Last Workshop of 2017, Back to the Studio

It's that time of year when I'm back in the studio again. My teaching for 2017 ended last Sunday (more on that in a minute), so I've been busy in the studio this past week. I finally finished quilting the Smokebush piece I began last year. 

Aside from a busy schedule, I did procrastinate on finishing this piece because I was very unsure about how to quilt the background. The answer did eventually come when I focused!

This piece is the first in a series I am planning on Smokebush, and the name is "Smoke and Mirrors 1". Why? Because the day I first caught sight of Smokebush, I felt like the plant was playing magical tricks on me. One moment it was eggplant in colour and the next it was orange. It shimmered back and forth in the wind. 

Up until the beginning of March, I'll be in full studio mode finishing and creating new pieces for my exhibition in Sitges, Spain and for a group show with my Crossing Oceans international group. I will have to decide which pieces will go where.

Last weekend I had a lovely time teaching "In Full Bloom" in a 3-day retreat setting at Inspired Getaways, a quilting and crafting retreat centre near Arnprior, Ontario, owned and run by Ottawa quilter Karine Chapleau (who is also a long arm quilter). This is what our work room looked like.

This was the view from our work room. It is a very peaceful setting.

I can't say enough good things about the weekend. It was such a pleasure to work closely with students for three days, watching them actually finish their pieces. If you've taken my In Full Bloom class at some point, you know that the usual one day class is not enough time to finish the flower. Three days seemed about right. Everyone went home with a finished flower.

The retreat centre itself is amazing. It's a sprawling home with several bedrooms that has been turned into a retreat centre. You can either rent the place to hold a quilting retreat with your group, or you can attend any of the full-service retreats that the owner has booked teachers for. The full-service retreats include all your meals too. We certainly ate well! Karine was a fantastic hostess, and has thought of absolutely every detail to make the centre as comfortable and convenient as possible. I'll be teaching there again in May 2018. This time students will have the chance to design their own nature quilt. I can't wait to see what they come up with. 

I should also mention that if you decide to fly in for the retreat, Karine runs an airport pick-up service, providing transportation to the retreat. For my American readers, this is a great opportunity to take a class with me, and you are guaranteed a fantastic deal given how low our Canadian dollar is at the moment. Once again, the website is here.

In the Studio and Outdoors

Christmas 2016 is quickly approaching, and I've been busy baking numerous batches of shortbread. In addition, I created my second in the Smoke bush series. It's a triptych, on the chartreuse green background I originally planned to use. There might be a few small changes to come, but for the most part, this is the final version.

I will need some time to think about how I am going to quilt the above piece. I want more of an impression than a completely realistic piece I'm also trying to come up with a clever name for this series. In the mean time, I will start quilting the first piece that is more realistic due to the veins. Looks like I have lots of thread colours that will work!

I've been journaling a bit more. Here's my latest pen & ink drawing with watercolour. It is based on a photo I took at Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, a few years ago.

Sunday was cold, but the sunlight made me want to go outside and photograph. I took my car and drove around some of the country roads a few minutes from my home. Between 3 and 4 pm the sun was lower in the sky, so the light was magical. It also allowed me to capture some wonderful shadows.

These two are very similar but I couldn't decide between the two!

As the sun lowered, sometimes I found the snow actually looked like golden sand!

Since I probably won't be blogging again before Christmas, I'd like to take this time to wish you a Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday, and a wonderful time with friends and family.

Two Weeks In the Studio

One of the things I enjoy a lot about being home right now is spending time with my feline companions. Every day at 5 pm Peekaboo snuggles on my lap while we tune into CBC's Power and Politics. We snuggle again later at night for the 9 pm or 11 pm news.

We have snow now, and Wilma does her "Google Street View" looking out at snow from my studio window these days.

I've been journaling and doing pen and ink sketches with watercolour. Here's Peekaboo sleeping on my lap.

When I'm not sure what to sketch I rely on photographs I've taken. This one of two boats near the dock in Haliburton.

This drawing is from one of my favorite photos I took in Venice. It is interesting how one can simplify what is in the drawing but still get the idea across. I like doing these drawings because when using ink I don't view them as "too precious" and there is no temptation to erase and start over. I just keep going and accept the imperfections. They are fast too.

And so this brings us to my first Smoke bush quilt. I cut a lot of leaves, and had planned to make a composition on this chartreuse green.

I procrastinated a few days while thinking about veins or no veins, and how to do the veins. If in doubt, cut some more leaves!

Finally jumped in and decided to do the veins with Prismacolor Artist Pencils. There are more choices for colour than my textile paints or Shiva Paintstiks. I tend to prefer dry media anyway because what you see is what you get. You don't need to wait until it dries to know. After doing all the veins, I decided to protect with diluted acrylic medium (3 parts water to 1 part medium). This will prevent the artist pencil from rubbing off on my gloves while I quilt the piece.

My wee studio is now a complete disaster, and I have to figure out where to put all those fabrics I dyed for my smoke bush leaves. Many of them are going to take up a lot more space because they have fusible web ironed to the back.

Here is the finished first piece in this series. At the last minute I decided I liked a monochromatic look so chose a light background in the same colours as the leaves. The piece is about 22" x 32".  The next piece will be larger, and will be using that chartreuse green above as a background, and will be a triptych. I'm already working on it.

I also got inspired last week to dye some fabric for hosta blossoms, inspired by the two photos you see below.

This one is imminent on my agenda. In the mean time, my seasonal bakefest has begun, so I may be a bit distracted this week. It's great to be creating again!

What I'm Working On

I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying some quiet time to reflect and get in touch with my creativity again. It is taking a while but I can feel it starting to happen.

Two things I'm trying to do regularly are: 1) journal about ideas and things that are occupying my mind, and 2) keeping a visual artist journal. The latter is a blank sketch/mixed media book where I am doing loose pen and ink drawings, and adding watercolour to them. I try to add some words that come to mind. These are quick sketches to just capture the essence of what I am seeing, without being worried about perfection. I don't care if they look like what I'm drawing from, only that I get some practice and can live with the results.

I'm sharing just a few of my journal pages. The first one is based on a photograph I took of a section of our crab apple tree.

This quick sketch was done en plein air. I was seated on my front porch, when I noticed this lovely almost path-like entry into my neighbours' gardens.

A quick drawing I did using the cover of a book I'm reading. Completed while watching TV.

This week I also had the joy of dyeing 15 meters of fabric for my next project.

What is my next project? Well a year ago this past June, I was on Vancouver Island during a west coast teaching trip. Walking through Butchart Gardens, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed these leaves shimmering. Of course I had never noticed Smoke Bush (Cotinus) before, even though they grow widely across Canada. Throughout the year the memory of this experience has come back to me again and again. The leaves were shimmering in the wind, revealing one side that is orange/copper, and the other deep purple/eggplant. 

Since my Contemplative Photography class last month I have been wondering if I can catch that same perception in an art quilt? It is occupying my mind a lot right now.

I knew that having some fabrics that read "Smoke Bush" would help inspire me. And so I had a dye session this week. Here are my lovely results. Am I happy? You bet!

During my photography class, I also had the chance to photograph Smokebush in Haliburton (here in Ontario), but I think these impressions are quite different from my first impressions on Vancouver Island. Therefore I expect there could be two quilts eventually.

And last, but of course not least, I warmed up a bit in the studio by creating a new teaching sample for my Liberated Radial Piecing class. It was a lot of fun for me, although a challenge to get the design off-centre. A person doing it for the first time would probably be advised to start with a full radial design. I enjoyed teaching this class to a local group of ladies who hired me to give a private workshop yesterday. 

I'm pleased with my progress, despite being very very distracted by the US election, and despite having been very out of practice after months of teaching.