A day at the Antique Market

This weekend my kids and I walked over to the Chicago Antique Market to have a look around.

There are always so many things I see that I would love to have including this old tool box. The top three tiers open up for drill bits, but I could see filling those with colored pencils and all those little drawers below could house all kinds of art supplies.

These Japanese glass fishing floats reminded me of Terry Grants recent quilt featuring a lovely green glass ball on the sand. I found one of these on the beach in Northern California when I was a teenager, it was a lovely pale blue green color.

Following in the nautical theme there were all kinds of fixtures to outfit your home in steam punk fashion.

What is it about old medical equipment and cabinetry? This would be a cool addition to a studio.

Nice little painting on metal of Diego and Frieda.

A Jane LaFazio DVD Give a way

Go over to Lyric Kinards blog and leave a comment for a chance to win Jane LaFazio's dvd titled The Small Art Quilt.

I have 2 New Workshops at Create!

It looks like  Create is really taking off and classes are filling up. My workshop Tea and Ephemera filled last week and as a result of its popularity, another Tea & Ephemera class has been added on Thursday night!

Tea & Ephemera
Your mixed media cup will runneth over when you join me Thursday evening August 26th from 6-9 pm for tea. We will explore a number of ways to add visual texture and imagery to mixed media work with tea bags, yes, I said tea bags! rubber stamps, painted and printed fabric, paper scraps, paint sticks and colored pencils.

I am also thrilled to announce that I have another new workshop in the line up!

Fiesta Ornaments

Inspired by Mexican tin folk art, these fun and festive ornaments incorporate painting with textile paints, decorative stitching, embossing and sewing metal. Saturday August 28, 9am-4pm.

Register now. Lets make some art!

I am featured on the Dinner at Eight blog today

I have been  interviewed for the Dinner at Eight Artists blog, coinciding with the Beneath the Surface Exhibit that will be opening at IQF Long Beach July 23-25. My 3 of Swords quilt will be part of this traveling exhibit.

Purse pattern by Melly Testa

Melly Testa designed this cool purse and you can make one too, download the pattern here.

Next Color Theory Class starts June 7th

9 week online course $60
next class begins June 7, 2010

Did you know the color choices you make can transform an average piece of artwork into something spectacular? Be surprised and delighted by the effects and illusions you can create by understanding the mysteries of color. In this hands-on experiential class you'll learn key color concepts with visual examples, mix new paint colors, and create
helpful charts, all providing you with the tools you’ll need to see color in a whole new light.

Click here to see the Supply List

As part of this class you will start a color journal and learn to mix color using textile paints, creating charts to address the different color theory principles.

Lessons include:
The color wheel
Color Schemes
Tints, Shades and Tones
Value Color Studies
Complimentary Color
Transparency

The class website is designed for students to work at their own pace with each lesson accessible at any time. The lessons include color diagrams and examples with explanations of the different principles for using color. The site also includes online discussion throughout the class.

If you would like to join the class email me with Color Theory in the subject line.

Mixed Media Painted Fabric with the Rose City Quilters

The Rose City Quilters of Palmerston North booked me to come to New Zealand to give a lecture at their Quilt show, judge their quilt challenge (yikes, that was out of my comfort zone, not that giving a lecture is but at least I have done that a few times) and give a workshop.

These courageous gals pushed themselves out of the box to do some crazy painting with printed paper images and multiple layers of paint. Ignoring the composition of adhered printed images but looking for interesting visual textures in paint, color and image to capture imagery in a secondary composition painted on top of the previous layer of paint is not necessarily an easy way to work. It is contrary to ones usual mode of creating imagery, but it is fun and it is always a surprise to see what happens in the process.

Tea time! Breaking for tea each morning was my favorite ritual in New Zealand and I think we should adopt it in this country, maybe we would all be a little less stressed.

Sue, took to this method like a duck to water, what glorious color!

I wish I could have stayed to see the results after everyone went home and quilted their fabric. The stitched details add so much interest to the final piece.

Thank you Rose City Quilters for such an amazing opportunity!!!!!

Palmerston North, New Zealand

Erilyn, my host in Palmerston north lives on 3 1/2 acres with her own mini farm with a fruit orchard, flock of sheep and a clutch of "chooks". One of the first things I wanted to do the next morning was to meet Erilyn's sheep.

What a beautiful face.

This is my friend Casper, who I think was ready to come home with me,  doesn't he look like he's smiling?

Erilyn, who has been spinning yarn since she was 19, gave me this gorgeous huge skein of yarn that is a blend of alpaca and romney wool. What an incredible gift, I will treasure it. Next, to decide whether to dye it or not and then what color if I do.

These are Erilyn's "chooks", they didn't like to hold still for photos from people they didn't know.

Erilyn told me about her neighbor who raises alpacas, I love alpacas! so she took me over for a visit before the workshop on Sunday.

This is a one week old suri alpaca, its fur felt and looked just like silk.

What a face! such character. Also a suri, you can see the way the hair hangs in silky strands.

A lovely Peruvian alpaca.

How can you not fall in love with those faces?!

He also had a few black and white dairy cows. I saw a lot of these in New Zealand.

Grazing alpaca.

Later in the day Erilyn drove me up into the hills above Palmerston North to see the lovely view.

A goat tied to a fence by the road.

Farmed deer for venison.

Then back at the house, a cute little hedgehog wandering across the yard for an early evening stroll. I was amazed that I could get quite close to it.

A fiery sunset to end the day.

An artist Interview with Kelli

My dear friend Kelli Nina Perkins, author of Stitch Alchemy, interviewed me on her blog this week. Take a look.

The Road to Palmerston North

The Rose City Quilt Guild of Palmerston North was responsible for booking and bringing me to New Zealand to give a lecture and workshop for their Quilt show. So I was very excited to start our drive south to meet the people who made all this happen.

One of the first stops Erilyn and I made on our 5 hour drive south was at Haka Falls. The water is the most gorgeous aqua blue deepening to teal as the river widens into a deep pool.



We had a variety of skies and weather as we drove south, from blue skies with fluffy clouds, to overcast and gray skies, then rain and rainbows, to low lying clouds obscuring the tops of volcanoes and then again to beautiful blue skies.

Obviously the pot of gold is right under that tree.

We drove through long expanses of countryside occasionally driving through small towns, where throwing a gum boot can be a big enough event to warrant a large corrugated metal sculpture as you drive into town.

We also stopped at The Wool Company where I bought a couple warm possum/merino hats and gloves.

It was a gorgeous drive.