No heart for art

Some of you may know of recent events here in Canada.

On Wednesday, October 23, 2014, Canada was victimized by its first terrorism attack**. Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, a reservist from Hamilton, Ontario was killed. *



On Monday, October 21, 2014, there was another attack, but it is not yet known whether this was related to Wednesday’s attack, or what the motive was.  Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent was killed in that attack.

 

These attacks were devastating to many of us, not more so, of course, to Cpl. Cirillo and Patrice Vincent’s families, but even today, as I type this, I find myself crying again.

Rosie O’Donnell said, in part: “…I’m an American. I live here. I see two people shot this week in Canada and the entire country of Canada is in mourning. However, in America this happens on a daily basis and we don’t even pay attention anymore.”

To Ms. O’Donnell, I say, that may be true; but our tragedy is still a tragedy, and we still have every right to mourn.

I myself am still reeling, feeling over-sensitive and yes, frightened. I’m not frightened by further attacks on us, but how this will and has already changed who we are. 

This news story has a feel-good ending, but many other stories of attacks on Muslim people and property do not.

And our Prime Minister has taken this tragedy and used it as a way to further his agenda of militarizing Canada and pushing a right-wing agenda of inhibiting our freedoms and demonizing Muslims.

 

All of this has had a demoralizing and depressing affect on me, and consequently, I have no heart for art.

 

I'll leave you with Prime Minister hopeful, Justin Trudeau's words, here

Hopefully, we’ll talk soon.

xo

Kit 

 

 

* should you be moved to participate, there is a fund-raising effort here for Cpl. Cirillo's and Patrice Vincent's families, through the True Patriot Love Foundation.

**Of course, our Native population would say that there have been terrorist attacks on Canadian soil for over 100 years, and they are right.

Sunset Fields

 

 

All done!

Week Links Post 32

It's the return of The Week Links Post (and the crowd goes wild...) ;) I really just haven't had time to read blogs (at ALL) since early September, but here are some that I had a peek at recently and that I thought you'd like.

 



Photo by Axel Tafener

First up, some eye candy! You may have heard about Tom Fruin and his proposed stained glass house installation - well it's finally up, at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge.  Pretty!

Speaking of eye candy, there's a group show (Ky Anderson, Meg Lipke and Vicki Sher) called "Paper Giants" at Proto Gallery in Hoboken. The Curating Contemporary Art Blog has kindly provided us with many, beautiful photos for those of who cannot attend in person. I find these works very affecting, even through just photos. Find them here

Over at the Great God Pan Is Dead, artist Robert Boyd has "discovered" (much like Columbus discovered America) fiber art and quilts. He has provided some beautiful examples and offers interesting (and amusing) commentary and theories as to how some of them were created. (I don't mean that in a mean way. It's rather sweet if you look past the condescension.) You can find that  Here

My favourite subject: is "street art" art? Huffington Post asks the question in the light of recent events in Detroit. Artists were commissioned there to combat urban blight by painting murals on building and fences, but the police didn't get the memo... check that out here

More on street art here - this article talks street art as personal expression, but also touches on why I am so fond of it - not only for the beauty of it, but because street art is so often, also social commentary. It can really give insight into the pulse of a local culture, and even, sometimes, a country.

Speaking of social commentary - this isn't really art (?); but Elana Adler has reclaimed her body, body image and personhood, by embroidering catcalls she's received here There's another woman who is embroidering mean comments people leave on her blog, she calls it "adorabalizing the hate" here

An art project you can take up this winter, if you have access to a: snow, and b: wide open spaces - inspiration here

Here's an article from CNN about Iris Halmshaw, a five year old autistic girl, who seems to be shaping up to be quite a fine painter in the manner of the Impressionists. She's already selling for more than I do! ;)  Read about Ms. Halmshaw here, and watch a video of her at work here

A 40,000 year-old rock stencil and associated cave paintings in Indonesia have proven that humans have been painting for a LOT longer than we had previously known. Having painters, artisans and crafters amongst your people indicates wealth - if you're scrabbling to survive, you don't have time to make pretty things, only utilitarian things - indicating that in this early modern human group at least, they had wealth and appreciation for art. (Which doesn't always go hand and hand in modern times!) Anyway, read the article and watch the video that here.

FRANKENFURRIES. That's all I'm saying. here

Feeling a little stressed? These childhood art techniques can relieve it!

And that's it!

Have a great weekend!

So...

Sooo... when I left you last, I had assumed I'd have this done for you, but, well...it was a holiday here, see... (lol) I understand in the US it was as well.  So, because it was a holiday, I took a few days off in the studio too.  I thought perhaps I could get this done tonight, but I was wrong. Oops!

Here you can see I've finished the machine stitching and have done one stalk of hand-stitching. And here...

Problem solving

 

 

So, not having had time to go and buy new Steam-A-Seam II (there's no place close to me that has it), I had to come up with an alternative solution. I had some bits of already fused fabric in black - mostly wool which would have been unsuitable - but I did find some heavy weight black satin that I had fused with Misty Fuse (boo hiss!).

 

A little bump in the road...

So I had painted up some lutradur in broad strokes, 

...begun the work of burning out some shadows...

... making progress... and then ERRRRRR! Slam on the breaks. I was using my very favourite fusible, Steam A Seam II, except, except, I had picked up a few metres of it the last time I was visiting family in the small-ish city in which they live, and didn't realize until I'd done all this work, that I had purchased the failed, crappy version of Steam A Seam II that has the crappy, impossible to remove release paper, rather than the re-released Steam A Seam II (the one with the blue parchment paper if you're wondering) and so I had to bin this work, plus the 3 metres of it that I had purchased. 

It was supposed to go on this. Which of course, now it won't. <SIGH!!!!!>

Here, have a picture of a sleepy studio cat instead. :)

 

 

Winter Birches with Bird

Anddddddd.... done!

I haven't been able to get the lighting quite right in my new studio (it will come with time!) so I haven't been able to take really stellar photos yet. But perhaps you can see that now that it's done, that ...  

Making progress...

So, remember on Wednesday, when I said I'd forgotten what this background was for? I really didn't, I just didn't want to say it was for birch trees, because that's all I've got. *heh*  Anyway, I started with...

I keep forgetting to tell you,



I'm in the September/October issue of Cloth Paper Scissors Magazine. Please pick it up - it's a great magazine - and I'd say that even if I weren't in it. :)



                                                                         



Three little backgrounds...

These are all cotton muslin backgrounds, treated with gesso, and then painted with acrylic paints. This top one will be about...?  Something to do with a sunset, perhaps. ;)

This next one...

Peach Surprise

Now that this one and "Courting" are mounted, I've noticed that these little backgrounds of painted papers are quite lovely, but having made them a couple of years ago, how they're put together is not up to my current standards.

 

Consequently, "Peach Surprise" and "Courting"will be offered at deep discounts when they go up for sale in November. ;) Nevertheless, I am quite pleased with them stylistically.

And, the thing I'm learning with these little ones - painting directly on lutradur? Welllllllll....

Backwards post...Anatomy of a Painted Peach.

Finished peach.

But before that, there was...

First one: Done!

Here's the little lady on her branch; and here's her Mister...

And so it begins..

The madness that is (shhh!) CHRISTMAS. *ducks*

I know, I'm sorry - it's very early to be talking about Christmas, but the small pieces I made last year and sold before Christmas have been remembered, because I have had three inquiries already "When is your Christmas stock going to be ready?" - the first such inquiry was at the beginning of August! *shudder*

Although I didn't think of those small pieces that way at the time, they are of a size and price point that's perfect for gift-giving; and now that it's nearly October, I suppose I should get on with making them, right?

Sooo...

Peace Felt

Have you heard of Peace Felt? 

I hadn't either, but back in the early summer, a friend of mine was all excited about the concept. Members of Peace Felt each year, exchange a piece of felted art, "For Peace to be Felt in hearts across the world." Now, it's me - so you know I have a more practical point of view, and didn't quite understand how my exchanging art with a random stranger was supposed to allow peace to be felt. 

Nevertheless, my friend was quite excited about it, explained that we would each get to know someone who lives in another country, and we would be able to "dialogue" with one another. She wanted someone to join with her, and since I didn't see the harm, I joined. 

Of course, my friend didn't. :/

*ahem*  Anyway, this is my contribution to my partner, who ...

Wordless WIP Wednesday

?

Nature Cries:

Finally finished? Well sort of... at least it's close enough. :)

This is actually a two-hander, the first panel - this one, is called Nature Cries: The second panel is now underway, but I haven't completely finished it because I'm not certain whether I'm going to mount the two pieces on separate panels, or whether I'm going to join them as one. 

But let's explore the details, shall we?

Week Links Post 32

At This Is Colossal, they're showing Yulia Brodskaya's art made of quilled paper - so interesting! here

Also in paper work, Hari & Deepti have made some eerie and beautiful paper sculptures here

Over at Textile Artist.org, they have an interview with Corinne Young who makes embroidered assemblages. Some *very* interesting work. Check that out here


In today's amusing, unexpected, and NSFW art, artist (and grandmother) Holly Stewart is making installation penises out of quilts, afghans, beads... here


In this week's street art, Os Gemeos (Octavio and Gustavo Pandolfo) have made some amazing painted silos that you'll find at Bored Panda here

HyperAllergic has an article about Ai Weiwei and cats. No really! here


And just to end it all the right way, here's Overhead In The Art World.

See you on Monday with the finished piece!

In the home stretch...

I really thought I would have a finished piece for you today - I only had a bit too finish, and though I knew I would be on vacation all last week, I figured it would only take Monday and Tuesday night to finish up. 

Alas - I was so pooped on Monday night that I went to bed at 8:30 p.m. (!) and then, it turned out, I had a lot more to do than I expected. I don't want to 'spoil' the surprise of the big finish, so I'm only going to show you a bit of the work I've done since we checked in last.

So...

Nearly there...

Before we get to those lungs, I wanted to give you a sneek peek. :)

So now, to those lungs...

WIP Wednesday...

Some of you may remember that just prior to our move in May, I was working on a long, skinny piece, that had started its life as failed long, skinny piece that I was going to hand stitch. It didn't work out, and I had left it languishing. I was looking for something "fast" to finish before I had to pack up my studio, but apparently, it wasn't fast enough, because I didn't get 'er done!

So last week, I thought I'd drag it out and finish it.

Ella's Evening...

It's funny how long this little piece took me to make. I'm not sure if it was because I was "rusty" from not having worked on any art for so long, or whether it was because this piece was, in fact, tricksy to make - but it was a lot of work for such a tiny thing!

As you can see...

Week Links Post #31

Beginning as usual with street art, here is some from DaLeast - check that out here

Also over at This Is Colossal - SQUEEEEEE! You now how I love all things wee - well, artist Maiko Akiba has created tiny worlds on top of toy animals - they're totally adorable - and then - well, just check them out here

At World of Threads they have an interview with Robin Wiltse - perhaps the most amazing felter (feltist? feltartist?) I've ever seen. Her work certainly speaks to me more than any other felter I've ever seen.  The interview and glimpse into her work can be found here

Billy Girrl has a post about the beautiful embroidery work of Chloe Giordano here 

This is Colossal also has an article about Elsa Mora  - I've been following her blogs for years and lately, have been checking in on her on Facebook as well. Despite the fact that in all these years, I don't think we've ever exchanged so much as a sentence, it felt like seeing a friend there. A FAMOUS friend! lol  Anyway, you can check that out here 

Annabel Rainbow has a PDF version of this quarter's  Through Our Hands here (and you should absolutely get it because it's fabulous!)

Elizabeth Barton talks about focal points and whether there's a point to them here

Here's an article from Fine Art Tips entitled How To Dramatically Improve Your Art. You may find it useful.

And for pure eye candy, check out Erik Johansson's photos over at Beautiful Decay, here

Have a great weekend, and see you on Monday. With a finish, I think!

A TEENSY problem..

So, I started doing some thread sketching of the grasses that are going to be under that tree, and decided to do Ella's tail the same way.

But a teensy problem developed.

Making Progress on ....

Ella, as it turns out. 

When I conceived this piece, my intent was to have foliage against this African evening sky, but after I'd fused down my tree and imagined the upcoming grasses and what not - I realized, that I couldn't resist adding something more friendly. 

All of sudden, this little piece is about Ella - my little elephant who shows up from time to time. I imagine that it's bedtime for little elephants - and Ella's mommy is just outside of frame, coming with some nice grasses for Ella to eat.

So here is the tree, just lightly outline quilted - but I wanted to bring the background forward more, so...

 I needed to quilt it more heavily.

Finished piece on Wednesday.  See you then?

Week Links Post 30



More street art - this time from Irony & Boe in London, UK - check it out at This Colossal here

Over at Red Dot blog they have posted a series of instructional videos and podcasts for artists. Great stuff! Cheek it out here

At National Geographic photography blog, they have posted some the AMAZING work of Klaus Pichler - who somehow makes rotting food look gorgeous. No really! Check that out here

Huffington Post has an article about the artists statements of the Old Masters. With the exception of Rembrandt, they were just as pseudo-intellectual and incomprehensible as ours are, proving that some artists have always been pretentious. ;)  Check them out here

If you haven't seen Ann Loveless's piece "Sleeping Bear Dune Lakeshore" (which won the Google Art Prize [$200,000!] for 2013), you can see her art quilt at Art Hub in Grand Rapids, MI, where it will be on view until the next competition starts.  You can see the piece (and read about it) here

I posted these on Facebook a couple of weeks back, but didn't share them here, so have a look at these beautiful 3D art pieces that are housing for hermit crabs. You read that right! :) Check it out here

World of Threads has an interview with Megan Skyvington here

And that's it!

Have a great weekend and see you on Monday!

Dude... what happened? or Adventures with Lutradur

Okay. So, as you know, I work with Lutradur. I mean, I work with Lutradur a LOT. 

Some people get pretty crazy with it - melting it, burning it, moulding it, all kinds of stuff. I paint it, and pretty much stick to that, because I have yet to experiment with all the permutations of "paint" that I could do with Lutradur - I like to "master" something (if I can) before I move on from it. 

So, I had an idea for a piece I wanted to make.

Happy Monday!

I can't believe it's been nearly 3 months since I've properly blogged - and longer still since I've been in my studio!

For those of you just catching up - we moved at the end  of  May. That meant my studio was packed up almost since the beginning of May. You'd think that would mean that I'd be back in my new studio by the middle of June - at least I did; but you'd be incorrect in that assumption. What with one thing and another, (and another and another! the details with which I will not bore you); I didn't actually get to start unpacking my studio until last week. 

There's still more to be done, but it's usable now (and I have begun a small step in that direction!); so I thought I'd show the very last thing I got done before it all went away for so long. 

I started with..

A little news...

I forgot to mention that America Now: Written on The Body, (right) and

Incendiary: Marie-Joseph Angelique are travelling with Mancuso into 2015.in a special exhibit called "Broad Changes: Women of Social Justice". 

Currently, the show is at World of Quilts in Manchester, NH. If  you're in the area, do check it out!

In case anyone's actually paying attention anymore...

 

 

I shall resume regular posting on Monday, August 19.