Gushing---so don't read if you can't take it!!

Tree of Life - SOLD

Quite often I read about artists who are depressed, lacking in self-esteem or self-confidence, have doubts about the quality/worth of their work, and generally have negative feelings about their art and what they are producing (or not producing).  I am always grateful to realize that I don't have these feelings.  I have been so fortunate to find success and happiness in what I am doing with my art and as a "glass half full" kind of person I just don't get those negative thoughts about it all.  I've had people make comments to me about how I can look at my show ribbons whenever I am feeling down about my art and feel better.   In the three years that I have been seriously pursuing my art quilts I have not had a time when I felt negative or down about what I'm doing!  It has been a fun, positive, rewarding and fulfilling journey.  I love what I'm doing and am proud of my work.   I have had more support from people in many different capacities than I could have ever hoped for.  It is usually accepted that friends and family will be kind, but I have had such an overwhelmingly positive response about my work from an incredible array of people that it is just plain wonderful.

It is all new and exciting to me now, so maybe sometime down the road I'll need to think back to these happy times of satisfaction with my art in order to boost my spirit.  Every time I enter a show and get accepted I am astounded, flattered, and proud.  When I win an award at one of those shows I am truly honored.  When I take my work to a gallery and they accept it and want to show it I am elated and encouraged.  I hear that many artists are still not selling much with the economy not recovered and people not spending on "luxury" or discretionary items like art.  I have sold more work this year than any other year.  I'm going to have to remove those lines of "sold" pieces on my inventory list so I can sort out what is still available without all those sold ones in the way! 

Now, that is not to say I don't have my problems, but they are what I would consider "good" problems.  I don't have time to crank out all the work I have inspiration for.  I am constantly in the process of getting an entry ready for a show, shipping a piece to a show, or trying to determine what pieces to commit to shows I want to enter down the road.  It is getting to be a major organizational effort to coordinate the commitment of pieces to shows and make sure they aren't sold in the meantime or committed to another show, or that I have them back in time to send to another commitment.   I have pieces in four galleries in my area and keeping them up-to-date and current is a coordination effort as well. 

I think I'm going to have to slow down and commit to a certain number of shows a year and choose those that will be the best exposure for me.  I have been in numerous Mancuso managed quilt shows and they have been a good experience for me but I think I will be giving those up.  I'd like to try for Houston and Paducah even though they emphasize the traditional quilt because they are prestigious and will get my name out there.  I'm trying to enter more of the art quilt shows at galleries across the country because they emphasize sales and many of them have become quite prestigious in the art quilt world.  That includes shows like Quilts=Art=Quilts, Art Quilts XV, Form Not Function, and many others.  I have yet to get into one of these shows, but I'm still trying!

When I do an entry for a show it can be rather complicated to figure out what I can enter.  For one thing it needs to be available (not at or committed to another show) and not in a gallery because it cannot sell in the meantime or it might not be available to show and they don't like that much.  There are size requirements (minimums and maximums), show themes, and image requirements.  I have to make sure I have good quality full quilt and detail images of my pieces so they are ready to submit.  There are fees to pay, shipping arrangements to make, packing quilts so they arrive ready to hang in decent condition, worrying about them getting lost in shipping, worrying about the condition they will be in when they are returned to you, anxiety about whether or not they might win a ribbon and be recognized in some way, and, for some shows, if they sell.  My mind races!

This summer has been particularly busy for me having been the featured art quilter at our local show and of course having my son here to occupy my mind and time.  He is a good boy and can entertain himself, but there are not nice blocks of time in the day when I can really become lost in my work.  Because of that I don't accomplish as much.  We have had a great summer and I enjoy having him around, but when school starts I have a whole list of things that I will be attempting to accomplish with all the uninterrupted time I will have during the week!  We'll see how that goes...!

I just finished a quilt for my mother-in-law who asked for something to give to friends of theirs that are having a 50th wedding anniversary in September.  I wasn't able to do what she originally proposed to me since it would have caused me much angst and frustration (not being my style and not being inspired by it), so I designed and created something I think they will like and will ship it off soon.  Hopefully they will all find it suitable to the occasion.   I will post in progress and finished quilt pictures soon...

Now I am moving on to some small pieces that are pieced and layered and ready to quilt.  I'm hoping to accumulate some things to sell for the holidays, in particular a holiday show at the Daly Mansion in Hamilton, Montana which seems to be a very strong and successful venue for artists.  I have applied to have a booth space and it will be my first foray into that sort of display of my work.  I think it will be fun, but I really need to get a good inventory of work to sell so I don't have a naked booth! 

I previously blogged about a piece that I worked on for about a year called "Red Sky" which went to the Lowell Quilt Festival in Lowell, Massachusetts recently and is now headed to AQS Des Moines.  It has tentatively been sold and I'm hoping that becomes a permanent thing, but I need to get it back safely first.  It is a wonderful piece and I know that the new owner will enjoy it. 

Red Sky - SOLD

I will be getting some new images posted on my website soon and will put a notice here when that happens.  I need to get to formatting the images and writing up the descriptions so I can have my husband put them out there.  It all just takes time..................................!!

Just for fun, this is a piece created a while back to try to get into a show entitled "Art Meets Science", but it did not get in.  The moon in its phases is created with shiny/sparkly angelina fiber.  There are carved beads of bone and metallic glass beads which are to symbolize the primitive and yet space-age aspects of the moon.  One of the few things in science that I can think of that is both primitive and modern at once.

Thanks for visiting!

I finally figured out how to get some photos downloaded here so I'm getting back to posting! I have had some fun this summer getting my work out there and even selling!

At the beginning of July we had the Stevensville Sapphire Quilters' Show and I was the Featured Quilt Artist. That meant I got some floor space to myself to set up a display of my work and I filled it up with fiber art! I was able to borrow some free-standing panels for displaying some of the work and they were black so they set off the quilts nicely. I had some of my older pieces as well as new work. It was very fun to be there for two days and talk with people about my work and answer questions. I sold three pieces and received some ribbons for various pieces I had entered in the show. Here is a picture of one of the pieces I sold which I will miss!  It is called "Run Free".

My Sapphire Challenge piece won numerous ribbons including Best Overall Challenge piece. The challenge involved using two fabrics that they gave us and up to four other fabrics to create a fiber item (didn't have to be a wall hanging, but mine was).   Here is a picture of it:

The quilt show went very well and the two ladies who were brave enough to volunteer to organize and run the show did a wonderful job with it. All of the committee chairs seem to have things well under control and I thought the show looked wonderful and things ran smoothly. The vendors seemed to be happy and the visitors seemed to enjoy it. I know that I had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed the weekend!

I took some of my work to a co-op gallery in Missoula, Montana, The Artist's Shop, to get juried in for consignment there and was accepted so some of my pieces are hanging there now. I don't think anything has sold yet, but it is good to have some of my work in Missoula. I will be having a solo exhibition at the gallery in September of 2011.

My son, Michael, is going to be the featured Emerging Artist at River's Mist Gallery in Stevensville for the month of August. His opening will be on First Friday (August 6) from 6-9pm. I can't wait to see him interacting with people at the reception. Some of his work will be for sale, but he is rather attached to it and most of them he doesn't want to sell. His work is mostly watercolor paintings which he has created during lessons with my dad which he has been doing most every week for a couple of years now. He has done some very nice pieces and I think people will really enjoy them.

I just sent two pieces off to Images 2010 – Lowell Quilt Festival in Lowell, Massachusetts. Here are images of the two pieces I sent:  "Blackberries and Dandelions" and "Red Sky".

I also sent “Twist of Lime, Pinch of Purple” to the World Quilt Festival which is a Mancuso managed show. I am currently waiting to hear from a show in Ohio and to see if any of my pieces will be featured in the fall SAQA Journal which will be featuring nature themed quilts in the gallery pages. I sent in several images hoping one might get in. We'll see...

Don't forget to go to the SAQA Auction site to view the 288 donated auction pieces. There are approximately 12”x12” and made by SAQA members. They will be auctioned off in September and they will start at $750 and go down to $75. The site outlines the process for bidding if you are interested. Here is a picture of the piece I donated:

Gallery Talk

On Friday I had my "gallery talk" where I shared some info about my history, the way I work, and the inspiration for my work. There were about 15 people there and most, but not all, were people I knew who work in fiber (quilters or art quilters). I think it lasted about 45 minutes and towards the end of the time I started to feel like I was just babbling on and they were probably getting bored! Based on what they told me afterwards, that wasn't the case, and I think most of them really enjoyed what I shared with them. I tried to be organized with notes, visual aids, and some additional fiber art that wasn't in the show (mostly older pieces to show them what I did before I started the heavily quilted and beaded art work that I do now). I felt the talk was a worthwhile opportunity for me, and I learned a lot from it. An added bonus was that there was a play going on at the theater next door and several people stopped in to look at my work before the show and during intermission.

I have sold three small works since taking my pieces to the gallery. I am happy with that, but do wish that one of the larger pieces would sell. There are some interested parties but they haven't made a commitment, and might never do so! If the interested parties want me to bring pieces to their homes so they can see how they look I will be glad to do that after my gallery show is over and I would share the commission with the gallery since she has done a wonderful job promoting me and my work. It is wonderful to have a gallery that is supportive of your work and wants to continue a relationship with you. I hope to continue having a few pieces of my work at the gallery on a permanent basis, and in a year or so I will have another show. I just hope my run of creativity and productivity can continue so I can have enough new work to show!

I have had very good feedback from my gallery exhibition and the owner has said that pretty much everyone who has seen it has enjoyed it. The comments are very positive and many viewers seem to spend a good deal of time looking at the pieces and discovering their details. It is fun to be there and be able to answer questions or just talk about my work with interested people. I am really looking forward to our quilt show in July (July 9-10) when I will able to sit with my work as the Featured Quilt Artist. For two days I will be able to share my work and see how people react to it and tell them about it. What fun that is! I love answering questions and explaining things about my work. It is very satisfying to find out that people really want to know about it.

Right now I am in a holding pattern on creating new pieces, and trying to catch up on some things I need to get done around the house and yard. I also need to straighten up my workroom since after the whirlwind of getting pieces ready for this show and then preparing the lecture I have left it quite a mess. I need to try to organize my room a little better and get rid of lots of clutter. Some of these magazines have just GOT to GO!! I am quite a saver and just find it hard to part with any quilting or cooking magazines and yet they are in such disorder that I'd have a hard time finding anything in them anyway. I have some older ones that I never look at so I'm going to toss those and make room for the ones I do use like Quilting Arts and Machine Quilting Unlimited.

Blogger has changed something with how pictures are downloaded here and I have been having some trouble trying to get it to work.  I'll definitely will keep working on it so I can get something posted here for you to look at!!

Gallery Openings and Talk

On First Friday in May my fiber art show at River's Mist Gallery in Stevensville, Montana opened to a nice crowd and some enthusiastic admirers. I sold one small piece before she even had the work hung up, and then sold another small piece at the reception. Another small piece was sold sometime this week and I'm looking forward to more pieces flying out the door in the next couple of weeks. The gallery owner did a beautiful job displaying my work. I was sharing the gallery space with the Stevensville Art and Sculpture Society's (SASS) spring showcase and was pleased that my work seemed to fit well in the space I had and the SASS show was nicely done with a wonderful variety of interesting artwork.

I really love gallery openings when my work is being shown because I usually have such a difficult time making small talk at social occasions, but talking about my work is much easier. I love talking to anyone about what I  do, how I do it, why I do it, etc. etc. It is fun to share my work and inspiration with people who are actually interested (or least they appear interested!). I will have the opportunity to do this in a more formal way when I do my gallery talk on Friday, May 21 at the gallery. The free lecture is at 7:00pm and anyone is welcome to attend. I am nervous, but somewhat excited. Hopefully I can keep an audience interested for a full 45 minutes!

Next Thursday I have to attend a private reception at the Dana Gallery in Missoula, Montana for their Celebration of Missoula Artists showcase which includes numerous artists from Missoula and the Bitterroot. I have one piece in this juried show and am quite anxious to see how well it works with all of the other forms of art displayed in this show. And it will be interesting to see if there is any other fiber art. This show will be on display through the first week of June. There is an open public reception on First Friday in June (June 4).

In July I will be the Featured Quilt Artist at the Sapphire Quilters 2010 Quilt Show. I will have my own space to hang whatever pieces I want and then be able to sit there with them and answer questions and share my work with people for the two days of the show. I look forward to this opportunity and hope that I will exposing a lot of people interested in quilts to a whole new perspective on them. Many people are not aware of "art quilts" although they are becoming a more prevalent quilt form throughout the country and the world. Most quilt shows have art quilt categories and there are many galleries across the country that are doing fiber art shows on a yearly basis. I have submitted entries for a number of these shows in the last two years and not been able to break into those venues, but I will continue to try and hope that I can choose the right pieces for the right show and get accepted.

Somewhat off the usual quilt art topic, today we went to the awards ceremony for the Montana Jr. Duck Stamp Contest. My son got a 3rd place award in the K-3 category for a swan he drew with colored pencil and crayon. He was one of the youngest award winners and we were very proud of him. He got to pick out some prizes and acquired some fun art supplies to hopefully encourage his continued interest in art.
The young girl who won Best of Show for the State had her piece sent to DC for the national competition and was one of the top 10 finalists. Her Canada Goose painting was very impressive. There were something like 26,000 entries across the country so getting in the top 10 is a great honor and tribute to her talent and hard work.

Sorry about no pictures again. Need to get on my laptop and get some out pics of recent work out here for you, and I will try to do that soon. Please come back again!!

Under the Weather

Isn't it unfortunate how ill health saps creative and motivational juices from a person? I have been ill for a few days and am just now recovering so I have not accomplished anything creative for days. Today I am nursing my ailments when I'd rather be at my monthly textile arts group meeting sharing and being inspired by what others share. I love the interaction at this group and look forward to it every month. It is painful to miss a session. Now I will have to go in to pick up my next technique packet without advantage of hearing the lesson and seeing the examples for it, and interacting with my fellow artists about it. This Thursday I have my small art discussion group gathering and I'm hoping that I am recovered sufficiently to attend and enjoy that experience. I love being able to discuss what I do with others who understand, enjoy, and are inspired to create art as I am.

My quilt, “From Winter We Emerge”, won a Judge's Choice ribbon from judge Scott Murkin at the Machine Quilting Exposition this past weekend. Since the judges choose from all the quilts in the show in every category I am very honored by this award. I expect that my two pieces that were in that show will be arriving home in the new few days so that they will be available to hang in my gallery exhibition beginning May 7.

Yesterday we mailed off my two entries to the Denver National Quilt Festival hoping that they will arrive unscathed by the deadline.

And, I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of the May edition of Machine Quilting Unlimited magazine which will contain a page showing my piece, “Twilight” in the Noteworthy column of reader quilts. I don't know when that will be out, but I look forward to seeing one of my works in print so every day I check the mail with great enthusiasm.

This past weekend, despite being somewhat under the weather, I enjoyed a few days of camaraderie and socializing with fellow quilters at a retreat. We went to Double Arrow Ranch at Seeley Lake, Montana. I was able to attach a sleeve, prepare and attach a binding to a larger piece I'm working on, and quilt on some unusual pieces that I then cut out and will be put together in a unique open-work piece. Some of the “pantry dyed” fabric I used in this piece are from our recent TARTS (textile arts) technique project and I used turmeric and instant espresso to create it. I created three batches of dyed materials (lace, ribbon, fabric, etc.) using blue Kool-aid/instant espresso, lemon-lime Kool-aid/instant coffee, and the turmeric/instant espresso. It was interesting to see how different materials absorbed the color in different ways. Silk ribbon, dryer sheets, and some of the lace (likely depending on it's fiber content) really soaked up the color. Other items were rather muted in color tone. Some of the fabrics that I scrunched up showed definite areas of espresso concentration versus the Kool-aid color. My intention was to not have bright clear color tones that I would have difficulty using and I obtained that by adding the instant coffee/espresso. One piece of cotton flannel that I pleated and then clipped using clothespins and dyed in the turmeric mixture came out very interesting.

It is supposed to get up to almost 80 degrees today and yet I cannot enjoy it. I'm sure once I feel well enough it will be 40 and raining. Oh well, then I won't mind so much as I will be entrenched in my studio creating a new piece fast and furiously to finish it for my show!! For I now I will rest and watch movies. I'm currently enjoying “Mona Lisa Smiles” with Julia Roberts. It's a good one.

Holiday Weekend

My husband, son and I took a short trip to Freezeout Lake to see the huge flocks of Snow Geese that migrate through there every Spring. We left on Thursday and got back on Sunday. We always take our trailer and spend a lot of time driving around in our Suburban since it is often windy and usually cold! There were thousands of Snow Geese and we also saw lots of ducks, some pelicans, swans, bluebirds, horned larks, and a golden eagle. I always get to visit The Quilting Hen in Carter, Montana and Cotton Capers Quilt Shop in Choteau to add some choice items to my stash.  This year I overdid it (yeah, like I don't do that EVERY year!), but I got some very inspiring pieces and I know they will all find their place in a quilt some day.  I also got some great threads which is almost as much fun for me as fabric!

Next week I will be going to our guild retreat at the Double Arrow Ranch in Seeley Lake, Montana.  I really need to get my act together and come up with something to do there.  It is hard for me since I work from my stash when I make a piece so I have to do the initial stages here in my "studio".  I'd like to take something to do handwork on as well as something to do machine work, particularly some quilting.  Last year I was able to get most of the quilting done on a piece and that was good for filling up a lot of time over the weekend.  I'll try to get a piece or two to that stage and then I just have to make sure I have a good selection of threads to take.  There are two quilt shops and a bead shop to hit during the weekend so I'll have to try to control myself.

I just found out that two of my pieces were accepted into the Denver National Quilt Festival.  This is the third year I will be in that show.  The pieces are "Phases of the Moon" and "Leaf Play" and they are both pieces I made in the last year.  I am waiting to hear from a gallery in Missoula to see if any of my pieces will be accepted into their local artist show in May.  Everything seems to be in May!  I had to be very selective as to which pieces to enter into these shows in order to still have an excellent showing in my solo exhibition at The River's Mist here in Stevensville.  I still hope to complete a couple of pieces before that show.  Luckily I do have a very strong inventory of work.  I'm hoping that my two pieces at MQX get back quickly after that show so I will have them for the solo show.  

If you are interested in textile and fiber art, please visit http://www.tafalist.com where I have a post about my work along with many other artists and businesses.  Not all are quilters, there are many types of fiber art included.  

Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival and MQX

Some nice things have been happening for me lately and I feel very blessed. One of my pieces, "From Winter We Emerge", was in the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival out in Virginia on the east coast and it won Best Hand Workmanship in the Wall Quilts category! My first national award and I was very excited about it! The quilt then traveled to the New Jersey Quilt Fest and I should be getting it back any day now.

Then I got two pieces accepted into the juried MQX (Machine Quilting Exposition) show in Providence, Rhode Island which I believe is the largest machine quilting show in the country. I will be shipping those off shortly!

I recently took a number of pieces to The Frame Shop and Gallery at 325 W. Main Street in Hamilton, Montana and they sold a small piece already. They have some other fiber artists and some other 3-D art displayed very nicely together, so go take a look if you're in the area!

I finished the piece I have been showing you and talking about and I think it turned out really beautifully. I will not be showing it around except here on my blog since it will be one of my new pieces for my gallery show in May. I love how the quilting and beading work together and really bring the whole piece together. It is going to be entitled something to do with blackberries and possibly dandelion tufts. Haven't got that quite decided on yet!  Some of the beading and threadwork on the piece is not evident in this picture, so if you are in this area be sure to see it at my show---it is really lovely.  One I am rather proud of.   

Also, about a week ago I had called the Missoula Art Museum to find out if there might be any opportunities for showing my fiber art there.  I was forwarded to the curator and left a message on his voicemail, including my website address.  This morning the curator called me and asked me if I would rather have them visit my website or bring some of my work in to show them.  Of course I'd rather show them in person since pictures never do justice to my work so I enthusiastically made an appointment for later this month.  I was thrilled to have the opportunity, although I have no idea if this will lead into anything at all.  At least they might give me some feedback as to my work and where it might fit into the museum in the future.  Always the optimist, I'm hoping they will love my work and schedule me in!  I know they are in the business of promoting art and artists, particularly Montana/local ones, so they might be willing to look at the work of any artist who approaches them.  Hopefully mine is worthy of their time and they receive it enthusiastically.  It would be a great honor to have my work in this museum as it is a wonderful building with beautiful space that is well respected in the community.  Well, we'll just have to see where, if anywhere, this opportunity might lead....  It pays to show your work to everyone you know at every opportunity.  I've sold many pieces that way!  And I always put my website and blog at the end of my e-mails and when I go to galleries or other possible venues for showing my work, I always conveniently have a few pieces out in the car just in case they have a few minutes to take a look!  It's worked for me more than once!