A tribute to my Art Companion

When I started my blog I was sure to only use the blog for my art work related thoughts. I simply knew from my own experience reading other blogs that I personally preferred to read about techniques, exhibitions, products etc. rather than weather, war or personal problems. 

I guess I am taking a detour now. 

On April 9 I lost my dear studio companion. Her name was Wanda, she was the best art critique you could ever wish for. Never complained, liked all my work, agreed when I was upset about a rejection, was ready to help chew up the rejection letter, did not talk back, left me daily little gifts of hair balls, gave me lots of dog breath kisses, barked and led the way when she felt I needed a walk. Wanda was 'fluent' in several languages, gave her paw only when asked in dutch, understood 'goody goody' in english, obeyed her master in swiss german, and ran to her food plate when called in french 'manger'. She enjoyed food tremendously. Her favorite restaurant was 'Casa Maja' (not our house), where they serve a very international fare with a strong bosnian influence. 'Casa Maja' was not only one of Wanda's favorite restaurant but also her favored vacation spot, summer and winter.

Besides being an 'art and food lover', she was also very sporty. She enjoyed the snow, was an excellent runner, hunter, swimmer and sailor. 

Wanda was the collector of several quilts, ALL of them art quilts of course.

Wanda was with us for 16.5 years a long time for a dog her size, but by far not long enough for me. 

My studio will never be the same without her and neither am I.

Quilting Arts Magazine

Big announcement! Great news! 

I will be the featured artist in 'Quilt Art Magazine' in their June / July issue 2008. I cannot wait to see the magazine.

Trying a new 3 D surface

I wanted to get a more 3 D effect for my mixed media backgrounds. I have been experimenting with knitted meshes lately, but I still feel I want to be able to get more depth without using a 'hard' material. This time I tried a combination of paper and silk. On a muslin backing I glued and stitched papers and fabrics. The papers are all torn. Torn etches add an interesting feeling to the surface and make the blending from fabric to paper very 'natural' looking. On top of my layers I 'crunched' a very thin sheer silk, pinned it in place and glued and stitched the piece down.  On the other side I used a piece of silk embroidered with beads. I then painted the piece with acrylic paint. On top of the dry piece I added a layer of medium and two layers of UV protection. Stitching trough the layers was easy except for the beaded area. I broke some needles doing that part. 

Jewelry piece of the month

I needed a little fiber art break and decided to introduce my favorite jewelry piece. It is a bracelet from my jewelry line ''Mermaids Teardrops'. The  bracelet is made of beach glass pieces which I collect from beaches in the Miami area or beaches in Virginia. I do not use tumbled glass at all. Part of the fun is collecting the glass or other sea treasures for that matter. An other important part of my jewelry is the fact that I try to create treasures from other people's trash. The edges of the glass pieces are smooth from laying in the water for a long time. The glass pieces are drilled and then strung on a japanese elastic wire. In between the glass pieces I string either small glass or wood beads or if I can find some interesting seeds I use those as well. As you can imagine this is not a light weight bracelet but it has a very nice fit and therefore is very comfortable to wear. The bracelets not only have a very eye catching look, the sound the glass pieces make is very special too. My customers enjoy both wearing the bracelet.

So far I have only been able to make white / brown/ green bracelets. I am still dreaming of finding enough big blue glass pieces to add a blue one to the collection.

For more information about my beach glass jewelry, prices and where to purchase it contact me either trough my blog or the link on my blog to my web site.

More Work With Magnet Wire

The more I work with magnet  wire the better I like it. Magnet  wire offers a new dimension to my art work. By either crocheting or knitting a separate piece I create a new layer for my work that can then be added to my already layered art piece. The knitted and crocheted parts are very soft and therefore can easily be shaped in all directions and dimensions. The wire mesh can be stitched down by machine without any difficulties. Some attention should be paid when stitching with the machine over densely knitted areas since the pressure foot could get caught while stitching. But this is not a big problem. I have even stitched backwards over my wire meshes. I love the texture and shine the wire adds to my work.     

Magnet Wire

I have been experimenting for a while now incorporating magnet wire into my art work. I have worked with several different wire gauges. The thinner the wire the easier the knitting or crocheting was for me. Right now I am enjoying knitting with the wire and using the created mesh as an element for my mixed media work. I use very large knitting needles (size 19 mm) to get a loose knit that I can easily manipulate and pull or stretch into whatever shape I want to. In the beginning the feeling of using such big needles with a thin wire was very odd. I tried very hard to 'work' with a good tension like I would when using a regular yarn. The less I worried about tension the easier the knitting became  and once I had figured that out  it took only a short time to get used to the new knitting feeling. By now the knitting has become relaxing and I am looking forward to more knitted surfaces.

Opening Night Slide Show

We had a wonderful and very well attended opening night. Lots of laughing, happy faces, interesting questions, goodies and just plain fun. Thank you all who could make it or were there in spirit for sharing this great night with me. 

Here are some pictures.