New Flickr Photos in Slideshow - Pathways

Yesterday I added a new set to my flickr slideshow with pictures of my 'Pathways' exhibit.   I still have a few more to enter but most are there.  Where has the time gone?    I had planned to spotlight some of the pieces on my blog over the summer.   I think I talked about one so far....And my exhibit ends on Saturday, August 18.  The eight weeks went by very quickly. I was happy to see that it has been very well attended.   When I visited with a friend on Tuesday I took the time to read the comments that visitors had written.   We can learn a lot about our work by knowing what people like about it (or dislike).   There were some very thoughtful  and valuable comments - definitely my exhibit had many fibre artist visitors.
It made me gasp when one visitor wrote about a piece she fancied, "Is this piece for sale?"    Yes, yes, and yes!  Most of the pieces were for sale except for a couple that are part of my own personal collection.  But I guess it wasn't obvious to visitors.   I got to thinking about how uncomfortable we seem to be about announcing that we are marketing our work as well as showing it.  Galleries tend to be rather subtle about it too.   In this case, the museum had price lists available at the show but at another group show I took part in, I remember that a major complaint of visitors was that they didn't know if items were for sale, how to find out the prices of things or how to make a purchase. 
We each have our own ways of promoting our work - some sellers are more direct than others.  Many of us shy away from self-promotion.   I do enjoy being present at shows to discuss the work, sometimes just for the pure joy of having someone who is interested in hearing about it (rather than boring my friends).  As a customer I shy away from the 'hard sell' technique so I am careful not to be forceful or annoying (at least I hope I am).  Since I would not buy a piece of art unless it spoke to me in some way,  I do like to be able to connect with people to see if they understand what I am trying to say with my work and maybe to share some of the stories behind the art work.   I guess as an artist I want to be understood as well.   So, it's not enough just to sell a piece of work, I want people to know what they are getting.  I guess I'd never make a good car salesperson

Blogging is a great way to hear from others about our work.  I try to make comments on other people's posts if I have something to say and I love receiving comments.  At first, I only made comments on blogs if I had some previous connection to the blogger (a shared group, a follower etc).  Soon I was commenting wherever I saw something that interested me.   It's great!
But just for the record, if there are potential buyers out there in cyber space, I would be thrilled to hear from you too:-)

Progress - Peacock Embroidery Challenge Piece

I have just returned from a lovely camping trip in the Saguenay region of Quebec.   We saw whales, visited a lovely flower garden and an injured bird sanctuary, rowed in an athabaska canoe and we hiked the fjord.  We met some great people, sang around the campfire and stayed at the once home of the legendary Felix Leclerc.  We had great weather - not too hot, not too much rain (except for a giant thunderstorm one night).  I took lots of pictures....

Then I returned to an unbearably hot Ontario!!   What a week!  I have spent most of my time just trying to stay cool.   Not too surprising but since my return I have had a cough and congestion which seems to come and go with the amount of humidity in the air.

Before I left I posted about our latest Out of the Box/Canada Beading Supply challenge.  I brought it with me on my vacation and have made some progress.   Here is what I have done so far.  I'm working my way through the 'eyes'.

 

The 'eyes' will each have the caramel colour, then turquoise with a dark bead in the centre.  I still have to do the beak and real eyes.  The finished piece will be 10 x 20 so there will be more work along the two sides - probably need to keep it simple so as not to distract from the flamboyant peacock.   I still need to use a lot more white and turquoise thread and a bag of beads on this (part of the challenge rules).   I am really enjoying the embroidery and these silk threads and have more ideas perculating.

I also finished framing the floral piece for my friend Dyanne's birthday and gave it to her on thursday.   I think she likes it!

I am also starting another challenge piece with the them "From a Book".   I'm not sure I can manage to finish all of these but I will try.  If only the weather would co-operate.

Here are a few photos from my vacation.  More to follow once I edit them.  These were taken in Parc National du Fjord du Saguenay where we stayed for 5 days.  We loved it!   The first is our campsite where we were visited by chipmunks and a remarkably sociable hare.

We hiked over one of these peaks to see a statue - up one side, across a relatively flat area then down the other side.  then we had to do the whole thing over in reverse

We dipped our feet into this cool salmon pool

More Stitchery

I seem to be doing a lot of embroidery lately.   This piece was inspired by our trip to the Gaspe last summer.   First I painted with caran d'ache pencils and crayons, the I stitched over it. 

I am also working on a challenge piece.  We were given 2 skeins of silk thread and a bag of beads.   We need to use at least half of the two skeins of silk thread (mine are blue and white) and then add the beads.   I have added several other colours of thread as well.    It is going to be a peacock and I have started two slightly different versions on black backgrounds.

Version #1 with multi coloured body - head not stitched yet

Details of eye of feather

Version #2 blue body (this could change)

The third work in progress is a combination of applique, paint, and embroidery.  It is my tribute to Newfoundland.    I put it aside for a few weeks but have made some progress on it this week.

Close up of whale, cod, tea cup, and oil rig

The road is a musical staff - I'll be adding notes

Close up of house and the proverbial moose

Clouds rolling in, signal hill,  mummers making visits, iceberg and dancing fiddler

Bye for now.  I'm heading to the Saguenay for a camping holiday!

Floral Embroidered on Sun Print

I hand stitched my first sun print floral and here is the result.  I'm still not sure about the matt or framing but I have a few frames that I can choose from.   I may try some different colours of matts as well.  I worked really hard on this one because I am soon to be on vacation and plan to work on my other silk thread and beaded piece for a fall challenge while vacationing.  In August I will work on more sun print florals.

Sun Prints

On a very hot day last week I prepared to make sun prints.   First I gathered together items to 'print' such as flowers, leaves, cedar, cheese cloth, tulle, stencils etc. as well as  various brushes (foam brushes work well).

  Then I prepared several pots of setacolour paints.   I taped several pieces of white prewashed cotton onto a table covered with plastic.   At this point you need to work quickly.  I painted the cotton pieces one at a time with several colours.    As soon as one was painted I quickly arranged the items on it while the paint was still wet.

Ready to Print

cheese cloth, cedar worked well

so did grape leaves

 The main ingredient of sun prints is --- SUN!  Unfortunately after many days of hot, humid, endlessly sunny weather,  as soon as I had two prints ready, the sun disappeared!!

As a result the colours blended before the sun dried them and my first attempt ended up like this.  That can also happen if you add too much water to the paint (which I may have done as well).

The colours really blended together but I am okay with it because I am using it for background for some small florals.  Once the sun came out I tried again.  My second attempt gave some stronger colours.

The stencils work well but leave very sharp lines along the edges.  Again, because these will be covered up by flowers it is not a problem to me.  I think I may cut around the edges next time to soften the lines a bit.   I can always use a wash of colour over it as well.

Here is the start of a floral using one of these sun prints.   I played around with the flowers looking for the right mix.

Once I decided on the placement and choice of flowers, I started stitching.

This one is going to be a gift if I like the results.    I do love the effect of the sun prints in the background.

Pictures of my Vernissage

 
Since my show opened in Almonte, I have been busy playing with sun prints, starting some new stitching projects, and finishing up a couple of small pieces.  I finally got around to loading up some images of the opening - some photos were taken by a friend, the rest I took after the guests left.   I have been promised some others which I will post later.   The colour varies even after editing but they show off the venue nicely - an old mill which is now a textile museum.

Entrance to Pathways

Waiting for the guests to arrive

Everything is ready for the speeches.  I said a few words.

There's my son in the background

And here are the guests arriving

 

My two sons and I - I look short

Me with friends - Dyanne and Larry

Some shots of the display after the guests left

Down the Garden Path

Flowers from Friends

After the opening - dinner on the patio at the Barley Mow watching the herons

I really enjoyed talking with the guests and didn't take any photos until they left.  I was too busy chatting.  Luckily my friends did.  It was very well attended and I loved hearing about people's favourites.  I especially loved it that different pieces appealed to different people.   I received lots of feedback and visitors asked lots of intelligent questions about the process, my philosophy and the stories behind the individual works.   I realize just how isolated we are as artists and how important it is to continue to put our work out there, join organizations, and meet with other fibre artists and with art lovers.   I came home that day renewed and full of ideas.  So much for taking a break.  My show continues till August 18 at the  Mississippi Valley Textile Museum in Almonte and I plan to go back with a few friends who weren't able to attend the opening.

Before I go on vacation I will try to post my latest experiences with sun printing, some glimpses of my latest embroidery work, challenges started and projects finished (well almost).