 18" x 18" or less ... I find that doesn't take well to being hung on a rod of sorts as it doesn't have the weight to keep it down well. Currently, I have been mounting the pieces on stretched canvas (either painted or not) and then using a gallery frame to sit the canvas in.

It is fine but not great ... I am not sure if I should fancy up the frame at all or use straight black on the frame. Whatever I am doing wrong has me stumped ... I would be so happy for suggestions, thoughts, ideas ~ under glass vs not under glass ~ open for anything. Or if you know of books or website, or any other resource ~ I would be so very thankful!

Have a great weekend!

Wet Felting

Wet felting this weekend with my daughter and some friends ~ I love all the work and I find it so rewarding to work with young people and show them a few different things. Even if they never chose to pick it up again ~ at least there is a sense of history and the artist ... hopefully it will stay with them and they might choose right path! It is good to keep them close without asking them to stay. I love their company and they enjoyed their day so much!

Wet felted wool rovings !

Sedum heads I ~ first of two

This was inspired by a huge bed of sedum that I found last fall ... the colours were stunning in that light.

So, I had started this series over the winter and then put them aside to work on a couple of other pieces that had become important. While digging through my colour searches, I came across the little water colour I used to determine my colour palette for the work. The goal at the time was to only set the pigments that I was looking for in the finished piece.

I find the process of colour searching so very helpful ~ the pieces started up again and with

this little watercolour to drive me on ~ the second is almost completed.

This is watercolour on muslin, rovings and hand-stitch

The Changing Landscape ~ juried in!

I can't tell you how pleased I was to learn last night that I piece that I had been working on most recently has been juried into a multi-disciplinary show at the Burlington Arts Centre in Burlington, Ontario.

This piece is called the Changing Landscape and has been inspired by both a beautiful piece of landscape pottery but most important the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It represents the oil and water mixing and swirling ~ habitats in crisis and lives and livelihoods devistated by this event. I came to realize how deeply disturbed I was by this huge mess that seemingly has no easy solution for anyone involved. I hope and I wish that anyone viewing the piece will understand how fragile our enviroment is and how somehow not enough thought is ever given as to how much harm can come to it. The scope of this is way, way, way beyond me but even if a few more people that might view the show ~ give our enviroment a bit more consideration then hopefully the statement wasn't a loss.

This is acrylic on muslin, rovings, hand-stitched, mounted and framed for the show

Passing Storm ~ all together ~

Here are the three ~ finished and put together, once again, photographing my work may not be my strong point. I think I am done with threes for a while ~ the thinking is sometimes the hard part about that.

I hope they connect for you ...

acrylic on muslin, rovings, hand stich

Passing Storm ~ third of three ~

The third of my set finished ~ hopefully I will have them set on a canvas shortly. Seeing them together ~ you can look from one to the other ~ maybe there is a beginning, a middle and an end or maybe not ~ sometimes I will take up the same subject matter another time.

I find that there are things I that I keep coming back to over time and somethings I don't ~ but by keeping only a gentle grasp on the ideas maybe there will be another set of three. I like twos as well, but usually they are larger and the singles are even bigger again.

I am working on a single and also a set of two right now.

Interestingly enough, the subject can sometimes tell you what to do or where to go ... often, a storm has a beginning, a middle and an end ...

i wish you a great weekend

Passing Storm ~ first of three ~

This is another small set of three that I have started ~ inspired by a passing storm and the beautiful light that followed the dark clouds. I hope that you can feel the wind and fast movement of the clouds. I sometimes enjoy a good storm as long as it passes quickly and is off at a distance ...

~ acrylic on muslin, wool rovings and hand stitch ~

best wishes

Felt for stitch (detail)

a close up of a wet-felted piece which is ready for stitch ~ creamy white and pink rovings, a bit of watercolour, a few stray threads, wool and angelina fibres ~ about 14"x 12"

starry nights together

here are the three together ~ and mostly i am thinking i didn't do a great job of photographing them. (the individual posts have the better light)

the finished peice is roughly 20" x 10" ~ i enjoyed the really dark parts and the really light parts.

acrylic on muslin, merino rovings and hand-stitch

My Starry Night, three

i have finished the third of this series and will post them all together soon, in this piece i was looking for the swirls of people passing by, coming and going. hope you like it!

acrylic on muslin, rovings, thread and stitch