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.

Full House

It was Ned's birthday yesterday and I baked a maple cake. We had a small crowd around the table which was really nice. April and 3 friends drove over from Montreal (they also brought their dog) and Sandy and Sue, our University era friends came from the other direction, Thunder Bay. Oona phoned and she and nearly three year old Everett are arriving tomorrow. They'll be here for nearly two weeks.

Light of the Moon (above) will be on exhibit at the LaCloche art show in a few weeks. The pamphlet and poster are out and they both look wonderful. I'll post more about that soon.

installed at home

Somewhere there are heirlooms, mixed media with stitch 2008

Kids are arriving today and yesterday I got the bedrooms ready. One task was to figure out what to do with these large wall pieces from last summer's red thread exhibit. (they were being stored rolled up in one of the rooms).
Slipping Glimpser, mixed media with stitch 2008

Voila! I put them up! It's a treat to look at them again and I think April and her friends will enjoy them in the bedrooms.
Only the earth lives forever, mixed media with stitch 2008

Ned has not said a thing even though the piece directly above is in OUR bedroom.

red threads

My threads are lonely and abandoned. It's been so enjoyable to sit and stitch on the deck during the mornings, being blessed by the birdsong and the new sun's warmth. For the last few days however, I have had to go directly to the computer to do research and write papers for my course work at the Julia Caprara School of Textile Art in the UK. I hope I can get this particular module finished before the kids come home next week and life becomes REAL.

One good thing is that I joined Studio Art Quilt Associates today, something I've been meaning to do for ages.

magic

This embroidery was started two years ago and then left to simmer in a drawer. It has been very nurturing to work on it again, 'like a mother's arms'.

These days I'm also very slowly reading Jeanette Winterson - a few pages each day. I get stopped by the wonderful imagery she is able to bring up in my imagination. Here's another passage from her Oranges are not novel:

Magic was very important.
The chalk circle you drew around yourself to protect yourself from elementals and the like.
It's gone out of fashion now, which is a shame.
Of course people will laugh at you, but people laugh at a great many things, so there's no need to take it personally.
Why will it work?
It works because the principle of personal space is always the same. It's a force field around yourself, and as long as our imagining powers are weak, it's useful to have something physical to remind us.

heart of stone

in progress

This is the piece I've been working on during the evening.
The striped fabric is whole cloth silk. The center squares are dyed linen, backstitched with silk twist.

She had a heart of stone.

Where the world ends in the east you will find a stone lion,
and inthe west, a gryphon made of stone.
At the northern corner a stone turret will baffle you,
and in the south a gritty beach for your feet.

Do not be afraid.
These are the ancients.
Weathered and wise as they are, respect them,
but they are not the everlasting substance.

The body that contains a spirit is
the one true god.

The above beautiful and thought provoking text is by Jeanette Winterson from her novel, Oranges are Not the Only Fruit.

Liturgical

A grave yard in Normandy.

Liturgical: Pertaining to the established ritual for public worship


Spiritual: Pertaining to sacred things, essence as distinct from matter