New Work and Art Torture

Falling Leaves detail

 I think all artists go through periods where they are driven crazy by the work they are doing and that is certainly true of me.  I have been working on several pieces, or actually they have been working on me, on my psyche that is, and I have finally been able to get clear about them.  There are times when I don't know that a piece is complete and I mentally make and remake them.  But enough about the angst.  Here is my new work, two wall pieces, which are very different from the sculptural figures I had been making.
I think living in Wisconsin and its shades of white winters has had an impact on the kind of work and material choices I have been making.  I'm using all natural colored cotton, linen and silk and enjoying the subtle beauty of the fabrics.

Falling Leaves, detail

Falling Leaves is about 10 feet long and only 8 inches wide.  It can hang vertically or horizontally and has hemstitching, couching, applique and embroidery on linen.  The leaves travel gently downward and a shiny thread helps trace their way.  To break up the space I have inserted small darker pieces of linen all along the path.

100 Squares

The second piece, which I haven't titled as yet, is made up of 100 squares in a 10x10 grid.  Each square has an opening that allows light and shadow play on the wall behind.  While I am showing you this piece it isn't actually complete.  I need to put a backing on it and a small binding around the edge.  I got so excited when I decided it was finished I couldn't resist adding it to the post.

Falling Leaves

Rosemary

Ever since I have started gardening, herbs have been my favorite part of the garden.  They are beautiful, smell divine and there is nothing like cooking with fresh herbs.  Rosemary has always been one of my favorites (second to lavender).  When I lived in Virginia I could put a spindly little rosemary plant in the ground, ignore it and in a few months it would be three feet high.  When we moved to Wisconsin I pined for those aromatic, abundant plants.  I certainly could grow them here but they didn't get very large and died back in the harsh winters.  This past summer I decided I would not have a shortage of rosemary and bought six plants.  I could cut as much as I wanted, taking a little from each bush so they would never get hacked way back.  Well, it seemed they loved growing in a group and being cut back.  By this fall I had six lush, 18 inch high bushes.  I couldn't bring myself to let them die off so my sweetie helped me dig them up, pot them and bring them inside.  I have to say the house smells a bit strong but I am going to cut them back and offer up to friends rosemary sprigs.  
I was reading the lore about rosemary and it seems to cure every possible kind of ailment, keeps away evil spirits and brings good luck.  So, with my dining room filled with giant rosemary plants this should be a very good winter. 

Dyeing and Quilting Classes

This past weekend I got to teach some great women how to do some dyeing and quilting.  On Saturday Claire, Pam and Barb joined me and learned the basics of low water immersion dyeing.  We dyed cotton fabric in solid colors, mottled colors, dip dyeing, wet and dry applications and most fun, I think, over-dyeing.  I had them each bring a piece of printed fabric they didn't like and we dyed it a new color.  It is kind of amazing to see the results.

On Sunday five women came for Quilting Outside the Lines.  They had to throw out the notion of perfect...no straight pieces of fabric or perfect points, no turned under applique.  There was a lot of cut, place and stitch.  I challenged them to never use the same color of embroidery floss twice and I think there was great success with that!
It was a fun filled weekend but I will say, today I am wiped out...but I am getting a blog post up!

Summer's End

Beautiful hydrangeas in Georgia

Here it is already the middle of August and summer is drawing to an end.  I have to say the temperatures in Wisconsin have been so cool it has felt like autumn for several weeks now.  Next week is supposed to be warmer and I am looking forward to that, unlike many of the native Wisconsinites around here.  I still haven't acclimated to the cooler climate and like to feel the heat way down in my bones.  

Rhubarb from my garden

This summer has been a really busy one with lots of adventures.  After we got back from our beach trip to Georgia I went out to South Dakota for a cousins family reunion which was great fun.  We spent the days talking, eating, talking, eating, visiting the family farm, more talking and eating.   Just a week and a half after returning from SD my sweetie and I went up to Duluth/Superior.  He was at a conference and I got to enjoy the sights of Lake Superior, a great knitting shop and a quilt shop.  

Amazing boots at the Hitching Post in South Dakota

Now that we are done with our travels for the summer I've been settling down and working in the studio.  I have a whole batch of new work that is taking a completely different turn.  I'm working on wall pieces using natural colored linens, silks and cottons with very minimal amounts of embroidery and hand work.  The best part is I'm loving what I'm making.  I don't have anything completed nor do I have any photos, but that will be coming soon.  For now I'll add some photos of the sights of my summer.

Have a happy day!

Sculpture by Patrick Dougherty in my own town!

Georgia

Mercer Williams House location of The Garden of Good and Evil.

We just got back from a fabulous vacation in Georgia.  We flew into Atlanta and visited Oakland Cemetery and the High Museum of Art.  If you think it is strange to go to a cemetery, you haven't seen a good one!  Oakland is historic and filled with beautiful sculpture and gardens.  Roses and iris were plentiful, and rosemary (one of my favorite herbs that doesn't grow well in Wisconsin) grew in hedges. 

No trip to Savannah would be complete without a trip to Paula Deen's store.

We then traveled to Savannah and stayed on Tybee Island just 20 minutes outside of the city.  We took many treks into Savannah and walked many of the beautiful squares it is famous for.  Savannah College Art and Design (SCAD) occupies many of the buildings throughout the city including a contemporary museum, ShopSCAD, a retail store for students, alumni and faculty to showcase their work and a restaurant run by the school that provides jobs for the students.  They served the best fresh lemonade I've ever had.  Enough words, here are some photos!

Rooftop dining looking out at the marsh

Garden at Oakland Cemetery

Detail of statuary

Mother and Daughter Statuary

Detail of statuary in Oakland Cemetery

Mandala Cloth

Long ago I wrote about some unfinished work I had and this piece was among them.  Happily, I can now say it is completed.  As you can probably tell, I used details of it to make my blog banner. 

 I applied shisha mirrors and heavily embroidered and appliqued the cloth.  Birds, leaves, spirals, hands, hearts and eyes are images that always make their way into my work.  They are all such ancient symbols and I think of this cloth as a mandala or ritual cloth.  I hope you enjoy the work.

Pizza Without

I discovered about 8 months ago that I'm allergic to dairy products.  Seeing as cheese was one of my all time favorites it was a bit disappointing.  I like to cook I have been thinking about the qualities dairy, especially cheese, adds to the foods I like and how to substitute something else.  Mostly I have been discovering that just making things very flavorful keeps me from even noticing the absence. 

 I recently made a pizza and it was so great that I wanted to share.  I bought a ready made crust (Mama Mary's was the brand, Boboli's have milk in them) and I added sauce, pepperoni, mushrooms, red pepper, some chopped olives.  The winning ingredient was roasted onions and garlic.  To roast, slice 5 onions into eight segments (like an orange) and put them in an 8x8 glass pan with about 8 cloves of garlic, skins still on.  Tossed them in olive oil and roasted them in a 450 degree oven for 20 minutes.  After I took them out I covered the pan tightly with some aluminum foil (be careful, the pan is very hot) and let it sit for about 10 to 20 minutes.  This step isn't really necessary but I wanted them to cook a bit more and I was afraid if they stayed in the oven they would start to char.  I peeled and chopped the garlic and sprinkled it all over the pizza and voila!  It was delicious and it makes enough for two pizzas.  You will notice in the photo that half of it has cheese...that's for my husband.