Welcome in STITCHES Blog Tour!

Welcome to the next to the last stop on the inStitches Blog Tour. I hope you've taken the time to stop by each blog and get to know the artists involved in this project a little better. If you are just joining the fun, feel free to go back to each blog, many of which are hosting giveaways - so leave comments on each blog to  enter. Here too! I'll tell you in just a bit what I'm giving away.

So - the idea behind my little spot in the in Stitches eMagazine was to show a bit of what goes on in my design process. Sometimes I have a plan. Sometimes not. The half-done Zebra in the top middle there is mine. She had a plan, one that didn't work out as well as I'd hoped so the plan changed. No big deal. You can watch the video to see what happened there. You can purchase your downloadable copy here. http://www.interweavestore.com/Quilting/eMags.html Believe me - it is totally cool to see and hear the authors work!

This kind of thing happens to my plans all the time. Right now I'm working on a piece, pushing right up to the deadline as per usual. It didn't have so much of a plan as a vague idea, a general direction to head in for a few steps, then see I wait to see what ideas pop up next. Things were going well but I found the piece rather boring and flat. I'm a big fan of texture and things just felt rather uninteresting to me.

Paint is often my "go-to" solution so I decided to add some shadow/highlights to the large ammonite.

I didn't want brush strokes - more of a wet wash feel so I took a brush and thoroughly wetted the quilt in the areas I wanted the paint to smoosh around in. Yes, smoosh is a technical term.

All went well for a while. The hour was getting later and I wasn't paying close attention as I kept slopping on more and more wet paint. I didn't notice some leakage and wicking happening along some of the edges until it was too late. ACK!!! I did what I could. Sopped up water, used a blow drier to stop more wicking on the inside of the big ammonite while using more water to try to sponge up the leaks. It didn't work well. 

No point in getting more stressed - so I put it to bed. Sleep usually helps. It looked a bit better in the morning and I think I've found the solution I'll follow through. I considered smooshing a lot more of the paint all over the quilt to make it look like the rest of the fabric is that way too. Instead I'm going to unpick a bunch of quilting and I think extending the purple edges will work. More careful painting will happen tomorrow - in daylight and with a fresh eye. Life is too short to stress too much about mistakes. If the piece is juried into the show - so be it. If not, I just enter it into the next show on my list. Check back in a couple of days and I'll show you a picture of the completed project. 

You might be interested in a series of essays I wrote on showing your work. They include, essays on the jury process,  rejection,  choosing venues, organizing your entries, and packing to ship your work.

Now for the goodies! I'd love to share a copy of my book, Art + Quilt: design principles and creativity exercises with one lucky winner that leaves a comment here on my blog. Tell me what you do when you make a "mistake." Do you expect perfection of yourself and are you devastated when you don't live up to the critic in your head? (been there - done that - not fun!) I'd especially love to hear about creative ways you've used mistakes to your advantage. Leave a comment by this Friday the 11th (with some way to get in touch with you!!!!) and I'll ship you a copy of the book on the 17th. (I'm teaching in Montana until then!)

And here is the list of all the posts on the tour - go back and try to win other goodies!
Sunday (Feb 27): Pokey launches the tour!: http://www.quiltingdaily.com

Monday (Feb 28): Jane Davila: http://janedavila.blogspot.com

Tuesday: Lynn Krawczyk( March 1): http://www.fibraartysta.blogspot.com

Wednesday: Jackie Cardy(March 2): http://dogdaisychains.blogspot.com

Thursday: Deb Bates (March 3): http://stitchtress.wordpress.com

Friday: Deborah Boschert (March 4): http://deborahsjournal.blogspot.com

Saturday: Michelle Allen (March 5): http://allendesigns.typepad.com

Sunday: Liz Kettle (March 6): http://textileevolution.com/?option=com_wordpress&Itemid=203

Monday: Lyric Kinard (March 7): http://lyrickinard.blogspot.com  

Tuesday (March 8): A surprise guest on Lindsey’s blog will be the final stop of this tour http://www.quiltingdaily.com

A Sketch-In in NC!

http://www.lyrickinard.com/publications.html

I gave a presentation at my local library last week - can I just say how much I love libraries?! I think most of my new directions in life have begun with large stacks of books checked out from the library. Most of my book was written there. I can make art with five kids at home and being interrupted every two minutes - but I can't write that way. This was just a little way to give something back to my favorite community place.

I love sharing my philosophy of ART with everyone. This is it. YOU are creative! YOU can learn to draw if you are willing to spend the time doing the work and if you are willing to give yourself permission not to be perfect. It takes us years to learn to read and write - why do we think that we should be able to draw the first time we pick up a pencil?

I enjoyed talking with so many people after the lecture. Especially Hannah! She was a delight to meet and mentioned that she follows the sketchbook challenge. She was a brave soul and brought her little one along - love that! She had something bright in her hand that drew my eye right away and (magpie that I am) I practically grabbed it out of her hand to examine this sweet little hand made sketchbook. Then she gave it to me. I still can't believe she gave it to me - I'm so honored. Pop over and take a peek at her pantry sketchbook  tutorial so you can make your own.

SO - the upshot is... we're going to start our own sketch-in and YOU are invited!!! No "talent" required. Just come and have fun and play. Bring a sketchbook and whatever you like to use in it. I'll lead a warm-up exercise at half past each hour but mostly we'll just play. Come when you can, leave when you must.

NC SKETCH-IN

Friday March 18th

10am- 2pm

Bring food to share for lunch if you'd like, kids are welcome

Lyric's studio in Cary, NC 102 Kilmorack DR.

RSVP lyric@pobox.com

Faces on Friday

 My four year old still doesn't want to hold still or stop making faces.

No surprise there - and I wouldn't have it any other way.

 Friends at the park

 Car mirror while waiting to pick up a kid

 At the symphony

From a book of James Christensen's work

This week has been mostly in my sketchbook rather than on the 3x5 cards.

Looking back - I'm learning that all my chins are too short. hmmmm.

For Your Inspiration: The Milwaukee Art Museum

The Milwaukee Art Museum is, I believe, one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen.

It sits ready to sail on the shore of lake Michigan. The temperatures in February were below zero and the water was frozen inside the breakwater and a deep blue beyond it.

The sky was an unbroken expanse of blue and the moon was still full at mid morning.

It was worth braving the cold to experience the almost imperceptible movement as the Burke Brise Soleil  folds its graceful wings over the museum's Quadracci Pavilion.

Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava has built a number of light filled spaces and soaring structures that take you on a journey that lifts the soul and fascinates you with patterns of line and shadow and sky.

Experiencing a structure that lets you take part in the natural environment rather than isolating you from it can be something of a spiritual experience.

Creating beauty in the built world, a space for art and people and nature to live together is something worth striving for. I am truly grateful that there are people willing to work to create and make possible such environments. I think being in such a place lifts us toward our better selves.

The interior of the Quadracci Pavilion is as beautiful as the exterior. Here resides a fantastically playful work by Robert Therrien that perfectly fits and plays counterpoint to the grand scale of the space. Yes, look at the person, I'd barley have to tip my head to walk right under those chairs. I reeeeeally wanted to climb up onto one.

The sense of progression as one moves along the side galleries is rhythmic and orderly, yet the eye is continually drawn up and along. I feel the presence of soaring flying buttresses in a gothic cathedral but without the weight, the heavy (albeit sometimes sheltering effect) that I feel in many cathedrals. 

Here I feel lifted - as though I'm ready to fly with the birds, with my own graceful wings. To sail effortlessly through the blue.

It has me thinking - what work of art would I create for such a space? What work of art would you create?

In Stitches eMag blog tour

Gotta say - I LOVE technology! New things come along all the time that just make me giggle.

eMagazines along with tablets like the iPad are the wave of the future I think - although I'll always love a good paper book and magazine. But clickable links and video? Awesome!!!!!

Quilting Arts and Interweave have just come out with their second edition of

Read more about it the next few weeks from the authors!

There are a few giveaways along the way, including one here, so don't miss one!

Sunday (Feb 27): Pokey launches the tour!: http://www.quiltingdaily.com

Monday (Feb 28): Jane Davila: http://janedavila.blogspot.com

Tuesday: Lynn Krawczyk( March 1): http://www.fibraartysta.blogspot.com

Wednesday: Jackie Cardy(March 2): http://dogdaisychains.blogspot.com

Thursday: Deb Bates (March 3): http://stitchtress.wordpress.com

Friday: Deborah Boschert (March 4): http://deborahsjournal.blogspot.com

Saturday: Michelle Allen (March 5): http://allendesigns.typepad.com

Sunday: Liz Kettle (March 6): http://textileevolution.com/?option=com_wordpress&Itemid=203

Monday: Lyric Kinard (March 7): http://lyrickinard.blogspot.com  

Tuesday (March 8): A surprise guest on Lindsey’s blog will be the final stop of this tour http://www.quiltingdaily.com

Teaching in Montana

If you happen to be near Hamilton Montana

Join us!

The Artist's Eye

A Design and Creativity Workshop

with Lyric Montgomery Kinard

Monday, March 14

10 - 4, Location TBA

$60, includes lunch

 Come enjoy a day of constructive and creative play as we explore and expand our understanding of the visual language.

 You'll learn

· How to overcome creative blocks

· Games designed to increase your creativity

· How to analyze your art with a clear eye

· Structure for a group critique session

 Supplies

· Quart sized zip-loc bag with fabric/paper/ 

fiber/colored magazine scraps to share.

Include some solids and neutrals.

· 8x10 or larger sketchbook

· Drawing implements of any kind

· Fabric and paper scissor

· Glue stick

 · Digital camera (optional)

 · One artwork for group evaluation

Register by calling 363-4064 or e-mail igc4@aol.com 

Art to Go

People look at my hand work and tell me they don't have the patience to do it themselves. I do handwork precisely because I do NOT have the fine quality of patience. I need to be doing something with my hands in order so sit through a practice or TV show.... although it's hard for me to remember the last time I had time to sit through an hour of TV. So much work to be done.

In the current issue of Quilting Arts Magazine I've written an article titled Art to Go that helps you gather together what you need to be mobile with your textile art. Excerpts are published on Interweave's Sew Daily blog here:

http://www.sewdaily.com/blogs/sewdaily/archive/2011/03/01/sew-and-go.aspx