From Sketch to Stitch

My Aurifil thread color palette for my latest series "Field Notes"

Field Notes was born out of several loves, passions of mine:

The love of the prairie.
The love of crops as they rise out of the ground each year.
The love of the symmetry and simplicity of how the fields themselves are arranged in the countryside.

Field Notes in progress on my table.

Some color studies.

Watercolor crayons, water soluble oil pastels, and water soluble graphite on sketchbook paper.

It's Been Awhile

So begins a new series I've titled "Fields". So far the goal is 18 large pieces and 12 small pieces. I'm using earth pigments, charcoal, conte, and mixed media pm cotton and silk fabrics this time around with machine stitching as the finishing touch.

I've been dragging my feet to start on this series, as it is the first series where I won't be using natural dyes. Fabric painting begins tonight. Photos coming soon.

Grids and Lines with Corn

 

I think it goes without saying that harvest is my favorite time of the year!

WIPS - Ode to Corn

Working on a new series

Ode to Corn No. 1

Solo Show Hung

Hung my solo show in the "Ding Darling" Gallery at the Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge Center today.  It looks great, there will be info sheets hanging between the large panels.  It took us, Doreen and I, an hour to hang these panels.

I can see I need to work on my hanging mechanisms, it's picture wire on the back but for some reason they really lean forward.

Fields Series Solo Show

Spring

Summer No. 1 and No. 2

My "Fields" series was accepted by the staff at the Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge, in Prairie City, IA, to hang from October 1 through the end of November. I cannot wait to see all 22 pieces hanging again!!!

Vineyards in Iowa

John and I went out earlish - for me anyway - this morning to take photos of a vineyard in progress.  Vineyards used to be a mainstay here in Iowa, just like potatoes and mangel beets, but alas sometime in the 60's they went the way of the dodo bird.  Ten years ago, however, the vineyard made a comeback here!  The mark they leave upon the prairiescape is unique, in comparison to corn and soy beans, and thusly my Prairie Harvest series will be including vineyards as part of the imagery!

Fall in Iowa

The clouds were really wild looking when I took this photo, the wind turbines were a nice contrast to the soy beans.

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.

Windmill

Bean Field - Iowa

Summer in Iowa

WIP No. 32

WIP No. 32 Now that my wet studio is cleaned up I can paint fabric once again, I made this piece today in celebration of having a surface to work on!!!
18x22 inches
Setacolor Transparent Paint, Shiva Paintstiks, Natural Muslin 7878

Prairie Potholes No. 15

At this point in time it's finished, I might work a bit more on the edging and take better photos of this piece but it's definately done for now!

Flood Waters

There used to be soccer fields here - Iowa State University property. The river is about 500 yards, or more, from the road in this shot. The news is now stating that this IS as bad as the flood of 1993 now.