Fiber Festival Classes and misc.

So after an excellent Quilt Walk and Show at Virtu the Anchorage Fiber Festival 2010 has been the fun time that I expected. Sunday I had a class with Kathyanne White who taught us to print on about anything flat that can be fed to a regular printer. There is hardly any limit and that was just a big double sided sliding door opening in my brain. The things that I am going to try to print on... you shall see. Anyway my favorite print so far was of an image of dry weeds that I took in France few years back that I printed on wood veneer. That picture just glows. It adds depth and a shine that is so sensuous, just gorgeous stuff. Would love to try on cherry wood veneer.

Anyway on Monday and Tuesday it was play day in the Texture class (same teacher) and the whole class exploded with fun little creation. I must say that I wasn't really drawn into that type of things and I ended up with things that are quite mediocre. My last piece is by far my favorite and something that I am going to explore a bit more. I do like metal and that gave me a whole new support for my pieces.

Take a look at some of the colorful work created there.

This one by Nathalie Motten:

One by Linda Knox:

Linda multitasking: listening to the teacher as she eats a piece of brownie. It takes talent to focus.

Carol Taylor is another teacher having workshops at the AFF and her class also added colors to their palette. It was with pleasure that we realized that we could purchase some gorgeous yarn and thread in her classroom.

Rachel Clark was teaching her class on how to sew garments and she gave a splendid lecture as usual at the Museum. Her coats are amazing and she knows how to captivate an audience by her words too.

So overall it is the best of time in Anchorage. More to come with the Fashion show on Thursday night and the Show at the Conocco Atrium this weekend. Come and check it out. It is not too late to get your ticket to the Fashion Show.

"On a Limb" and "Bearely Hanging"

Two titles for those two well underway quilts.

Also the skirt for the Mask is to be done tonight after I get back from "Mark This": the Mountain View Gallery opening. I will take pictures of the whole display of art from 16 alaskan artists, members of the Surface Design Organisation and then post it really soon.

Sir Winter McDormant

I have been invited to participate in a reverse auction that will be held on March 24-26 online, this address Fiber Art For a Cause gives you all the details necessary to participate and peek at the already donated artworks. I made an odd shaped quilt. Those following pictures take you on a journey through the making of "Sir Winter McDormant". It measures 28x18. I have used Judy Robertson's hand dyed fabric to make it and have beaded some areas. It was machine pieced with monofilament and machine quilted with variegated cotton thread in the hat and tree parts. I have dedicated this piece to my Mother-in-Law Gaylene Stoner and my friend Fran Reed who was a fantastic artist. Both have passed away in the past 6 months. The proceeds after the auction if someone purchases it will go entirely to the American Cancer Society.

Well now with the pictures...

auditioning the nose and eyebrows fabric.

Building a forest over alpenglow batik fabric from Indonesia.

auditioning skin.... oh no!!!!!!!!! not this one. He looks like a leopard.... I do love this fabric though. Now, this one will do just fine. I loyke it (like it with British Accent)

add the face over the trees. Something wrong with the eyes. It took me about 4 different tries to find the right ones by it was worth the whole entire afternoon...ahaha , now trying to decide on the variegated threads for quilting the hat. I think that it worked out ok with a hint of green in the pinkish and brown hues.

then the bottom was adorned with leaves and branch debris hand beaded one at a time. That was a lot of fun. Just a few hours, enough to watch two full series of BBC historical shows. I would say 7 hours... who's counting anyway?

Here a little close up.

Voila! all done. It felt so good to work again. My next project is a landscape view of a lake. A commission work. I love that job!

New Work and Getting ready for retreat

This Piece is shown here at a very early stage. It is ready to be quilted right now but no current picture. I am calling it "Urban Legend". There is a map of a little town with a tiny fountain on the background piece behind the Caribou Man (the image is from one stamp I have made). The background in the dark brown with gold dots is a piece I painted on Canvas few years ago. It was waiting for the right moment. I have more ideas I am working on. One is a medicine woman and the other a birdman. My studio is getting better. Still pretty full and cluttered but I can function in it. Soon the new lights will be in the works. Just in time for darkness to cover this top of the World.

I also am planning a quilt representing Fish Lake. So the season is going to be busy.

About Retreat:
Retreat is an important part of the year for me. One in the Spring, one in the Fall. In the deep woods of the Chugach Mountains, about 45mn from my house is Camp Carlquist. A Boy Scout Camp that host our little group of quilters by a pretty lake. For 4 days we immerse ourselves into our work, creating personal rainbows that make our lives more colorful. This Fall I am making a quilt from a pattern done by a famous published quilter"Judy Niemeyer. She is known for her intricate use of paperpiecing patterns. Anyway Emily fell in love with one called Rain Drops. I am changing the colors of the background into a chocolate brown. The rest will be in various purple red, rust, green, yellow, browns. . I am going to have all pieces cut out ahead of time in order to start sewing as soon as I get to Retreat.

I have been reading various books lately. Still not done with "My Name is Red" but enjoying it fully. There is a lot to take in and ponder about. Then there is "Annie Freeman's Fabulous Traveling Funeral" by Kris Radish. Very light read with a great concept. A woman dies and instead of a traditional funeral this woman has organized a trip for her best friends to take and scatter her ashes along the way. Toute une aventure! Then a visual Novel called "Mr Fooster/ Traveling on a Whim. Then "Moral Disorder" by Margaret Atwood. This one is short stories. There is no one like her to put you right in the mood of the book. Example:"I think of the bad news as a huge bird, with the wings of a crow and the face of my Grade Four schoolteacher, spare bun,rancid teeth, wrinkly frown,pursed mouth and all, sailing around the world under cover of darkness, pleased to be the bearer of ill tidings, carrying a basket of rotten eggs, and knowing -as the sun comes up - exactly where to drop them. On me, for one."Isn't that just precious??? Doesn't that makes you want to know more? It does for me.