I have been working on several pieces recently, and have  made a fair amount of progress. Here is the Red Herring that I put up on the blog a while ago in a paper rendition, with hand stitching. This time, the background is made of fabric, painted fabric, and is machine-stitched. This is mostly complete, and I am about to connect the fish to the background. This time the whole piece will be rendered in fabric, and painted.

I am about half way in to my Red Sky at the Morning project. Currently, I am working on the texture, combining wool roving, cheese cloth and paint. I have painted the background fabric and dyed portions to produce the red coloring.

Ikie and I have really been really working on the fish collaboration, producing a good many “offspring” for the larger models. We have several variations on the theme, and new ideas keep popping up all the time. Who knows where it will end!

The Trout is an interesting new fish in our growing collection. He (or perhaps she) is constructed entirely of paper, with printed lettering, a quantity of paint added, and many stitches applied with a heavy thread. I’m sure that you will note the catchy outfit.

The Red Herring is done in fabric and painted. Because it is in the fabric medium, I am in the process of doing something a bit different with it. We have yet another fish which is done with paint on fabric with more appliquéd to it. Another second Red Herring sports a totally different color.

Experimenting with art quilt, stitching and mounting on canvas. The background fabric was left over from a design class I took some time ago. After purchasing a new sewing machine, I decided to see what it would do. Another  project on my list was to mount a piece of quilt art on canvas. This was the perfect opportunity to put both ideas to the test. Mounting the artwork on canvas is great, but I discovered that the piece must be small like those included below. Here are two sets from my left over design class.

This work will be displayed at the Mel’s Frame Shop at 1007 SW Morrison in downtown Portland, Oregon for the month of March, 2013. Stop in and take a look.

Just thought I would keep you posted on the progress of the joint art quilt project with Ikie. I have taken photos of the very big fish and tried to put them together. The colors are not the same in each section but I put them together anyway. This will give you some idea of the size. The stitching on the fish was a very difficult task but I got it done.

The two pieces of green fabric are ones I sun dyed. On one I put the biker. Ikie painted the border on the biker with paint and pens. On the other piece, Ikie painted a fish. Now they are back in my studio and I will have do do something with them.

We are still experimenting on how do deal with our ideas. We are making progress, so stay tuned.

The Art collaboration with Ikie continues with some results on the combined process of fabric and printing.

The first tests have been somewhat successful. The fish, which is to be a trout at some point, is just a test case, blending paper with fabric. I used the outline of Ikie’s painting for the fish. More to come on this one.

The red running shoe was our first experiment, and needed some improvements on the technique and ink used in printing. The black running shoe was successful, but we still need to work on the ink.

I would like to introduce my friend Ikie Nolan Kressel, a fellow artist who has proposed a challenge to combine my fiber art and her printing expertise. We both have a great deal to learn from each other, and I will keep you posted on our progress.

It took a trip to Vietnam to meet my neighbor Shirley.  Each of us traveled to Ho Chi Minh City to participate in an international women’s exhibit. We have found some common ground for our work, Shirley as fabric artist and me as printmaker. Brainstorming and collaboration has been inspiring and fun. We are currently working from a series I did for a show at Guardino Gallery (NE Alberta Street, Portland, OR  http://www.guardinogallery.com), the theme of which is, ” What Matters”. Often it’s those simple things, e.g., my Running Shoe, the Biscotti, for my lunch and the Rainbow Trout I painted on a door which hangs on our houseboat.

From those linoleum cuts, Shirley has taken off and done beautiful work, transforming them into fabric art. We’re still in the experimental phase of these works, but will keep you posted as we progress.

Below are three pictures we are working on in different forms. There are two linoleum cuts and a painting.

Linoleum cuts are Biscotti on left and Running Shoe on right. The painting Trout below.

This is a new concept in art quilt placemats for kids. The design is based on art quilt placemats I have made for some time, which feature flowers, fruit and vegetables. I decided to make one for our granddaughter so she could learn to set the table herself. It is a bit smaller, and a bit more playful, but quite similar to the ones used by mom and dad.

The use of recycled plastic to create flowers, and apply them art quilts is a new concept for me. I have recently been experimenting with a number of fused layers of plastic bags. When fused they can be cut into any shape desired. I chose to make flowers, and used strips of photo film for leaves. The plastic provides some interesting possibilities which I hope to explore. The background fabric for this project is a linen from Korea. It is very coarse and gives an interesting texture and look.

I am working on a Fiber Art challenge that was given to a critique group in which I participate. It was presented by Pine Needle, a local quilt shop where we meet. The challenge involves using only black and white fabric with one other color, and specific dimensions of 16″ x 24″.

Here are two photos of my work in progress. My first effort didn’t work, so I changed the location of the flowers. The second photo shows where I moved the flowers and added a red line of yarn.

Hope On The Desert 35.25” x 38” is now a completed art quilt inspired from a trip to Tucson. A Little splashes of green on a landscape dominated by shades of brown go a long way. Water has become a more worrisome topic recently, with disastrous quantities in some places, and drastic shortages in others. One hopes that balance returns.
The quilt is pieced, appliquéd and machine quilted. I applied paint and used over dyed fabric as well.

I thought I would share something a little personal and a rewarding experience. The making of this art quilt was interesting and somehow freed me up. It also made me forget about what was going on in my body and get on with life.

The idea for this quilt came to me as I was recovering from a pacemaker implant. Looking at the printout featuring the patterns of my arrhythmic heartbeat, I decided the stuttering lines would translate well into cloth and thread.

The roses are get-well present to my recovering heart. The cheesecloth, wax paper, some paint appliqué and paper give the piece a greeting card quality.

Broken Heart

The Susan G. Komen, Race for the Cure in Portland art quilt is now complete. I am pleased with the outcome and hope you enjoy it also.

I thought it was time to share what I was doing. This cactus art quilt is just in the beginning of it’s journey to being completed. I plan to resize and move the cactus plants around to make it a better composition. This has been a slow process since the pictures I took in the high desert. I am still considering adding some other elements such as line drawing of baskets. This is something I have done on the other recent quilts such as Portland Through Runners’ Eyes.

I have just added some new art placemats to the gallery so take a look. Below is just one of the exciting examples.

After taking part in the Susan G. Komen, Race for the Cure in Portland this past summer, I decided to make another art quilt featuring runners. So far, I have the back completed. I collected number placards from several participants (some pink, to recognize “survivors,” with those in white ones for “supporters”). I also included my own. The top for the quilt featuring runners is now in progress.

The Fairy Candle art quilt was inspired by a class I attended with Jane Sassaman on Abstracting from Nature. It has been an interesting project, and I look forward to doing more with this process. The design comes from a picture of a skunk cabbage that I took some time ago. I really like the process, and am quite pleased with the results.

My Night Riders art quilt is  experimental, using black batting for the background. The texture gives it an interesting look.

Now that summer is over and things have started to slow down, I have been able to focus on some “work-in-progress” that have been in progress for too long.  I am still working with bikers and runners, and look forward to doing more on theme.

My Portland art quilt now has a name:  Portland Through Runners’ Eyes. Included in this blog is a peek at the back of the quilt, as many have asked what I did with the reverse side. I gathered number placards from runners, received when they participated in a run or race. I had many saved from my running days in Japan, but as this art quilt was an Oregon original, I wanted to remain that way. Working on this piece has inspired me to experiment more with such placards, from both biking and running. More to come in the future!

This summer has been very busy and my work has slowed to a crawl. But I did finish the “runners” art quilt. I would really like to explore the runner theme more, along with that of the bikers. As to the quilt, the runners are silhouettes and the background is painted and stamped. I took pictures of some of Portland’s unique bridges, and then used Photoshop to modify them. They were then transferred to the fabric. The process really intrigues me.

For the back of the quilt, I used the number placards runners receive when they enter an event. I am now saving more of these (and scrounging some from runners!) as I love the way they work on the back. To protect the paper numbers, and to make them easier to attach, I used gel medium. I am still working on a name for this piece of art.

I look forward to the end of summer so I can get back to work, and develop more projects around this idea and method.

I finally have this art Celebrating Gloom – The Worst Day of the Year Ride work finished. The title really tells the story, but here is some additional information. The Worst Day of the Year Ride, which takes place in February, and  attracts about 4,000 hardy and adventurous individuals. Participants log about 18 mile, coursing through the streets of  downtown Portland. Food, drinks, and moral support are provided along the way. To get a feel for this unique event, take a look at the bike ride site.