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Showing posts from 2016

Fiber Fusion Travelling Show - Opening at VALA (in Redmond) Tonight!

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So excited to see the Fiber Fusion show in the new VALA space!  VALA moved to a new location - it's still at Redmond Town Center, but down a few stores (to the East).  It's in an old clothing store retail space...so it has lots of windows, lots of lights, and it's a very pretty space!!  PERFECT for the Fiber Fusion show!! I helped unpack the show and get it ready for hanging, but haven't seen the full show in the new space yet.   Here's a picture of my two paintings at the show.  I thought I'd submit the two tulip paintings I did using the same pattern but vastly different techniques.  The paintings have been titled "Tulips Two Ways"  "Serti" and "Stop-flow".    And I LOVE the other painting that they've been hung with.  It's a colorful, eye-catching wall for sure!!  If you get the chance to stop by the opening reception, it would be great to see you!! We'll have munchies of course (and maybe even wine!).  Many o

Sharing A Humdrum Mom's Post "An Open Letter To The New President-Elect 2016"

I am sharing this post because it pretty much sums up how I'm feeling right now.  FYI - it is a rather long read. :-) Hello Mr. President-Elect, You have no idea who I am and to be honest... if you met me you'd probably walk on by.  I'm not glamorous or chic.  I'm not young or sexy.  I am truly just an ordinary, every-day, middle-class, woman.  Mr. President-Elect, I am one of the millions of people that you are going to be leading as the next president of the United States.  Additionally, I am one of the many who did not vote for you.  I am a bit of an odd duck in that I REFUSE to choose a political party to follow blindly.  I vote what my conscious tells me to (sometimes that is Liberal, sometimes Republican, and sometimes Democrat) and this time my conscious was screaming at me to vote against you because of some VERY inflammatory things you said as you ran your campaign.   Mr. President-Elect, I am not stupid.  I understand that to you, this was a ga

Latest Sculpture

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Hooray!  In spite of nasty weather, the threat of power loss, and serious time constraints due to muggle life interfering with art life...   I FINALLY managed to finish (and take pictures of) my latest silk and resin sculpture!  WHEW!   Just in time to submit it to a couple of art calls that I REALLLLLY wanted to get it in to! SO here's the sculpture.  I've tentatively titled it "Risen again". It was originally a painting that I created to be a part of a quad.  But they didn't turn out as I had hoped.  I then removed the painted silk from the canvas and had been playing with it - trying to figure out how I was going to use it.  Originally I had thought to incorporate it into a mixed media piece with acrylics. But this turned out to be a MUCH better option!!  Have I mentioned, I just love Ice Resin!?

A Fun Evening At Vision 5 Art Gallery

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Saturday, October 1st, 2016 was a fun evening at Vision 5 Art Gallery.    Me and my two art pieces "Oh my, Camelia!" and "Sweet Lil'Tulips" I belong to the Surface Design Association (a fabulous organization, by the way) and our local group (called the Eastside SDA) has a month-long show at Vision 5.   Saturday was the opening and as always, it was beautifully curated by Crystal Edwards.  I've selected some pictures of the artwork to share.  We have a LOT of talented artists!! The artists include:   Virginia Franz Turner GJ Gillespie Louise Roby Crystal Edwards Gale Whitney Maura Donegan Rebecca Wachtman

When Life Gives You Lemons... UM, I don't like Lemonade!

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Have you ever heard the chirpy little saying "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade". I've always found that saying to be rather annoying... perhaps it's because I happen to strongly dislike lemonade!    Plus it the saying makes it sound like it's just sooo easy to just turn your lemons into lemonade.  Well I don't have the right tools, I don't like drinking lemonade (even with tea or fruit flavors in it!), and I think the whole saying downplays the real-life drama and frustrations that come with receiving lemons instead of whatever you thought you were supposed to receive! SO I've decided that when life gives you lemons, you need to take a few moments (if possible) and re-imagine what those lemons could actually be! When I am stuck, I've found it best to let my mind think about the possibilities, and then augment my mind's processes with some good, old-fashioned research.  I'll look at Pinterest, my favorite blogs, my favorite F

How Do You Get Focused To Create Your Art?

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I don't know about you, but there are MANY times when I struggle to create art. Not because I lack inspiration, but because I am usually very limited on time. And when I do sneak a few minutes to create art, I find myself swept away by business needs (updating my blog, Facebook, Instagram etc, or doing taxes and other office work), or I find a million other things in my studio that keep me busy but also keep me from actually creating art (like cleaning up the messes that I have previously left, or playing with new art supplies).   But then I visited a friend's house  and she has a lovely ceremony she does when she starts art or any endeavor that is creative - she creates an art alter (complete with candles and incense) and invites her muse to join her.  I LOVE that idea!!  (thank you Jacquie Calladine , for providing such wonderful inspiration!)     So I created my own little art alter.  Mine has bits of nature found on walks, bits of the art I've worked on, and bits

Working On New Resin Sculptures

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I have to admit, I'm rather liking the resin and silk sculptures!!    Unfortunately, since I have a small studio, that means that I'm not getting much painting done (sigh).   But my sculptures are coming along nicely. I have one that is twice reclaimed (and it's name will probably reflect that).  I've been experimenting with how to create interesting curves with it.  It started off as reclaimed silk which I then painted a partial flower upon using the Serti method.  I decided I didn't like it and I removed it from the canvas (which took some doing since it was adhered with matte medium), and now it's becoming a flower sculpture!  I have a transparent one with pink and blue streaks, that started off as a large, sculptural bowl.... but it's larger size combined with a hot car ride to a local show - caused it too droop (something it wasn't supposed to be able to do, according to the manufacturers of the resin!).  I've been adding additional resin

Update To Testing Jacquard's New Water-based Resist

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Jacquard's Water- based resist I was very excited to test out Jacquard's new Water-based Resist for silk painting.  I've used a variety of resists and each has their pluses and minuses... and this new resist is no different. On the plus side: It's premixed and already at a good consistency for applying with an applicator bottle.  It drys fairly rapidly It repels dye very well Dye painted on top of the line doesn't soak through Once dried it can't be scrubbed away It is relatively inexpensive and easy to get a hold of (Dharma Trading carries it - as does at least one local store) Dye can be added to it to tint the resist But there are some issues that I am having some challenges with!  So to be fair, on the negative side: It doesn't always flow out of the applicator nicely and I often get bigger globs (meaning I have a hard time getting nice, crisp edges on my lines!) Along with coming out of the applicator unevenly, it also tends to

SPIN Festival Silk-in-Transitions Art Show Acceptance

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I am thrilled to announce that my silk & resin sculpture Enlightened Flower has been accepted into the Silk Painter's International (SPIN) Silk-in-Transitions Art Show - which will be held at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee!  I am honored and excited to have one of my pieces accepted into such an amazing show!!  The Silk-in-Transitions art show takes place during the SPIN conference and while I'm sad that I can't personally attend, it's exciting to know that my artwork will!  My artwork will be available for viewing from October 1st, 2016 through November 5th, 2016.  Thank you SPIN!!  I can't wait to see pictures of the show!!

When The Child Is Away, This Is How I Play!

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New painting in progress My daughter is off at camp for a week.... lucky girl!  And I miss her dreadfully, but to fill the void - I am getting to spend some quality time in my studio!! HOORAY!  Because I normally work full-time, getting long periods in my studio is a very rare thing.  SO what have I done?  Well, I've played with my new camera (hoping to learn enough to get some good bird shots to use as reference for painting), I also have been cleaning and organizing my studio space, AND I've been painting.    Am I getting 8+ hours a day of painting done?? No.  sigh.  It's amazing how so many things crop up to kill my "free" time (sick dogs, household chores, multiple date-nights with my wonderful hubby, and a guilty pleasure I like to call Pokeman Go).     The under-painting for shadows  Here is the beginning of my current painting.  I started off under-painting it with shadows (an experiment based on Judy Treman's book Building Brillian

Busy Busy Busy!

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Silk Painting Workshop at Allied Arts Gallery At The Park It has been an exciting and fun year so far!!  After attending the Fiber Fusion Show opening (where I won Best Use of Mixed Media!!), I went back to Richland the next weekend and taught 2 workshops... Intro to Silk Painting and Resisting Your Dyes with an Ice Dyeing Kicker. Resisting Dyes/Ice Dyeing Workshop at Allied Arts Gallery At The Park - yes it was messy, but fun!!! You can see we were making quite the mess in the Resists (Shibori) class!! Thank you to all the wonderful ladies that took my workshops!!! You made the workshops so much fun!!!! The next week was graduation for the Transition students at the ACT Program where I have a muggle job as a vocational specialist and was responsible for the slideshow/movie presentation. I am SO proud of these young people!!!! And then the next weekend I got to demo Silk Painting at the Whidbey Island Garden Tour.  I was located at the HalyRune

Fiber Fusion Opening Reception

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Me and A Resinable Trio with my certificate and prize I have to say I'm feeling a bit gob-smacked!  I went to the Fiber Fusion opening today at Gallery At The Park in Richland, WA and ended up winning Golden Acrylic's Best Use of Mixed Media prize for A Resinable Trio !! It is such an honor just to be juried into the show - but to receive an award as well.... wow!!   Especially in light of the INCREDIBLE pieces I saw in the show today!  The venue is fantastic and the show is incredibly well-curated!! My bowls are in the center,  The egg-shape entitled The Birth of the Grid (to the right of my bowls) won the Juror's Choice award!  It's amazing! Our show even made the news again! Here's the link to the Tri-cities NBC Affiliate (KNDO/KNDU) piece they did about our show (my bowls are shown near the beginning of the piece and then I'm shown accepting my award towards the end).   http://www.nbcrightnow.com/category/189473/video-center?cl

Shibori Examples For Upcoming Workshop At Allied Arts Gallery-in-the-Park In Richland, WA

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I've been enjoying creating a few examples of different Shibori techniques for my upcoming workshop Resisting Your Dyes With An Ice Kicker at Allied Arts Gallery-in-the-Park on June 11th. I was having so much fun, that my daughter decided she had to join me (which I LOVE!) - and then we decided we couldn't just make a few samples, we had to dye some shirts too (12 to be exact - which is a LOT of shirts!).   It was a lot of work (a lot more than I was expecting because of the additional shirts!), but it was sooo much fun!! In fact, I'm thinking I may see if I can find an old tablecloth and dye it for my studio worktable and maybe my dining room table too! Just a couple more weeks before the workshop - I can't wait to see what my workshop students create! FUN! FUN! FUN!

Packaging and Shipping To The Fiber Fusion Show

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Well today was the day - I FINALLY managed to get my bowls labeled (a challenge in and of itself!), protected (thank you bubble wrap), a box cut down to the right size (thank you hubby for the new box sizer!!!), and the box lined with high density foam and loaded with artwork... and shipped. whew.  3 cute little sculptural bowls shouldn't be that much work right?  That's what I thought! THEN I got busy with the actual processes....and always making sure I followed the show's rules and guidelines for shipping (sure hope I did it all correctly!!). The rules seem simple enough.   Must be mailed by x-date (no problem IF you've done all the other steps!) Your name, artwork title, and inventory number must be on all packaging materials (hmmm... lots of packaging materials means lots of labeling!) Create an inventory sheet to place inside the box that has   Your name Your artwork title Retail value Your contact info The shipping to information Your shipping

Getting Ready For Allied Arts Workshops

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Oh My, Camellia! Resin-a-bowl Star(t) and Starter So much to do in the next month!  I've just sent out a box containing 2 paintings (Oh My, Camellia! and Pocket Full of Tulips) and 2 silk & resin bowls (Resin-a-bowl Star(t) and Resin-a-bowl Starter), to the Summit Gallery at the Community Summit Conference in Wenatchee, WA.   It's such an honor to be included in their show! Now that those pieces have been shipped off to Wenatchee, it's time for me to focus on my next art adventure - which is teaching a workshop on Silk Painting and a workshop on Resists and Ice Dyeing.   Needless to say, I'm really looking forward to teaching workshops at Allied Arts in Richland, Wa! This week I'm starting to go through my supplies and order new/replacement materials to use at New Serti example for class Allied Arts.  I've been going through my stretcher frame supplies (ie. pvc pipes and joints) and making sure I have enough for everyone  (plus a few extra

Workshops offered in Richland, WA

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Silk Painting example 1 I'm so excited!! My two workshops are officially posted on Allied Arts Gallery's website!!    They are being offered in conjunction with the new Fiber Fusion show which is opening the previous weekend.  (HOORAY!).   I'm offering a beginning Silk Painting class (Serti method - which means "closing", "Wall" or Fence"...what it really refers to is using a resist to stop the dye from flowing into undesired areas of your painting), and I'm offering a workshop that will let participants play with various forms of Shibori-based resists as well as Ice Dyeing .   Shibori is a ancient Japanese set of binding techniques in which you bind your fabric in different ways to create a wide variety of patterns.  Tie-dyeing is technically a modern version of Shibori.  Silk Painting example 2 Both classes are being offered  on June 11th at the Allied Arts Gallery in Richland, WA.   Introduction to Silk Painting is being o