Natures Texture

Question:
Can you ever take a bad picture of ocean sand?

“Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.”  

~ Oscar Wilde

Inspirational Textures in Nature

The tide going out on a Cape Cod beach

I constantly find myself fascinated with reoccurring textures in nature.  My favorite is this rippled effect I have captured in this photograph.  The patterns are most noticeable in the water, but I love seeing it on wind drifted snow and in the sky, textured in clouds.

I know that this image is mulling around in my brain.  Someday, I will make artwork reflecting this, I just know it.  Perhaps I already have at some level?

"The power of imagination makes us infinite." ~ John Muir

I have been sewing!

Have You?

Off to the Cape!

It's time for my annual sewing retreat and I cannot wait.  120 ladies take over several ballrooms at a conference style hotel and we just sew, sew, sew!  What am I bringing to work on?  Lots and lots of fabrics!  The sky is the limit on sewing and creativity.  I get to swim, sit in a sauna and sleep late, too!
Oh, I'm ready to replenish the well!

"Year by year we are learning that in this restless, strenuous American life of ours vacations are essential." ~ Ellsworth Huntington

Teaching at Pro Chemical & Dye Company

Mono print with fused fabrics, watercolor pencil and variegated meandering

This image is a sample of some of the simple mono printing techniques I will be teaching at Pro Chemical & Dye Company in April.  The three day workshop will include many easy but very sophisticated techniques that will change the look of your quilts in many dramatic ways.

The great aspects of this user friendly process is that:

We work on plastic, not glass, to transfer the image!

What you see is what you get with color and strokes.

All brush strokes and marks are fresh and uniquely you.

It's easy, satisfying and instant!

Just Imagine!  Three days of creating and playing!  The first two days, you'll warm up and learn the techniques.  The third day is open studio!  You're all set up, warmed up and you can just crank out yards of your own unique fabric with me there to encourage and help!

Immerse Yourself.

Click on the link above my profile picture to register now or get more information!

I look forward to seeing you there!
  

Snow resting on skylights

"In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous." ~ Aristotle

Snow on my skylight separated and gave me a glimpse of tree branches

Little Bag

I will be teaching a three hour workshop, at the League of NH Craftsmen in Hanover, on making a purse.  These images are of the style of purse and some embellishments that can be achieved within a three hour time frame.

I will continue working on this bag, adding the additional colored embroidery threads and some beads.

Upholstery Fabric
Complementary color Lining Fabric
a button
embroidery threads
sewing machine
matching threads

Progressing into the New Year!

Hi All,

"Like a Rock" ~ Bob Seger

It's been a while since I posted.  Well, I hate to say it, but I have taken on a full time job!  Yes, as a single parent, and widow, I would love to be doing art full time, but it just doesn't pay the bills!  I must say though, I have found a wonderful place to work and I am learning a lot of new things on the job and about myself, so it's all good!
I have been requested to post some images of some purses I make (I will be teaching a class on them in March at the League of NH Craftsmen in the Craft Studies Dept of the Hanover NH store.)  Yes, I still have a few finishing touches to make (artists persnickety choice ) and then the photography to do. I'll try to have them up... hopefully by Sunday!
In the meantime, I'm doing my Sketch book challenge as often as I can and will be hanging a show next month at the local library in Lyme NH.  So I'm busy and active, even though I've been silent!
Keep on creating!

Happy New Year!

Boston!
My daughter took these pictures.
It's a very different Boston than I know and I love the new perspective!
Sometimes you just need to see old things through other peoples eyes!  It changes the way you think about things.  I love this!
So, enjoy new viewpoints... enjoy new perspectives, embrace change.
I think that's what I will strive for this year.

"Become a student of change. It is the only thing that will remain constant." ~ Anthony D'Angelo

Snapshots of a Happy Christmas!

Art Quilt Books!  I'm very, very happy!

Bish sleeping under the tissue paper!  

At the end of it all!  Wrapped up in the wrappings!  

Holiday Greetings!

Happy Holidays!

This picture is taken at the top of Black Mountain in North Haverill New Hampshire.  It's looking out at the White Mountains and what I believe is part of the Presidential range(on the right).

Creativity is high.  May it lead you to do great things in 2012.

Enjoy!

It's a busy time of year....

Well, so sorry to drop off the planet for almost a month! but, I got a new job, so I am transitioning into it while juggling my craft shows and being a single mom!  Life is pretty full these days!

My sewing room is a mess right now with ribbons, paper, fabrics, pins, scissors, needles, paint brushes, paints and piles of Christmas stuff.  When will I ever see it again?  Who knows!
I'll need to borrow the snow shovel to dig out, I think!

Have great holidays! if I don't get back here to say so later!

~ Margaret

An old Florida  beach photo I took showing contrasting textures

"A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist"  ~ Louis Nizer

Upcoming Crafts Fair

I will be vending at this crafts fair.
Stop by to say hi!

Upcoming events

One of my pillows, unfinished, that I'm designing for the crafts show

My upcoming events are as follows:

I will be vending in Thetford Vermont at the Thetford Academy Crafts Fair November 20th. It is an unjuried show, so I will have an assortment of creative things that I have made to choose from.

The Thetford Academy Alumni Association will be hosting its 24th annual Christmas Craft Bazaar at TA on Saturday, November 20, from 9:00 am-3:00 pm. All are invited to enjoy the wide variety of crafts, a delicious luncheon, Santa, and free horse drawn wagon rides.


I will also be at the juried Pods for the Pulpit fair in Norwich, VT after Thanksgiving, November 26 & 27th.
Look for my booth downstairs. I will have fine quality fiber crafts; pillows, potpourri pillows, art dolls, quilts, coffee cuffs.

My class being offered at Pro Chemical and Dye Co. this April, "Monoprinting, Creating your personal mark on fabric" is open for enrollment at this time.  Click here: TEACHING AT PROCHEMICAL AND DYE, for more info about me and the class, and to sign up!

See you soon! Until then, keep on creating!

Woodstock Vermont this weekend!

The weather is supposed to be beautiful!  It will be peak weekend!  It will be sunny and warm for walking outside!  Come to the Apples and Crafts Fair, then take a picnic to walk the Sculpturefest Grounds nearby!
It will be a wonderful weekend!

Another piece I'm putting together!

If you like this color, the foliage in Vermont is red this year!

Process equals progress

Here is another new piece I am working on.  I guess have a spiral thing going on, actually always have, but it's really apparent here.

This weekend I will be in Woodstock Vermont at the Apples-n-Crafts Fair from 10am - 5 pm.
It is a two day juried crafts fair, outside in a field, under tents.  You will find me next to FallWoodcrafts, (my neighbor David Fall.)

39th Annual Apples & Crafts Fair in Woodstock, Vt
More than 100 juried craftspeople and speciality food producers will participate in this show. Columbus Day Weekend, Saturday, October 8th, 2011 and Sunday, October 9th, 2011. 10am to 5pm. $3 per person, children under 12 free. Proceeds benefit The Woodstock Recreation Center.

Directions: Bailey's Meadow, Route 4 east. Woodstock, Vermont.

New work!

I've been in the studio!  Yes!  I'm very, very happy! .. and it shows...

Art Supplies

I took time to walk around the SAQA Maine weekend shooting pictures. One of the things I enjoyed seeing was how people displayed their paints and tools for working.  Not only do they make nice graphic images,  but they also inspire me to get my paints out and work! : )

Notice how clean everything is!  Well, this was at the beginning of the workshop!

Make something nice today!
Allow yourself to play and explore.
The world always needs more art!

SAQA Weekend - Fugitive Media!

fabric crayon, rubbing templates, shiva oil stick, watercolor pencil

SAQA Auction

Check out the SAQA 12" x 12" auction, happening on-line now!  It is amazing eye candy for sure!

My 12 x 12 square for the SAQA auction

To own one of your very own, go to:  http://www.saqa.com/saqa-u.php?ID=1791

Searsport Maine, Here I Come!

I'm heading to Searsport ME for the weekend.  It's the second annual SAQA Northern New England weekend.  You can check out the info on a poster found in past entries here.
I will be offering a twenty minute info-go-round about using fusibles creatively and touch briefly on the ease and effective use of free form bobbin drawing!  Yah! Go wild!
I am also looking forward to hanging out with other crazy quilt artists!  I'm so very excited!  The weather looks like it will be great for this, too!

I will have a lot to talk about next week!  That's for sure.

"It's never too late to have a happy childhood." ~ Berke Breathed

A happy face pillow, mono-printed & embroidered
one of my students work.

I'm Teaching at Pro Chem, April 2012

A very photogenic boat, Wellfleet, MA

I want to announce that registration for my class "Mono-Printing: Creating Your Personal Mark" at Pro Chemical and Dye Company will begin October 3rd.  You can read about my class on their web site:

http://www.prochemicalanddye.com/product.php?productid=17695&cat=293&page=1

September Days

High Water at the Quechee Gorge Dam

The Rain and cooler temperatures make me feel serene.
Fall is arriving in it's usual way, however, more wet than I remember! Perhaps that will give us some incredibly vibrant color for the fall foliage?  I hope!

Time to turn on some lights and get creative...

"An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail. " ~ Edwin Land

The Aftermath of Irene

One of several balls swept down a raging VT river only to rest on floating debris

I made it through Hurricane Irene with no trouble whatsoever, but many of my friends were not so lucky.  One friend has been forced to leave her home because of structural uncertainty.  Others were without power for days.  Some of our local stores will be shut down for months.  But worse yet, the ravaging damage to the once tranquil landscape has left us shaken and affected us all.

Today it is raining.  I cannot enjoy it's steady rhythm on the roof.  I worry about who it is affecting now.  I worry about all the people who are afraid that the river will swell up again.  Who are worried that the earth beneath their now unsteady homes will slide away and take their cherished homesteads away permanently this time?  Who are worried that all the work done to tidy and maintain could be undone again if the rain becomes torrential and the river decides to surge and roar once more.

And I worry that the summer is over.  Fall is coming, the darker days are nearing and soon it will be snowy and cold.  Ah! Such dreary thoughts on a dreary day!  Time to make art.

Sculpturefest 2011

O, Sorrow!

SculptureFest 2011

Woodstock,  Vemont
Sculpturefest 2011 
will open with a reception for the artists and community at four o clock on Saturday, September 3rd.
The annex exhibition at the King Farm also opens at this time.
Access to the King Farm is open from Prosper Road ,via a short walk through a woods path.
For those who need to drive there is limited parking available at the KING FARM via Rose Hill to King Farm Road.

Featured artists for 2011 Roger Goldenberg and Wendy Klemperer
thirty additional artists exhibiting
For more information and directions check sculpturefest.org
An online catalog will be posted on Friday, Sept second on the website

Back from the Cape

I have returned from a much needed vacation where, I walked the beach and had two days of not getting into an automobile to go anywhere.  It was sheer heaven.  Now, I am back to my real life.

What's up with me?

Look for my work on the SAQA Auction site and I will have an installation at SculptureFest in Woodstock, VT from September 3 - October 30th.
I am offering several courses at the League of NH Craftsmen for the fall and winter.  Sign up at http://www.craftstudies.org/mixed.html
And, I'll be heading to Maine for the upcoming SAQA weekend!  Yee Haw!

This fall, the Crafts Fairs I will be vending are:
In Thetford, VT:
Holiday Crafts Bazaar at Thetford Academy, the Saturday before Thanksgiving, November 19, 2011
In Woodstock, VT:
The Apples-n-Crafts Fair, Columbus Day Weekend, Saturday and Sunday, October 8 & 9, 2011
Woodstock Inn Holiday Crafts Fair, Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving, November 25 & 26, 2011

I have lots to get ready for!  Lots to look forward to!

"Dwell in the possibilities" ~ Emily Dickinson

SAQA Weekend planned!

RSVP at the link below:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QFHHMGC

Working on SAQA Maine and Sculpturefest 2011!

Hey, it's been awfully quiet here on my blog, but that's because I am working!  I am currently finishing up my piece, "O, Sorrow!" for Sculpturefest in Woodstock, VT.  The opening is September 3, from 4 - 7 pm. I will post the invitation when I have made it.  I went and chose my spot on the land a few days ago and I am pretty excited about it.  Now to attend to the finishing touches!

I am also preparing to go to Maine for the SAQA weekend Sept 16, 17, & 18.  I am making the poster for that, and it's getting me excited.  It is a wonderfully vibrant weekend, put on by fabulous hosts!  When I have the poster finished I will post it here.

I am off to the Cape next week for vacation.  I am so looking forward to that!  Hopefully I will get a few more entires in before I leave, as I hope to be techno free for the whole week.  Can I do it?  You know, I'm not so sure!  and my digital camera doesn't count!... although,, if I take some really good shots, I may just have to post them!... Ah, it should be interesting to see how long I can go, huh?

Teaching this week

All this week, I'm at the League of NH Craftsmen teaching, "The Art of Embellishment", a camp for teens on revamping used clothing.  Yesterday we touched on mono printing, today we will use fusible web and iron-on crayons.  Tomorrow, sewing!  It's fun to see the kids loosen up and start to enjoy the creative process.  I can't wait to see what they decide to do as their final project!  They decide!

I can't believe it's August already!  The summer is fleeting by and I am feeling sad.  But then, hiking season is around the corner.  I love hiking in the fall.  Crafts fair season is coming up too, so I will have plenty of things to do!

Felix trying to blend into the rug

An entry from my Sketchbook project

Oh Summer.... where art thou going?  Slow down, please.  I want to enjoy this...

"You've been walking in circles searching. Don't drink by the waters edge. Throw yourself in. Become the water. Only then will your thirst end."  ~ Jeanette Berson

Hot, hot, hot!

I know! I know!  You're saying, Margaret, what is it with all these pictures of flowers on your blog, lately?  Well, I did give that some thought and I realized that my gardens at home are in such a shambles, that when I see a nice tidy garden with simply beautiful flowers, I must claim it.  At least with a photograph!  Mine are so out of control!

This picture shows the only thing that may be really happy with this hot and humid weather!  The Geranium does so well in hot, sunny conditions.... this is a really happy picture!

Well, I'm off to go swimming!' Ta Ta!

Summers influence

Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature.  ~Gerard de Nerval

Thinking about flags...

This weekend I will be concentrating on my Sculpturefest entry, "Oh, Sorrow!" It will be a progression from these prayer flags... (the image represented here has me thinking about my process). I hope I can make it even better than what I imagine.

"Before the beginning of great brilliance, there must be chaos. Before a brilliant person begins something great, they must look foolish to the crowd." ~ I Ching

Spider weave

Natures artistic weaving

On visiting a friend yesterday, she drew my attention to this glowing spider web in her barn.  This photo does not do it any justice, but on seeing it live, I found it a captivating sight.  Had I played with the exposure on my camera to change the depth of field to flatten out the background, this could be a wonderfully mesmerizing photo... and perhaps, to take it even further, an intriguing cloth graphic.  Ah, the wonders of nature!

Fresh air is good for the creative soul

Gazebo on top of the world....

It's been a good few days. I have been distracted from my regular life and have enjoyed the company of some good friends. I feel refreshed. I have a lot of creating ahead of me... in preparation for upcoming craft shows. So, it's time to get back to being focussed.  I look forward to it!

A view of Vermont

The fireworks are over

"By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and Third by experience, which is the bitterest." ~ Confucius