It's a Mystery

Once again I have let posting go by the wayside. It seems that everything else is getting in the way and I'm not really doing much art anyhow. Maybe it should be a new year's resolution to be more consistent. I think I've said that before, and look how well I've done.

So what's the mystery? I know this has happened to others. I went to the Closet Gallery to find a quilt that was going to go off to a show. It's a group show, not a juried show, and so I didn't send in any images. That would have really been awful.  The day before I'm supposed to deliver the quilt I go look for it. My quilts are stored rolled and in a bag and the bags are individually labeled with the name of the quilt. There are a lot of them, quite a pile. I go through the pile once, no quilt. I go through it again, more thoroughly. No quilt. Starting to sweat a bit here. I go to the secondary closet and search there - no quilt. I keep a database that tracks all my quilts, where they've been, and where they're supposed to go, and most of the time it works pretty well because I've never double booked anything. It doesn't add any new information. Then I go to my web site and look there and it's marked SOLD. This is a surprise because I for sure don't remember selling it, and it's not like I sell so many that I would lose track of that. Can't find any information in my Quicken records either. (I hate that program, btw.)  Luckily, I could substitute another piece but that surely doesn't solve the mystery of what happened to the quilt.

Rising Sun

I will keep looking for it and checking through my financial records because it really bugs me that I have total non-recollection of a sale event. A real mystery.

Update - I am not going crazy. I found the receipt. The quilt was sold through The ArtFul Home in July of 2009. Good. I feel much better now.

Artful Home Studio Sale

The Artful Home Studio Sale has started and will continue through July 29th. This is an opportunity to purchase artwork at a discount anywhere from 20% to 50%. I have a lot of work up there, some fairly recent but some really pretty old. The prices on the older work are not anywhere near where I'm currently pricing my work, and then they are further discounted. I would love to move these pieces out of my house and into someone else's!

OH NO 50!

©2010

This is a piece I did when I turned 50, so you know it's pretty old. Or maybe you don't, so take my word for it. This and other work is available here.

Next week is my family's triennial reunion, held for a week on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Actually, it's my husband's family. He's the oldest of nine children and nearly all of them are married and have their own children. Some aren't coming this time, so there are only 30 of us. We rent two houses right on the oceanfront and have a wonderful time. We always do a t-shirt to commemorate the event and this year I commissioned one of my granddaughters to draw the logo. I modified it into a line drawing, had t-shirts printed up, and then we hand painted each one individually.

Here is the drawing; I think it's pretty clever. And the painted ones are fabulous. When we do our group photo I will post it and you will get the full effect. Our houses are supposed to have wi-fi and I hope it works so I can post stuff.

The Lull

The week between Christmas and New Year's has always been a time to relax. If it hasn't been done for Christmas, it's too late now. We can just kick back, sit in front of the fire and work crossword puzzles. Of course, now it's time to get back into the art mode, and it's not easy. I just finished a piece and was not very happy with it. Took it to one of my groups, and they were quite underwhelmed by it also (although it was expressed much more nicely than that.) So the question is, what to do with it? I might try adding some paint to lighten it up. Or maybe cut it into pieces and have a bunch of small works. In any case, I've put it aside and started on something else.

Yesterday was the first day of the Studio Sale on The Artful Home. Somebody was shopping early because I've already sold a piece.



This is titled 'Ode to a Stove' and is one of my favorites, even though it's sort of old. I made it in honor of my old Jenn-Aire stove that worked for 15 years before it gave up. I stood on the counter top with a camera and aimed it straight down at the stove to take a picture that I could use as a template. I used the curved seam technique I learned in a Nancy Crow class and abstracted the stove image. I entered it into the Quilter's Heritage Celebration show one year in the Pictorial Category (even though it was a real stretch to classify it as pictorial, at least by that show's standards.) Not only did it not win anything, but I received several scathing remarks from the judges: "Not pictorial enough for category" and "wavy edges." The wavy edges comment really made me laugh because the edges are supposed to be wavy. She is a very traditional judge and obviously didn't get it.

So that makes a nice start to the new year. And let's hope for more sales!

What a day!

Some days are just full of good news. Monday was one of those days. It started with a contract from The ArtFul Home to do a commission. A client fell in love with my piece Sun Dance and wanted it for an Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Texas but it turned out to be too big for the available space. So she commissioned to make it in a slightly smaller version. It won't be an exact reproduction because those fabrics are all originals, pieces that I dyed or painted with a variety of surface design techniques.


Sun Dance ©2006

I can reproduce the composition and approximate colors and designs. I've started going through my stash and pulling similar colors but I may have to dye some blues. I used Photoshop Elements to resize the image and printed it out on 20 sheets of paper and taped them together, so now I have a template of the right size and design. This is going to be an interesting project and it could turn out to be more difficult than I imagined it would be.

Good news item #2. Last last month I posted about my last minute decision to enter a different piece into Quilt National. I had to quickly get it quilted and photographed. It seemed to be a better fit with the other two entries as a body of work. It turns out to have been an excellent decision because that's the one that was accepted! Hooray! I think this is the seventh time I have entered and I cringe to think about what I sent in the first few times I entered. Thank heavens it's anonymous jurying. So here's what didn't get in.

Blue Moon ©2008


Window Paint ©2008

Window Paint is the one I spent most of the summer working on after my original entry turned out to be too big. It's pretty big, about 72" wide, and well within the size limit, but not the jurors' choice. I will enter it somewhere else, along with a bunch of other pieces that I've been holding back just in case I thought they were QN worthy.

Below is the postcard for my show at the Glenview Mansion Art Gallery in Rockville, MD. I delivered my work there today and will go back for the opening reception on Sunday. If you're in the area, please stop in. The show is up until October 28. I had sent them a different image to use for the postcard since I didn't plan to put Sun Dance in the show. But I guess it goes better with the other work than the red piece I selected.

I've been busy

Today, July 15, is the last day of The Artful Home's Studio Sale. Take this link directly to my page to see what's on sale. Quilts in the sale are marked Studio Sale and they're on the second page. I've sold one piece so far. It's not too late to get one for your very own.

I received word yesterday that my quilt Moss Gold was accepted into ThreadLines to be held at the Missouri State University Art & Design Gallery in September. I'm pleased because the juror was Jason Pollen, who is the Chairman of the fiber department at Kansas City Art Institute and serves as the President of the Surface Design Association.



I've actually been quilting the one foot squares that I did at QSDS and only have one left to do. It's my least favorite of the bunch and it might not get done. One of the lot has been donated to the SAQA One Foot Square Auction to be held in November.



I seem to have contracted a nasty summer cold that is wiping me out. I can do something for a little while but then I have to rest. This is the 4th day and I'm ready to be over it.