New Harvest Pieces - WIP

Two almost done four more to go!

Not Convinced

I stitched the flax down and now wish I had not done so, I was hoping to capture a creek here locally that has several ox-bows coming off of the main stream.  I may cut some back, may add some hand stitching not sure yet.  Thinking.

Iowa from 1000 Feet

8 x 11 inches - ish



Now for some more hand stitching.  Natural dyed and compost dyed fabrics cotton and silk.  Natural dyed silk eyelash yarn.  I found it hiding in a pile of UFO's (unfinished objects)  I started it several years ago, added the dark velvet circles for the bins and silo's this evening.

Community of Artists Exhibition Acceptance

Crow Field was accepted into the Octagon Center for the Art's Community of Artists Exhibition!

Harvest Series

WIP - Crow

Natural Dyed Cotton Fabric -Madder Root and Cutch on Natural Muslin.  Mordant - Alum Tannin Alum.
Timtex Core.  Machine Stitched, Hand Beaded, Glass and Natural Mineral Beads, Bone Pipes.
Still needs hand stitching, I will work on that tomorrow.
8x6 inches.

Quilt National and Well That's Life

I missed the deadline for QN again!  I know I know the actual deadline is tomorrow but in order for my entry to make it there tomorrow I would have had to have shipped it, overnight no less, yesterday!  How about that for logic!

Sandstone No. 4 WIP

Anyway, because I was busy plugging away on my latest body of work, for my solo show, I fell behind way behind.  Absolutely no one's fault but my own, that and I'm seriously in a cow and field encuastic painting mode, the need to switch gears back to fiber just wasn't happening.  So the above piece is STILL in progress, I have three more pieces in my Sandstone series in various stages of progression, waiting on the fabrics to rust and compost to the desired level of doneness is also taking forever with this summers crazier than ever weather.

WIP - Painted Canyonlands No. 2

I've hit the point where I feel like I've ruined the piece, the solution is to keep pushing the surface of course.

Yellow Poppies

Yellow Poppies
2010
19.5L x 15.5w

Red Crow Kneeling WIP

I have some serious stitching to do now especially to the crow woman area on the quilt so that it remains the primary focale point of this piece.

Red Crow Kneeling - WIP

With a bit of embellishment.

To Frame or not to Frame

I’ve noticed a rush to stretch quilts around stretcher bars/frames of late and am seeing a good many of these go up for sale on etsy.com. Not all pieces are meant to be stretched, maybe it needs to be matted and framed, maybe the piece needs a shadow box, or MAYBE it actually needs a sleeve sewn to the back and hung on the wall like a traditional wall quilt.

What I am noticing is a bunch of quilts that have been stretched and it does more to detract from the piece than it does to help it. I remember my screenprinting professor, Tim McIllrath, coming unhinged at one student who stretched what “was” a lovely hand stitched screen printed piece, unfortunately it distorted the stitching – which is something I’m seeing in a lot of pieces, and when the student removed it from the frame the damage had been done and was fairly permanent.

When deciding how to finish a piece one must really step back from their baby and ask themselves does this piece stand on it’s own merits with or without a border/matt? How will stretching this piece affect/effect the stitching, pattern, piecing, embellishments, etc?

There is no easy answer to this dilemma expect to experiment with scraps, stitching techniques etc. this will give you your answer. It is, however, very disconcerting to see what would otherwise be a gorgeous piece stretched around stretcher bars and I suspect the artist doing so believes that the pieces will sell better in doing so – and this couldn’t be further from the truth especially if you are looking for collectors for your works.

Also sometimes a piece simply needs a large plexi frame, this would include the sides, expensive yes but your beloved creation may find a home much sooner in doing so.