Hunting Season

"Geometric Forest" - From a recent TARTs kit that involved using rayon thread to create design features. Not my usual color palette or design style, but I like it. Information on TARTs projects and lessons can be found on In Good Company's blog--see my list of links.

Opening day of rifle hunting season is tomorrow (Saturday). That means the boys are off doing their thing and I'm home doing mine. Plenty of time to work on my art and not worry about meals, dishes, housework and that kind of creativity squelching stuff! And I can turn the heat up when I want to!

I'm currently working on a piece using one of my recently created soy wax batik fabrics along with some hand-dyed fabrics and batiks. The colorway is pink to dark red with some gold and a touch of blue. With the rainy days we've had I haven't been inspired to take any pictures because the lighting is so dim, but I will get some on here soon!

The soy wax batik class I took last month was very fun and I came out with some wonderful fabrics to use in my work. I tried to get a nice variety and think I succeeded. I think they are all usable and will add a lot to my work. Thanks goes to the women of In Good Company of Hamilton, Montana for holding this class and providing the myriad of colors of fabric paint and piles of mark-making tools! I would not do this at home because of the space it takes and mess it makes so I was happy to get to take the class and not worry about that.

Just got back my three quilts from MQX (Machine Quilting Exposition) West and found out that I received a Faculty Award from Linda McQuean which was unexpected. Each teacher at the show is allowed to pick a quilt they like and give it a ribbon without having to justify their choice. I think that means my work isn't technically as perfect as it could be but it has artistic appeal! The quilt, "Blackberries and Dandelions" has a lot of fans here locally and has received a few other accolades for its artistic appeal. I'll have to work on that technical part though....

I did not get into Artquilt Elements, again. I have attempted to enter this show for several years now and have never gotten in. It is highly competitive and I'm not sure my work fits in with what they tend to include in their show. It would have been a particular honor this year since the SAQA/SDA joint conference is at the same time and nearby location from the show. OH well, maybe next year...

Back to sewing. Need to get the binding and then beading done on this pink piece I'm working on!

For Sale, For Show, SOLD!

Since the last post was so WORDY, I thought I'd give you some pictures! The first one is currently getting ready for judging at Machine Quilting Exposition (MQX) - West in Portland, Oregon. It is called "Go Where It Takes You" and is 18"w x 21"h and priced at $280.00. It was created for a challenge requiring us to use the grey/blue oriental fabric and the white background fabric (which actually has a touch of light purple but very subtle).

Next is a little piece I made a while back that has not sold but is definitely worthy. My local gallery, River's Mist, is hanging this months show tomorrow and if she isn't able to fit this piece in, I will likely take it to The Artist's Shop or Art City. Price is $85.00 and the piece is 8"x14". It is called simply, "Abstract Triangles".
This last one is called "Oxygen" because that is what it told me to call it! It has fabric leaves hanging from bead dangles and is one of my favorite little pieces. It is only 8-1/2"w x 25"h but has nice impact because of the light background and great color--and leaves of course! The fabric that inspired the piece was from Selvedge Studio in Missoula, Montana. Not the first time one of their fabrics has inspired something for me! Price is $110.00, but this piece just sold at The Artist's Shop bringing my total number of pieces sold in my solo show there to 8 (as of Saturday)!

Have been busy with show entries, son's birthday, and such, so anxious to get back into the studio so I can show you something new!

By the way, the piece I blogged about recently that I made for the Trout Unlimited fundraising auction sold for a disappointing $100.00. They started bidding at $25 which was rather low in my view as I had valued the piece at $450.00 and if I had put it in a gallery likely would have put a price over $500.00 on it. But, hopefully whoever got the piece will enjoy it and appreciate it. It is a lovely inspired piece. Wish I could have enjoyed it myself a little longer!

Final Days of Solo Exhibition, Other Venues

My solo exhibition at The Artist's Shop in Missoula, Montana will be taken down on Wednesday this week (October 5). I have now sold 7 pieces there and am very happy with the success of the show. It has been well received and I've had lots of wonderful comments about my work. Please stop in and see the show if you are in Missoula--and sign my guestbook!

I do not have any other shows booked in the area until next spring. In February I will participate in the annual fiber art show in Hamilton, "An Affair of the heART" sponsored by In Good Company. There are many fiber artists in the Missoula/Bitterroot area that participate in this and it is always a wonderful show.

I will be curating a show in Stevensville, Montana (River's Mist Gallery) in April, 2012, that will focus on fiber of different types including clothing, weaving, quilting, and whatever else I might find in the next few months to feature in the show. I haven't worked out the parameters of this show yet but I am currently keeping an eye out for artists to include in the mix.

I have a solo exhibition booked at Montana Art and Framing in Missoula for May, 2012. I'm hoping to have another show in Hamilton and am waiting for a gallery there to get back to me to finalize this. I'll keep you posted...

Remember, you can always find my work at The Artist's Shop in Missoula, Art City in Hamilton, and River's Mist in Stevensville. I will be giving a lecture/trunk show at the Missoula Quilt Guild at their November meeting. I am no longer showing at Madison Creek Furnishings. For details on the galleries please visit my website: http://www.heidizielinski.com/CurrentVenues.html

I just sent three pieces to Portland for the juried Machine Quilting Exposition West. If you are going to Houston for Quilt Festival look for my piece, "Glorious Leaves" in the SAQA Sense of Adventure special exhibit, which will also travel to the other IQF shows and to the Gerald Ford Museum.

As always I am waiting to hear from a couple of shows as to whether my work has been accepted or not and I am getting ready to fill out a couple more show entries. It is never ending! Hopefully one of my pieces will be in a venue near you sometime soon!

Thanks for visiting my blog. Let me know if you see my work at one of these venues and what you think of it. I can take it!! Also, if you would like to receive notification of my upcoming shows, please e-mail me your snail mail and/or e-mail addresses and I'll send you a postcard or e-mail you the info. (heidi@heidizielinski.com)

Recently Sold Pieces

I have sold 5 pieces at The Artist's Shop this month and I thought I would share a couple of them here. One of them is a piece I could have kept myself and enjoyed on my own wall. It was one that I did at the very last minute for my earlier show in Hamilton at Art City. I had purchased a stamp with the flowers on it and wanted to use it right away so I made this piece. It come out so lovely that I'm sorry to see it go! This piece is called, “Why, Oh Why Can't I?”. I stamped the flowers and bird onto a linen type fabric then stitched them with black thread. I did some hand embroidery on the sides and in the sky and then finished up with more machine stitching. I love the touch of blue in the sky, and how the floral fabric compliments the piece. This piece was hanging right at the entrance door to the gallery and the person who bought it had to take it right away. Now another piece is suspended there ("Nautilus") and looks almost as nice.

The next piece is one that I made a couple of years ago using the pearls, crystals, and findings from a necklace that broke. I did some thread-painting on the flower at bottom left. This is a little bit out of my usual colorway, but people have always seemed to enjoy it when I have showed it. It is called, “Dreamin' On A Winter's Day”. I made it on a late winter day with the intention of choosing some fabrics that did not reflect the cold, hard winter we were having and make me look forward to warmer summer days.

It was amusing that one small piece that sold off of the back wall (which is the feature wall visible from the front of the gallery) I had replaced with a piece the same size and colorway and it sold three days later! I guess it is either a good spot or people like red pieces that size!
Too bad the 2nd person had to take it as well so again there is a small hole there! Not sure I can turn out another one right now.

All the pieces that sold were taken by the purchasers leaving various empty spaces on the walls. I'm glad for the sales of course, but it would be nice to see the pieces still hanging with the little red dots on them. Just my thing---love those little red dots!

Auction Activity and Art Quilts to Share

The Saqa On-Line Auction is well on its way and my piece was in the first round of bidding. It sold at the $75.00 level to what looks like a collector as she purchased a number of pieces. Obviously someone who appreciates fiber art so I'm glad to see my work go to a good home! Go to http://www.saqa.com/saqa-u.php?ID=1791 to see my piece and many more that you can bid on over the next two weeks.

Speaking of auctions, I just finished a piece for the local Trout Unlimited fundraiser auction and here some pictures...

Going to try to keep my text to a minimum here. Our next "TARTS" project (short for Textile Arts) this month is spraying diluted fabric paint onto silk. I will be doing that tomorrow, but thought I would show a previous paint on silk project that I used in one of my pieces. This project was a layering of various types of silk and applying the paint so that it would seep through the layers. The raw silk piece in the center was at the top of a stack so it has intense color. There are also rusted hand-made Thai silk and rusted cotton fabrics in this as well as hand embroidery and beading.

“Mushroom Habitat” was inspired by my love of hunting for those treasured edible mushrooms such as morels, oyster mushrooms and the occasional puffball. It has mushrooms in the fabrics (which I had been collecting for a while) and in the quilting motifs. I'm not sure this is a very successful piece as it is quite busy and doesn't have enough negative space for eye rest. Love the colors though!

Frost on the Lawn

Not only is summer winding down, but we had some frost on the grass yesterday morning! The last couple of nights have been rather chilly and I'm starting to think we aren't going to get more than one red tomato (which I already picked and ate!). Here in Montana we tend to get an early frost that really slows things down and with the cool nights we have all summer we just don't get the ripe tomatoes like some parts of the country. Back in Illinois where the nights are warm and humid we actually had tomatoes to give away. In this country a ripe tomato from your own garden is a precious thing! We do give away zucchini though!

In my last post I mentioned wishing that I would get an award to help with all the show entry fee/shipping expenses for my work. Well, at the Pacific West Quilt Show last weekend I won second place and a nice cash award in the Innovative-Small category for my piece "Twist of Lime, Pinch of Purple" which uses Log Cabin blocks in a unique way.

The judge's comments were very nice and they really appreciated my quilting which is especially nice since this one was a real problem child when it came to the quilting. I actually started quilting it and couldn't get the stitches to stop skipping so ended up ripping it all out and ripping the backing off the quilt and putting on a different fabric. I still had some problems quilting it so I set it aside for a while. That meant I missed the deadline for the show I had been planning on submitting it for, but when I picked it up again later it seemed to quilt just fine and I finished it with no problem. I guess it just didn't want to go to that show! Anyways, it is a lovely quilt when it is displayed with good lighting and the color combination is very striking.

So, Friday evening at The Artist's Shop show opening in Missoula, Montana, there was a decent crowd but, maybe because it is Labor Day Weekend, there weren't as many as I would have liked. No one was buying, but they did seem to really enjoy my work and I had a lot of good questions and a number of people took business cards. You hear the old, "I really like that one so I might be back..." line, but unfortunately they rarely do come back! That just gives them time to talk themselves out of it! The show will be up the entire month of September so there is still some time for some sales to happen...! Once again, if you are in the area please stop in and see the show. I believe there are 23 pieces there and some are brand new. Let me know what you think if you do go!

Summer is Winding Down...

August is almost over and so is the family art show at River's Mist Gallery. It was a nice show and lots of people came to see it, but not too many sales. I sold two small pieces, my mom sold one, my sister sold one (to my mom!), and my son sold 6. It would have been nice if everyone would have sold something, but I guess it just isn't too be! The show will be up until Tuesday next week (August 30) so you have a couple of days to see it if you are in the area.

My next show (postcard image above):

The Artist's Shop

N. Higgins Avenue

Missoula, MT

406-543-6393

Opening Reception: First Friday, September 2, from 5pm-8pm.

I've got some brand new work for this show so please come and see it!

Once I get this show hung I will be working on a piece for the Trout Unlimited Banquet auction fundraiser later in September. I have been sketching out some ideas and thinking about this for some time now. I'm leaning towards a representation of a stream with shadowy fish swimming through it. I would include either cutouts or sheers for the construction. Another idea I had would incorporate the swooping line of a fly rod with a fly on the end. I love the gentle looping back and forth of the line and the graceful arch that allows the fly to drop gently on the surface of the water. This might also include the rings of water moving outward from the point where the fly lands---quilted in of course. As soon as I get this next show off and running I'll get to work on this piece and decide exactly what I'm going to do. Still thinking....!

I have two pieces in the Pacific West Quilt Show this weekend and just sent one quilt to the SAQA Sense of Adventure exhibition which will premier at International Quilt Festival in Houston. I'm waiting to hear from a couple of shows that I sent entries to and I'm going to be submitting a couple more entries in the next week or two. Keeping my work out there is a challenge---an expensive one. It would be helpful if I would win an award or two and get some funds to help with the entry fees and shipping costs for all these shows. I'm honored to be accepted to them, but it all adds up. The sales I have made in the last few months have all been small pieces. I'm grateful that, unlike many artists, I'm selling work on a regular basis, but the small pieces just don't get me too far!

Some images of newer work....

The first is called "Tulip Skies", and the second image is one that I believe I published on this blog in October of 2008 when I was initially working on this piece! I had met with irreconcilable difficulties and wasn't able to move forward with it at that time. When I pulled it out a few months ago I was able to work through the design issues and finish the piece for my August family show! It has received lots of positive comments and is a very bold and dramatic piece.

This next one is called "Tapestry Strutting". I used a small section of pin weaving that I had made over a year ago to create the body of the pheasant. I challenged my family members to all create a pheasant piece of some sort. Four of us participated and it was a beautiful display. The sculptural effect of the quilting over the pin weaving was very successful.