Studio North

Summer is definitely over. It's time to close up my studio here at the cottage in Michigan and move to Studio South in Tennessee. This summer studio is small (11'x10'). When I'm not here it needs to look like a general project/office/reading room.


I had spent quite a bit of time reorganizing it at the beginning of the summer. In August my friend, Alicia, helped me paint the desk and storage cabinet.




I love the big pink formica top on top of the desk. It accomodates both of my sewing machines very nicely. I use my old Pfaff 360 for piecing, sewing on bindings and any zig-zag stitching (usually couching yarns). The Brother 1500s is mainly used for free-motion quilting.

I share this studio with anyone who comes to the cottage. In the above photo Diane Durand is applying a binding to one of her creations. Even my grandsons get to sew. Winston is waiting his turn while Jackson is making a "super cape" for his stuffed dolphin. Jennings was waiting out of the picture.


The view out the huge picture window can't be beat. Plus there's the wall of windows to the left of the supply cabinet.


The rolling storage table serves as an extra surface. There is another one under the cutting table. Both contain most of the fabrics I keep at the cottage. The turquoise rolling cabinet stored under the sewing table contains my daughter-in-law Jeanette's sewing supplies.

Well, it's time to dismantle my design wall. The covered fiber board panels hang on hooks over the photos on the wall and on the back of the door. I have a large piece of suede upholstery fabric that can be pinned across both boards when a large piece is being worked on.


My next posting will come from Studio South.

Last Flowers of Summer

Daisies are one of last flowers blooming in our cottage garden. I was inspired to make a small wall quilt featuring this flower by an annecdote related to me by the woman who was treating me to a reflexology massage and a gift of fabric remnants from an interior decorator friend.

I Really Wanted Daisies 13"x10"

In the middle of a massage session the image of daisies popped into my head. So I asked Carol, the reflexologist, "What is your favorite flower?" Her reply was, "Daisies." She went on to tell me the story of her wedding. "I had wanted to carry them at my wedding, but my family who owns a greenhouse and nursery said I could not carry daisies ... to leave the flower decision to them. So, I carried a bouquet of gardenias and I hated them. I really wanted daisies."

This converstaion had happened the day before another friend, Ebbie, gave me a big bag of decorator fabric remnants. When I unpacked it and saw the one with flowers that could pass as gardenias (though they're most likely magnolias), I knew I had to make this quilted wall hanging for Carol. I have my last session with her this week and will give it to her then.
Back of quilt

Gallery

Yeah! My crinkle quilts have found a gallery. Good Goods is located in Saugatuck, Michigan. It's Lee's and my favorite shop and gallery in this part of the country. Check out their website and you'll see why. There are sculptures and many art pieces here at our cottage and our condo in Tennessee that come from place filled with wonderful art and objects.

Here are the two pieces that are in the gallery:


"Faceted Spectrum" - 34"x34"
Mixed Medium - fiber, paint, oil pastels
$850.00

The foundation is patchwork pieced with a nod to the traditional "log cabin" quilt pattern.




"Wild By Design" - 21"x 23"
Mixed Medium - fiber, paint, oil pastels
$520.00


The foundation is patchwork squares of commercial and hand-painted fabrics.


"Crinkle quilting" is a technique I developed. It involves setting wrinkles into the surface fabric. This wrinkled fabric is layered with batting and a flat backing fabric. Hand-quilting between the wrinkles with two-ply strands of cotton floss creates the "crinkled" texture. The threads that frame the piece are the beginning and ends of my stitching lines. Paint and pastels are applied to emphasis, mask, or accent elements within the compostion. An acrylic matt medium is applied as a finish to protect the quilted surface.

More Sunsets

As I had previously written, I wasn't finished with sunsets. I had fun making two more. Just had to make a "big red ball" one. It is 12"x 8". We've been seeing quite a few of these lately.

"Contrails at Sunset"- 81/2"x16"


I just had to make one that didn't have a big ball of a sun setting into Lake Michigan. Also there are times that we see many contrails from jet traffic. I was inspired to take this direction by a photo taken by my nephew, Peter Durand, when he visited with his family (Diane and Lilli) in August.

Cropping

A photographer friend, Morley Johnson, forwarded to me a most interesting newsletter. It's posted as "the most comprehensive (free) resource for artists worldwide" and is written twice weekly by Robert Genn. The subject of the one Morley sent is titled "Delicious Cropping". It is suggested that finished work be cropped to find interesting sections within it.

This sparked me to create a small sunset piece inspired by my favorite little section within the large piece, "Big Red at Sunset', that I had made a couple of weeks ago. Each time I looked at the detail shots of it, I really liked the sun at the horizon and the surrounding clouds. Here is the new finished small piece, "Macatawa Sunset". It measures 9"x12":


Here's the mini sunset piece overlaying the larger work (30"x24"). It looks almost seamless even though I did not refer to the larger one while making it.


Mr. Genn states that by cropping a finished piece "an artist can understand more about his or her personal style, mannerisms and "signature." As well as having a compositional diagnostic, you enter the informative world of the "post-creative revised aspect." He goes on to say, "You'll surprise yourself at how delicious some areas are--how you were on top of your form or in control. You might just surprise yourself with hitherto unnoticed spots of beauty, as well as mysterious flashes of energy that you didn't know were there. You'll also discover how a conceived composition is often not as interesting as are some of its isolated parts."

If this piece had not been a present to my son, I would've been sorely tempted to cut it up. As it turns out, it was a joy to create this delightful little piece and I intend to make at least one, or maybe two more.

To read the complete newsletter by Robert Genn go to:
http://www.painterskeys.com/letters.asp?let=050906

To see some fantasticly "cropped" photo art created by my brother-in-law, Kemper B. Durand go to : http://durandphotos.com/

"English Yellow #2" (24"x 24") hangs on our wall in Knoxville.