To summarize the last year plus a bit;  The Stitch Club workshops inspired my creativity and kept me sane. They introduced me to Caroline Nixon via her Botanical Printing workshop. I fell in love with  the process.  Since then I have been experimenting and learning about printing with leaves and natural dyeing of fabric. It got me out walking in my neighbourhood and talking to neighbours. It peaked my curiosity about local plants and trees.  I created a new page to highlight some of my favorite creations from the Stitch Club workshops. I will create a page or two with some of my more successful Botanical Printing projects. (There are many, many samples leading up to the end products!)

The most recent workshop on TextileArtist.org used another strategy to create an abstract composition. Richard uses architectural photos as his starting point. I chose a pic of a clematis I took and cropped it.  We used the simple pattern created from the shapes in the photo on 3 fabrics, cut out the pieces, rearranged them mixing the fabrics and then stitched the pieces together. I used a backing fabric. One composition I did by machine, one with a simple straight hand stitch and the third more fussy. The pieces are 5 by 7 inches.

I joined an online group of fibreartists at www.textileartist.org. Twice a month we are shown a new video workshop of a well respected fibreartist. They demonstrate a project designed to inspire our creativity and learn a new skill or process. The developers of the program also provide a workbook. I am really enjoying the experience. My first workshop was with Sabine Kaner. Here are some of process steps. We started with crumpling a piece of paper, painted some muslin with watercolors, cut out appliques pieces and stitched them by hand to create an abstract composition.

With some tech support from Weebly and fumbling my way around GoDaddy website I think I got it done! I still need the live people support to navigate but with my new upgrade I get that. Now I can add some new photos and move things around again. Yay.

You have to pay money! The theme I was using was old, free and limited in how many photos I was allowed.  I am working on updating this new theme.  I will appreciate your patience while I edit. I am determined to do it myself.

If you can read this you will know I haven't posted for a long time, or added recent work. I am trying to figure out what is wrong with my browser or the website builder that I can't update my pages or add items. When I solve this issue I will be back. I am still creating fibreart and I am well.

​Maureen

My move in date for the exhibit has changed to May 18th. Sorry if this messes up anyone's plans to visit the market earlier. It turned out that there wasn't a gallery wall available for me to display my art. All the artist's renting wall space decided to renew their contracts for another month. The market had some portable walls available on the 17th so I postponed my move in. It was challenging to figure out how to display my work in a 4x4 foot floor space but I think I have a figured an effective and attractive way to do it. Please come by and let me know what you think. I have learned a lot.

Art is ready for the exhibit at Pacific Arts Market:
1448 W. Broadway in Vancouver: www.pacificartsmarket.ca
May 17 to June 11
You will enjoy the many other artists who have their work on display and for sale.
It has been a good experience for me to plan my display and get all the bits ready like labels, hanging devices, signage,etc.

Tonight is the opening for the Textiles Translation exhibit, our annual cherry blossom show. I decided to do something different than a wall hanging this year. Aunt Sylvie, who loves the cherry blossom festival, arrived. She was fun to create and I was able to practice some new skills.
I booked a space at the Pacific Arts Market for a month, May 16 to June 12th. I will be exhibiting and selling my Art. This has meant reframing and tweaking some of my work..

Hi everyone. I appreciate you coming back to my blog. Apparently keeping this habit current is not a strong suit for me. I would rather stitch! I do want to let you know what I have been up to though.
Fancy Nancy found a new home at Christmas with a young lady who is an FN fan. Very satisfying for me.
Sylvie, the eccentric auntie, was created and moved to join a lovely family in Rossland. She helped me develop some new dollmaking skills and was a step up in refinement of details. Thank you to the doll group for those wonderful finger-turning tools.

 
The June market was successful for me thanks to my faithful friends who bought cards! The weather and location for the market were not great but we were encouraged enough to plan something again for this coming June. TBA The quality and variety of work was excellent and those who attended the dollmaking workshop had a good time.

I made a collage in honour of the Mingei Museum that is closed this year for renovation (about 15 in. square). I made images of items that have inspired me in exhibits there. There is a little nod to the magnificent Chihuly chandelier that I hope returns in the new space. This piece is available at the Visions Museum in San Diego.