Call for Entry: ARTQUILTSmovement

I'd like to encourage you to enter this show - fantastic venue, always an excellent show! (Full disclosure - I'm involved in the show.)

Entry Form can be found HERE

PAQA-South has made the "receive by" date a "post mark date" to give as many people as possible an opportunity to get their work entered.

The Professional Art Quilters Alliance-South (PAQA-South)announces its eighth Annual Juried Exhibition of Innovative Quilts: ARTQUILTSmovement

Movement evokes moods as varied as the individuals contemplating it. Rhythmic strains of music, the flow of language, lithe dancers, or public change and social advocacy; all are examples that encompass the meaning of movement. Are you startled by a sudden movement, drawn in to the quickly moving plot of a good book, or feel the pulse of your heart as bloods flows through your veins? Military maneuvers, the inner workings of a watch, and a well-oiled machine all portray this basic necessity of life:  movement. We invite you to share your interpretation of Movement in quiltart form.

Exhibit Opens:  May 20, 2011

Postmark Deadline for entry:  March 19, 2011

Entry Fee:  $15 for PAQA-South members, $25 for non-members for up to three works submitted.

Size Limitations:   No larger than 40 inches wide and 60 inches high.

Contact:  AQtransitions@gmail.com  with questions.

Note:  ARTQUILTSmovement will be judged via unenhanced digital image, only.
The PAQA-South International Juried Exhibition:  ARTQUILTSmovement  will open in the Allenton and Siemens galleries of the Durham Arts Council of Durham, NC.   

May 20 ? July 24, 2011:  Durham Arts Council, Durham, NC 
http://www.durhamarts.org/facility.html

It is possible that the show will travel, so please be sure to check the entry form as to whether or not you give permission for your piece to travel with the show, should it be chosen.

For Your Inspiration: Chairs

I have a thing for beautifully designed chairs.

Last month I had the great pleasure of visiting the Milwaukee Art Museum.

A whole building full of amazing artwork and I am completely absorbed by chairs.

chairs by Prouve, Maher, Eames, Summers, and Gehry

Paul T. Frankl

Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright

Michele de Lucci

Eero Saarinen

Mario Botta

Robert Venturi

Chairs by Harry Bertoia, Verner Panton, and Eero Saarinen

Some day - my home will be full of beautifully designed chairs.

Faces on Friday

The good, the bad, and the ugly.

Not the people of course - just my skilz.

I found out that if you have lotion on your hands and you keep erasing and swiping the paper with your finger it just smudges. Oops.

for Your Inspiration: More Old Things

 More heart stopping little chests full of small drawers, and lovely, odd, compositions.

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.