Preparing for a Quilt Show

Well, where has the month gone?  I have been crafting up a storm.  Hasn't anyone noticed the fog over my house?  I feel like I may be coming out of that fog now.

The Apples and Crafts fair in Woodstock, VT was a phenomenal experience.  It marked a year since I embarked on my adventure of being a crafts fair sales person.  It gave me a chance to reflect on the publics embrace of my artwork.  It feels good to have genuine acceptance of my creativity.

Now, I am preparing to jump another hurdle.  I am entering the realm of juried shows!  This takes more prep for me and an attention to detail beyond what I already do.  I am maturing as an artist.

It feels good, right, and the natural path for me.

Accepted into a show or not, I am enjoying the process of exploring the voice inside of me.  I'm allowing myself to be vulnerable and let my inner playful spirit emerge in color, line and form.  It's getting addictive... like pure sugar, I can't get enough.  Yee Haw!

Apples N Crafts

"If you have ever come away from listening to a motivational speaker feeling charged up, only to find that energy dissipate into nothingness over time, you know that inspiration by itself isn’t enough. It won’t magically make your dreams come true. What it will do, though, is add fuel to your fire as you do the grit work of turning those dreams into reality. And sometimes that makes all the difference between success and failure."   ~ Curt Rosengren

Working, working, working toward craft fair season...  my "to do" list is way too long!

Gotta go!

Preparations

"The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential... these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.  ~ Eddie Robinson"

This week I am diligently working on my inventory for the Apples and Crafts Fair where I will share a booth with my neighbor, David Fall, a woodworker, Oct. 9th and 10th in Woodstock, VT.  It's a two day fair, outside, under a tent.  Yes, I freeze a little, but last year it was a rewarding two days of selling and getting "out there" in the public.  I held my quilts up under my chin and sold them! I talked about my work and process. The interactions were honest and my artwork went off to loving homes.  It was satisfying to get direct feedback.  I realized that what I love to do is greatly appreciated.

My booth will include:

• Unique, one of a kind, hand made dolls... see Blog image of "the girls"
• Balsam, lavender and eucalyptus art potpourri items
• Unique artistic hot coffee cuffs and soft cuff bracelets
• Magnets with my quilt images
• and my own hand made quilt wall hangings

Stop by to see me there!  I will be at booth number 7, first tent near the drive in entrance, facing the parking area in the field.  http://www.woodstockrec.com/info/

Creativity is contagious!

http://www.zazzle.com/bishercat/mono+printed+gifts

I have found an outlet for my creativity.  What fun!  Zazzle.com!  Check out the link.

I will have art magnets as well as dolls, pot pourri, coffee cuffs and fabric cuffs at my booth at the upcoming crafts fair, Apples and Crafts in Woodstock, VT October 9 & 10th.  Stop by and see me there!

"There's no retirement for an artist, it's your way of living so there's no end to it. ~Henry Moore"

Beth Berman's photo

I love this picture...
Just looking at the supplies.
Knowing that creativity is ahead.
What fun.

Some people are addicted to candy...
I love fabric paint and what it does to me....

you go!  mono print....


"Every idea should be explored with variations, color size, emphasis, and composition. These should produce at least five variations. Of the five, one will be particularly good. Save it for the "artist's collection" (a natural retirement fund, or estate to leave your children) or it might be donated to a museum to show the best to the world and "make your name"  ~ Jon Rader"

SAQA News

"It is the eye of ignorance that assigns a fixed and unchangeable color to every object; beware of this stumbling block."   ~Paul Gauguin

I am still tingling from the weekend in Maine. It was amazing to be surrounded by the energy of such creative, artistic fiber artists! Open minds, open hearts make for a powerful experience. Teaching that type of group is incredible, too!  The energy and information is absorbed like a sponge and the output is awesome and inspiring!
I have found my family.  It is in SAQA.

Check out the website for the auction happening right now!  It is eye candy at it's finest.
http://www.saqa.com/news.php?ID=1423

SAQA Vermont next!  Yee Haw!

Sculpturefest 2010

Tracy Penfield and dancers
Dancing at my Installation, "Phragmites"

www.sculpturefest.org/

Fabulous SAQA Weekend!

Alexandra Nickerson (in green)  talks about her quilt
Mathea Daunheimer and I hold it for her.
Sue Geno (L) and Celeste Janey (R) are part of the audience

SAQA Maine Weekend

Mathea Daunheimer walking Sue Geno's quilt around show & tell

SAQA Maine next week!

Thinking ahead to happier times!  Next week I will be in Searsport Maine meeting dynamic art quilters and having a great time! This should be an exciting weekend.I am teaching Creative Monoprinting.
“Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.” — Albert Einstein

"Since your belief in yourself as an artist hinges on your ability to create, you must put your creative time and resources ahead of all other obligations in your life. If being an artist is central to who you are, you must put that first." - Li Gardiner

http://www.artistresource.org/artlife.htm

Phragmites, close up detail of mono-printed silk

SculptureFest today!

I woke up excited this morning to the sun shining brightly in my bedroom window.  The forecast says some showers but mostly sunny and high in the comfortable 70's today.  There will be a gentle breeze to show off my phragmites to their best advantage!  How absolutely wonderful!  Now to get ready!  I've got to prepare my food and dress for the opening.

It's a lovely day!

"Art is never chaste. It ought to be forbidden to ignorant innocents, never allowed into contact with those not sufficiently prepared. Yes, art is dangerous. Where it is chaste, it is not art" - Picasso

Phragmites!  

Sculpturefest opens this weekend!

Phragmites

My installation, Phragmites, at Sculpturefest 2010

Detail of Phragmites, my latest Sculpturefest Installation

SCULPTUREFEST 2010
Yesterday was an awesome day.  Bright sunshine and a great breeze helped me install my latest Sculpturefest art in Woodstock, VT.  The opening reception for this event is this Saturday, September 4th from
 4 - 7 pm.  http://www.sculpturefest.org/


My Installation is called "Phragmites".  Phragmites australis, the common reed, is a large perennial grass found in wetlands throughout temperate and tropical regions of the world.

"Well, art is art, isn't it? Still, on the other hand, water is water. And east is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Now you tell me what you know." - Groucho Marx 

Almost September!

Luke, Me, Molly, Charles, Christina, Catherine, Margot, Josh
Wearing our newly tie dyed t-shirts on Nantucket

Where has the summer gone?  It has been a really good one, (warm & sunny!) but now looking back, it went by so fast. My daughter starts school this Wednesday.

I am currently preparing my fiber art for installation at the upcoming Sculpturefest 2010 in Woodstock, VT.

Sculpture Fest 2010 will open with a reception for the artists and community on Saturday September 4th, 4 - 7 pm.  BYO Picnic.  304 Prosper Road, Woodstock, VT.

Starting September 15th,  I will be teaching an after school workshop for kids called, "Let's build it with glue gun and paint".  I'm very excited about this one!  Using primarily cardboard, we will make art similar to Louise Nevelson and contraptions like Rube Goldberg!  It should be fun!

"The moment when you first wake up in the morning is the most wonderful of the twenty-four hours. No matter how weary or dreary you may feel, you possess the certainty that, during the day that lies before you, absolutely anything may happen. And the fact that it practically always doesn't, matters not a jot. The possibility is always there."   -- Monica Baldwin

"If you only do what you know you can do, you never do very much" ~  Tom Krause

Upcoming SAQA Event

Papier Mache Camp ends today!

I have been teaching a camp for 8 - 10 year olds at the League of NH Craftsmen this week.  It's called, "Masks and Sacred Vessels". So far it has been a really creative week!

I start out encouraging the kids to go with their inner creativity.  If they "see" something in the shapes they are creating, they should tell me about it and I will help them make whatever it is.  This week, I have gotten to see several amazing projects emerge and grow!

Wow.  The power of a person's creative energy is just mind boggling to watch.  I never get tired of it and I wish I could feed off of it more!

Needless to say, I am sad that my week long camp is over.  But I look ahead to getting back into my own work, hopefully with the same freeing abandon that the kids enjoy.

“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.”  -  Mary Lou Cook

Happy Solstice!

Close up of
a silk scarf.

Procion Dyes
with thickener
mono printed

and dip dyed.