Second Place Ribbon in Marquette

My quilt "Hera and Aphrodite" won 2nd Place in the Marquette MI "Autumn Comforts" Quilt Show held on Oct. 16-17, 2010. I placed the quilt in the Original Design/Art Quilt category which ended up with 17 quilts. This guild has many awesome art quilters and I thought my chances were slim for a ribbon. This quilt technique was a new one with a mosaic style of applique placement. I was exploring the "golden ratio" of facial proportion when I designed this piece. I selected cool tones for the skin and warm tones for the hair. I went out of the box and chose a white background instead of my normal black with brights. All the applique is done with batiks. The background figure is all thread painted with rainbow varigated thread and some white shimmer paint. It was a study of contrasts in female strength vs soft and upon completion of this quilt my boyfriend, Ken, declared it wasn't my normal stuff and he really didn't "get it or liked it". He even asked me to remove it from the wall in our living room because it was staring at him. He now says he likes the quilt because a quilt judge found something artsy in it to give it a quilt ribbon. The Marquette Guild also made very fun and colorful ribbons with streamers of colorful yarn which was creative and decorative !!

Beauty School Flashback

This is my latest finished project. I found a cool picture in a salon magazine of a mohawk hairstyle and thought about a girl I went to beauty school with back in the late 1980s who had a fakey jet black mohawk and that's where I got the title for this quilt. After the face was finished, I think she looks like Christina Aguilara (spelling?). I am intending it for an undisclosed contest and was limited to certain fabrics. I have selected commercial cottons and two fabrics from the Halloween costume section. The black/red background print is a weird knit which I backed with interfacing to stablize it. I used the reverse side which was solid red for the bikini top and the lips. The little jacket is a black with red sparkly tulle used for fairy/princess costumes. I created seam allowances and added a decorative stitch to the jacket front and sleeve edges like a real garment might have. The hair has two textures of yarn which I hand stitched to the quilt. All the applique is raw edge fused. I have embellishments of rhinestones, glitter, 3 colors of nail polish, an earring from Claires Boutique at the mall and the yarns in the hair. This was a fun project from start to finish with no glitches. I contemplated a tattoe on the arm of the woman but left it off because I thought it might be too distracting. Should I add one and if so what should it be-a flower, guitar, bird, skull and cross bones....?

SAQA Auction Piece is Sold!!

I am a member of SAQA (Studio Arts Quilters Association) and they have an art quilt auction which raises money for art quilt exhibitions and outreach programs. They encouraged each member to make and donate a 12 x 12 art quilt of their liking to be auctioned off in September/October of 2010. The auction raised $52,000 and I found out my piece was purched by a woman in California; I am thrilled to have a complete stranger choose my art quilt and it's fun to know my piece is in sunny California!! I will definitely make a piece for the 2011 auction.

Halloween Pin-up Witch

I decided to make a new Halloween wall hanging since this is my favorite holiday. I found the outside skull batik this fall and the majority of the other fabrics I had in my stash. I wanted to make a pin-up girl that was a sexy witch. I love using the combination of orange, lime green and purple for Halloween. I also try to use a stripe and a polka dot in all my quilts. I could not get the correct affect of the striped stockings so I used a Pigma pen and drew them on. I raw edged fused applique the witch, pumpkin and broom and embellished with fabric paint, fabric markers, glitter and glitter glue and a few rhinestones.

Commissioned Artwork

I was approached by an area woman who say my artwork at the Old Church Gallery in Cedar River, MI where I display and sell my art. She e-mailed me and requested two fabric postcards, one was a gift and the other was for herself, in which she could choose the hair colors. I suggested she could choose different eye color as well. So the one is of warm brown hair with hazel eyes (I had to be careful not to have her look like a vampire in the "Twilight" movies!) and the other is a whitish blond with blue eyes. I embellished with fabric paint, nail polish, glitter glue and loose glitter and even a little blush on a Q-tip-it's a hairdresser thing!! It was  fun to change it up a bit and not do the normal purple, orange and yellow.

Artists Studio Tour

I was invited to participate in an Artists Studio Tour which has five artists from the Marinette, WI and Menominee, MI areas. The artists are Glenda Banta, Kathleen and Chuck Eaton, Ken Marsden and myself. Glenda is a mixed media artist, Ken does watercolor, the Eatons paint in oil and acrylic and I do fiber art. The tour is located at N1446 Autum Wood Lane in Marinette.There is an open home tomorrow from 5:30pm-8pm. The tour is on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 17-18 from 10-3 both days. The photo above is my piece called "Purple Rain" which is on display at the tour and is for sale. An advantage of having a studio tour is that potential buyers do not have to pay the commissions that galleries change the artists to display their work in the galleries. Hope to see you there!!

The Art Garage Project

In Green Bay, WI there is a very cool art gallery/coop and I receive their weekly e-mails. They are having a "Art Meets Heart Mosoaic Project" in which up to 300 artists can receive a 6 x 6 canvas to do what ever they want on the front of the canvas. The mini canvases are then put together in one picture and displayed at the gallery. Each piece will be auctioned off in February 2011. They chose the heart theme to go with heart health month and Valentines Day and I chose a heart theme in the silhouette of the women's hair and her heart-shaped face. I painted the canvas black then glued paper neck and face pieces to the canvas and fused a piece of fabric for the hair and lips. I drew the facial feature details with Sharpie pens, colored pencils and Smooch paint on the eyelids. I can't go without glitter so the hair has two types of glitter nail polish, and the lips have a pink nail polish and the dots above the eyebrows are glitter glue and loose glitter. I finished with white paint on the eyes and highlights to the face. I was nervous to make a mistake-if I am sewing and make a mistake I get out my seam ripper or just cut another piece of fabric. Am I a mixed media artist now??