Tools of My Trade

Winter Robins' Feast is coming along. Here are some of the tools I use.

First creating a design based on my photographs and actual specimens, I apply the design to the fabric with inks. Here are the variety of inks that I use. I really like the little 1" square ink pads and the Fabrico markers that have two different points to them. The small round tubes allow me to apply light inking with some subtlety.




























Before quilting I pull a variety of threads to use. Some will be used, and others may be added.

















My utility knife is wonderfully comfortable in my hand and gets a lot of use in cutting my stencils. I use the back of a cutting mat as the knife will destroy the top of the mat an not heal. It was created by a local artist of wood.


Here is the quilt in a puddle under my new Pfaff. Quilting around the motifs goes slowly. If you look closely you can see one of the quilted berries that is not inked. I call these "ghost" motifs.

A Google Finding

Googling my name today I found the following linkage. Somewhat old photograph used of Pelton's Rose-Gentian, but really appreciated being covered. Here is the link.


Do you Google your name periodically? What do you find?

Nancy

Handcrafted: A Juried Exhibition of Ceramics, Fiber, Glass, Metal, Wood

The Maria V. Howard Arts Center at the Imperial Centre for the Arts and Sciences in Rocky Mount, NC, opened its Handcrafted: A Juried Exhibition of Ceramics, Fiber, Glass, Metal, Wood, an established national juried craft exhibition attracting a variety of traditional, mixed, and new craft media from across the United States on Sunday. The exhibition will run through May 20, 2012.

I am thrilled to have a several pieces in the show. DH and I saw the Handcrafted exhibition last year and were very impressed with the quality of fine craft exhibited. I decided then to enter the competition for this year, knowing that it would be tough but worth it.

The arts center is acquiring a very fine collection of fine art and craft. Some lucky person was awarded Best of Show and a Purchase Award on Sunday. Wish we could have been there to see it.

The three pieces below are in the exhibition.

Teasel Twilight


Poke Weed Berries


Mossy-Cup Oak

If you are near Rocky Mount, NC I hope you can see art work and enjoy the delightful venue. It is about 45 minutes east of Raleigh, NC.

And if you do get there, please let me know what you think.

Nancy

Winter Robins Feast

I am one of the SAQA artists selected to create a piece for the Seasonal Palette Exhibition due to open at Houston. Each of us submitted ideas and photos of four pieces of our work. Mockingbird's Larder was one of the pieces I submitted and that was the one they asked me to use in creating a new piece for the exhibition.

Our dear friend, George Weir, is taking a photography course and needed subjects for portraits and took the photograph above of me working on Winter Robins Feast. Part of my process is to cut stencils from freezer paper to apply my designs onto the fabric. Often I must cut the stencil while the freezer paper is on the fabric. Below my right hand is a small cutting mat that is between the paper and the fabric.In the photo above, most of the piece is covered with freezer paper except for berries that are being inked.

In much of the US, the arrival of robins marks the spring. Here in Charlotte the robins come in droves to stay for the winter. The mockingbird will find a favorite berry bush and guard it until the berries ripen waiting for the right moment to feast. All too often a flock of robins or cedar waxwings will descend and in a day or two will strip the tree clean of berries. No wonder the mockingbird is such an aggressive creature!

Nancy

My Donation to Fiberart for a Cause

I’m so excited to once again support Virginia Spiegel and the Fiberart For A Cause team as they fund raise for the American Cancer Society.

This year’s event, Foto/Fiber 2012, opens February 15. I have donated two (2) Fiber BONUSES. I hope you will join me and 35 other fiber artists to help us meet our goal of raising $7000 to add to the $215,000 we have already donated to the ACS. Everything you need to know to participate in the event (and win my Fiber BONUSES) is here:

http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/FotoFiberHowItWorks.html

I posted teasers about my donations earlier. Check it out here

Nancy

Seed Play on Exhibit in Chapel Hill NC at the NC Botanical Gardens

Beauty of a Berry 24" x 24"

Eighteen pieces from my series, Seed Play, are in a solo exhibit at the North Carolina Botanical Gardens in Chapel Hill NC. This is such a delightful exhibition gallery in the Education Center specifically dedicated to botanical art. The exhibition is open to the public and free, although donations are welcome. The exhibition runs through February 26.

I have both large and a selection of small pieces in the exhibition.

They have a lovely gift shop that is well stocked for the garden lover. They also have a collection of quilts done specially for the Education Center and wonderful outdoor sculpture and art.

Please let me know if you can see the exhibit. Would love some feedback on it.

Nancy

Fiber for A Cause

Packet one with Sue Benner fabric Packet 2 with Lunn Fabric shibori and Els van Baarle fabrics

Virginia Spiegel is at it again, raising money for the American Cancer Society for cancer research. I have contributed two packets that donators will have the chance to either select (Day One) or be randomly selected to receive (Day Two).

Thought my readers might want to see a sneak preview of my packets. I went into my stash of very special fabrics and embellishments and pulled together two packets of color coordinated "stuff" from hand dyed and painted silk fabric from Sue Benner to some hand dyed cheese cloth from Els van Baarle and a scrap of Lunn Fabric double dyed shibori. Both contain silk cocoons and a silk rod to play with.

Pop on over to Foto Fiber to see how the donation process and your chance to select one of great art works and packets works. Click here.