ArtShare

ArtShare is a meme started by one of the members of the Art Quilters Webring. Here is how it works. The first five people who leave a comment on this blog entry will receive a small piece of my art. So no anonymous posters, or no reply! I need to have an email address for you so that we can exchange snail mail addresses. The catch is that each of the lucky five must also post an ArtShare on their blog. So, unfortunately, participants must be bloggers. But, fortunately, all you bloggers are eligible to win, and to share your art with others too!

This blog is, generally speaking, a Meme-Free zone. However, I think the spirit of this meme is right on target. I love the idea of sharing my art with you. And, by the way, I was one of the lucky five to participate on Deborah's blog. If you haven't been to her site, check it out -- her work is fabulous. I think I am one lucky girl to receive one of her pieces!

Spooky Weekend

Kyle and I are on our own today, since JB went hunting with his dad. We decided we didn't care about going out and doing anything, but we still wanted to do something special together. And what could be better the weekend before Halloween than carving our Jack O Lanterns!!

And here they are!



Kyle's version is on the right, and mine is on the left. Kyle wanted to make sure his had lots of fangs! We had a lot of fun doing this together, and Kyle is still young enough to need a little help cleaning out the pumpkin and carving it -- the nose is all his!

And of course, when you clean out a pumpkin, what do you get? (besides pumpkin goo...)



Pumpkin Seeds! And here they are in all their roasted glory. This really isn't very many for two good-sized pumpkins. But we will enjoy them just the same!

Meditations

Here is a photo of Meditations 16"x21.5", created September 2006. The fabric used was handdyed by Melody Johnson. Even though I have started dying my own fabric, I have a backlog of purchased handdyes to draw on also! I love how these three fabrics work together so dramatically, but also imparting a sense of peacefulness.



Here is a detail shot. (please forgive the poor lighting)




To make this, I applied fusible web (Wonder Under) to all of the fabric. I cut the pieces freehand with a rotary cutter. First I took the middle piece and overlapped in with the top piece and cut them together, so the edge would have a common curve. Then I fused them together. I used the same process with the fused piece and the bottom piece. At that point I was able to fuse the larger piece to my batting.

I used the "escape hatch" technique to apply my backing and turn the quilt. I love the smooth edge this gives me, and use it for all my fused quilts. My original idea was to heavily quilt this piece to give it texture. But the more I looked at it, the more it did not want this treatment! I started looking through my supplies and found a great silk screen from Marcy Tilton. It seemed so perfect for this piece...so I screened the design with some Lumiere.

It still needed something more, so I took a plain stamp and applied Lumiere paint to each half. I used two different color combinations of paint. I heat set all the paints and then it was ready for quilting! I wanted straight line quilting to offset all of the curvy-ness of the design, so I quilted with the feed dogs up to make sure my lines were straight.

Meditations will be on display at the Westerville OH Public Library in December 2006, so stop by if you are in town!

Networking

In this week's Art Marketing Newsletter, Alyson Stanfield talks about meeting people at parties and openings. What a great topic! I know that, for me, this is one of the hardest things about exhibiting my work. It is incredibly difficult for me to talk about my work, especially to strangers.

This is one of the reasons why I accepted the offer to speak to my art quilt group in November about my work. After all, I might as well practice with a friendly group who has given me a lot of positive feedback. Of course, I am still nervous about it. But I think this is something I need to work at if I am going to achieve the goals I have set for myself as a Contemporary Quilt Artist.

Today's Plan

Yes, I am actually trying to make a plan for today; organization and planning not being my strong suit! The weather is cloudy, gray and slightly chilly so I am not really inspired to leave the house. With DH and the boys gone today, I should be able to get some things accomplished!

1. Picture taking is postphoned because DH has taken the camera with him.
2. Get a back on Curvature II and begin machine quilting. I am planning some hand quilting on this piece as well, but I am pretty sure I won't get that far today.
3. Clean off the card table. It is full of scrapbooking supplies right now. I started to scrapbook our trip to Mexico last January. But I started the project in April and it hasn't moved along much! So it is time to put it away and make space for something new.
4. Something new! Get a piece of duckcloth cut, hemmed and gesso'd to prepare for a new collage piece.
5. Attach the hanging sleeve to Meditation (imagine a picture that would be here -- refer to Item #1)
6. Much more mundane -- make soup for dinner!
7. If there is any time left, get some knitting in.

Painting A Day

Over four months without a post, but I am back now and hopefully more regular about posting. It has been such a busy summer with travels and making quilts etc. Pictures on later posts. In the meantime...

This week I have been introduced to the "Painting A Day" phenomenon as a marketing tool used by many artists. I have to say, this is Brilliant! The idea is that the artist creates a new painting each day (Monday through Friday), usually small scale such as 6" x 8". It is auctioned off on eBay for $100 or more. Potential buyers subscribe to the sellers RSS feed and receive a daily email with an image of the painting being auctioned that day. The idea is first to to reach out to collectors that don't have the funds to purchase pieces that cost hundreds or thousands of dollars but would like to start collecting pieces. Potentially they will be able to afford larger more expensive pieces in the future. Second the artists increases exposure to the general public -- it is like having your own virtual gallery without the expense of maintaining a website or paying a rental fee to a "name" gallery.

I can see how this works very well for painters or photographers, etc. I am still playing with the idea of how this could work for fiber artists. Maybe a quilt a week that is 6"x8" or smaller...similar to a journal quilt or a postcard. I can't imagine doing a new piece each day -- it is just to time intensive.

I am always amazed at how people come up with non-traditional ways to use vehicles such as eBay to further their own art business!