The Prairie

41" x 32"

Detail:   A dear friend grew up in Western Canada on a prairie farm.  Her memories are of the good food, the hard work and the wide open fields and skies, honest living.  For her birthday, I tried to duplicate the essence of the beauty of the farm.  This was very far from my experience but I tried to capture the feeling of her stories.

                     detail:  hay bails.  It took me a while to create the shadow, but from a distance I think I              managed.  Each hay bail was created separately and then appliqued onto the field.

detail:  a truer duplication of the actual colour with the iconic red barn in the background.  The grasses and bushes are all free motion stitchery as are the rows in the field.

detail:  an image of the back where you can get a better understanding of the stitchery.

This was a fun project for me, learning about a different landscape, and trying to capture something so huge into something relatively small.  I thought by having the landscape literally falling off the edge of the work, I was suggesting the endless nature of this world.

 

The Road Chosen

"The Road Chosen"

                                                                              16" x 23"

Detail:  This small wall hanging was an exploration in creating a natural backdrop with figures in the forground.  The parent and child are based on a photograph I took.  I copied the photo onto water soluble fabric and then stitched the forms on to white cotton.

Detail:  The landscape was created using hand dyed fabrics with raw edge applique.  The clouds were highlighted with fabric paint.

Detail:  I created the road with a commercial fabric I loved.  I used reference photos to create the winding road shape.  When all the fabrics were in place, I free motion quilted the entire piece, hoping the different lines would suggest landscape both near and far.

 

On Becoming a Potter

 

Pottery, my new Passion

I have become a member of the Creative Clay Studio on Mt. Pleasant Avenue in Toronto.  This studio is certainly on the right street as it is extremely pleasant to spend hours in this space.  It is beautifully curated by Karie Andre who leads each session with enthusiastic passion and grace.

This piece I hand built and is part of my hands series....see what I did there? hand built hands.....

and someone in the studio suggested it looked like a hug.  I agree.

For the first few sessions I was afraid to approach the wheel and so concentrated on hand building, but this session I took the plunge!

These are my first few pieces from the wheel

Neither are masterpieces to be sure, I am still very much a beginner but I love the feeling of the clay and although glazing remains a complete mystery to me, I am loving the learning curve!

Recently, in an effort to 'give back' to the studio, I offered to make some new aprons.  In this (not particularly flattering) photo some members are trying them on for size and fit, and discovering their ins and outs, and ups and downs.

The bib of the apron has an angled side so that it covers more of the chest area without getting in the way.  It also sports a pocket in a contrasting colour that has been sized to fit a cellphone.  It is a very unusual fabric that I found at G.K. Fashion Fabrics on Caledonia.  The outside is made of a water resistant material which is perfect for the studio as it is completely wipable, water just beads off of it.  So, the fabric wont hold the dust which is a constant concern in a pottery studio.  But the inside is fleecy so it is cozy to have up against skin or clothing and will grip clothing.  It wont be slipping and sliding while you work.  the straps are made from a very durable binding of denim with a fun yellow stitch on each edge.  I embellished each apron with different colours of satin stitch.  The skirt is two rectangular pieces overlapping for 8 inches.  This helps when you are at the wheel, you can surround the wheel with your legs and not be pulled by your apron as it is separating with your legs while totally covering them.

A more poised shot as the members give their positive feedback.  

Members hard at work in their new aprons.

And then I took one for a spin!

Karie gives her extra two thumbs up of approval with her million dollar smile.  Thanks Karie for all your positive energy!

Birds Redux

Birds

I made this little 'nine patch' many years ago. If I blogged about this piece then, for those of you eagle eye followers, I apologize for the repeat post.  But, as some things do come around again, this is a post about that; birds redux.

 I was playing with the notions of de-saturation, (trying to compose something without obvious colour) and was having fun with bird shapes.  Some real, but most fanciful.  As you can see, some of the birds refused to stay in their squares.

This is a progress shot where you can see how they wanted to go beyond the borders.

(each bird was designed and free-motion quilted, and then placed on the background).

Eventually this young lady admired it and hung it in her office space.  This is where another beautiful young lady saw it and loved it too!

And so,  I made one for her as well.  Of course, I wont make the same thing twice, but I felt this had the same esthetic; limited colour palette with white whimsical birds.  As her plans were to move away, I wanted her to have a little something from here.

She has found a very lovely spot for her new birds in her new apartment.