Momstuff

The LaCloche show looks amazing, the prep for the wax workshop proved worthwhile, the opening went well, the place was packed, the word "different" was used to describe my work, two of my pieces sold, the brief talk I gave before the awards presentation is posted in my updates .

That was yesterday.

Today Grace wore this lovely brides-maid dress in Courtney and Scott's wedding.
I moved the zipper, took in four seams, shortened it by two and a half inches.

Prep for workshop

I've been working off and on with hot wax since 1996. In 2006, I discovered that the transfer of wax onto a second surface gives unpredictable but often beautiful results. I'll demonstrate the process in Friday's workshop.

wax transferred from paper to linen
wax tansferred from cloth to cloth

Grace is home. April is home.

wax workshop

wax resist, dye on cloth
I've been asked to give a workshop for the LaCloche participating artists this coming Friday. A month or so ago I told the committee that I would demonstrate my wax techniques on paper and on cloth and now it's in stone on the website.
Basting to a backing on the kitchen floor.

My method focuses on using wax as a resist. To simplify here it is:
heat wax, apply , scratch into wax if desired, add dye or ink, allow to dry, remove wax.

There's an earthy feel to anything wax touches, I'd say.

This will not be an encaustic workshop - it's only two hours in length. However, I am starting to experiment with encaustic, adding colour to my wax. Perhaps I have the LaCloche committee to thank for pushing me in this direction.

waxing, stitching

wax and dye on watercolour paper, beginning to stitch with cotton perle


More clearly than words, my visual art communicates the things I love and am concerned about, our environment and our children. The stitches in the work are made by hand one at a time. These marks invite the viewer to slow down and consider these issues as well.

solar dyeing

We had some restorative time at the cottage this past weekend. I peeked at, but did not touch, my experiment with solar dyeing that I started the last time we were there.

Birch bark wrapped in a piece of thrift store tablecloth linen, a little coffee, three copper pennies and water - leave in a sunny space for at least a month.

Rushing around is absolutely the wrong thing to do. Instead, sit. Rock. Nurture your idea in your arms for a while.

Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Domestic Art

Mother Canada front detail

Today we installed eleven pieces of my art work in Whitefish Falls for the distinguished artist part of the LaCloche show. All but one use stitching as the main technique.

Before we left, we had to wait for this two sided piece to come out of the dryer. It took courage to toss months of work into the laundry machines but I do love how the linen fabric has shrunk and acquired an 'old' texture and the red cotton threads took on a more interesting line.

Mother Canada back detail

A peek at the rest of my work installed is in my updates.

texture and edges

I've been couching yarns and fabrics onto this canvas piece and am enjoying the layering of line and texture. I love these red edges. And somehow the repetition of circles gives a meditative focus to the whole thing.

LaCloche Art Show

Here is the poster for the LaCloche Art Show. The committee of volunteers are installing the 240 piece juried exhibition today and have asked me to hang my 'distinguished artist exhibition' soon as well. I'm still stitching on two of the pieces and most of the others are still at the framer's. Hopefully everything will be ready for the end of this week.

Mother Canada

Stitching is like breathing. It gives rest, comfort and a purposeful result all at the same time. I worked on this piece last week at the cottage. I'm continuing with it here at home on Manitoulin. The stitch is a simple blanket stitch repeated in different shades of red.

Ned's 60th birthday party

Indulge me. These photos are for (and of) my family, just a few of the zillions taken with my new camera (thanks kids) over the last ten days.

family, study

With the water behind them, watercolour 2004

This painting that I did a few years ago depicts the two girls who are visiting us right now. I'm still trying to get my Julia Caprara School of Textile Art work into the mail for assessment in the UK before the weekend when more kids arrive.

One of the things I had to do was research artists that I admire, and here are a few of those. Unfortunately, most of these artists do NOT have huge web presences.
From England - POLLY BINNS (1950 - )
and MATTHEW HARRIS(1960 -)
From Ireland - ANN FAHY
From Finland - AINO KAJANIEMI(1955 - )
and RIITA-LIISA HAAVISTO (1930 - )

The above artists reflect my own cultural heritage - a mix of English, Irish and Finn.

Metal sampler

Oona's here.
Everett's here.
April's here.
Em J's here.
Tor's here.
Mal's here.
Gordon's here.
Ned's here.
Iris's here.
I'm here.