The Beginnings of Glory

It's been a glorious walk up to the bus stop every morning the past two months. Here in North Carolina it seems that a tree grows pretty much everywhere that isn't mowed or paved. That is a far cry from Salt Lake City where I grew up. There you plant and carefully water any green thing that isn't sage brush. Those leaves on the ground look brown and dried up from afar but stop and take a look by your feet and there is a world of color and beauty.

Add to that one Epson R1900 wide format printer with amazingly wonderful Ultrachrome ink. It's been sitting and waiting for too long.  I've had an idea in mind and it just needed (as is my usual modus operandi) a looming deadline!

Gloria Hansen, the guru of all things printed and fabric, recommended the inks and the paper backed fabric from Jacquard Inkjet Fabric Systems. When I know someone is the kind of person who tests everything and is very particular about their outcomes, I simply follow their advice and save myself some time. 

I also highly recommend her book, Digital Essentials, the Quilt Makers Must Have Guide to Files, Images, and More. It is a truly helpful book if you have questions about printing on fabric, sizing images, and anything else a quilter might need to know about working with digital images. I do believe she is having a sale on the book before Christmas (hint, hint!)

I'll introduce you to more of Gloria's work in a few weeks. You're going to love it! And her.

Tomorrow I'll show you what happens when all of these wonderful things come together.

New Work: Signature Series

 Signature: minor key

Signature: half time

Signature: waltz

New Work: Signature Series

 Signature: three quarter time

 Signature: key of F sharp

Signature: cut time

New Work: Signature Series

 Signature: common time

 Signature: major key

Signature: key of F

New Works: at the Herb Young Community Center

Herbert C. Young Community Center

101 Wilkenson Ave.  Cary, NC

NOVEMBER 23 - JANUARY 24

Exhibition hours

Monday - Friday 9 a.m. - 10 p.m.

Saturday 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Sunday 1 - 6 p.m.

Let's talk about goals for a minute. I make short term and long term goals for my creative/business life each year. They are part of my business plan and keep me focused on spending my limited studio time wisely. In case you are thinking I'm a super-organized amazing person - I don't ever make personal goals farther out than a day or two because I never meet them and it's depressing. Instead I say "today I will go to the gym. (or not yell at my children.)" and that seems to work.

So I keep it simple. This year I wanted to: 

1-turn my blog into something worth reading and find some readers. (Hello all you lovely readers!) 

2-have a solo show with work that looks cohesive.

I think I made both goals. Hooray! I have learned, however, that one must be pretty specific about goals. I did not say "I want a solo show in a nice gallery." I am very happy with the community center and the show will be up during at least two very heavily attended town events. But - the town has other much nicer venues. They have concerts or events here every once in a while but mostly basketball games and exercise classes. The thing I am very happy about is that now I have a larger body of work that is fairly cohesive and can be used to apply to future shows.

The main lobby is crowned by a large and lovely glass pyramid, letting natural light flood the whole area. For a community center, it's quite a lovely space. I'm pretty sure they'll have a big Christmas tree in the center of the room during most of December. It was fun to challenge myself to work within a holiday palette - without creating holiday themed works.

The back hall does not have a gallery hanging system. They have three hanging hooks on each side and are adamant about not putting any more nails in the wall so it often looks a little odd. I had intended to put two big quilts in the hallway, one on each side. They hung down far too low though so my flying ladies line the hallway. The town's art director really likes Malachi's promise so I hung that in the spot they were going to reside in. 

The artists reception for the show is Saturday, December 4th from 3-5pm. There are a number of big events in the building that morning so I think I'll go mingle and meet people for a while then. I'll bring hand work during the actual reception hours to keep me busy as I have the feeling the place will clear out a bit. Stop by and say hello any time!

New Works: Flight

Flight: Davinci's Bold Maiden 

Flight: Mahareet 

Flight: Saharet

currently on display at the

Herbert C. Young Community Center

101 Wilkenson Ave.  Cary, NC

Exhibition hours

Monday - Friday 9 a.m. - 10 p.m.

Saturday 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Sunday 1 - 6 p.m.

New Works: Flight

Flight: Davinci's Maiden 

Flight: Jesse Woodrow Wilson 

 Flight: Sari Petras

Each of these pieces are 10x10. Acrylic on wooden panels.