day-sies

I don't have to say much.  I enjoy just looking and listening.

I forget what it's like to do art every day.

mother daughter wildflower book

I made a book about the walks I took with daughter April when she was six.  We had just moved to Manitoulin, and the wildflowers were abundant in June. We collected one every walk and then would go home to identify it.  Press it.

I also saved drawings that our two younger daughters made of powerful women, and seven years after that walk they were heat transferred to fabric pages.  The pressed flowers were placed behind hand stitched mylar.  The book also has some embroidered text that our third and oldest daughter said to me when she was fifteen and my thoughts about it.  I'll show  it another time.  Maybe. 

I'm packing the supplies that Sandra Brownlee has requested us to bring to her workshop 'Tactile Notebooks'  next week.  This book is just one of many cloth journals I've made over the years. Memories and conversations with myself made visible.  (I'm not taking it, just sharing it here)  

 

goldenrod dye experiments

just the flowers We have a lot of goldenrod on Manitoulin. At least four varieties, including the large late blooming Canadian goldenrod. It's everywhere. I harvested twice last week. In the first session, I made two concoctions. The batch on the right is flowers and the upper leaves (no stems). On the left, just leaves and stems (no flowers). These were simmered for an hour and then left to steep overnight. For the second harvest, I painstakingly cut the flowers from the stems and tried to include no leaves. These I also simmered for an hour and left to steep overnight. Then I strained them and reheated the coloured water to just a simmer. Alum mordanted wool cloth and embroidered linen were dyed with the flowers only bath. I love using the wool, it accepts the colour so well. The next day I tried something I read on Leena's Riihivilla blog. She suggested adding lye or soda ash to yellow flowering dye baths to make the colour more intense. You can see the difference in the above photos. The top fabric in each set was processed with a weak lye solution added to the dye bath. When I used lye however, I did not heat the liquid. Just steeped the cloth in the natural dye for one day. I plan to overdye some of the yellow fabrics I've coloured with indigo eventually. Silk rayon velvet is the best recipient of any kind of dye. (no mordant necessary, top has lye, bottom not)

p.s. This is quite a la-de-da post about natural dyeing. It does not reflect the hours of time invested in harvesting, processing, mordanting. It does not speak about the time spent with research or record keeping of my own. I like that there is time invested. Time is my main material. Also: It does not mention the extreme caution required when using a caustic substance such as lye - (used to clean automobile garage floors). I always used rubber gloves, I worked outside as the fumes should not be inhaled, I did NOT use heat, and I won't put the liquid down my septic system when I'm finally finished. One good thing about these kinds of dyes is that they do last for quite a while, and multiple dips can be done. I made quite a bit of yardage. Protein fibres work well with natural dyes so I used mostly silk and wool. I had some success with linen. I've researched that a pre-soak in tannic acid will help cotton and linen accept more colour, but have not tried that yet. There is so much to learn.

Clover Field

The scent of all this clover and vetch along the side of my road is just as heavenly as the sight of it. In fact, I think that all of Manitoulin is lusher than usual with wildflowers this year.

Protection Study: Metal

Yesterday, I went to Spring Bay with some work to exchange in the Perivale Gallery. I gave Sheila Trillium Boat, Light of the Moon, Twenty Four Hour Care, The Dim, blue, dark Cloth and Protection Study: Metal. She was pleased I think.

Red Thread: the sweater

I took home four (uncommercial?) pieces. Red Thread: the sweater, The smocked dress, Seed, and On the Edge.

The Stars Above My Head

I stepped from plank to plank
a slow and cautious way
The stars above my head I felt
about my feet the sea

I knew not but the next
would be my final inch -
This gave me that precarious gait
some call experience.

Emily Dickenson

This poem about working intuitively is copied large on my studio wall.

Trilliam Boat

The TRILLIAMS are out on Manitoulin. Celebrate.

With gentleness.
With great force.

Watercolour on Cotton

In 2000, the Island Quilt Guild took on the millennium project of making a wildflower quilt to showcase the wide variety of wildflowers grown on this island. All of the applique patterns were derived from original drawings made by guild members. I remember that Joe Price was one of the guild members who made many of the drawings and that she helped me lead drawing sessions for those who were interested. This is one of my drawings for that quilt and I've since rendered it in watercolour on gessoed cotton. This morning I added stem stitch. This smoke flower painting is a new work and will be shown at the Perivale gallery this season.

cardinal flower

The design principles: Colour, Form, Line, Texture, Unity. The easiest of these to achieve is unity by repeating similar or identical elements. Don't be boring. Include complexity within unity.

Cardinal Flower

I put information about the watercolour courses starting up this week through Cambrian College into my updates.

Smoke Flower

The Art Gallery of Sudbury is hosting an important retrospective of Daphne Odjig, one of Canada's premier artists and a native of Manitoulin Island. That exhibit opens on Saturday the 15th of September and the gallery is also holding a symposium about the Woodland School in mid October. I have been asked to put some new work into the art rental/gift shop as the staff is in a whirl re-organizing everything. This is one of four watercolours of Manitoulin wildflowers that I plan to display in Sudbury this fall. They have been done on gessoed cotton broadcloth rather than paper.

wrapping

wrap: verb - envelope in folded or soft encircling material
wrap: verb - use oneself to embrace a person
wrap: noun - a shawl or scarf or other such clothing
wrap: noun - material used for wrapping

take the wraps off: disclose
under wraps: in secrecy
wrapped up in: engrossed or absorbed in
wrap up: finish off, bring to completion
wrap up: put on warm clothes

image: cloth strips and bamboo yarn wrapped over sweet clover stalks

Canada Day

Happy Belated Canada Day. (July 1)

My point of view

I choose to live in an isolated place. This does not mean that I'm not serious about my artwork. It may even mean that I am more serious than someone who lives in a suburban developmen. Living here does make me vulnerable however, because I start to feel that I'm 'behind' the times. I'm just not able to go to as many galleries as I really should to see what is new. I can't even go to a movie theatre. So I become unsure if my art is any good. That's why I put my work up in front of my peers and alongside of my peers. It's a way to check that yes, I am OK. My work is OK.

Wonderful Manitoulin

I spent the day driving highway 17. It was a beautiful drive because all of the trees and bushes were flowering. Once home I opened my email and found out that Manitoulin Island had made the short list for one of CBC's seven wonders of Canada. Here is the link to vote:

One of the reasons that Manitoulin is so wonderful is the pure sweet smell. When I stepped out of my vehicle it had recently rained, and the fresh scent swept me up. I really had to stop and just breathe.

However, I am back to dial-up after a couple of weeks with my parent's high speed and that particular slowness will take a bit to get used to.