Lace

The winter preschool programs started up again at the library and I'm working longer, busier hours, so I find I'm a little more worn out at the end of the day.  Still, I managed to complete this piece, which I may title "February Morning," for the Mahopac Library gallery show called "Lace."  The nine squares are all attached, although minimally.  I wanted to leave everything very unstructured so the focus would be on the bits and pieces of lace, not any sashing in between.

Here is a close-up:

This piece will be a challenge to hang, just as the "Bamboo Grove" was.  I will probably use the same method of making a hanging sleeve out of white netting and using a piece of clear acrylic as a slat.  I'll have to give everything a good pressing too (it seems very rumply in this photo), although I wanted the piece to bring to mind lace curtains as well as the morning sun shining through a frosted window, so if it hangs away from the wall a bit, I suppose it will seem more curtain-like.

Anyhoo, this was a fun exercise and it came together pretty quickly, but it distracted me from my Fiber Fall pieces.  Still trying to figure out a shortcut for those.  Maybe if I just dedicate myself to making one segment per day, in about 45 days, they'll be all done...  (Do I have that kind of discipline?  Not sure...  Keep you posted).

Progress in the Studio

In the past week, I've managed to spend some time in my studio, continuing with the clean up and also doing a little creative work.  Above you can see the fabric storage boxes all fronted with coordinating construction paper.  I'm amazed at how much neater the whole shelf looks and so sorry I lived with it looking messy for so long!

One of the issues I have in the studio is the works-in-progress that sometimes turn into UFOs.  I don't want to put them away because then I'll never finish them, so they end up sitting out, making the room look messy.  I've rearranged and repurposed some containers to corral them, so they're within easy reach but still look fairly neat.  Here are two examples, the basket on the right with journaling materials and the one on the left with my "summer blues" project, still unfinished!

A dear friend gave me this container, below, with a plant inside.  I love the colorful print, but couldn't find a way to use it.

I decided to turn it on it's side, insert cardboard crosspieces inside, and use it for marker storage!  I put the lid on top to serve as a catchall for all those little odds-n-ends that are always turning up.  The marker/pen/pencil storage was one of the eyesores in the studio, so this looks a lot better!

So here's a full shot of the wall you see when you walk into the studio area - much neater, right?  I bought several natural containers at Michael's last week (at 50% off!) and used those to corral the projects and unify the look.  I also moved my collection of back issues of Quilting Arts and Cloth Paper Scissors magazines here, because they also look neat and orderly (I think I'm almost ready to get rid of them entirely...).  The girls art materials are to the right of the tabletop and readily accessible if the creative mood ever strikes them.  The whole space looks much more inviting!

So in the course of organizing and going through bins, I came across this roll of burlap, which is
4 1/2" wide.  It thought it was the perfect size for making some squares for the "Fiber Fall" project, so I dug into my aqua scraps and stitched a couple.  It's really fun just arranging the scraps together to please myself, not worrying about the outcome, just enjoying the process and playing with the materials.  But again, if I keep making the shapes (which have to be 2-sided!) in this fashion, it will take me until May to complete the project.  Which is okay, but aren't there other things I'd like to do?

As a matter of fact, as I was working on the squares, I also had in the back of my mind a call for entries at the Mahopac Public Library for an art exhibit with the title "Lace."  At first, I thought I could kill two birds with one stone and make one of my Fiber Fall pieces out of lace, but then I realized that the projects are all due in April.  So I decided to play around with lace squares anyway, and have already made almost a complete nine patch.  Here are six of them, below.  Again, I'm enjoying just layering on all my white and lacy scraps to see what arrangement I like best, then stitching it all together.  It did occur to me as I was working that the nine squares together resemble a window, and then I got to thinking about how the windows in my home growing up used to frost over on very cold mornings when moisture got between the casements.  My window faced east and sometimes the winter sun would shine through it, refracting the light and creating dazzling designs.  So I decided to add some subtle color with sheer scraps in pale yellow, blue, and rose.  I'm moving through this project fairly quickly, but now the worktable is once again covered with scraps (notice I didn't share that in the studio photos!).  I've been putting in a little time down there in the mornings and evenings, and leaving everything out, although messy, allows me to pick it up even for just a few minutes.

So the year is starting off well, creatively!  Hope your January has also been enjoyable :)

Happy New Year!

I thought I'd start off the year on a positive note and write an entry for my poor, neglected blog!  This fall, I was feeling like I needed to put fewer demands on myself and do less rather than more, hence the two-month hiatus.  Of course, things got busy here between Halloween, Thanksgiving, Advent, and Christmas, and now that all the baking, shopping, decorating, hosting, eating, and celebrating are done, it's a good time to take a few moments to catch up.

Above is the piece I was working on in the fall, which I finished sometime in November.  I decided the woven painted pieces had a watery feel to them, what with all the ripples and circles, so I appliqued some solid waterlily shapes on top.  They look like they're floating, so I think that's what I'll call it.   I enjoyed this technique of slicing up painted, stamped or dyed fabrics and weaving them together.  It makes for a very unique background.  I'd like to try using it more.   Here's a close up:

 

And now on to the next project!  The FANE has been planning ahead for our group exhibit at the NSQG's annual show in May.  We wanted to do another 3-D kind of display and after much discussion, came up with the idea of stringing together some small shapes to make an 8-foot-long piece.  Each member is to make three of these, made up of basic shapes between 3 and 5" square (but they can also be circles or diamonds) connected by a short (2" or less) piece of yarn or ribbon.  We chose the name "FiberFall" for the exhibit.  I like the sound of that!

This is the ideal project to be done as a daily exercise, or at least, in small blocks of time.  I decided to get a head start on it the other day and made my first shape, below.  I still had a bunch of blue fabrics out from my "Summer Blues" WIP so I grabbed some of them and came up with this:

As usual, it took longer than you would think, mostly because the metallic thread I used kept breaking and I had to try several things (change the needle, adjust the tension, rethread the machine, rethread the bobbin) before everything went smoothly.  Then I hand stitched on the wire spiral in the center.  These pieces have to be seen from both sides, so the back looks just like the front.  It's a start!  I'm thinking I may create pieces to fit into the themes of Earth, Air, and Water (I always like to have a theme!).  And since I'm starting off the new year with ambition and gusto (cough, cough) I made another one this morning!  I think I'll hang these on the diagonal for greater movement and interest.

Even though I haven't done much blogging, I have been reading.   As a matter of fact, I am the new facilitator of one of the adult fiction book clubs at the library, so now it's my job to read!  This past fall we read The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland, North River by Pete Hamill, and The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin (one of my favorites).  This month we will be discussing The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd (I read this last summer and loved it).  I also picked up Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love).  We can all use a little creative inspiration for the new year, and this book has gotten very good reviews.  But it's already overdue on my library card so I'd better get cracking!

How have you started off your new year?

We've Been Framed @ MPL!

Here are the fabulous pieces the FANE group has on display at the Mahopac Public Library.  There's still time to see it all in person - the show is up until May 31st!

These three lovely floral pieces were created by Barbara Drillick, Joyce Sullivan, and Barbara Sferra.  They are called "Sunny Couple,"  "Blue Blossom," and "Cranesbill."

In this group, we have "Why-ree I" by Nancy Mirman (love the use of wire as well as the construction), "Spring's Gifts" by Gail Ellspermann, and "Balance" by Judy Gignesi.   The colors in these three are so soothing and they seemed to belong together.  It's interesting how the coordinating blue frames set each piece apart, yet also unify the whole group.

This untitled piece was created by Vivien Zepf and was a favorite of my daughter's.

Donna Chambers added a screen over her frame to further the city feel of her piece "Twin Donnas in New York." There's so much going on in this piece, just like the city itself - movement, action, color, excitement!

Christine Wilhelm used needle-felting techniques in her piece titled "Wind Goddess," and Linda Long did a lot of thread painting by machine in her piece "Nevermore Again."

Below is my piece, "Serenity." I got lots of positive comments about the zen qualities of the piece.

Another of my favorites, this is "Monique" by Carole Hoffman.  I just love her quirky characters on their colorful backgrounds.

This is Joanne Lubchenko's "Lazy Summer Day."  Kind of similar to mine in that mellow, minimalist way...

These pieces are "Modern Hexies" by Claire Oehler, "Blue Moon" by Nike Cutsumpas, and "Fractured IV" by Norma Schlager.  The artists' expertise in technique are very obvious here!

Martha Buhl created "Winter's Peace," Paula West stitched "Pebbles among Boulders," and Natalya Aikens crafted "Atlant sp63."  Again, three outstanding pieces!  Please come by the library to see them all up close!

Renee Fleuranges-Valdes' "Gears of Life" is also stunning to see in person.

And finally, here are "Buddah" by Cecelia Leiseroff, "Man and Woman" by Carolyn Spiegel, and "Pastiche 14" by Jane Davila.  If you live within driving distance of the Mahopac Public Library, don't miss the show!

Sneaky Art

I recently came across the book Sneaky Art: Crafty Surprises to Hide in Plain Sight by Marthe Jocelyn. It has some great ideas for creating things to hide around your house or in public places in sort of a pay-it-forward way, just to give a family member or even complete strangers a little lift.  It features ideas like leaving a lucky penny, below

creating a tag to tie on someone's locker or backpack,

or even this cute little cup dangler as a surprise on someone's morning coffee!

I plan on using these ideas for a teen craft class at the library in late July.  But meanwhile, I had coincidentally found these little gift tags on the discount rack at Michaels and started adding my own touches to them with stamps, gel pens, and watercolor paints.  They fit right in to the "Sneaky Art" theme, so I left some for the girls to find in the bathroom the other morning.

I had even left a few of these cup danglers around, some at the circulation desk and this one here at Youth Services.  I made mine with paper and glue-on plastic jewels instead of Swedish fish.

When I got into work Monday morning, I found this at my computer:

What a great pick-me-up from my partner-in-crime, Gail!  Just what I needed on a groggy Monday morning!  Then I went out to open the YS desk and I found this:

And another one on the opening checklist clipboard:

 Even in the supply drawer!  That Gail is too much!

It made me want to make a bunch more tags and notes to leave around the library, the house, even the grocery store!  It just goes to show you how easy it is to spread a little joy around. All she used was a printer and a pair of scissors and she made everyone who sat at the desk this week smile!  So go out and buy (or borrow) Sneaky Art and leave some love notes and little arty gifts for your family, coworkers, anybody!

Playing with Prints

This summer, the theme of the library's summer reading program is "Dig into Reading," so my coworkers and I have been dreaming up some appropriate arts and crafts activities.  This week, I played around with some printing ideas using supplies from the grocery store:  styrofoam trays and sliced vegetables.  Above are my practice pieces.  The process is easy enough for even primary grade students.

First, I made a printing plate using a rectangular styrofoam tray from the grocery store.  If you've never done this, it's simple - Start with a well-washed tray (or even a round disposable styrofoam dish).  Cut away the sides of the tray so you have a completely flat surface.  Then draw a design onto the flat styrofoam using a ball point pen, making nice deep grooves.  A simple design works best.  Using a foam brush, paint right over your design plate with a thin layer of paint.  Place paint-side down on a piece of paper (or fabric) and press firmly.  Pull the painted styrofoam away gently to reveal your print.  Of course, it will be the reverse of your original, so you may want to avoid using words (unless you can write backwards!).

Besides "digging" into the styrofoam tray, we used vegetables to make a border design around the styrofoam print.  Can you tell which ones I used?  The round yellow and orange flowers were made with sliced corn on the cob and the magenta centers are from slice jalepeno peppers!  The green "leaves" are from a celery stalk and the large magenta "rosettes" are from the whole head of celery, sliced.  Sliced okra also makes a nice flower-shaped print, which I intend to get when we actually hold the class next month.

These came out so nice, now I want to try it again on fabric and add some stitched or fused details!

Poetic Fragments

My FANE group opened its latest show at the Mahopac Public Library this weekend.  The challenge this year was to create a piece with more than one component that would fit within a 14" square, to be mounted on an 18" square canvas.  Each piece was inspired by the lines of a poem or song, which were displayed below the art.  Once again, there was great variety among the pieces, and the reception on Sunday was the perfect opportunity to speak to the other artists about their methods, materials, and inspiration.  You can see my piece on the far left, above, which was inspired by Robert Frost's poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay."

 I'll post just a sample of the 30 fantastic pieces in the show.  One is more beautiful than the next and we all spent a lot of time going from piece to piece and admiring all the details.  Below are pieces by Jane Davila, Barbara Sferra, and Nike Cutsumpas.

This striking piece is by Natalya Aikens.  She loves to used recycled materials and this one is made mostly out of plastic grocery store bags!  The dark red building on the left is an old wool scarf.  Click on the photo to see some of her hand-stitched details.

These beautiful pastels are by Maxine Oliver, Norma Schlager, and Cecelia Leiseroff.

These two, filled with bright colors and textures, are by Barbara Drillick and Claire Oehler.

Here are two colorful pieces by Vivien Zepf and Judy Gigniese.  To see all the pieces in the show, visit the FANE blog by clicking here.  Or better yet, visit the Mahopac Library yourself before May 30th!

My Narrating Debut!

For the last year or so, my colleagues and I have been discussing the possibility of putting together some online storytime videos for the Mahopac Public Library website.  Because of some technical, budget, and time limitations, we haven't been able to make this a reality - until this week!  We were recently given the gift of a Macbook Pro (by the Friends of the Mahopac Library - thank you!) which made the editing of sound and pictures so much easier for us.   So here is my narrating debut of the book Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner.  Check out the library website for more online stories!

Post-Frankenstorm Halloween!

We made it safely through Hurricane Sandy!  We have been without electricity since Monday evening around 6:30, but we are safe and doing well.  Monday I managed to get everybody showered and the tub filled with water for flushing the toilets (we have our own well which runs on electricity), baked chocolate chip cookies, did two loads of laundry (washed and dried - I was afraid the power would go out in between!), cooked dinner and ran the dishwasher!  The house was still clean from the weekend and we froze bottles of water to keep the fridge cold.  We were as prepared as we could be.

We were fortunate that the only real damage we suffered, besides the chimney cap blowing off, was that our new trampoline blew into the far corner of our next-door neighbor's backyard.  Can you see it there in the far right corner of this picture? It started out to the left of the cleared square, behind the two trees and blew clear across our yard and theirs!

We're not sure how much damage it sustained, but it's a small price to pay!  We feel so fortunate that we have a dry home and we're all safe!  We've heard so many stories of tragedy and loss over the last few days.

Another way we've been fortunate is that our fantastic Mahopac Public Library did not lose power and has been open from noon to 5 since Tuesday.  Today the parking lot was already full and there was a crowd of people waiting to get in before the doors even opened!  People are coming in to charge their electronic devices, to get on the internet, rent movies, use flush toilets, warm up, and get a free cup of coffee.  There's practically standing room only on all three floors!  Here are some shots of the Youth Services area...

 the program rooms where we are showing movies...

 the computers in the Teen Zone

 and the Information Desk and Cafe area.

I wasn't even scheduled to work these afternoons, but since the house is cool and dark, we may as well be here, where it's bright, cheerful, and warm, and there's lots of company.  Keep safe, everyone and hopefully we'll be back on the grid soon...