A Final Challenge - COURAGE

For us, our challenge this time is not one that is easily portrayed but is a challenge never the less.  Since our group began in 2011 under the mentorship of Diane Perin Hock, one of the Twelves, let's see what we've done.  In each of the collages below from upper left to lower right our challenges were; games, celebrate, tools, look up, balance, green, architecture, beginnings, blue, remnants, open, music, artistic license, mystery from Lisa, and process.

These were Beverly's offerings;

Brigitte's offerings;

Gina's offerings

Janet's offerings

Judy's offerings

Lisa's offerings

Vicki's offerings

Although Nicolette was not with us for long, these were her offerings

Such a wonderful compilation of creativity and artistry.  So the next challenge?  Hard to know what it will be.  You see, our little Tangled Textiles group will be untangling and heading off in different directions, pursuing paths that hopefully lead to their creative hearts' desires.  We have been stretched creatively and been amazed by what we have managed to produce in the short time that we have collaborated. It's been an inspiring 4 years.  It's always sad to see things end, however....

It's also a happy time.  We have formed friendships that have encouraged, supported and cajoled us into becoming confident fiber artists.  Happy because each of us will stretch our wings and take flight in whichever "updraft" comes along. It takes courage to strike out on unknown paths.

It takes courage to admit each of us is now ready for a change, a new path, a new adventure, and it takes courage to follow where it may lead.  We have come to know each other through our musings, creative stumbles, and artistic victories and have had the courage to share them here.  Your comments have been treasured.  We have reached a crossroad.  It's been quite a ride, hasn't it?   We invite you to follow us on our personal blogs as we go in different directions.  Our next challenge?  COURAGE to follow that path that is calling us.

Lisa and the Convoluted, Hazy, No Good, Very Mediocre Process

A book (Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst) 

comes to mind when I write this blog post...

So my process in a nutshell 

(ha! My mother always annoyingly says "to make a long story short" and it is not ever short!)

After a weekend (September 17-19) wandering the streets of Manhattan 

and drooling over the architecture there...

I thought that somehow, I could incorporate my love of these old buildings

 into our latest challenge...

And I even blogged about it early on

(September 24th to be exact!) 

and I was happy with my first rubber stamp...

so I made a bunch more...

And then, I painted on fabric paper 

(sorry no photos taken of the strips of tissue paper being glued onto muslin)...

and I even bought a bunch of colored zippers...

At this point, things were going swell 

though it was getting a little hard to move about in my small sewing room at home...

and it got worse...

which was okay because, I moved most of my messy stuff into a studio on October 1...

along with two other fiber art friends...

so there was painting, and cleaning, and  moving for days...

followed by a trip up to my hometown of Ottawa (including my first speeding ticket---ever!)

to hang out with family while my dad had some surgery on Oct 6,

but I did return to my project, 

stamping on my painted paper fabric....

adding some free motion-stitched lines and some zippers....

 

which was put on the back burner while I prepared for and attended 

 a reception with our fiber art group's exhibit and presentation (October 10-11)

in Old Forge NY...

 

eventually my sewing room became unbearably messy, 

 so I cleaned...

and now that it was clean,

why not start another project that was in my head? because I don't have enough going on...

and take another weekend off 

to go to the Sheep and Wool Festival (October 17-19) with friends....

I mean,

don't we all need another craft and project for distraction????

by then the zippers had been separated and sewn to make a fire escape...

but there was another hiatus to enjoy a glorious weekend 

(now it's already November 7-9) of mindfulness 

(ironically defined as a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment) 

and yoga at Kripalu with my sister-in-law...

and then spending a couple of days photographing the snow...

and ice that befell us...

which looked pretty but now is all gone and 

we were fortunate to be far enough from the snow belt of Buffalo...

and all of a sudden,

it is November 23rd...

and my project that now measures 26.6" x 22"

no longer seems so exciting, mediocre at best,

has been set aside as a... 

"yeah that seemed like a good idea at first but now longer interests me so much"

kind of project!

I could have just dropped out of this challenge

(it would have probably saved you a bit of time with all the reading!)

but I figured it was worth showing everyone that

not all projects end like we had anticipated

and the process often has a tangled textile history!

YIKES!!!!! I'm late!!!!

I'm Late

From "Alice in Wonderland"

Music and Lyrics by Sammy Fain and Bob Hilliard

I'm late!

I'm late!

For a very important date!

No time to say "hello", goodbye!

I'm late!

I'm late!!

I'm late!!!

No, no, no, no 

I'm overdue!

I'm really in a stew!

No time to say "goodbye", hello!

I'm late!

I'm late!!

I'm late!!! 

I probably shouldn't be smiling! 

My apologies for my extreme tardiness
but it seems that I have been bogged down by a variety of obligations
 and unexpected circumstances... 

and I'm almost out of gas!!!

I have to admit that I did get a (very) late start 

(my days of punctuality seem to be a thing of the past!)

and after pondering...

 and hemming and hawing a lot, 

I went with an idea that Brigitte had suggested (in jest?!) in an email exchange we had

 after this challenge was announced!

It was really a literal translation of "artistic license".... 

as in that which you might have on the license plate of your automobile!

(I still have to add some brads and perhaps "New York" to the license)

And...

while my piece is late,  

not done,

 and seems to be never-ending,

it was time to reveal what I have to the group.

"I'm Late!" is a  true mixed media work..

watercolor crayon/pencil on canvas

with free-motion stitching

collage,

Transfer Artist Paper (TAP),

hand embroidery,

rubber stamping on painted Lutradur

 and more!

And thanks again to Brigitte for the idea!!!

Homage to Braque

For years I have been a fan of the works of Georges Braque, particularly his works which were created during his Synthetic Cubist period, 1912-1914. What I admire are the interplay of shapes, the depth and playful way he breaks up recognizable shapes and his addition of bits of life's ephemera, like a piece of a concert ticket or a leftover scrap of a note. Below are some of my favorites.

Left to right- Gueridon 1913, Still Life with Violin 1913
Violin Melodie 1914, Violin and Glass 1913

I didn't want to just reproduce something Braque had created, however had I done so, I might be more satisfied with my end product. 

Because I do not draw or sketch, I started by making paper collages with various shapes, colors and textures. More images can be found on my blog. 

Final design 

After deciding on a design, I selected fabrics from my stash. I also wanted to use some paper cloth for some of the shapes. Paper cloth is basically paper adhered to muslin with diluted glue. In the paper cloth I created, I used dress patterns, tea bags, newspaper, and computer images I had printed. In addition to the fabric and paper cloth I also included words printed on silk photo fabric.

The next major step was cutting out the shapes and adding fusible web to the backs so they could be adhered to the base fabric. I wanted a neutral background and chose a funky gray fabric.

However, after living with this decision for several days, I decided it was a depressing color and changed the background to a lighter fabric.

Homage to Braque
16"x 20"

My beginnings

I had lots of ideas for 'Beginnings', but in the end the piece chose itself.  This piece was one that I was working on for my weekly/fortnightly videos and it just became beginnings.

It started as a collage, then I added the thread painting.  The scene is of a beach not far from where I was born (My mother, in fact, went into labour on the beach), so it is very 'My beginnings' in that sense, but it also was me going back to my beginnings with art quilting.  Landscape and thread painting.I think Iwould take uptoo much space if I listed all the fabrics I used, because there are a ton. I will post my video and some more info later about that.
Here are some close ups.

The little bay with bead foam.

Some of the collage background.  I knotted some of my basic embroidery on the top and left the threads loose for texture.

I put a few grasses in the corner as a foreground (needs more contrast, though).

Close up of the thread painting.  It does look awful this close, doesn't it?

A bit more of the collage and the frayed edge of the organza I did the thread painting on.
It's a bit different and a bit the same for me.  I hope you all like it.