Today is the first day of a month long blog-hop full of reviews and giveaways for my new DVD workshop
(really - it's just a big party with everyone invited!)
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| How Green Was My Valley 7 1/4 x 15 3/4 |
Larkin Van Horn, one of the nicest people I know and an artist whom I have admired for a very long time, kicks off the event. We both love art quilting, we both bead, we both teach, and we both have wonderful and unique "L" names. That means that every once in a while we get an email meant for the other. I can't think of another person I'd rather be mixed up with. Here's a little introduction:
Larkin Van Horn is a mixed-media textile artist working in the areas of art quilts, beadwork, wearable art, and liturgical art.
In her own words:
"Textiles and mixed media, as art for the wall and three-dimensional structures, form the basis of my work. I draw my inspiration from a variety of sources: my own imagination and strong sense of drama, the colorists and abstract expressionists of the past, and the wild variety of the natural world. At times, my work is a response to the grey Pacific Northwest winters; at other times it reflects the natural energy of spring and summer.
A central feature of my work is texture, both visual and literal. Whether I am exploring the organic features of my island home — the waves and tide lines, wind-bent trees, strata and fissures in the rocks on the seashore — or the inner landscape of emotions, spirit and self, I want my work to have as much interest for the fingertips as for the eye - hence, the decision to work with fabric, fiber, beads, and found objects. Finding myself drawn to the alchemy and serendipity of dyeing and painting my own fabrics and yarns to create a vibrant “paint box” of materials, seems an appropriate approach to the abstract imagery of the work.
Although my inspiration is drawn from the great outdoors, the work is created on a more intimate scale. Most of my pieces are appropriate for private spaces, small nooks, and niches. "
A central feature of my work is texture, both visual and literal. Whether I am exploring the organic features of my island home — the waves and tide lines, wind-bent trees, strata and fissures in the rocks on the seashore — or the inner landscape of emotions, spirit and self, I want my work to have as much interest for the fingertips as for the eye - hence, the decision to work with fabric, fiber, beads, and found objects. Finding myself drawn to the alchemy and serendipity of dyeing and painting my own fabrics and yarns to create a vibrant “paint box” of materials, seems an appropriate approach to the abstract imagery of the work.
Although my inspiration is drawn from the great outdoors, the work is created on a more intimate scale. Most of my pieces are appropriate for private spaces, small nooks, and niches. "
Larkin is the author of the book "Beading on Fabric" - my very favorite instructional book in this category. (You can buy it from her here.)
Now, head on over to her blog,
read what she has to say about it,
and follow the her instructions in order to win a copy of
Bead It Like You Mean It