Friday 11 July 2014

ART WALK

The Art Walk is on this weekend July 11,12 and 13.  Several of my friends have displays. LynnAnn Babiuk has a fabulous calligraphic display and Sara Norquay is printing in Chapters.  Maybe I'll even know a few more artists.  This is my other life after all.

We spent last week in Kelowna BC at the wedding of long time friends.  Tasted a bit of wine, celebrated airplanes - Larry and Arlene you know what I mean - sat on the beach and walked around the Kelowna lakefront on Canada Day.  I was the only Canadian in the world not wearing red.  But I found a flag to put into my backpack.  Photos?  No!  My photographer is on strike it seams.

This is our summer of weddings.  The neighbour's son is getting married tomorrow and our son is his best man.  Photos?  Yes after tomorrow.

Happy Summer!

Thursday 5 June 2014

SASKATCHEWAN STITCHES CONFERENCE

Gelli printing - having more and more fun!







Can't wait to see what these turn into...she had to leave early.  So lots of encouragement to finish a work of art combining these Gelli prints.

Friday 16 May 2014

Saskatchewan Stitches Conference in Two Weeks

It is only a few weeks away and I am really excited about the conference again this year.
I have been so busy with my bookkeeping business that I have had little opportunity to 'play' with the thread and cloth and paint that is in my tiny studio space.

A friend is coming with me this year so the eight hour drive will seem much shorter and we can catch up on gabbing while en route.

I am looking forward to renewing time with friends, teachers and students and looking forward to new students in my classes this year.

I have been knitting teensy items for friends and family who have been madly producing babies this year.  These knitted things are tiny so keep my interest and use up bits of yarn that have been around for a while.



 
I knitted the wee hat and socks for Kaeley, daughter of a young man who has been like another member of our family and grew up next door to us.  Can't believe he is a dad.

The bear was knitted from handspun yarn by a friend of mine from the Edmonton Weavers Guild.

The teensy sweater does fit on a card and is for the above noted wee princess.

I am busy now working on another embroidery project that will likely be another 10 year project.

 
 
 
Schwalm embroidery is a Germanic whitework of pulled and drawn threads.  I found it in Anna magazine years ago the took a class at the Old Retreat that is sponsored each year by the Edmonton Needlecraft guild and Calgary Guild of NeedleArts.  Won't that instructor laugh when she sees this on the go...I think the year I took this class was 1995 or so!
I am giggling about the UFO's that I am working away at now.  It is fun to do new projects but delightful to go back to look at what I was interested in years ago.
 
I have added Marci Baker's blog to my blog list.  Marci is an amazing quilt maker and business owner from Colorado.  Marci's company is Alicia's Attic.  Have a look at her website and blog.  She has written and published a number of quilting books that you will want to have.
 
I am fortunate to see Marci in two weeks at the Saskatchewan Stitches conference.  Have a look at that on the web as well.  You might want to come to it next week.  There are now about 250 participants over ten days.  Tiny Humboldt Saskatchwan and St. Peters Monastery are over run with sewing enthusiasts for that time. 
 
I think they love us.
 


Saturday 12 April 2014

INSPIRED DIGITAL MAGAZINE

                                                                                       
IT'S FREE!  
From Artistsnetwork.com

                                 http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/6b879b28#/6b879b28/1

EXPLORE NEW ART IDEAS: THE WINTER ISSUE OF INSPIRED INTRODUCES NEW TECHNIQUES AND APPROACHES FOR YOUR ART-MAKING!

chinese
Winter is the perfect season for creative exploration. Try out new painting techniques and explore new styles to energize your art. In the latest issue of Inspired, you’ll find creative ideas for using poured paint to create unique effects. You’ll also find an introduction to and demonstration of Chinese watercolor painting. Plus, you’ll enjoy a collection of captivating portraits and figural paintings by a variety of artists in a variety of media! It’s all here in the latest issue of this digital magazine from ArtistsNetwork.com—and it’s FREE.

IN THE CURRENT ISSUE

inspired_1213_160Exotic Florals: Expand and complement your watercolor painting style with artist Lian Quan Zhen.
Play With Your Art: Discover how to create unique veiled effects in your acrylic paintings using poured paint.
Inspired by People: Enjoy an astounding range of expression for portraying this favorite subject
More Inspiration View these stories, watch video, follow links to more great content and products in the Winter 2013 issue of Inspired!





Saturday 5 April 2014

The Art of Whimisical Lettering - Joanne Sharpe

FROM CLOTH PAPER SCISSORS WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
published by Interweave.com
Go to Interweave.com to sign up for all sorts of interesting newsletters CPS as well as Quilting Arts, Beading Today and others.

This is a great resource for my class at Saskatchewan Stitches Conference this spring

                                                  TXT LETTERING ON FABRIC





7 Tips for Art Journaling Handwriting
by Joanne Sharpe


1. Play around with your own handwriting, creating words and entire alphabets with all the pens or markers on your desk.
2. Write several pages of words and alphabets in many styles of letters, upper- and lowercase, large, small, tall, wide, skinny, and fat. Don't judge, just write pages and pages, sampling your letter flow and creativity.
3. Doodle letters with colored markers. Add colorful patterns, swirls, stripes, lines, and dots to embellish the letters.
4. Look through old magazines and other printed materials to find words and phrases in assorted typefaces and sizes that you find interesting. Cut them out and paste them in your journal. Become a pasting pack rat with anything that you hand letter and make sure it ends up in your journal.
5. Using assorted markers, color in layers and add words on top of each layer.
6. Collect brochures or magaz ine clippings with interesting letter placement and unusual compositions and layouts of text to inspire new ideas and direction for your lettering projects.
7. Do an Internet search for topics relative to lettering, such as lettering, fonts, typeface, handwriting, letters, alphabets, calligraphy, etc. Use your colorful pens and markers to jot down notes and inspirations in your journal as you come across ideas that "speak" to you. ~JS

 

Which one of these tips speaks to you the most? Do you have a lettering tip to share? Personally, I like to experiment with different sizes of pen tips. Fine tips are great for details, but wider tips seem to let me write more loosely. If you love lettering, click here to share this with your followers on Twitter.

Tuesday 7 January 2014

Saskatchewan Stitches Conference Samples

"TXT LETTERING ON FABRIC"

Paint and Brush

                                                                        Pen on Canvas


                                                             A to Z Illuminated Letters



                                                              Parallel Pen and Irridescence

These are some of the techniques, pens and brushes that will be presented in the TXT LETTERING class at the Saskatchewan Stitches Conference in May/June.

Register at Hausofstitches.ca

More to come about Gelli Prints!

PAINT STIKS ARE ON SALE

Add to your PaintStik collection with 30% off from Cedar Canyon!


How to Save 30% on Sampler & Starter Packs
 
Saving 30% is super easy. Simply add the Sampler of your choice to your Shopping Cart, enter the code SAMPLER30 in the Special Code box -- it's in the top right corner of the screen -- Click on the Apply button and you should be all set! And yes, you get the same great deal on more than one Sampler.
 
Our 30% Off Sampler Sale ends Tuesday, January 7, 2014. 

This is short notice on this product sale but here it is.

 Go to 
Cedarcanyontextiles.com