Away

Underneath the snow and layers of crystalline ice,
The water is still flowing,
Making its way silently,
  darkly.
Away, away,
Always moving quickly away.

ONE more collage

ONE more Collage from my Movin' On Series for ONE- One Cause, One Wednesday, One Hundred Collages. An all-star lineup of artists have donated artwork for this fundraiser to fight cancer.

MORE here!!

ONE Day Feb 16, 2011

Surface Design Conference Confluence 2011 is coming!

This workshop opportunity came with the 2005 Surface Design Conference. Dorothy is one of my fiber shero's and I was very lucky to be accepted into her workshop.
If you ever get a chance I recommend her mind bending workshop!
And the Surface Design Conference is coming up this June 2011!

I am lucky to be able to teach at this venue!

WORKSHOP OFFERING- MIX IT UP! AT SDA CONFLUENCE CONFERENCE JUNE 2011

click here for INFO
video can be seen on UTube- here

Flying with Light

You are invited

Flying with Light

a collaborative solo exhibit of artwork

with artists

Sculptor, Deborah O’Leary

and

Mixed Media/Fiber Artist, Wen Redmond

Feb 4 through Feb 25

at Lincoln Levy Gallery

136 State Street, Portsmouth, NH

Meet the Artist and

Reception Feb 4, 5-8 pm

Gallery hours: Wednesdays thru Saturdays 10 AM to 5 Pm

Sundays Noon to 4 PM

Deb's website here

Movies!

I have posted some video's on my website, including one on how to use up left overs, paint that is...

I would love feedback. I'm kinda new to the vid-making process.

No Holds Barred

The New England Quilt Museum announces the opening of NO HOLDS BARRED, a juried exhibit of recent art quilts by the New England region members of Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA). Jan 20-April 9. Yours Truly will host a Demonstration and Trunk show! There is a schedule of events, not to be missed!

more info HERE

ONE

Another Collage from my Movin' On Series for ONE- One Cause, One Wednesday, One Hundred Collages. An all-star lineup of artists have donated artwork for this fundraiser to fight cancer.

MORE here!!

ONE Day Feb 16, 2011

New Website

Same Address
New Site! Exciting!
Please travel there and tell me what you think!
here

Thank you

Blue Door Gallery

Accepted in NYC at the Blue Door Gallery!

I dreamt I knew a man who was a tree. He described the wonderful lights that he could see.

Detail

Digital Fiber

Digital manipulated interpretation of a photograph.

Printed on inkjet prepared cotton satin and silk organza.

Creatively stitched.

19x27

SAQA's own Arlé Sklar-Weinstein, Director: Blue Door Gallery, was the Juror for Fiber PLUS!

more info here

non-speaking, speaking

Captured

laughing until I reach a zen moment, I remember to forget...forgetting, I remember it all again-
cycles of time, 
spoken out loud 
to my inner self.

Elmer's Glue Crackle Technique

I just learned a really cool and inexpensive crackle technique.
Paint your cloth or base. I used acrylic paint- what ever I have open or ready at hand. Spread on your glue and immediately paint with a contrasting paint.

Let it dry and watch the magic crackle appear.

easy!

Apply Elmer's Glue to painted base

spread glue with brush or old credit card

Paint without drying glue

Finished, Dried and Cracked Surface

Give Away is Finished

I was recently published in CPS and have one sealed, unopened copy to give away. Please email me at wenreddyatyahoodotcom and I will send it to the lucky winner. Thank you Everyone! We have a WINNER!!

Sense of Touch

     Ever notice how sometimes you just start to work and pieces fall together as if by magic. As if just showing up in the studio is somehow like catching an ocean wave and riding with it. And OH what a ride!

Sense of Touch completed

Yesterday I had just such a day. I put down a background and played with some collage materials leftover from another recent spurt. I ended up with 4 wonderful pieces. Sense of Touch is one. This will be an entry for an upcoming exhibit.

the starting point

detail

     I started with a manipulated and digital collage printed on a molding paste substrate. The surround is a combination of paper compositions created earlier and painted cloth. I overlaid parts with silk organza and stitched into the piece as a mark-making tool. 

      I feel I was definitely in touch with the energy of creation. A sense of touch.

New Hampshire in DE-Light!

Clouds Kissing

U

P

T

O

M

Y

E

A

R

S

in Holiday 'FUN' and the 'pleasures' of my studio.

I take myself out into the back woods- just under 50 acres with ajoining properties.

I can tramp around to my heart’s delight, creating mind reflections.

Being the age of my body and concerned about slippage, I take a stick cast off by a tree to steady me. 

Instantly, I am transformed into a Druid YoDa-like woman of the forest. 

Woman of the Woods

I am traversing looking for omens and other odd events to throw light on the thoughts harboring inside my mind. Do you see her in above picture?

Dare I Wander and Ponder?

The snow still beneath my feet,

Except for the occasional leap-

from my heart.

I tread a slow path though the woods.

stopping to stare and wonder. 
Stopping to gaze and ponder. 
These moments spinning

into golden memories.

Collage Series Movin' ON and ONE to fight Cancer

Just created a whole new way of creating collage. I am practicing my techniques for a workshop I will be offering with the Surface Design Association's Summer Conference 2011.

I will be donating 5 of these collages to ONE: One Cause, One Wednesday, One Hundred Collages. An all-star lineup of artists have donated artwork for this fundraiser to fight cancer.

MORE here!!

ONE Day Feb 16, 2011

Collage Series Movin' ON 

Collage created with hand painted and embedded fabric & papers.

Mounted on hand painted watercolor paper. stitched.
 Good cause, good art!

Featured on Cloth Paper Scissors E-Promo

I recently published in Quilting Arts, Dec/Jan 11 and Cloth Paper Scissors, Jan/Feb 11 magazine issues.

It is a pleasure to works with these folks. They make it easy and fun to work with. I was thrilled to see Pokey choose my article to feature on the E-mail promo for Cloth Paper Scissors Magazine today!

Read the article here!

Sketch Book Project

I sent in my finished book.  I wanted something very organic.  I called it-  ONE.
My profile here...

Finished Cover

Inside the second from last page

Backlit Window

One earth, one people.













Each page has the word "one" on it. Can you find it?

for more info click here

Happy Holidays!

 “Seeking Quiet from the Outside In”

     Image taken on First Star Farm, Strafford NH

 Seeking Quiet,

`Into the Outside`

Treading soft winter’s snow.

Happy Holidays and Good New Year!

                      LOVE, PEACE AND LIGHT

Fuse it and Collage

I CAME SINGING
One of the ways I like to collage is to use a fusible 'medium'. The fusible I use is an HTC product called Trans-Web. It comes on a paper backing. 

There is a similarly named product on a sheer plastic carrier sheet- not THAT!

It irons with absolutely NO show with sheers.

(Note from 7 years later. It has not yellowed or frayed on any of the works I've used it on.)

dyed silk organza fused and left on carrier sheet

Tip- To ready a bunch of fabrics to collage at a moment's notice- use a 'spread sheet"!

I cut a section of fusible and spread it out on my large ironing table and arrange sheers and other fabric scraps from projects on it! Get them as close together as possible. Cover any sections of fusible that is not covered with fabric with plain paper, extra carrier sheets or parchment paper. This will prevent the fusible from sticking to your iron.
Fusible is difficult to remove from your iron. If you do get fusible on your iron. Iron over a dryer sheet. It usually comes off.

I store my fused scraps right on the sheet until ready to use.

Always keep the carrier paper the fusible is on. It offers great protection when ironing large quantities as I have just suggested. 

Additionally, I use it to compose on. You can iron your fused pieces on it and arrange as you would on a design board. Simply peel and rearrange. 

When composing on cloth, I just hit the fused cloth lightly with my iron to position. That way it can be carefully removed and recomposed.

When you're ready to complete your project, iron with steam and gusto!
more here
buy it here

Holographic Workshop at Northern Lights

This past Saturday I taught my Holographic Images Workshop to the Northern Lights Quilt Guild in Lebanon NH.

One of the terrific pieces constructed at the Holographic Images Workshop

framing

What a terrific bunch of women! They were gracious, enthusiastic, and well, just great! ( Think of Tony the Tiger when you say the word 'great'!)

the photo shoot of the photos

The workshop went smoothly and everyone went home with a completed image.

Working with hand-painted fabrics turned out some serendipitous surprises! 

Free EDGES

     Something else I've been exploring is presenting work with free edges. This work encourages the ravelly and loose edges that only fiber work can achieve. So far I've used it only with my collage work but I can definitely see the possibilities with "traditional" art quilts. See August 25 and July 6th postings- here

Within Without
fiber and paper mixed media collage

      I have to say I love all of the ways fiber is literally and physically extending it's parameters! I started quilting 'back in the day' and went though the "OMG it's machine quilted" revolution. The very first work I saw that fully embraced the possibilities of fiber was Fran Skiles' work in Quilt National. I think it was '87. What an eye opener! 
     I continue to be amazed by the direction fiber is taking- painted work aka Deidre Adams and, the free applique of Fenilla Davis, Linda Colsh, Dominie Nash, the collage guru- Joan Schultz, the free spirit of Susan Lucky Shie, digital advances in fiber and the non-use of commercial fabrics started by the likes of Elizabeth Bush, & Virginia Avery. 
     I can not completely name all of the fiber artists I love and embrace. 
I am awed, thrilled and honored to share this passion with so many of YOU!

EDGES

 For some time I have been less and less enamored with binding edges on my fiber work. Back in the 80's I used to use binding with mitered corners. Later I turned the binding toward the back. I like the clean finish of that technique. I thought it was similar to the effect of paintings on canvas.

Assembling and adding medium to edges.

In the 90's,  I used the pillowcase method. I still use and like this method but still...
I have started mounting my work in sections on very stiff interfacing and tying these together. I really enjoy this method and my piece that was accepted into Quilt National was executed this way!

However, in order to do this I had to eliminate the faced edges, as the interfacing is very stiff. Each section is like a mini-canvas. I discovered by simply painting the edges with acrylic paint, it would dry and seal the edges.

Breaking the Surface 

Fiber work is one form of art that actually has to forge it's own presentation methods. This is one I particularly like.

Hang 'Um High

How DO you hang fiber art??
     This question has stirred the pot on a couple e-lists I'm on. It seems to be a hot button and not artist likes to be told what to do. I get that in a big way. I rebelled against the standard of sleeve hangings required by most quilt shows. Each show seems to want their sleeve set up a particular way. Most have now 'settled' on the 3" wide and 1/4-1/2 inch down and to each side. Ok, but what if you want to enter said work in a gallery show? Most gallery shows, that I have been in, require a wired hanging device.
What is a poor fiber artist to do?
     I 'solved' this using the said sleeve, adding small eye hook on the ends and then attaching the wire so it is suitable for art galleries. If the wire shows above the work, staple i/3 of the way in, right though the sleeve and into the slat. And since the work has a sleeve, I can also use the same art for fiber shows that require 'just' a sleeve. 

Now you can also mount the work in numerous ways to canvas, stretch it on artist bars, frame it- also in numerous ways. Nail it aka fiber art cloth style. Suspend it away from the wall using certain devices unknown to me, stretcher bars mounted unseen to the naked eye and eye hooks from the ceiling. Dianne Johnson has devised a system using corner mounting triangles, while Michelle Kincaid uses foam board for mounting her free edge quilts. Fiber guru, Jane Dunnewold has a entire page devoted to the topic! here And I just received my copy of Quilt Visions and one piece is composed of multiple pieces and hung individually with some sort of metal clips that were very visible.
     SO, can we actually come to some consensus on hanging fiber art? It seems the kind and style greatly depends on the effect and kind of fiber art. This art seems to resist being pigeon holed, one kind fits all.

     I guess fiber is so malleable that it can assume almost any shape! A definite to think outside the box, frame or stretcher bars. Look out art galleries!- perhaps- it's they who need to move forward! 

My two cents.

Open Studios!

You are invited to an Open Studios at the Salmon Fall Mills. Artists open their studios for this Holiday event. Come see what goes on and find some wonderful gifts for giving this holiday season.

It will take place Saturday and Sunday, November 20 and 21, 10-5. My Studio is on the third floor, to the left, when you enter. Studio #336.

See www.millartists.com for directions.

Art from the Heart!

Fiberworks Collage Exchange

Every year  Karen Stiehl Osborn organizes a collage exchange among fiber artists. Her website-here.

We make 11 collages and send them to her. She shuffles them and sends 11 back. It’s great fun to see the collages you get in return.

This collage series is called Fiberworks.

I had a bunch of fabric samples from an upholstery book. I used these as the base of my collages. I started by applying lightweight molding paste to them. 

This will provide tooth and a white base. The white base is similar to gesso and will let the colors come though brighter. The molding paste is thicker than gesso and can leave lovely texture marks. This helps to cover some of the texture in the fabric too.

After this dried, I tore magazine clippings and some of my black and white inkjet images that I use to create thermo fax screens. This turns out to be a great way to recycle these and add to my collage stash.

I applied this using gel medium. After it dried I went in and painted with acrylic color. This was dried and I stitched black thread drawing marks. 

Mounted with mats and send off.

 I can’t wait to see the collages that come back!

Photography Inspirations