Today's Greyness

I took this picture last summer. It sums up today's greyness. It is raining in Toronto.

It isn't done on a canvas.

It isn't painted by an artist.

It was dripping paint from the side of a building.

It's beautiful.

Art Show

As past juror (2013) of the TOAE, I was invited to the opening of the Best Of Award Winners. The Best Of awards were selected during the event last July by a different group of people from those who juried the show.

Lizz Aston received Best Of fibre.

Exploding Lace View-warp#2
35"h x 30"w x 2" d
kozo paper, fibre reactive dyes, hand cut

I love the shadows her piece makes.

Artist in centre

Sarah Gaby-Trotz received a Best Of fibre, honourable mention.

The Carrot Revolution
wool, burlap, needle felted
15"h x 20"w x 20"d

The award donor was David Kaye Gallery.

Artist talking to David Kaye.

Of all the pieces exhibited in all different mediums, the one below was my favourite. It is so simple and meditative.

Arcs
monofilament, wood, latex
20"h x 20"w x 2"d

It received Best Of mixed media. The work is by Geoff Buddie and Christine Rom.

side view

Maybe I liked it because of the shadows.

The show is on till February 28, 2014.

Seen in the right-hand corner is Susan Card from
DISH Gallery and Studio.
She was one of the 5 jury members, including myself,
 for the textile and jewelry category.
 

The next TOAE is July 4 to July 6, 2014 at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto.

Faces

Self-portrait...do you have one?

Painted face in downtown Toronto

It would be a fun thing to try.

graffiti on Canada Post property,
somewhere in uptown Toronto

Street collage, Kensington Market.
Couldn't find the artist's name

Student's art from Branksome Hall
(detail of thread work)

Last week, in the midst of the crazy holiday preparation, I spent an afternoon at the Art Gallery of Ontario in the quiet, reflective atmosphere, surrounded by the art of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera.

Frida is best known for her self-portraits.

photograph by N. Muray

Photograph by N. Muray, 1941

And here is a real version of Frida!

My friend in her Halloween costume!!

Transforming

My thoughts have turned to holiday preparations... a wreath make-over.

I spray-painted my tired red wreath...

and turned it into a more interesting decoration...in my opinion.

Transforming.

I do that with my textile work as well. I take something that I made and that I don't like and paint over it and stitch over it and turn it into something wonderful. Sometimes that new layered fabric piece finds its way into a work at a later date.

Transforming.

This next image is courtesy of my daughter who lives in Paris. She noticed this wonderful tree along a hidden passageway...on her way to pay her first French TAX!! It transformed her day.

photo credit, Sophia Reford

Getting Ready

I spent today stamping, painting and "fixing" some odds and ends of fabric by adding more elements, hence making then more interesting...hopefully!

I'm getting ready to take a class with artist Pat Pauly this weekend.

take pART

"take pART" is a fundraising art exhibit that took place at Arta Gallery in Toronto at the Distillery District. Both my daughter and I were two of 63 artists participating.

"My City"
I work in textile so I made my piece separate and
then glued it onto a canvas.
I stitched into the canvas in a few places.
 I left some tulle and organza hanging off the bottom.

There was wine and hors d'oeuvres during the cultural evening.

Arta Gallery, Distillery District

All works were on a 10"x10" canvas and each was sold for $100.

The grid system was set up to help purchasers identify the works.

My work is identified by Q4. My daughter's was R4.

E1 was painted by Felicia Norris Bartlett ,
a Branksome Hall alumnae.
It was nice bumping into her.
She was a Montreal friend when I was in high school.

The money raised goes to the Student Financial Aid at Branksome Hall.

My City, detail

The event has been recognized by Canada Council for Advancement in Education, receiving the Bronze Award in the Best Alumni category.

My work and my daughter's hung side by side. They both sold.

It Finally Snowed!

This piece (a very early work), Spring Thaw, was exhibited in several galleries and shows in Toronto and in Europe.

Spring Thaw, made in 2006, 73 cm x 77.5 cm
commercial fabric, organza, crinoline, gesso,
hand and machine stitched
(the cut out parts look pink here but are actually see-through)

It is a piece I originally did not like. It just didn't SAY anything. I had it sitting there for about 3 years and finally decided to play with it.

I quilted it heavily. Still not great.

I painted it with gesso. Getting better.

I cut it up randomly (that took courage!) and sewed it back together in a different way.

Now, I love it!

Spring Thaw, detail

Toronto is finally white with snow. I guess we ARE going to have a spring thaw.

Paint Chip Challenge

Our guild decided to put out a challenge to all its members.

We picked a paint chip out of a hat. The main colour of your piece had to be the paint chip colour and the title had to be the name of your paint chip. Mine was Jungle Green.

At first I thought it was green but realized there was quite a bit of blue
 in the colour.
I mixed up some paint and silk screened some leaf shapes onto
painted fabric.

Whenever I hear the word 'jungle' I immediately add the word 'book' after it. So I definitely wanted to have some text in my piece.

I also wanted a hint of orange to remind me of our walk in the rain forest of Borneo. We thought we were alone but as soon as the rain came there were flashes of orange high above our heads- the orangutans scrambling for shelter.

I used some painted lutradur for texture.

I did some photo transfers.

There was too harsh a line between the writing and the blue/green piece of fabric. To soften it, I added lutradur.

Work pinned in place on a vertical design wall. Need to soften the line
between the text fabric and the blue/green one above it.

I added some free motion stitching and there you go!

The back view. Even though zebras live in the savannas
and not in the jungle I found the black and white design 'refreshing'
so I included it.

Final work-

The colours are so much better 'live' plus you can see the stitches better.
Can you make out the bug on the right side? I also added some text
on the lutradur to the left of the bug's wing.
20" x 20"

Looks nothing like my first sketches!