Friday, July 19, 2013

One Door Closes while another Door Opens

 A is for Aubrey

The highly sought-after email that begins with Congratulations, came this week from IQA Houston.  Needless to say I was elated and excited.  As far as I know the technique I used to achieve this portrait is a new one for fiber art. That makes it really exciting for me.


















Spirit of the Kiva

I had entered two pieces this year so I had two emails from IQA.  When I opened the second one my heart stood still.  It did not begin with a Congratulations!

This piece had meant so much to me.  Obviously, juriers don't take that into consideration, nor should they.  They are looking for a lot of things in a piece and the time spent in the initial juriering process is short.  I have to keep this in mind and tell myself that this is a good piece.  It just wasn't the right one for these juriers.

I was very upset with myself for being so disappointed when, in fact, I had a piece chosen for the show.  I should be elated.


The next morning I opened my email and there was an invitation from Allen Coleman, director of the Pickens Museum of Art, asking me if I was interested in having my art work included in Connecting Concept & Medium: Fiber Art in South Carolina.

Another door just opened.  This exhibit will be hanging Sept 7, 2013-Nov 14,2014  and will include all types of fiber art. The Cherokee Indian Nation had a great presence in our area of SC years ago.  Haygood Mill, under the direction of the Pickens Museum, is the site of American Indian petroglyphs. How appropriate is that?

Am I still disappointed, yes a little but it's been made much easier with Allen's invitation to be in this exhibit. 

This post is connecting to www.ninamariesayre.blogspot.com




Friday, July 12, 2013

Some Time You Can't See the Forest for the Trees



Pink Perfection 
38" X 23"

 We've all heard the expression, you can't see the forest for the trees, that phrase rang true to me last night.  I was sewing the facing on Pink Perfections and had it laying in my great room.

We had friends over for dinner and my friend, Ann picked it up to take a look.  She asked me what the flower was. Ann is a master gardener and a fiber artist and I respect her opinion.  If she didn't know what this flower was how would someone else know?
  I don't strive for photo realism in my work but most of my work is categorized as realism.  Ann's question made me take another look at my piece this morning.

I realized that I had not put in the anther and filament.  In other words, the center stems with the little tip that carries the pollen.

Sometime I get so close to my work that I don't really see it.  That's when we have to step back and take another look.  We may actually see the trees or the anther and filament are actually missing.

So, thank you Ann.  I hope this has taught me a lesson to open my eyes and really see what I'm looking at.  When you are a realist that's pretty important.

This post is linked to www.ninamariesayre.blogspot.com

Friday, July 5, 2013

Continuing from Last Week


You may remember last week that I said I had spent a lot of time un-quilting the background of a piece I had recently finished quilting.  I'm so glad that I spent that time because I really like how the new background is looking.


















The quilting is always the hardest part of the design for me to come up with, so often I go with something simple like a meander.  I did that to this piece and finished the whole background before I decided I didn't like it.  I wonder if the quilting design will ever come easier for me

















Another of the things I wrote about last week was hand painting black & white photos.  I began another one this week and am using Inktense Watercolor pencils.  I really like this process much better so far.  This is the beginning.  I had planned to use the pencils on the whole flower section and when add the water, but I guess I am an instant gratification kind of person.

I couldn't wait so as I colored in the flowers I added water to watch it get more intense as I painted.



I have most of the flowers and grass painted but need to add a little more green and then work on the grass beside the boat.  I think I am going to leave the boat b & w.

Having company for a few days so time in the studio will be limited for now.

I hope to start quilting on a new piece next week and already have an idea for the design.  Hopefully that part will keep getting easier.

This is post is connected to www.ninamariesayre.blogspot.com