Developing Landscapes

Last summer I went a bit crazy taking photographs of landscapes with and without architecture. I amassed quite a few that I found to be perfect for possible quilts. After spending some time playing with Photoshop I ended up with several folders full of possible quilt subjects. I began creating a few earlier this year and just finished one as my entry to the SAQA Regional call for entry, Currents.

My first small sample piece became my donation to SAQA's Spotlight Auction this March in Philadelphia. It began with a photo I manipulated in Photoshop and then a black and white adaption of that photo.

I used a new tool to create my drawing. My LED light pad from Huion is 18" x 14" and has adjustable brightness. Once my photo was enlarged to the size I wanted it, all I had to do was trace the areas I wanted onto paper.

Because this piece was so small, I found myself using my tiny thread scissors to cut my fabric pieces. I also used my exacto knife to cut pieces and to cut reverse appliqué areas out of the top layers as I built from dark under layers up to the lightest.

The finished piece is called Surf's Up and was sold during the Spotlight Auction. 

My next piece was taken from a photo  I took last spring of Multnoma Falls in Portland, Oregon. After taking the black and white photo to my local print shop, I enlarged it to 20" square and used this enlargement as my guide drawing directly onto the print with a marking pen.

I used the same techniques to cut and fuse the pieces in this latest piece as I did  with the previous one. While I love the look that this work is producing, the tiny pieces are wrecking havoc on my eyes. I don't know how long I can continue to do work with pieces this small. 

REUNION

25 1/2" x 25 1/2" 

Completed April, 2016 

Commercial cotton batiks, fabrics & hand-dyes; fused and machine quilted

I have another one of these begun which is taken from  a photo of the marsh areas in Eastham, MA on Cape Cod. It is a bit bigger and will finish off between 30 and 32 inches square. It's about a third of the way done  and I should be able to complete it before summer's end while I begin work on Lady Feather, my next in the series of fantasy inspired nature women. 

Here's some of what's coming:

 

Springtime in Philly

So I am sitting here in relative quiet and it's late at night. A train has derailed this morning throwing myself and several others into a panic about how to get home. This morning I woke in Philadelphia; tonight I am in my own bed in Smithfield. Last night I marveled at crashing thunder up in a twenty-third floor window with patterns of gust driven rain on pavement below as the temperatures fell at home sending a white blanket to cover my daffodils.

Life seems a bit unsettled as if on the cusp of change.

 

Detail, Fun House

Kerri M. Green

Art Quilt Elements 2016

It is always a whirlwind of laughter and serious consideration, warm embraces, introductions filled with the support of those who really get you. Wrapped in the warm cocoon of the safety of 150 like-minded artists, how can one not feel nurtured and fully alive with possibility.

And there is so much input into the human computer; flashes of brilliance, benefits of experience, knowledge and wisdom. The creative expressions of so many laid at our feet all shiny and wonderful beckoning us to pick up some cloth and stitch. It's all so amazing and sometimes overwhelming.

Detail,  Linear B

Kathleen Loomis

Art Quilt Elements, 2016

Tomorrow morning I will wake up and fall into the studio with a cup of coffee and I will be cutting, ironing and stitching as I always do. Only one thing will be different, renewed - my resolve to be the artist I was born to be. It is the change I spoke of that is in the air, the one that drives me to see clearer, dream bigger, work longer.

It was a grand time. Thank you Philly. Thank you SAQA for another wonderful Convention. And thank you friends, old and new for the pleasure of your company, the provocative discussions, the emotional connections and the sheer joy of playing amongst friends for a few sweet spring days.

Introspection

I am getting used to rejection. Entering calls for entry creates thick skin. Even if you have some successes the ones that don't end up getting picked up for shows can definitely have an impact on the way you view your work, like it or not.

Empress of the Pines was completed last summer and entered into the Visions Interpretations call for entry but was not accepted. So with different jurors I entered it again along with Queen Bee Says No to GMO's into Visions Breakout. Neither was accepted. Visions is a tough nut to crack but as it has been my one steady goal to have a piece accepted into a Visions biennial exhibit throughout my learning process since 1995 I am not stopping here.

As I go forward to my next work in this series, Lady Feather, I am looking to the things I think were successful and the things I think may have failed in both of these works in a critical way. To the right is my cougar. I see him as the greater success of this piece. His colors are well integrated; his eyes are the strong focal point and they do not disappoint. Colors are balanced and the yellow makes him pop.

Another thing that I think worked was my treatment of the tree bark. Using so many colors within the bark really gave it life especially when looking at it closely.

But on the whole there are some issues I might have changed now that I have lived with her for a bit. While I worked very hard at creating her skin fabric, I think I forgot that like the cougar she needed two things, contrast and a strong focal point in her face - her eyes. I will work on facial features with Lady Feather much more intensely, perhaps using thread painting or my markers to help define and enrich her gaze especially since it will be limited and defined by the owl mask. 

Looking also at Queen Bee who I consider to be a more successful piece in terms of the flow of composition and the blending of colors, I can see issues now that I did not see before. The violet piece which composes her neck shadow is too harsh a contrast. It needed more value changes leading up to the darkness far right. Instead of two value grades in this area, it would have been better with four or five. The shadow did not continue to her shoulder either which is a real faux pas.

Going forward I have chosen a grouping of fabrics designated as the flesh tones for Lady Feather. There is a great range from almost white to deep dark burgundy. I need to focus on developing a gradual progression of value through using smaller layers of color in any given area.

As for those quilts already completed, well, they are what they are. My art will change and grow as my skill increases and hopefully newer pieces will be more impervious to criticism, even from myself. Taking what I have learned from the Empress and the Queen, I will continue drawing these characters over and over again and working them in fabric. I will also keep entering calls like Visions.

The drawing for Lady Feather is finally completed and blown up to full size. I have searched out her fabrics comprising a color palette all her own from amongst my stash and I have purchased some to accent the ones I have. In typical fashion for me, I am still looking for the right background fabric. I seem to be forever working on creating the perfect background fabrics. More on how Feather comes to life in future posts. 

Summer in the Studio

The month of July flew by as summer months usually do, however, this one was one very hot laborious day after another as I completed a large quilt for entry into a call. Empress of the Pines finished out at 43" x 55". She was photographed on Thursday the 30th by Joe Ofria, a fantastic professional photographer in Groton, MA. Friday morning she was entered nervously into the Visions Art Museum Interpretations exhibition. As with most large shows, this one must remain unviewed unless rejected from the show.

A luna moth was an image unused on the Empress

So I decided to use it on a small piece using the leftovers from the large quilt to create a new piece.

One of the things I ended up doing for Empress was creating some designs on fabric with discharge fluid and a hand cut linoleum block using a frond of white pine cut off the tree out front. I drew in the discharged area with green marker and created the fabric I just could not find anywhere. You will see some of the leftover fabric pine on my small piece.

This detail shows the many colors in the fabrics used to create the tree trunk and my bubbles and strings stitching which holds all the fused pieces in place, but only loosely. Some of the edges of the fabrics are pulling up a bit giving the trunk "bark" texture.

Luna

11" x 14"

August, 2015

Commercial fabrics, batiks, hand-dyes, discharged fabric, and silk doupioni fused and machine stitched.

So that is my new small piece, inspired by Empress of the Pines.

I have come to the realization that even though I live in an area which is one of the most moderate temperatures in the country right now, I need air conditioning in the studio. My window filled, south exposure studio rises 10 degrees above the rest of the house on any given sunny day. I am now headlong, in the dog days of August, plunged into another large quilt for a call for entry deadline at the end of September. Wish me luck. I have a lot of tiny pieces on this one.

My Baby Is Live Online

I am very excited to announce the birth of my new baby. I now have a new website and you can view it at: www.nancyturbitt.com. I also have a new email address linked to it. You can still reach me at the old one but the new address is nancy@nancyturbitt.com. 

I am burning the night oil in the studio with two pieces that I really can't show here as they are being made for calls for entry. So I'll show you what I can.

On June 6, I was invited to attend an Etsy Seller's Event in RI so I decided to try it out. It was held in the mill complex next to RYCO in Lincoln. It took me a few days to prepare, however it was good experience. I was one of only a few vendors inside the mill, while other vendors were outside with tents. I actually sold a small piece and some fabric and trim too. It was a profitable day for me and lots of people got to see my work hanging all around me. 

Not a bad set up for throwing it together quickly! My Mom's old drying rack was a great way to display my fabrics.







While there, I had prepared a demo for a small piece. I had a lot of interest in what I was doing and I got a great start on a new piece. 

Here I am cutting and fusing petals onto a piece of muslin with the outline of the lily already drawn in fabric markers.

I've been working on this a bit at home. After fusing the lilies into place, I have been sewing them down. Almost done with the stitching. Then I'll add my border, cut and bind and it will be done.

I really do love lilies!

Art As Quilt, the SAQA MA/RI Regional exhibition for 2015, has been juried and selected. During the month of May it was decided that the MA/RI Reps would not be jurying the show and another juror was selected last minute. My sole entry, did not get selected. I have not seen the selections yet, but I am sure that this is a fantastic show. I will be working with Sarah Aubry to get an exhibition catalog done in time for the opening in October. I'll be talking more about this exciting show as we get closer to the opening. Congrats to all who made it in!

My work is now a part of my Etsy shop. My shop was primarily started as an outlet for my remnant fabrics and sewing sundries that I don't use. Called Zipper Tailor Fabric Snap, I originally had no intent to add my artwork into the mix. Not wanting to create a separate shop just for art, I finally decided to feature some of my pieces in the shop. My views increased quickly and have kept up. Below are my small pieces, matted and framed. The first, Medusa Awakens, has sold. 

They do look nice in frames! 

Check out my Etsy shop www.etsy.com/shop/ZprTlrFbrcSnp

Tomorrow will be another long day in the studio. I wouldn't have it any other way!

Looking Back to Forge Ahead

Here we go again, lol. I am embarking on a summer, fall and winter full of creativity in my studio. I came back from the SAQA Convention in Portland feeling pumped. I took a look at my exhibition goals for the year again and gave them a tweeking. I have dropped two calls for entry out of my 'wish list' and added three more to it. In order to apply to those calls for entry, I need to get cracking and make 4, yes that's four, new major quilts. All of them are in the range of 40" x 50" with one of them being only slightly smaller. 

The first one I tackled needs to be completed and photographed by the end of September. I have been waiting for the right time for this one and I have two exhibitions that it could fit well into. It is an image of my son sitting on a wicker settee that has an enormous morning glory vine woven through it as he waters the roots with a watering can. A city skyline of dark ominous buildings with smoke stacks rise behind it. It is a story of youth and hope for the nurturance of the natural world despite the overwhelming expanse of a growing technological society.

The photo above is a process shot of the last area of my drawing, which is the architecture in the background. You can see that to avoid confusion with a very detailed drawing I have color coded areas with green and yellow sharpies. I will be showing many process shots here as I get going creating this piece in four distinct parts. The first is to create the background which will have the buildings and the foreground. I will quilt all of this before going to my next step. I will be drawing the wicker settee with discharge onto a lovely deep blue hand dye as the second step. Once the settee is complete I will fuse it to the background and then as a third step, add the leaves and morning glories. They will get stitched before continuing to the last step. The fourth step will be to create Peter, my son, by fusing him onto a light pre-fused muslin. Once he is complete I will fuse him onto the quilt in just the right spot and stitch him down. Simple steps, lots of time and work!

As I was getting in the frame of mind for this piece, I have been thinking about it's meaning and I have been drawn backwards in time to think about Peter and his ideals when he was the age in the picture. There was another quilt made at that time by Peter, 17 of his classmates and myself, which we called the "I Have A Dream" quilt.

Some of the children involved in making "I Have A Dream". Peter is at the lower left.

This photo was taken thirteen years ago, back when I volunteered at my kids' elementary school as a visiting artist teacher. We made several community quilts but I refused to let them just do patchwork. We translated their drawings into art quilts. It was magical seeing all those light bulbs going on at the same time. These kids were around 11 years of age when they did their drawings and learned to fuse and stitch.

For this project I knew we would never be able to work a piece as large as we had planned, so we broke it up into sections and pairs of two children had to work together to create a single drawing that spoke to both of them. They were asked how they interpreted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous speech and what it meant to them. Then they drew their images separately. We paired like minded kids together and then they had to fuse their drawings together into one cohesive drawing. Two of the children actually got the fun task of drawing Dr. King in the center two segments.

Peter drew a prison which was being knocked down by a wrecking ball because the society he dreamed of had no need for prisons, and his partner drew an organic marketplace full of healthy food. They dreamed of a massive area to grow and sell healthy food.

There was my son knocking down buildings we didn't need to build a farmer's market with his friend. He was 11 when he did this. He is now 24. He is still something of an idealist who wants nothing more than to fall off the grid and live in a remote spot fully dependent only on himself. The reality is that he is working a bar in an establishment in Florida for the tourist trade. But I have to admire where this young man's head is and has been for almost all his life. 

Peter and his finished segment

So I am letting the spirit of a young man who wants to see the natural world honored and cared for in a nurturing way be the spirit of this new quilt of mine. All the kids whose dreams of a wonderful world in which to live, who let their dreams spill into that fantastic quilt so many years ago, are inspiring me as I work.

Stay tuned for the fabric choices for the background coming up soon.

Fiberlandia

Welcome to Portland, Oregon! I took a trip out to attend SAQA's yearly Convention, leaving April 28th and returning to Rhode Island May 4th. This was my view from room 1558 on the 15th floor of the Doubletree Hilton. I nearly got myself in the door and met up with Co-Rep Sue Bleiweiss and Lyric Kinard for lunch in the Lloyd Center. 

 

This statue carved from marble is a stack of coins and had poetry and words carved all around the outside of the coins having to do with wealth, money and prosperity. Interesting central piece for the entrance to a mall. Inside this typical mall our first sight was a window full of frilly prom gowns. Hilarious. They also have an indoor skating rink in this mall, rather progressive!

We rested after a very light lunch and then got back together for a bus trip to Toro Bravo, a Spanish restaurant specializing in tapas. 11 of us set out and had the best time sharing our food and getting to know each other. I was overjoyed and a little star struck sitting next to Rosalie Dace from South Africa. It was a fantastic way to start the weekend and the bacon wrapped dates were heavenly.

The following day started off with business. The Reps meeting had us busy for a while. After we took a quick jaunt by Max, the transit system, to Powell Books which is a 5 story book store. Joined by Teresa Duryea Wong from Texas, Sue and I perused the arts level of the store. We found her new book on the shelves and she signed them for the store.

Several dollars less and with a few heavy bags we walked back to catch the Max. Along the way a few things caught our eye. I had to take a picture of this 'carpets' sign which was completely retro from the '60s and spinning round to reveal 'rugs' on the back side.

After drooling over beautiful artisan wares in 'The Real Mother Goose', we caught the train just in time to shop some more at the SAQA vendor marketplace where I did some real damage with the gorgeous hand dyed cottons made by Carol Eaton of CT.

The next day, Friday was business all day for me. It started with a lecture and panel discussion with the SAQA international members as they gave us an idea of how things run in other countries. Pictured is Hsin-Chen Lin with her daughter as interpreter and her quilt in front of her. There is a major show in Taiwan next year sponsored by SAQA and I think I will enter pieces into it. There is also another show coming up in Canada, first SAQA show there ever, and I will also be creating a piece to enter for this show.

After attending two wonderful break out sessions with Sue Reno and Lyric Kinard, I started to prepare for the SAQA Maker Space. Run by Kate Themel of CT, it was a fun evening event filled with learning and creating experiences. I was there doing my demo on how fabric markers and pens can enhance a design. Thanks have to go to three companies who provided pens for me to demo with, Tsukineko, Sakura and Jacquard. As you can see by the 1st photo to the right, I was drawing a crowd all night. Thanks to Elizabeth Bamberger of Portland, I had a light box to do demos on and for members to use.

These are my 3 demo pieces which I used to demonstrate the use of pens and markers. 

We all had such a blast and boy was I tired by the end of the night. That did not stop a few of 
us from having a glass of one of Portland's many vineyard wines at the bar while we discussed what was coming up next in our studios.

After lectures/panels in the morning, Sue 
and I set out for our tour day. We started by taking in the orchid show in the exhibition center of the Hilton. Wow, there were some eye popping plants on display, many with big blue and red ribbons.

This one kind of looks like a monkey's face. I just loved all 
the purple spots.






We then took in a SAQA Oregon Regional exhibition called Exploring Layers. It was a well put together show with plenty of eye candy. Seeing quilts always makes me want to get into the studio and work, work, work!

Rift Valley

Laura Jaszkowski, Eugene, OR

After a long day touring around Portland, we took a rest and got ourselves ready for the Spotlight Auction and Banquet. 

I got out my best outfit, along with my turquoise squash blossom and headed downstairs to find the hall brimming with people and a scrumptious buffet set up.

I had made a piece for the Spotlight Auction called Tiny Dancers, pictured on the far left of the photo of artwork for sale. It sold to Kat Larrea of Alaska. Woohoo my piece is going to Alaska! 

This is the one I was lucky enough to 
purchase with a little hovering to ensure no one stole it from me. My spotlight! by Phyllis Cullen from HI is now the second of Phyllis' pieces to grace my studio. I just love my little froggies!

Sheila Finzer 

Sunday morning was the wrap up of the weekend. A panel of Oregon artists gave us an overview of how they work. Very inspiring!

And then....I had the ultimate pleasure of meeting up with a high school 'bestie', Teenamarie Callahan who I last saw at her wedding as she and her new husband left to start their life in the Pacific Northwest. Our screeching and whooping in the lobby of the Hilton alerted everyone that something special was happening. Teenamarie and I spent the day catching up in a way that emails just can't touch. With the backdrop of Multnomah Falls, two best friends found each other again.

On the plane ride home, in the early hours of the morning, as I took in the beauty of Mt St Helens, Mt Hood and the Columbia River, I found myself smiling with gratitude for the events which had just transpired during the past 5 days. New and old friends, inspiring work, educational experiences, all wrapped into one wonderful conference. 

Now....I get to transform that inspiration in my studio.