October 19, 2011

Purple Meadow Rue

Purple Meadow Rue
30" x 30"

Purple Meadow Rue is a wildflower that is used in the production of anticancer drugs.  I made this for a special cancer survivors exhibit at a local hospital.  It will also travel to Auburn for an exhibit later on.  This piece has special meaning for me as I lost my mom to cancer over 28 years ago.  If only a treatment were available then to help her.  It is my hope that the viewers of this quilt see the peace and hope that I want it to convey.  It is machine appliqued, machine quilted and I used fabric paints.  The Purple Meadow Rue is not an easy flower to depict in fabric.  It sometimes grows 6 feet tall with long, purple stalks.  

October 18, 2011

Still in Shock!

Landscape 11-1

My quilt, Landscape 11-1, was chosen for part of the permanent collection of the Art Museum at Michigan State University.  It is part of the SAQA "This is a Quilt" trunk show that is currently traveling.  It will travel until 2013 and then reside at the museum as part of their collection.  My artist statement is below:

A walk in the woods inspired me to create this art quilt.  I decided the best way to interpret my memory of the many earthy colors was by the use of paints on fabric combined with quilting stitches to give it definition.  The background fabric was the previous result of randomly painting, stamping and mono printing over a commercial fabric.  As I looked at the fabric, I could see a forest background with a stream running through it.  I painted a few more greens and added some brown grasses.  The trees are painted on white PFD fabric using acrylic mixed with fabric medium and appliqued to the background using raw applique and machine stitching. 

Doing cartwheels and happy dances.  : )
Vivian : )


September 11, 2011

9/11 Quilt

This is my 9/11 quilt, "Spirits Rising".  My online quilt group, Fiber Artists for Hope, decided to create quilts in remembrance of 9/11.  The size is appropriately 9"x11".  "Spirits Rising" is currently being exhibited in Chicago as part of the "Reflections on September 11, a Decade Later" exhibition.  Here is my artist statement:   
"As I watched television and saw the twin towers fall on September 11, 2001, my heart ached for the many lives lost.  The quilted, shiny lines on my quilt represent the spirits of the people who died that day.  Out of the debris, their spirits rose up in shining glory to be comforted by God.  The spirit of our country also rose up that day in unity."


May 3, 2011

The Sketchbook Project 2011 DC Tour

 What a wonderful time I had viewing my sketchbook and others at the 2011 DC Tour.  It was at the Hillyer Art Space on a very rainy Saturday afternoon.

I also happened to be very sick with an acute sinus infection, but my hubby dangled fabric and paint brushes in front of me and off we went to catch the metro for the event.  (Even though I felt so bad I am extremely glad I did not miss it.)  When we entered, I was given a bright blue sticker that said "Participating Artist".  The gallery was packed!  There was a waiting line for people acquiring the library cards (necessary to check out a sketchbook to view) and a waiting line for checking out the books.  All the books have a bar code on the back so they know who checks out what and how many times a book is checked out.  (As you see, they use Macbooks : )  

 Here is one of my favorite pictures...this is Susan Nash's book on the left and mine is the red one on the right.  Ahhhh, viewing Susan's book was like a visit with my bff!  She is so talented!  The pears on the front of mine is a picture of one of my quilts.
I also viewed Gerrie Congdon's book.  Her book was so inspiring...my hubby thinks the same muse visits us...we both like trees.
As you see below, the sketchbooks are in these carts.  We were so impressed how very organized and professional it all appeared.  It was a first class show!  Don't miss it if it comes to your area!

February 8, 2011

This is a Quilt--new work

Landscape 11-1

This is a new art quilt I made for the SAQA "This is a Quilt" traveling trunk show, 2011-2012.  It is painted, stamped and mono-printed.  The background was a piece that I had stamped, printed and painted for another piece.  When I looked at it, I decided it looked like a path in the woods, so I painted trees using acrylic paint and stitched them onto the background.  I did some light free motion quilting and sent it on it's way.  The edges did not have to be finished because it will be matted.

February 4, 2011

More Sketchbook Pages



Here are a few pages from my Sketchbook Project for the Brooklyn Art Library. It will become part of their permanent collection along with lots of other artists.  My sketchbook will be part of a traveling exhibit this year and one of the cities will be Washington DC!  Yippee!  I will get to see it again.  It was kind of hard to let it go.  My good friend, Susan, also participated.  The sketchbook is a moleskine sketchbook and the paper is too thin for wet media.  By the time I was finished, it looked like I had thrown it in the streets of DC to be run over by a few buses.  My theme was Inside/Outside.  I will post the entire sketchbook as soon as I learn how to add pages to my blog (if anyone knows, I'd appreciate the help.)  I'm on a learning mission to conquer all these electronic marvels at the moment.

February 3, 2011

Watercolors & Sketchbooks

on my work table
I'm taking a new class Sketchbook & Watercolor On Location taught by Jane LaFazio. It is so much fun! I know I haven't blogged in a while. I got a new Macbook Pro and I am trying to learn how to use it. Switching from a PC to a Mac isn't easy! But, hopefully, I have accomplished the pictures/PE/iPhoto problems so now I can get back to blogging. Back to this class...I love it! Our first assignment was to sketch keys and then paint them. I did this set of antique keys while I was in pain from a dental procedure...thus a little shakey when using the Pitt pen. But I'm trying to get over my perfectionism and just make more art.