More Progress on the Kousa Dogwood Piece

The commission for the Doctors' Lounge at CMC Mercy Hospital is moving along.

One of the largest leaves is set up for stenciling in the first photograph. Between the white stencils, you can see the hand-dyed cotton sateen fabric that is the fabric that I am stenciling my design onto.The colors in the fabric seemed well suited to the colors in the doctors' lounge where this piece will hang when finished.

I purchase the hand-dyed fabric from a dyer from Germany, Heide Stoll-Weber. She is the only fabric dyer I have found whose hand at the dye bath results in a subtle fabric to use for stenciling designs. You can see that I have already inked the veins in the leaf.

In the second photograph, I replaced the stencil over the veins to protect them from the inks used on the leaf.

The bottom half of the leaf has had some ink added in the initial stenciling process. While more ink will be added, the colors of the fabric will come through the semi-transparent inks, giving a watercolor effect to the finished piece.

You can see a bit of stem and some other leaves at the upper right of the bottom photograph.


Nancy

Why I Work with Fabric and Thread

Last year I began pondering why I work with fabric and thread as opposed to paint and canvas - to me it is all about the texture that results from the stitching process. To read more about this pondering, please check out my earlier entry. You can see the entry here that goes into details.


These two photos tell the story for me. I love what the quilt line does, and the extra dimension that is created with stitch and threads. To me, the image comes alive with the stitching.

Nancy

Progress Continues on the Kousa Dogwood Commission

Progress continues on the commission piece. here are some additional photos. The photo at left is where I am transferring the design onto freezer paper. I cut my stencils from the freezer paper. This slick sided paper will stick tightly to fabric when heated with a hot iron. Getting a close contact makes for crisp images when stenciling. The second photo is of the Kousa berry after a number of edits. Still more to come. A couple of the leaves have been inked as well. The red orange berry is really popping against the green leaves.

Enjoy.

Nancy

Progress on Kousa Commission

This first photo is the second day of stenciling with inks on the Kousa berry. The second photo is after the third layer of inking. Working with Tsukineko inks is a lot like working with watercolors - I must preserve the lightest areas and add the color one layer at a time.

A good thing about taking progress photographs is to see the work in a new dimension. While the berry proportions are the same as the original dimensions, it seems out of balance to me. I am going to enlarge the berry in the lower area. I will show the changes in the next posting.

The white surrounding materials are the templates used to stencil the design onto the fabric. The green lines are the stenciled veins in the leaves around the berry.


Nancy

The Kousa is Coming to the Doctors' Lounge at CMC-Mercy Hospital

The Kousa Dogwood is a lovely understory tree that is Asian in origin. As our native Flowering Dogwood increasingly succumbs to a disease called Dogwood anthracnose, tree specialists are recommending that when necessary to replace our natives that we use the Kousa Dogwood with a similar flower. The Kousa is much more resistant to disease than our native.

The Kousa's flower is generally pointed at the ends, unlike our native, and blooms about 4-7 weeks later in the spring. The berry is quite different, looking more like a cross between a strawberry and a raspberry. It is edible, but not particularly flavorful. Leaves and tree structure are quite similar to our native.

Given the tree's good disease resistance, it seems a natural choice for a doctor's lounge. My design for the lounge is based on photographs and specimens from my garden. I find the leaves to have lovely rhythm to them and the berry is a marvel.

Nancy

New Commission Underway

CMC- Mercy Hospital commissioned me to create a gift for the doctors' lounge.

Christie Taylor of Hodges Taylor Art Consultancy presented my work and other artists to the hospital. The hospital, where my husband was born, is undergoing renovation. As each area is renovated, new art work from regional artists is selected to grace the area. Some of my favorite artists are represented, including a fabulous fig tree by Micheal Sherrill in the entry area that is large enough to sit under. It is an honor to be creating a piece that will be in such great company.

Several aspects made creating the initial designs easier. One, I was able to see the exact location and environment where the art would be hung. Secondly, I was told which piece of my art work most represented what they wanted.

Working from my photographs of a couple of different species, I created designs and selected possible fabrics for the piece. The hospital selected a design based on the Kousa Dogwood so I am ready to proceed.

This is a photo of the a branch of the Kousa Dogwood from my garden. Next time I will share some information about this tree and why it seemed so appropriate for a health care setting.

Nancy

Identification of Feathers, Sketches

Ever since taking Jane LaFabio''s workshop at Random Arts, I have been sketching and doing little watercolors. Here are the latest ones. The one at top is a little ceramic sculpture and its box that we fell in love with at the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Art and History.





These feathers have been deposited in our garden over the years. Not sure what birds left them behind. I suspect that the bottom one is from a white breasted nuthatch. The blue one is probably from a blue bird. We have lots of them. The two black and white speckled ones might be from downy woodpeckers. I am really puzzled by the yellow tipped feather. Is it a cedar waxwing, a yellow bellied sapsucker, or what?

Identity of feathers would be greatly appreciated.

The drum was one of Don's first Christmas presents, given to him by an aunt and uncle who went to Cherokee. It is about 70 years old from when little gifts could be bought for children that were not imported. The top and bottom of the drum are leather, the side is bark. The lashings are leather thongs. Both top and bottom have painted designs on them.

Nancy