Dabbling in the studio

After a few months of intensive "Get 'er done" pace getting ready for my show in Colorado, the upcoming show in Houston, and getting a couple pieces done to submit to Quilt National, I have been having a few weeks of "putzing" around. There is a real adrenaline drop off after FedEx sweeps away my work, and I need something different to regain my mojo. So it has been play time!

One of the fun things I do between projects is make earrings (and sometimes other things) from the little left over pieces of fabric and yarns. They are light, affordable, and fun and I have sold many through the McGuffey Art Center Gift shop. Now they are also available in the gift shop of the Visions Art Museum in San Jose, CA. So I have made a bunch of new ones for the upcoming Holiday gift-giving season!

Then it was time for a "remake". Early this year, I was in a show with two other McGuffey artists. We made many collaborative pieces with our three different mediums fiber, clay and wood. You can see the pieces, as they were exhibited here. The large wood and fiber wall piece was separated after the show, but I couldn't "give up" on the fiber part. so I added a few more elements to it to make it a totally fiber piece.

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As originally shown with wood pieces by Renee Balfour

Reworked fiber piece

It was fun to go back to working on a 3-d piece again, and also a piece that is totally about the textures, not the image

When I got done, I had some left over fabrics, so I made this thing... I don't know if it is a vessel or sculpture,
but I like it!

Use of the "leftovers"

One of the joys of having my studio at McGuffey is the opportunity to walk down the hall to the life drawing sessions. I don't take advantage of it as often as I should, but have a few times.

I decided to play with some stitching, so I used one of my life drawings as the composition for this little piece (about 11 x14"). Some hand stitching and some machine stitching.

I used an off-white muslin for the base fabric, and I love how, with the hand stitching, it has echoes of the stitched dish drying cloths my mother used to use. I always loved the ones with the days of the week stitched on them and the kitties doing wash on Monday, ironing on Tuesday, etc!

Still wanting to do more stitch practice, I printed some of my black and white photos as diptychs.  I wasn't thrilled with how they came out (issue with resolution from my cell phone, not problem with the printing!) but went ahead!

Here is one that I did, not sure it will ever see the light of day as a finished piecee, but I did have fun with all the hand stitching.

Finally, my last dabble, is with upcycling. I walk to the studio everyday, and have noticed a wonderful variety of things in the gutters and sidewalks. Another McGuffey artist, Brielle Duflon has done some fabulous work with trash and inspired me to try. So I am making an ongoing project of recycled work. The backing for each piece is leftover felt or batting from my work, the top "fabric" is various plastic bags. and the found objects are embellished with hand stitching.  I hope to make the squares for three months.

O am assembling the rows with embroidery stitches, and have yet to figure out how I will connect the sashing (or what the sashing will be!) between the rows. It is about time to get back to "real" work though!