Purple hamburger, striped fries

August 30, 2008

Lisa asked if McDonalds serves french fries for breakfast — I don’t know, I just buy Egg McMuffins and coffee. I don’t think McDonalds serves purple hamburgers either, but I think they look nice. Actually striped french fries would be a good idea too. (this may not show up well in the photo, but they are orange and yellow stripes)

I had hoped to finish five new quilts for the next show, but a while back realized I could only do four. But there’s still a lot to do to finish those. And drawings, I’m working on framing those too.

Meanwhile all the quilts have arrived safely for the ThreadLines show at the MSU Art & Design Gallery. Fortunately the gallery staff will handle all the installation, whew. I just did an interview with the Business Journal about the show and Susan Leslie Lumsden will be doing an television interview on Tuesday, so it will be getting lots press, yay!

Filed Under process, quilts | 2 Comments

Musings on the Creamery Art Center

August 27, 2008

Gerrie asked about the motivation behind this new series “Wish You Were Hair” and it’s true it’s inspired by my collection of vintage postcards. Also my fascination with travel and world monuments and landmarks…

But the real motivation — I can’t get out of mind the kids who come through the Creamery Arts Center. I’ve been trying to put stuff into these pieces that I think kids will like, and if they come with their parents, there will be interesting things to talk about.

Just outside of the exhibition space at the Creamery are ballet classes, so I drew this tight-rope dancer. I guess I’ve just always wanted to draw a circus, and won’t it be fun to play with color here! I’d like to add a little tiny elephant on the ground below, and I don’t know what building this is, so for now I’m calling it TipToe Temple.

Filed Under drawings | 10 Comments

Fabric scorecard

August 26, 2008

Until now, I had been proud of myself — for getting fast at making decisions and not waffling. Until I hit this pink wall of doubt. Looking at last night’s photos and drawings, I thought the pink background was too pale, so went fabric hunting and bagged some purple.

I don’t like to change background fabrics in the middle of the process — it’s a real time-waster. But after changing and studying the photos, I think the real problem is not the pink, but the too-dark river below. Besides, I like the fifties-looking texture of the pink better too. The purple has a polka-dot pattern, but they don’t show up on camera and looks muddy = negative points for purple.

By the way, this is five feet tall. When I first started this series, my idea was to keep them small so I could finish several. But each one has gotten bigger and bigger. I guess it’s just part of the big-hair syndrome.

Filed Under process, quilts | 9 Comments

Meet me in St. Louis

August 25, 2008

Getting work done for an upcoming show has trashed my healthy schedule of working out followed by a big breakfast of fruit, yogurt, coffee, eggs and rice. It seems like weeks that I’ve been getting up at some unearthly hour to squeeze in a little more work, and am starting to skip the workout and resort to breakfast at MacDonalds. Oh well, just another week and half, then I can get back to a better routine in September.

If you’ve posted a comment recently and I haven’t responded, so sorry! But really it’s taking all my energy to get these things done. Sydney is finished, Athens is quilted, Paris is almost done — so onto St. Louis.

Filed Under drawings, technology | 8 Comments

Why I like drawing with pens

August 16, 2008

Guess where I drew this? Yup, when I was getting my hair highlighted! Since much of the summer has been spent away from the studio, I have been working a lot in my sketchbooks. I can easily stick a sketchbook and a pen into my purse or backpack and am good to go.

I like drawing with pen, usually a Micron 03 archival pen or Pigma archival brush pen, because it forces me to keep things fresh and think about the deliberate use of line. Things just happen in pen, both good and bad, and I have to start over with a new drawing if I want to make changes rather than re-work it or erase.

This is an idea I’m working on for Niagara Falls. First I had the idea of the waterfall hairdo, then the idea to add the wedding couple.

Then the idea of falling off a wedding cake like a cliff. Also I added an embroidered dress I saw in the movie Kamikaze Girls (great funny quirky movie, my new all-time fav!) but it doesn’t look like a wedding dress, so may have to do a little wedding gown research.

Also, there’s not room for the groom on the wedding cake, so may have to re-think him too. In my overly-complicated way of thinking, I’d love to add a bunch of bridesmaids running for the bouquet, but I know I don’t have time for that.

Filed Under drawings, process | 9 Comments

I’d better brush up on my Greek Architecture

August 14, 2008

The spirit of the Olympics has filled me, and I had to get to work on this rendition of an early Greek athlete. I had him trade in his dumbbell for an iPod shuffle though, so I guess that brings him up to date.

I print out big patterns for my quilts but nothing is set in stone. Throughout the process, I continue to have new ideas, so I’m often drawing the changes on the pattern as I go along. In this case, I finally had an idea how to use this great light table that Russ got at auction last spring. I don’t know the exact size, but for scale, that’s a Sharpie pen on the right side of the drawing.

Sort of looking like a cowboy right now, but give it time. I’m loving working with all these new characters, it’s getting to be like a crazy party in my studio with lots of interesting wallflowers.

Filed Under drawings, process, studio | 3 Comments

Message in a Bottle, uhm, I mean Box

August 11, 2008

One of the reasons that I started making art quilts back in 2004 was that I thought I could make big colorful stuff, roll it up in a box, and easily ship it to faraway places. I realized this has come true when I was updating my exhibitions page and saw that this fall I’ll be showing quilts in California, Colorado, Oregon, the Netherlands, the UK, and Africa.

Wish I were there!

Even though it’s easy to ship, I always stall out in the packing stage and procrastinate until the last minute. Besides, I don’t want my stuff sitting around in some mysterious storage room. As I drew the clock with the 8:30 pm FEDEX deadline, I noticed that it sort of looked like an un-smiley face. Gotta change that bad habit!

Sometimes it’s a little weird shipping your art off to who-knows-where. You wonder where it’s going (don’t always know on these traveling exhibitions) and who’s going to see it. Reminds me of the old Police song, Message in a Bottle:

A year has passed since I wrote my note
But I should have known this right from the start
Only hope can keep me together
Love can mend your life but
Love can break your heart
I’ll send an s.o.s. to the world
I hope that someone gets my
Message in a bottle yeah….

Walked out this morning, don’t believe what I saw
Hundred billion bottles washed up on the shore
Seems I’m not alone at being alone
Hundred billion castaways, looking for a home….

Filed Under exhibitions, quilts | 7 Comments

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Evacate

August 7, 2008

Well, I thought I was tough anyway, sweating it out all summer in my studio with no air conditioning. But truthfully, it has been a mild summer…..until last weekend. Finally it got so hot, and add to that no windows to vent all the heat of my overhead lights and an iron that is constantly on HOT, that I knuckled and resorted to my emergency heat evacuation plan.

I moved my sewing machines to the newly redone gallery, love that bamboo floor! But even better, the now all-white walls and big open space. Formerly a meeting room and kitchen, we redesigned this room to be more of a multi-purpose room, and now it seems a wise investment.

The lighting’s not as even as my studio, but it’s cool! And I have all sorts of interesting new thoughts when I look up from my sewing and see the Russ RuBert beautiful sculptures. What a yummy place to work!

Filed Under studio | 9 Comments

Purple hamburger, striped fries

Musings on the Creamery Art Center

Fabric scorecard

Meet me in St. Louis

Why I like drawing with pens

I’d better brush up on my Greek Architecture

Message in a Bottle, uhm, I mean Box

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Evacate

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