Category Archives: Challenges

Playing Favorites: Picture Perfect

Seth at The Altered Page will be going LIVE with his next round of questions with The PULSE this coming Monday. As he prepares forÂ a month of Q & A with 80-plus artists (and counting) I am taking a walk down memory lane. Next on the list is Picture Perfect.

I have been taking photos since my early days as a kid travelling though Europe. Dad was a dark room enthusiast and shared his passion. Before college I often found his passion to be a burden, when he forced us to stand in front of every statue, windmill and geyser in the world!

(Photo by my dad of the Family at Yellowstone park circa 1970’s)

But then I took photography, learned darkroom processing and the joys of taking pictures. Later I finally got my hands on a digital cameraÂ so the cost and time of taking/ processing pictures went down dramatically. I love taking pictures… admittedly most of them of my dog or my art.

Ever since I bought my first digital camera, I have taken many opportunities to go on Photo Walks. Sometimes by myself, but more often with my dog and occassionally with friends. I prefer to look at things close to the ground, often setting my camera on the ground to take the shot. I love to look for patterns and textures.

Up Close and PersonalÂ This one recieved an award at EBSQ

This photo has not been altered nor cropped.

Playing Favorites: Mixed Media

When haven’t I created something that was mixed media? Paint, paper, fabric and embellished with stuff… would probably describe anything I have made. So to pick a mixed media favorite is going to be very, very difficult. I don’t even think I could pick a favorite of the ones displayed in Seth’s blog for Playing Favorites: mixed media 1, because I love to look at other people’s mixed media art as much as I like to create my own. It is obviously a well loved art form, since he had to break it into two seperate posts to contain all the wonderfulness.

This is a wonderful mixed media doll sculpture that I made at ArtFiberFest a few years back. She is my favorite because it was really my first time really embellishing the heck out of something and I LOVED it!

Where does art live? When does the muse come to visit? Will she arrive in her fancy frocks or grungy jeans ready to get down and dirty? This doll represents my muse when she is dressed to go to the gallery and make an enterance. See larger detail images hereÂ This doll is created with a base body of a men’s tie. It is embellished with buttons, beads, feathers, ribbons, tulle, coins, sequins, paper, wire and many different types of fabric. Her stamped face is sewn in and painted on paper with watercolors. Little pockets are sewn onto the front in sheer ribbon and each pocket is stuffed with yarn, beads, gold powder, other fabrics, sequin waste and even tinsel. Inspired by Kate Lyons and her dolls.

Playing Favorites: fields of dreams

Creating a gallery of my favorites has been quite fun. Looking through my own work over the years and fitting these themes has really shown me the diversity of my own work. Next up is Playing Favorites: fields of dreams, which I think can be translated to work that shows nature or landscapes of some type. Of course when he put together this series of posts, I think he gathered a lot of art from a lot of different people then put them into these catagories. I don’t think he expected to have an individual artist find art to fit each theme. But I like the challenge, so I plug along here.

Media:Â Â Fabric Collage Dimensions:Â Â 14″ x 14″ Date of Work:Â Â 07/2006

Night Sky Wanderer is a RIP for the EBSQ 2006 Ripped Off Show. It is inspired by a pyrography called Workin’ On Wings to Fly by Lisa J. Rough. I was really drawn to the powerful woman and the birch trees. It has a sense of strength and peace. I tried to capture that same feeling in my version of it. This piece is all fabric collage using applique’ and quilting techniques. It is embellished with buttons, ribbon, trim, beads and handmade yarn.

Jesus Christ Pose

Jesus Christ Pose, originally uploaded by Charger’s Mommy.

Media:Â Â fabric collage
Dimensions:Â Â 22″x22″
Date of Work:Â Â 07/2008

This is created for the EBSQ Annual Ripped Show 2008. I have been doing a lot of mandala-like art recently, so I was drawn to Tina’s “Dali and the Eye of God” piece. I translated it into fabric applique. It is quilted and embellished with lace, ribbon and a variety of fabrics including silk, cotton, and rayon. I named it after a soundgarden song that kept going though my head whenever I would work on it. Starting August 1st you can vote for your favorites at EBSQ.Â

Here is a little Work in Progress Step-by-step snapshot. I still need to finish a bit of quilting and make the hanging tabs…but my machine decided to go AWOL on me, so I will be running it into the shop tomorrow.

This piece did double challenge duty. In addition to being for the EBSQ ripped show it is one of my 5 mandalas for Jen’s July Challenge. This one will be for the Aether/void/spirit/heavens catagory, since it is spirtual in nature.

Playing Favorites: abstraction

Continuing withÂ Seth’s Playing Favorites series I first pick my least favorite to contrast with my favorite.

: ~not~ my favorite

Abstract art is harder than you might think. I know thatÂ I thought that it was pretty easy. You know those paintings that you see and thing “my kid could do that” but then I had to make an abstract painting for an EBSQ Challenge. After creating this painting, I had a much better appreciation for people that primarily create in the abstract. Seth features some pretty good work here, so check out what the experts choose. Playing Favorites: abstractionÂ

Since then I realised that when I stick to collage, I am not so bad at abstract art. Although I noticed I do tend to stick with the monochromatic theme. The piece below is a combination of papers, fabrics and ribbons sewn together in big random sheets. It was then trimmed to book page size and reassembled in blocks. It is both random and organized, which is what I think makes up a good abstract piece. Of course I can’t resist getting in some text pieces.

Sinful

Playing Favorites: journal entry

Visual Journals… now that is something I need to do more of. It seems that since I have been blogging, andÂ writing online, I have done less journal writingÂ on paper. This page is probably from 2003. I like the thoughts and reflections, as much as the images that I put together along withÂ the meaning that they both hold for me. The word interesting has a lot of both positive and negative meaning for me, so it is very weighted. But I find myself using it a lot with my students… whenÂ I am not sure I can come up with something positive and constructive to say, it slips out.

Playing Favorites: the library

The Library, originally uploaded by v_stamey. The library I WISH I had….

Next to faces, I think words or text in art is one of my favorite subject. But I think that is for another entry, this is about BOOKS! which is just as good. I love books! I love reading them, collecting them, altering them and making them. I have taken classes on book binding, participated in Altered Book round robins and tip-in swaps. I have even taught and shared the art of altered books with my students. I dream of having a house where I have a room that is JUST for books. I picture it as one of those turret round multi-story rooms with a ladder to reach higher levels of books.

So anyways… here is my pick for Seth’sÂ Playing Favorites: the library.

This is a mixed media book that I made inspired by DJ Pettitt. I bought a kit from her that included some images, transparent and white papers and fabrics along with a mini instruction booklet on how to do image transfers.Â I was later able to take a class from her at ArtFiber Fest in 2006.

As much as I love to make paper books,Â I am more interested now in making fabric books and journals. You are sure to see some of these in the near future!

Playing Favorites: face to face

Continuing Seth’s game of selecting and describing our favorite creations, we come toÂ the face to faceÂ catagory. Showing work in a variety of mediums, the thing they all have in common is the subject of a face. Picking a favorite will be tough for me, as I have done many faces, both in fabric and paper. In fact, I did an entire series called, “Saving Face”

Inspiration/ Meaning: These pieces were created as part of the Saving Face series. I wanted to focus on the personality and emotional expression of the face. This piece was made as I struggled with removing personal drama from my life.
Creation: Mixed Media Paper & Glass Collage; This piece was created with layers of handmade papers, sewing patterns, and book pages applied to glass. Created in 2002.
Size: 39â€ H x 29â€ W including window frame

This one is called, “The Drama Queen” actually I think it originally had a longer title, something about theÂ demise of the drama queen went without notice or something about basically begging for attention in all the wrong ways and for all all the wrong reasons, but more cleverly worded. My titles have often been long, poems or stories even. Sometimes I even come up with the title first and work my way towards that in my art. This one, and all of the ones in this series, started from photographs that I took of some friends and family. I purposefully had them make dramatic emotional faces.

Thinking about this really makes me want to get back to this series! hmmmm… food for thought.

Playing Favorites: Assemblege

In Seth’s second set of questions it looks like he asked artists to pick out their favorite art peices (that they have created) within a number of different categories. He says to “Imagine a museum filled with the work of all your favorite artists working in all your favorite artistic mediums. Now imagine that every piece of artwork has been hand chosen by each artist as their absolute favorites. Then imagine that printed by each piece of art is an explanation written by the artist detailing their selection.”Â So with that, here is My Playing Favorites. First up: Assemblage (click to see other artist’s favorite picks, some VERY cool art is represented here.)

I haven’t done a ton of assemblege so I think my favorite is my most recent. This was created in Michael DeMeng’s class at artfest 2008 and I talk more in detail about the experience here.

The Pulse: Go-to blog and websites

Continuing with Seth’s previous pulse questions here is my go-to blogÂ and go-to website

I have a ton of feeds on my google reader right now, so picking just one blog is tough. One of the things I do like to do is check out the favorite blogs of other people… often I end up on a trail of interesting blogs and get lost for hours in exploring. One that I found recently that is great for this time wasting activity is Quilting Bloggers.

Websites I always go to is easier. Flickr is at the top of my list, to see pictures from family and friends as well as participate in photo and art communities and challenges.

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Cutting and Pasting Since 1986