New Windows and Doors Piece

Just finished the newest piece in my Windows and Doors series. I call it "Out There". It's 11" x 14" . I've been basing this series on what I call vignettes, created from hand painted fabrics I made in a class with Jerry Chase.

This is another piece in the series, "Tahoe Trio". It's 12" x 12":


This is the first piece in the series, "Inside". I wish I had a better picture of this, but it's the only one I have and the piece has been sold.

More Resist

I've done more bleached resist fabric - here is some of it. The spirals in the top piece were done with Soft Scrub, the spirals under it are made with blue gel glue then bleached; the black ovals were also done with glue and bleach, and the bottom piece is glue resist, flour paste, bleach and foil. Great fun!

Beautiful Days

This is such a beautiful time of year here in Colorado. I need go no farther than my front yard for wonderful inspiration. It's hard to be inside my studio when it is so nice outside, but I feel the pull of needing/wanting to do some things in here. A confluence of time, opportunity, inspiration and motivation are rare, so I must pay attention.

Aspen Trees

We drove over Kebler Pass yesterday to Crested Butte. It is always a beautiful drive, but we seemed to have missed the peak of the color. A lot of the trees were bare. Still, I love the trees; their stunning white trunks are so beautiful. It's interesting that, in spite of the fact that many of the trees were bare, the grove in the bottom picture had barely turned.

Flour Paste Resist

I've been playing with flour paste resist and bleach and I'm loving the results! I learned this in Jane Dunnewold's workshop and it is really fun. I've used both Kona cotton and P & B cotton and the color results are great. One trick I learned with the flour paste is to refrigerate the mixture before you use it. It is much easier to work with - a very nice consistency.

Beautiful Sky

What a beautiful sky we had last night! The rainbow was to the east and the orange sky to the west.

Playing With Bleach

I have some handpainted fabric that I did a while ago that I've been using to create a series called "Doors and Windows". I've laid some pieces of it out in what I've been calling vignettes. One of them is on the black background in the first picture on top. I've been thinking about what to put with it and here is a recent result. I started with deconstructed screen printed fabric I did in Rayna Gilman's workshop. I then sprayed it lightly with bleach and washed it out immediately. The dye discharged back to a light aqua. I think it has some potential.

More Pictures from Workshop

A detail shot of the one I already posted.

Here is some more fabric I worked on. All of these started as plain white. The top piece is cotton velveteen that was manipulated, dyed and overdyed; the next is cotton that was coated with flour paste, sprayed with black paint, then stamped and foiled; the next is rayon that was manipulated, dyed, overdyed and stamped; the last was dyed, stamped with glue, screened with paint through a flour paste screen then stenciled.

Complex Cloth Workshop

The view to the south from the ranch.


One piece I started there that I really like.


One of our lecture/critique/sharing sessions.

Our studio area.

Got back yesterday from a five day workshop with Jane Dunnewold. It was fantastic. It was sponsored by the Weehawken Art Center and held just outside of Ridgway, Colorado at Piecemaker's Ranch - a beautiful location. We stayed and worked at the ranch. It was like going to summer camp! We were so busy the entire time working on several different processes for surface design and layering those processes. We cut stamps, made stencils, made screens, used bleach, flour paste, glue, dye, paint - whew!

I attended a great dye workshop on August 21st taught by Beverly Hart (see her blog at fiberhart.blogspot.com). Beverly is an excellent teacher. She has done so much work on her own with the dyes and understands them so well. We used a low water immersion technique and these are my results! It was so great to get out for a play day, too :)

New Work

I turned this piece in for photography on June 20th and that afternoon when I got back home, my world changed rather dramatically. My husband went to the ER with chest pains and shortness of breath and wound up having six way coronary artery bypass surgery on the 23rd. He is now recovering well.

Today I picked up the photo CD for this piece and am anxious to share it. A few of us in our guild, AQuA (Art Quilt Association), wanted to do a project with a more serious theme and chose "Atrocities, Women and War". This is my piece, titled "Where". We don't have firm arrangements yet to display our pieces, but a couple of possibilities are in the works.

Rayna's Challenge Posted

Rayna posted the finished pieces she has received so far from her "Ugly" Fabric challenge. Here is the one I did. It's called "No Birds, Just Plaid". The fabric she gave us is the pink piece above the purple square. I thought it was pretty interesting fabric. Love the other three pieces that are done so far. Check out her blog. I'd really like to see what the rest of you have done.

Finished Rayna's Challenge

I finished the challenge Rayna gave us in her class. She gave us all a piece of the same fabric she had done but didn't like and we all had to make something using it. She's going to post them on her blog so I'm not going to put the picture up here until she posts. It was a fun challenge, and the fabric really wasn't ugly!

Foiling Demo

I did a quick demo for the AQuA meeting last Saturday. I don't use foil very often, but it can add a nice touch in just the right spot. One of the hardest things was to remember which foiling glue I like best. The winner is definitely Jones Tones. I also like the effect you get when you adhere the foil using Misty Fuse. (Photo by Kathy Pfeufer)

Class Aftermath

Back from Rayna's class and so excited about all of the potential new pieces I have in mind as a result. Not excited about putting my studio back together. It's small and crowded to begin with, but worse now with everything pulled out for class.

More Fun With Rayna

Here's an exercise from Sandra


Exercises I'm working on.


My favorite so far.


Rayna and Beverly conferring.

Rayna's Class

I've been having a great two days taking a class with Rayna Gillman. The first day we did deconstructed screen printing and today we did thermofax printing. Tomorrow we start two days of Jump Starting the Art Quilt. She is a fun teacher - very creative. Here is Rayna pondering whether or not Susan'a fabric can be saved.

Here is proof that lots of good things are happening here.

Some of what I have been working on.
Of course I had to be a show off and trip. I dislocated my little finger - put it back in place - and scared the heck out of everyone when they found me laying on the back porch. I was ok - just taking inventory of various body parts. I went back inside and finished up what I was working on then went to the doctor for x-rays - no breaks and he was disappointed I had deprived him of the fun of putting it back in place.

Rayna's Class, Finally

I am so excited to be taking two, two day classes from Rayna Gillman next week. She is going to be teaching at my friend Jane's new Fabric Arts Studio in Grand Junction, CO. I'm having a great time collecting all kinds of interesting items to use to create marks on fabric. The first two days will be "Original Cloth - Original Quilts" and the last two days will be "Jump Starting the Art Quilt".

Book Recommendation

I'm really enjoying this new book by Angie Hughes. It has inspired my current "Planets" series. Her technique of saturating fabric with a PVA glue solution, layering various textured materials and threads with more glue, then covering all of that with gesso to create a beginning canvas is so much fun. After the gesso you add paint, images, papers, beads, whatever you want to create your finished piece. If you look at the closeup of my Planet I, below, you can see the underlying texture.

New Work, Finally

After months of not being able to finish anything, I've done something I really like. It is called "Planet I: Floaters" and is first in a series I've started. Planet I is going to be in the non-juried SAQA exhibit called "Layered Textures" at the Denver Mancuso Show next month.