Current New, September 2017

Summer's end was so busy with life that I have not written since 

the painted cookies experience.

However, there are now several exhibits that have been opening 

or are beginning to have receptions.

At the BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown, Maryland 

there is a wonderful show by Andrea Uravitch titled Land, Sea, and Air.

Accompanying her show are the New Image artists.

The following are the art works I have in this exhibit 

that began September 16 and will continue until October 28, 2017

A SEASONAL SPECTRUM is 21 inches high by 55.5 inches wide.

 In this detail you can see an embroidered couple of images of my hands

holding and stitching a tree. This was to represent natures studio, but

mine always has a cup of coffee and perhaps something to eat.

 A CLASSICAL PALETTE is 31 inches high by 41 inches wide 

 Again I have an embroidered hand painting the leaves of nature 

for the fall season. 

There are some painted branches on the background and 

the leaves are all embroidered.

 Part of this exhibit had a hall full of 12 by 12 inch works 

by all of us (New Image members) that accompanied this show.

Mine is titled ALONE AT LAKE ARROWHEAD,

embroidery on a painted background.

On Saturday, September 23, 2017 there will be the reception for our

New Image Artists exhibit of new work 

at the Virginia Quilt Museum in Harrisonburg, Virginia. 

The reception begins at 11 AM and will continue until 4 PM.

My two artworks in the show are:

CONVERSATIONS, 30 inches high by 40 inches wide.

 This has layers of embroidered images to give us a look at 

conversations among couples. Conversations seems to be leaving our 

time, voices and vocabularies and being replaced by Texting.

On the black(green)board in the classroom it says,

"No Cell Phones, No Instant Messaging, No Texting, No E-mails" 

Many of the people I sketched and then embroidered are members 

of the Fogg family. Also included are my husband, our son, and me.

My largest new artwork, SATIRICAL STILLNESS below,

 I reviewed on this blog while I was in the process of creating it.

It is 40 inches high by 51 inches wide. 

As I mentioned at the time, I was trying to get away 

from the realistic embroidery work I had been doing for several years.

Well, I tried and managed to make a lot of flat flowers and leaves.

 However some realism crept in, but I left out shading, 

keeping all the images flat.

I still am enamored by all the Dutch and Flemish still-life masterpieces

This is my reference to those artists who always had 

many bugs and insect crawling around

on their gorgeously painted flowers and fruit. 

SATIRICAL STILLNESS used many different kinds of fabric, 

pieced together and then embroidered. 

The leaves were all sewn down on the center vein 

and then left to extend away from the background.

This exhibit at the Virginia Quilt Museum will continue 

until December 16, 2017

Cards and Slides and Recycling

It seems to have been a long winter and the cold weather is almost all gone.

I feel I have wasted a lot of this hibernation time 

and haven't added to my blog in a while but I have been thinking

about recycling.

This blog post will show bits and pieces of my work during the last very cold days.

 As I have mentioned before that when I need to work and 

do not have anything pressing, I work on notecards.

A while ago a friend gave me some beautiful old lace. 

Cutting some of it apart I stitched it on a few cards. 

 The colored pages in some magazines have beautiful ads and articles.

I save a lot of them for use in collages, notecards, and gift wrap. 

Often there are ads featuring rugs. 

These I cut out, resize, and sometimes recopy. 

Above an embroidered hyacinth on one of the rugs from a magazine ad.

 This rug I recopied and changed the color bit before adding some embroidery.

Saving the colored pages is a bit of recycling 

but I wanted to see what I could do with the thousands of slides I still have.

It seems waste to just toss so many old slides 

so I spent the last month trying ideas....

 Rather than keeping the slides whole I started taking them apart.

I had many cardboard frames and removed the film.

They stayed whole.

 The plastic frames opened like a book. 

Another way to redesign something?

 Now I have an endless supply of film. 

With the holes on two sides of the film, 

there must be unexplored ways to stitch through them.

 This will be in the next blog if something unusual does happen.

Some of the cardboard frames are dirty or have printing on them.

So, I have painted many of them black but am having 

a hard time finding a paint that goes on smoothly.

 Anthropologie, a favorite store of mine, has innovative thinking designers,

not for the clothes (although their many fashion designers are exceptional)

but for the store walls, shelves ceilings and windows. 

Each time I visit one of the Anthropologies in the Washington area 

I am fascinated to see how the store has changed.

The picture above was a backdrop in the Anthropologie window

when I visited on March 14.

 This window reminded me of what I was doing with the slide frames.

I filled a 12 by 12 inch board with these black framed marker colors.

Before painting the black frames I had been playing with the clean white frames.  

I was using them to fill with tiny abstract compositions.

I must admit that this was fun using colored pencils, markers and paint. 

I have now filled two 12 by 12 inch boards with these tiny abstractions.

With 36 on a 12 by 12 inch board, I have used 108 slide frames.

Is this a useful recycling project? Only time will tell.

Now back to painting more frames and figuring out how to use the film.

Shows on now during the month of May

My element, Cadmium is in the Radical Elements show 

until it ends here on May 9.

I feel that this exhibit ought to be shown in 

every science gallery or museum 

as it is a blending of art and science.

 A detail above showing the paint colors associated with cadmium.

 This Radical Elements exhibit showcases 40 artists,

 each with a different element to render any way they desire.

Each piece is the same size, 36 by 22 inches. 

Artists were encouraged to use everything but fabric and thread.

The TARNISH exhibit is a SAQA Regional show

 May 2 to June 1, 2014 at

            VisArts, 155 Gibbs Street, Rockville, MD 20855

            Reception: May 9, 7 to 9 PM

     There will be an artists talk on May 18 at 2 PM  

 Sitting Still, Life is my piece in this Tarnish exhibit.

It is 37 by 39 inches, free-motion machine

 embroidery and appliqué on cotton fabrics.

 EXPLORING TODAY & REMEMBERING YESTERDAY

 May 1 to June 15, 2014

            Verizon Gallery at Ernst Community Cultural Center

            8333 Little River Turnpike, Annandale, Virginia

            Reception May 10, 2 to 4, Trudi VanDyke is the Curator

Above is my Catching the Moment, 30 by 25.5 inches

My Conversations, below, is also in the Exploring show.

Below a detail from Conversations

Conversations is 30 by 40 inches,

Free-motion machine embroidery with piecing and paint.

 LIVING WITH ART: Real Art for Real People 

March 13 to June 30, 2014

            Washington Technology Park, 1500 Conference Center Drive

            Chantilly, Virginia

Virginia, NC, Maryland, DC, West Virginia, SAQA Regional

Curated by Mary Beth Bellah

My Yard Art Tools in this show is a triptych. 

Each piece is 20 by 15 inches, 

free-motion machine embroidery on a fabric background.

There is a lot of textile art to see this month 

in the Washington DC area