Studio Kit

I was just being tongue in cheek, but how cool would it be to write a story about a mermaid and illustrate it with quilts?

But back to our current tale...there's not much to say, except that what you're looking at right there are hundreds of sequins and about 30 hours of hand beading - I'm sure someone else would be faster at it, but it took me quite awhile to figure out a: how to do it and b: how to do it in a way that worked!

These are the beads that auditioned for the piece,

And these are the ones I used.

Originally I was going to hand-cut her scales and sew them down, and then I had this "brilliant" idea that it would somehow be faster to make her scales beads. I laugh, laugh at myself.

That said, I do like the effect.

And this is the drawing that I started out with.

Also, remember this:

that I did just about a year ago? I did it AGAIN while I was quilting the background -hence the switch to beading the mermaid.

Only this time, it was a 70/10 rather than a 14/90, and it was just at the tip; so no hospital visit was necessary - after a short, intense argument I managed to convince BSP to pull it out with a pair of pliers (this time, is was just straight in rather than curved through) and I've had no ill effects. Be careful out there! ;)

See you on Monday with some rocks - and maybe the finished piece!

It was Canada Day yesterday, so I was golfing and generally celebrating being Canadian and forgot it was Monday and that I was supposed to post!

So, the background is done now - as you can see, from when I left you last, I've added foliage and the pond. This is the background in it's "finished" state (I'll be adding quilted elements to the background and foreground later), but I thought I was already finished earlier.

You see, this little section originally looked like this. And, don't you think it looks like there's a wee tsunami happening on that shore?

So, I painted it out ...

...waited until it dried,added in some more rocks, waited until they dried, and then added some more trees and bushes.

And this is what it looks like now. I think the background's done, but I may end up adding some washes of blue to make the sky darker - we'll see once I've quilted the background and added some quilted elements.

Anyway - stay tuned... more on Friday! And for my American friends, enjoy your holiday tomorrow!

* and linking up with WIP Wednesday at the Needle and Thread Network. Go and have a look at what other Canadian fiber bloggers are up to!

Hi everyone,

I had hoped to get some work done on the new piece that I could show you today, but BSP was sick on Wednesday night and last night, I conked out at 6:00 p.m. (!!!!) and didn't wake until 6:30 this morning, so I have nothing to show you, except...

Called "Winter's Wane". It was a piece I made but didn't make the cut for the show at Rochester Contemporary Art Gallery - which is just as well because someone absolutely loved it, and it currently hangs above BSP's desk in the office.

I'm on vacation for a week starting today, so I'm actually typing this in front of my current piece - and will be painting more as soon as I'm done.

See you on Monday with more mermaid work. Until then, have a great weekend!

After doing my research, I decided that the easiest way to complete this task was to make a representation of the mermaid at Little Karoo.

Little Karoo is an oasis in the desert of South Africa (an oasis, by the way, that evidence shows used to be completely underwater.)

One of the features of this area is that there are huge underground caves, filled with water - and there is a waterfall falling off the edge of cliff that forms a pool. It is at this pool that a mermaid has been glimsped for 100's of years - even , if local legend is to be believed - to the present day.

I decided that this nameless mermaid was the one for me - to make a representation of the Orishas or mer-goddesses was going to take more research than I had time for!

I began with a lightweight canvas, to which I first applied a layer of gesso and then let cure for 24 hours, and then I painted the canvas with thinned out white acrylic paint. I had to do three layers - I supposed if I hadn't thinned it out, I wouldn't have needed to do three layers, but when I did the first stroke at full strength, it felt too thick and gloopy. So I decided three thin layers (like what they used to tell you about nail polish) would be best.

After that had cured for about 48 hours (it really dries much faster but because I was going to be doing a lot of layering of paint over it, I decided I wanted it to be very, very dry.

I mixed up some colours first - a light grey, a light blue/gray and two blue greens, as I had decided to paint my mermaid at night. (I did sketch all of it out first on my background, but it didn't show up in the photos, so I didn't bother posting them.)

I began by using the light grey to paint out my moon, and used the lightest of the blue greens to begin adding the sky.

Then I added in the darker of the blue greens and daubed my paint on over the lighter version.

Added some washes of the light and dark blue/green...

and then painted in more of the darkest of the blue greys.

Then I took those four paint colours, and darkened them considerably with the addition of black to each, for my rocks.

Using the same process of layering my colours

Using thinned out washes (I didn't mind if they ran onto the fabric below because it was an easy clean up.)

If you'd like to see the inspiration photo (which I didn't have permission to use here) just google "Rust en Verde waterfall at Little Karoo".

Next up - I'm going to be blocking out the pool and the foliage on the cliff tops and at the bottom.

See you on Friday!

Linking up with The Needle and Thread Network for WIP Wednesday -go and see what other Canadian fiber bloggers are up to!

Right from the very beginning? I hope so, 'cuz you're gonna! ;)

This is for the Mermaid piece and the first thing I needed to do was RESEARCH. The piece I've been asked to create is for a show about Mermen and Merwomen of Africa, and I knew nothing about them.

Mami Wata

I both printed off a lot of information from the internet and read a lot on the internet. Once I had an overview,I had to decide what I wanted to focus on. Mami Wata of West, Central and Southern Africa?

The Orisha Yemoja of the Yoruba tradition?

Her daugher, the "most beautiful woman in the world" or one of her sisters, each of whom have their own traditions and tales?

Or perhaps a nameless fresh water mermaid that lives in a desert in South Africa?

I'm working this time on lightweight canvas, which has been gessoed, dried for 24 hours and now has white acrylic paint on it which is currently curing.

I've made my decision and am doing preliminary sketching tomorrow night. I may even start to do some blocking on Tuesday. Let's see how far I get by Wednesday - see you then?

I came home from work yesterday, and this was waiting for me on the counter. My BSP gave it to me to help celebrate the good news that's came in on Wednesday and Thursday.

On Wednesday, I had a request to exhibit Fractured at the Union Art Gallery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in a show called Throw: Great Innovations in Modern Quilt Design which will begin on September 21, 2012 and run through October 13, 2012.

And on Thursday, I had a request to create a piece for a show entitled "Mermaids and Merwomen in Black Folklore" for the City Gallery at Waterfront Park in Charleston, S.C. to be exhibited from August 28th through October 28th, 2012.

Andddddd, "America Now: Walking While Black" debuts at InSea/USSEA Regional Conference United States Society For Education Through Art in Indianapolis, IN in a show titled "American Spring - A Cause For Justice" this weekend.

I've accepted both invitations and begin work on the mermaid piece as soon as I'm done this post!

In my 2011 Year In Review post, I said that one of my goals for this year was to start exhibiting, which is why my BSP got me that celebratory cupcake. I didn't know it would get off to such a bang - I haven't even applied for entry to anything yet!

I feel like I have a pocket full of starlight.