Sunday, March 30, 2014

Conversation by brook

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My favorite ground for stitching is made of layers of soft fabric.  To this end I save scraps of every fabric that comes into the studio, no matter the color or fiber content.  Pale pieces can be painted or tinted, frayed or re-woven, and silk or organza act as slight masking agents to push too-forward colors back a notch.  I don’t remember ever meeting a natural-fiber fabric I couldn’t warm up to.

So when I began building the layers of fabric that eventually became this piece, I was looking for texture and shape more than color.  I used fabric paints and dyes to get the colors I needed.  After hand basting the small pieces and machine stitching the edges, the surface stitching was done in silks of floss and perle.

The conversation is an interrupted one, just as the work was not accomplished in a straight line.  Here, Art Imitates Life.

Friday, March 28, 2014

Three red trees

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At the outset I must confess:  I do not like orange.

This landscape is built on a piece of nuno felt that has been stitched, unstitched, had portions of needle felted velvet unceremoniously ripped away, cut into two pieces and re-felted . . . All in an effort to make friends with the color orange. The green was a diversion, a way of using, by way of yellow, the complimentary blue of orange and the green of red to soften and tame the orange, with stitches in soft, chubby matte cottons and variegated silk flosses.  The two green trees stand by in wonder, gossiping about the entire process. They refuse to acknowledge their own painted silk cocoon origins.

To be further confessional:  Orange and I may no longer be enemies, but we are not exactly sitting down to tea and biscuits together.  Yet.

The final size is approximately 7” x 8”, and the framing is a bit of a puzzle.  I will keep this pinned to a board in the studio until lightning strikes with a grand idea.  Or, maybe I’ll ask Jordan to choose the framing for me!

Blue Meadow

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The cottage commands a sweeping view of hand-tinted vintage lace, bead and button flowers, and a curious blue and yellow-green river flowing beneath all. A blue orchard bearing vintage silver Japanese seed beads shares the horizon with the red-roof cottage I have always imagined to be the home of my Irish great-grandfather. This little story and its bright colors are set in a 6 1/2” rusticated wooden tray.  I don’t know how I could manage the stresses of life without my drawers of vintage laces and trims, so using them in this little piece was therapeutic.

March 28, 2014

I can either follow my creative interests in a happy, messy sort of way, or I can bring everything to a halt and write about it.  I don’t seem to do both simultaneously either well or even happily.  My son FB’d today that I should keep my blog up to date. 

O.K., Jordan, this re-start is for you!

Love, Mom

P.S. Happy Birthday!