Monday, November 24, 2014

A Blog Hop Around the World

I've been invited to participate in the Blog Hop Around the World by Eileen Gidman I will be answering a few questions and inviting additional bloggers to join.

This is a mug rug that she has just finished dye painting and stitching as a commission. Her work really speaks to me. I think she does in dyes on fabric what I try to do with paint and thread. We are attracted to similar things in the outdoors and we each express it in our own way.



What am I working on?

This morning was my scheduled cleaning time when I make a quick sweep of the bathrooms and vacuum the main level. I like to get things done early in the week so I can be free for creating time!
As far as my artistic endeavors, I am currently attempting to paint a small gift in watercolor. I use watercolor frequently, but usually only in my sketchbook. They usually stay there as references and inspirations for my fiber art.
However, I recently took some pictures in a very beautiful garden belonging to a friend who lived in a house built on a slope which had to be torn down. I wanted to do something as a special keepsake.
It was going pretty well until I added a tree trunk that shouldn't be there! I'm going to have to start anew as one can't easily remove with watercolor.

The second thing going on in my studio right now is the sewing together of selvages following a great tutorial here. I want to make a sewing machine cover for a new (to me) machine that I just bought. I don't have a lot of selvages yet, but I could use them as a feature section as shown in the tutorial on the cover that she did..

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I think others could probably tell me more about my differences than I could. I have absorbed information and techniques from many sources--workshops, books, on line classes and blogs, using it all to experiment and express my vision of my world in my own way. For example, in my last fiber art piece, Birches and Rose Hips, I used many techniques including painting the background in a shibori technique that I developed and wrote about in Quilting Arts magazine. I have done several versions, one each fall, and each one is different and each shows progress.


I like to combine paint, images from nature, collage, thread painting and sometimes hand embellishing.

Why do I create what I do?

I create because I need to and as a form of therapy. I started drawing and painting when I was young and also learned to sew and do many needle arts. Eventually, I used the drawing and painting as a method to record things that fascinate me in the natural world. I started out doing traditional quilting and it wasn't long before the drawing and painting and my work with fabric began to merge

How does my creative process work?

My process usually begins with something I've seen in my yard (I love to photograph the birds and my garden) or more often something that draws my attention on my walks on the trails.

 Bluejay in our apple tree:

I take pictures and I sketch, getting a feel for how I want to portray it in fiber. This process can percolate in my head for a few days to a few weeks and occasionally longer. Sometimes I work on a piece continually from start to finish; other times, I stall and it goes up on my design wall until one day it strikes me how I need to finish it.

I would like to invite more bloggers to join in the hop.

This blogger , Riel Nason, is a writer and a quilter also from New Brunswick. She has written a book which I loved and does some very creative things with selvages.



The next blogger, Jennifer Scantlebury Vienneau, also from NB, is a fellow creative who has recently taken on long arm quilting and is doing some unique stitching. She also does some dyeing, painting and creative stitching on her fabric projects.



Finally, I would like to invite a long time blogger friend of mine, Margaret Applin,  who has written for Quilting Arts Magazine and done DVD's for Quilting Arts TV. I love her design style and hope to see some of it in fabrics in the near future.

She does a lot of doodling and digital collage for her designs.This is one of my favorites from this past Studio Sunday post.



I hope you have time to visit each blogger here and get to discover someone new to you.

1 comment:

Mereknits said...

Loved learning more about your creative process Holly.
Hugs,
Meredith