Laundry Day Series

(Above:  Two of the Laundry Day Series pieces, matted and in 20" x 16" Clear Bag protection!  Click on any image to enlarge.)

When I first started creating The Clothesline Installation during a month-long art residency with the Springfield Art Association in Illinois, I saved all the scraps of fabric cut away from the hand prints.  Each one had Wonder Under, a heat-activated adhesive, ironed to the reverse.  I knew I could "do something" with these scraps but I didn't have a clear idea.  I certainly didn't know that I'd have time during the COVID-19 crisis to use them.  

(Above: Six of the Laundry Day Series pieces.  Matted 20" x 16".  With the mat, 11 1/2" x 7 1/2". Top to bottom, left to right: Care Instruction, Delicate Cycle, Dry Clean Only, Fabric Softener, Heavy Load, and Laundry Day.  Matted at just $65 each.)

Many of the scraps still looked like hand prints (or at least the remains of fingers!)  In a pile, they truly showed the signs of being handled or touched.  They also looked like a small load waiting to be washed.  It occurred to me that I could use these scraps as a daily design challenge.

(Above:  Scraps of fabric cut away from the hand prints used for The Clothesline Installation.)

Without significantly altering the shapes, I started fusing them to canvas in pleasing arrangements.  A little free-motion stitching united the shapes and added detail.  I started doing one per day.  By the time I'd finished the first eight, I had an action plan!

 (Above:  The Laundry Day Series.  Matted 20" x 16". $65 each.  From top to bottom and left to right:  Lie Flat to Dry, Light Load, Low Heat, Mild Detergent, No Bleach Needed, and 100% Cotton.)

My plan was to make fifty works that would fit into a 20" x 16" mat, put them in appropriate Clear Bags for protection, and give each one a unique title referencing "Laundry Day".  So far, I've finished the first twenty-four.  More are waiting to be matted.  More are waiting to be stitched.  Soon, I'll post the rest.  In the meantime, this post documents the first twenty-four.

(Above:  The Laundry Day Series. Matted 20" x 16". $65 each.  From top to bottom, left to right: Permanent Press, Pre-Wash, Remnants, Rinse and Repeat, Rinse Cycle, Soaking.)

I ordered a box of off-white mat board (25 sheets ... enough for 50 finished works).  Mat board comes 32" x 40".  Each piece was cut into four 16" x 20" sections.  Two pieces were cut with the mat opening.  On the other two pieces, the artwork was mounted/hand stitched in place. These were slid into an artwork protection package ordered from Clear Bags.  There are a variety of sizes, plus ... some sizes come in a variety of thicknesses.  The Laundry Day Series fit neatly into the thinnest 20" x 16" bag.  Before sealing the flap, I slid a sheet of information, including a bio, a black-and-white photo of The Clothesline Installation and this statement:

The Laundry Day Series developed alongside Susan Lenz's Clothesline Installation, a project conceptually rooted in the beauty of "doing things by hand" while promoting conservation of household energy. Fabric hand prints were fused and stitched to a collection of vintage linens. The excess fabric that was trimmed away from the hand prints wasn't wasted. These scraps were used for the abstract compositions in the Laundry Day Series. Each work evokes the feeling of fingers, a human touch, and a recycling mindset. There is a total of fifty works, each one with a unique title.

(Above:  Laundry Day Series.  Matted 20" x 16". $65 each. From top to bottom, left to right: Soap and Water, Spin Cycle, Stain Blocker, Tumble Dry, Wash and Wear, and Wrinkle Free.)

This challenge has been a great way to jump start each day during the COVID-19 crisis.  It has provided a small amount of time for composition, stitching, and presentation.  Each one is only $65.  If the country ever comes out from "sheltering in place" and holding exhibits, I'll have affordable work to accompany The Clothesline when it has a chance to be seen in public.  Even if this never happens, I'm having a blast using the bits and pieces that might otherwise have been thrown away.

Oriental Mood I and II

(Above:  Oriental Mood I and II.  Altered oriental screen.  Each side is 26 1/2" x 17 1/2".  Vintage oriental embroideries and silk matting.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

Sometimes I buy things at auction for no better reason than "no one else wanted them".  Such was the case with two Oriental screens.  A better "before" picture would have shown that these two panels were in horrible shape.  The backgrounds were badly foxed (brown spots) and showed other time-weary signs of aging.  One had holes in it.  The thin, wooden frames were scratched.  One looked as if a rat gnawed on it.  No one bid on these two items; so I raised my hand for the six-dollar minimum and took them home.  They sat in a back room for months waiting for time and attention.

 (Above:  Oriental Mood II, In progress photos.)

If "sheltering in place" isn't the right time, I don't know when it would be!  So I tackled the first piece, the one with the worse damage.  It went well enough that I documented the process when transforming the second one.  From left to right, the photo above shows 1) the piece "as it was", 2) the removal of the flimsy frame, and 3) the embroidery with silk mat cut away from the screen onto which it had been attached.

 (Above:  Oriental Mood II, in progress.)

From top to bottom and left to right, the photo above shows 1) the wooden screen to which the embroidery had been attached, still showing some of the papers covering it, 2) the wooden screen sanded, 3) the trimmed mat and the beginning of the trimming for the embroidery, and 4) the embroidery elements trimmed away from the very, very brittle and foxed paper.

  (Above:  Oriental Mood II, in progress.)

From top to bottom and left to right, the photo above shows 1) a piece of vintage fabric selected as the new background, 2) Wonder Under with facing paper ironed to the surface of the fabric, 3) gold, silver, and light green metallic foil ironed onto the Wonder Under, and 4) the embroidery elements ironed onto the new surface.

 (Above:  Oriental Mood II, in progress.)

From left to right, the photo above shows that 1) I've covered the surface with another layer of Wonder Under and a piece of very sheer black chiffon and 2) free-motion stitching around the elements.

The piece was trimmed to a size slightly larger than the mat open and then later glued using Yes! paste to acid-free foam centered boards.  I'm not entirely sure the dark background was a good idea but at least the pieces have been given a new lease on life.  The silk threads of the embroidery were close to disintegration but are now secure under the layer of Wonder Under and chiffon.  Photographs really don't capture the beauty of the metallic foiling, but in person there is a regal element because of this rich addition.  It was a fun exercise and a good feeling to revive these once beautiful pieces!  Below are two detail shots.

 (Above:  Oriental Mood I, detail.)

(Above:  Oriental Mood II, detail.)

I'm Not Stitching Masks

(Above:  Big City Lights, a mini art quilt 10 1/2" x 22".  My manipulated digital image printed on fabric with both hand and free-motion machine stitching.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

I had a lot of fun deciding which areas to densely hand seed stitch and which areas to outline with free-motion stitch.  Yet, the most fun came when I approached the reverse side.

(Above:  Big City Lights, reverse.)

I knew I had a piece of strange, iridescent red fabric because I found it earlier in the month when constructing Stir Crazy in South Carolina. I don't know when or where I got this piece of fabric ... probably in some box lot from Bill Mishoe's auction.  I'm sure I saved it because I liked the fact that both sides of the fabric seemed like "the front".  For the reverse of this mini art quilt, I used the redder side for the background, and the more taupe side for the sleeve.  I especially like how this fabric catches light ... on either side.  It seems fitting for a piece called Big City Lights.

 (Above:  Big City Lights, vintage leather postcard used as a title and signature label.)

Best of all, I knew I had this vintage leather postcard embossed with a red dyed floral design to use as the label. My friend Laura Brady gave me four of these unique items. It was sad, however, that the back of the postcard was hidden.  There was only one thing to do ... use one of the other postcards for another mini art quilt!

(Above:  A Straight Line, 16" x 12".  Mini art quilt featuring my manipulated digital image of an architectural detail in New York City printed on fabric with straight-line machine stitching.)

This mini-art quilt is a collusion of ideas.  First, I wanted to create something with rainbow colors because the local Outfest for Gay Pride Month (June) was just canceled due to COVID-19.  Second,  I am constantly in awe of beautiful buildings.  When traveling, I seem to take more pictures of architecture than anything else ... even nature (which is a horrible but true thing to admit on Earth Day!)  I love the linear patterns, the way windows reflect light, and side-by-side diverse textures.  I love every style and era from Roman ruins to Romanesque arches to riveted metal on modern office buildings.  The idea of stitching a series of building really appeals to me but I've never done it.

 (Above:  A Straight Line, detail of the stitching and trapunto/stuffed circular area.)

One of the reasons for not starting a series of buildings it the fact that I find it difficult to stitch a straight line!  Free-motion embroidery is no problem.  Putting the "dog feet" or "feed dog" (or whatever those things are) up for "straight-line" stitching is problematic.  Even on this little 16" x 12" piece, I had to really, really focus to keep the machine ON THE STRAIGHT LINES!  The center was much easier; it is stuffed with felt from the reverse, a technique known as trapunto.

 (Above:  A Straight Line, reverse.)

The third idea was to create a reverse that is the polar opposite of the straight lines and bright colors of the modern front.  I found a piece of nearly deteriorated Japanese fabric in my stash.  All those curves, muted colors, and natural motifs sure are different!  In order to use it, I had to fuse the entire thing to a piece of black cotton.  The sleeve was made from another exotic piece of fabric.
 

 (Above:  The vintage leather postcard used as a label.)

Finally, I attached one of the other vintage leather postcards ... with the attached stamp and 1907 cancellation marks showing.  As this is a "post card", I thought it appropriate to write something on it, free motion style, of course.  This is my postcard to all those people who think I ought be stitching masks during COVID-19!

(Above:  Most of the CSA [Community Supported Agriculture] boxes delivered to Mouse House as the downtown Columbia drop-off location for Gruber Farms.)

I might not be stitching masks (for obvious reasons ... and because Steve and I actually have N-95 masks on hand ... generally for sanding but now for grocery shopping!) but we are trying to help during this "sheltering in place" health crisis.  We volunteered our back parking lot for the Gruber Farms CSA downtown drop-off location.  Our backyard is safe, secure, and can allow people to collect their box in a contact-less situation.  We order a box too and now have fresh strawberries, collards, onions, cabbage, and celery!

More items for The Clothesline Installation!

(Above:  More items for The Clothesline Installation.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

A wonderful friend dropped by a donation of vintage household linens last week.  She knew I was creating a new installation called The Clothesline and wanted to contribute these fabulous guest towels, table runners, and Irish linen place mats.

 (Above:  The peach colored fabric is moire ... from about twenty-five years ago!)

Immediately I fused Pellon's Wonder Under to the reverse of several pieces of "found fabric".  What do I mean by that?  Well ... to me, "found fabric" is the material I find in a box lot purchased at Bill Mishoe's auction or pick up at a yard sale.  It is the fabric that other people have donated to my stash.  It is the pieces of vintage fabric from thrift stores that I've stored in a giant plastic tub ... often "found" later.  Almost all the moire fabric I've used in this installation was purchased at auction over twenty-five years ago ... because at the time I used moire fabric for shadowboxing christening gowns and other items.  I like moire but had forgotten I had so much of it!  Thus ... I "found" it in my own stash!  The installation now has a golden colored, bright yellow, and peach colored moire.  If I get more linens, I'll likely use the blue I "found"!

I especially like the sheer table runners!  They make it obvious that the fused hand prints are on both sides of these pieces.  The small pieces only have one ... and I fuse the hand print to the back of these pieces.  Thus, each pieces is meant to be seen from both sides, perfect for a clothesline!

All the hand prints were cut out while riding in the cargo van to Lander University last Friday.  My solo show, Anonymous Ancestors, has been stuck inside a closed building on a closed campus.  The thought was that retrieving it would happen as soon as the summer session started up, but summer session was recently canceled.  The gallery director made the arrangements.  He unlocked the building when we arrived.  We were alone in the space and sent a text message when we left.  The entire experience was sort of like being in a past episode of a Twilight Zone, as if we were the last people left on earth. 

California Valley Quail, a mini art quilt

(Above:  California Valley Quilt, a mini art quilt. 12" x 12".  Digital image printed on fabric with hand and machine embroidery.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

Earlier this month I posted another 12" x 12" mini art quilt.  I thought it featured a dead gold finch but it was really a Yellow-breasted chat. After stitching this small piece, I realized that I had images of yet another dead bird.  Like the dead chat, I sort of promised this bird that I would create "something" from the many images I shot of it ... but, like the dead chat, I hadn't really done it yet.  

(Above:  The California Valley Quail posed in one of my fiber vessels.)

This period of isolation and social distancing has reminded me of these occasions, of seeing beauty even in the face of death.  I decided to stitch a detail of the quail, not the full bird, but I'm posting one of the pictures of the bird positioned in one of my fiber vessels ... just in case I didn't get the species correct like that last time! LOL!

(Above:  Melting snow before it slid off the roof.)

This poor bird died when an avalanche of snow slid off one of the buildings at PLAYA, an art residency program in the Oregon Outback.  I had a fabulous month there in the autumn of 2015 and another two weeks during December 2016 ... which is when the quail died.  CLICK HERE for a blog post about these two weeks.


(Above: California Valley Quail, reverse.)

I don't have a photo of a few dead wax wings I once found printed on fabric ... yet ... but I might see about this idea soon.  During a pandemic one is reminded that life is so very, very precious.  Images of dead birds seem to make visible the natural beauty of life and the visceral feeling of mortality.

Painting Outside - Stitching Inside

 (Above:  Painting outside.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

Originally, Nike's Advice was an art performance piece.  I painted 130 feet of unprimed canvas with the public. There were no instructions, no pattern, no thought given to the results.  It was an action-packed two days of slinging paint and allowing people to add little flowers, inspirational words, stick-people drawings and whatever else came to mind.  Most of the fabric was ... well ... as one would expect when approaching "painting" in this manner.  It was downright hideous.  Even so, dozens of sections were quite nice.  These were saved and stitched.  Most of them were sealed with fabric stiffener, mounted on stretcher bars, and coated with UV filtering epoxy.  The last of the saved sections was recently finished.  I blogged about them HERE.

It was sort of sad to end this project ... until I realized that I could set up two workhorses on one of the glorious spring days during the COVID-19 crisis and paint again.  So I did!  For the most part, I just paint "backgrounds" using a rolling brayer, a sponge, and an old toothbrush.  Lids taken straight out of the trash were used to "stamp" circles too.  It was lots of fun.  Later, I ripped all the paintings into smaller sections.

 (Above:  A series of cards made from the scraps of painted canvas.)

My intention is to end up with a number of smaller pieces with the same dimensions.  As it happened, I ended up with two 11" squares, four 14" squares, and 13 that measure 16" x 12".  Before stitching them, however, I took the scraps and created a series of note cards.  It was fun and fast and an excellent way to spend part of an afternoon "sheltering in place."  I used card stock that I had on hand.  It came from a package that once contained five colors. Apparently, I don't really like orange or purple card stock because those were the only colors left.  Orange and purple, however, look pretty good as note cards!

I started free-motion stitching the two 11" squares.
  

The 100% black cotton thread really defines the non-objective background. Stitching these pieces is like watching something come to life.

I took the dullest of the four 14" squares and stitched it next.  By the time it was finished, I wished I had snapped a "before photo".

So ... I did that with the second section.  I'm having a blast with these new works! 

Four new "Window Series" pieces.

(Above:  Window CLXXVIII.  Framed 19" x 17".  Polyester stretch velvet on recycled black industrial felt with free-motion machine embroidery and melting techniques. $265. Click on any image to enlarge.)

"Sheltering in Place" is very much like "studio time".  Productivity is high because I'm not coping with my normal balancing act ... custom picture framing vs. art-making.  There are no clients.  No one is coming to browse.  The door is locked.  Framing shops have been deemed "non-essential" (mostly because framing shops really are non-essential) and so we are closed until at least April 27th if not longer.

(Above:  Window CLXXVII.  Framed 19" x 17".  Polyester stretch velvet on recycled black industrial felt with free-motion machine embroidery and melting techniques. $265.)

These COVID-19 days are both exhilarating and scary.  I love being in my studio, making artwork, and especially the lack of interruptions, but there is a looming reality.  We have no income either.  How long can we keep this up?  We don't really know! Yet, Steve and I are in a far better place than many others.  We own our building.  We cannot go into arrears with regards to rent.  Steve is brilliant when it comes to finances.  His advice has been, "Just keep making new work because one day there will be a new normal and it will include art !"

(Above:  Window CLXXVI.  Framed 19" x 17".  Polyester stretch velvet on recycled black industrial felt with free-motion machine embroidery and melting techniques. $265.)

So ... I'm taking his advice!  One day galleries will open.  One day people will want framing and fiber arts.  It is my job to use this time wisely ... and MAKE ART! Happily, I'm up to that task!  Plus, we've found an important way to help others!  Next week on Wednesday, our back parking lot and garage will become the drop-off point for Gruber Farm's CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program.  This local farm used to have two downtown drop-off locations but both are closed.  No one is in either building.  Even though Mouse House is closed, we are here!  We live above the shop.  Our back yard is safe, secure, and can accommodate contactless pick-ups of fresh produce.  Steve and I are excited to be saving fresh strawberries from a fate of rotting in the fields ... for eager mouths like ours to eat!  This is going to be great!

(Above: Window CLXXIX.  Framed 19" x 17".  Polyester stretch velvet on recycled black industrial felt with free-motion machine embroidery and melting techniques. $265.)

Infected 2020 and Marble Man, two mini art quilts

(Above:  Infected 2020, a mini art quilt. 12" x 12".  Manipulated digital image printed on fabric with both free-motion machine and hand stitching.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

With the COVID-19 virus inflicting so many life changes, it seemed only fitting to stitch another work expressing the unexpected fears and damage happening all over the world.  So, I uploaded several manipulated images to Spoonflower, a print-on-demand company, and had them printed on their standard cotton fabric.

(Above:  Infected 2020, detail.)

The original image was taken at Bill Mishoe's estate services, an auction house selling used household items, antiques, and collectibles.  I don't buy dolls ... but I do like snapping pictures.  These often broken dolls seem to ooze sensations from idealized childhoods while simultaneously speaking to misadventures and eventual neglect.  My husband Steve puts it simply.  "They're creepy!"

 (Above:  Infected 2020, detail.)

Working in this small size has become an excellent way to play with needle and thread.  Other pieces have been totally stitched by hand.  I've experimented with trapunto/stuffing techniques.  On this piece, I did quite a bit of free-motion stitching with black cotton thread.  Then, I enhanced the colors using a thin flower thread ... with itty-bitty stitches that are hardly seen from the distance but sort of look like the texture of sickness, the expected pock marks and blush of someone inflicted with disease.  If that's not creepy, what is?

 (Above:  Infected 2020, reverse.)

In keeping with my practice to use found materials for the reverse, I used a scrap of paisley for both the backing and the sleeve.  The label was on a sample piece of ultra-suede donated to me by an interior designer.

(Above:  Marble Man, a mini art quilt. 12" x 12".  Manipulated digital image printed on fabric with both free-motion machine and hand stitching.)

Although much of my studio practice has been influences by the current "sheltering in place" and quarantine ordinances,  I am really not dwelling on the negative!  When ordering the printed fabric for Infected 2020, I also uploaded a photo taken late last year at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.  Visiting this museum was a lifelong dream.  It was a perfect day.  Everything about the experience was a positive.  This image also gave me the opportunity to approach trapunto/stuffing in a different way.  There are eight pieces of felt under sections that are not machine stitched.  Each area is only slightly raised from the background.

(Above:  Marble Man, reverse.)

For the reverse, I used the paper-fabric that I salvaged from the back of an antique Chinese folding screen.  The pattern was block printed on a thin fabric.  That fabric was perfectly attached to rice paper (probably with an acid-free rice or wheat starch paste).  I used another vintage scrap for the sleeve. 

I'm already working on the next mini art quilt ... another dead bird.  These small pieces are excellent ways to spend my evenings in isolation!

Commission

 (Above:  Spring Blooms, detail.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

It took a couple years before I could say, "I'm an artist" without flinching, without self-effacing sarcasm, without feeling like a total liar.  It took Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way, a twelve step program designed to recover (or in my case "discover") an artistic life ... to claim it ... with conviction and honesty.  That was back in around 2003 or 2004.  One of the reasons for my difficulties was the assumption that "artists paint".  Well ... I don't paint ... except when I do! LOL!

(Above: Stretched primed canvas.  57" x 33".)

I'm guessing that fiber artists with academic background have had a few classes in painting.  They've had color theory and introductory course on the principles of design.  They've been through critiques with professors and peers.  They know how paint is supposed to work.  I don't have such a background.  My background is as a custom picture framer ... which does qualify me to stretch canvas.  So, the first step in this commission was straight-forward.  The finished piece was to measure 60" x 36".  With a one-and-a-half inch moulding, the stretcher bars had to be 57" x 33".  So far, so good!

Yes!  This giant-sized canvas was a real commission by real people who will be paying real money.  Scary, especially for me, an artist who still does not identify as "a painter".  I simply gave in to multiple requests from a long-time, out-of-state framing client who insisted that I could create the painting she needed for an empty wall in her living room.  There was obviously a color palette.  It required an order of acrylic paint from Dick Blick.  Thankfully, I've learned a lot about the nature of acrylic paint while browsing Golden Paint's website.  I know the characteristics of "iridescent" and "transparent".  I also know that I'm more comfortable with fluids rather than thicker paints. 

 (Above:  Me cutting up sections of the client's dining room accent wallpaper.)

I took comfort in this commission because the client wanted the finished painting to coordinate with the accent wallpaper in her adjoining dining room.  I asked if she had extra wallpaper.  She had an entire roll left over.  So, I didn't really have to paint any flower; I just had to creatively cut them out and know how to adhere them to the canvas.  It was my job to successfully create a background using other colors in her room, glue the flowers to the background, and integrate the two layers through overlaying layers of paint.

 (Me ... starting the background.)

As nervous as I was, I had to begin ... approaching the large, empty white space.  I had a very loose sketch, a design plan, which was shared with my client.  The first step was to divide the background into shapes using fine iridescent silver and gold paint.  I applied the paint in swirls.

I took a photo each day ... for each step.  Every step required the paint to dry so that the colors didn't mix into a muddy brown.  Follow along ... day by day as the painting developed!

I added blue veins between the gold and silver shapes.

Hansa Yellow Light shapes were painted on top of the first layer.  Because the paint is very transparent, various shades emerged.
 

All the cut pieces of wallpaper were collaged on the background using matte medium.

Now, it was my job to integrate the wallpaper to the background ... to blur the edges ... to create a composition that didn't automatically say, "Oh ... she just glued the wallpaper flowers on a canvas".  The first step was to paint board strokes of iridescent pearl and transparent zinc white.  I made sure that all the edges of the wallpaper caught a little paint.  This began to blur the cut edges into the painted background.

Next, I sponged blue ... as if color radiating from the veining.

Then, I stippled lime green (a combination of the yellow and blue ... with quite a bit of white and matte medium) to further complicate both the flowers and the background.  I used a "shammy brush" (a tool made from imitation chamois leather) which made different marks from those applied with the sponge.  Later I used a wadded up paper towel to add thinned white zinc in places.

The final touch was to spray teal spots onto the surface with an old toothbrush.

Finally, the work was framed using a nice, deep, lacquer white frame ... measuring one-and-a-half inches in width so that the final dimensions were the requested 60" x 36".  Photographing the piece was problematic.  First, there are few walls at Mouse House (upstairs where we live or downstairs in "the shop") that aren't already covered from ceiling to baseboard with artwork.  Only one wall in the "art storage room" (upstairs back, former bedroom) is relatively empty.  That room doesn't get any morning light which would interfere with the camera and bounce off the iridescent paint; but in the morning, it is also rather dark.  The photo above was the best I could get ... and it catches light on the upper right corner despite my best efforts.

It is rather funny that the image I took with a ten-second delay is better ... but it has me in the frame for a sense of scale.

Very likely, the best photo was taken back downstairs ... with the piece leaning against my Wall of Keys where lots of my new, epoxy-covered pieces are still sitting.  From this vantage, I got good detail shots.  They are below.

(Detail)

Thankfully, the clients have received the PDF I created documenting the process of creating this painting.  They like it.  When they are able to collect the piece is anyone's guess. They are in Georgia.  I am in South Carolina.  We are both subject to "sheltering in place" guidelines, curfews, and closures.  But ... the painting is done!  It looks great!
 

 (Detail)

I hope they like it as much in person as in an email message!  One way or the other, I did conqueror my fears about painting.  I managed a large canvas that really does coordinate with the client's decor and requests.  I feel rather good about it!  The title is Spring Blooms.  I signed it too!

(Detail)