New Work finished

Well, I finally got the right staples in the right stapler....I must say that the pneumatic stapler does a much better job. The electric stapler only gets the 1/2 inch staples in half way. Which means that I have to use the hammer to hammer them further in and sometimes they go really wonky and get smashed down rather than neatly hammered down.  Well, until the weather is nicer and the big compressor is fixed, this will have to do.

I have decided that this is a really nice way of doing the mounting of my work on stretched canvas. This time I tried something different and it really worked well. I cut out the canvas with enough to overlap the back by two inches. Then I centered my art work onto the canvas, gently pinned it down, and then machine stitched it to the canvas. The I could center from the back side of the canvas since it has a stitched line outlining the artwork and stretch the canvas onto the stretcher bars.  Works neatly and quickly without having to do hand stitching. So now I just have to attach the D rings and wire them. I found a source of plastic covered wire so there is no bare wire showing.

So, continuing in the circles motif, here we have three of the five....

 Circles 7

 Circles 6

Circles 8

These are each about 10 x 12 inches and mounted on 14 x 18 " stretched canvas.

I have the hardest time getting my pictures straight on so they look squared. These really are squared and I tried to straighten them up but it just doesn't work.

Well, I guess things will need to go to the photographers....

Some Days can just be Frustrating

I decided that I wanted to attach my new collages onto black canvas stretched around stretcher bars.
Easy, I thought.

A couple of years ago when I first started doing this, my dear husband got me a stapler...my hand is not strong enough to use the regular staple guns so he went out on a quest for me...to find a stapler that I could use and that would work well.

He brought home an electric one but the staples didn't go all the way in to the stretcher bars. So then he kept on looking and finally brought home an air stapler...one that uses compressed air to fire the staple. It is really cool and shoots out these wicked looking staples.

I can use it at home on the back porch because the huge air compressor is outside and I have a long hose to connect the stapler to the air compressor.

However, it is rainy and cold outside and I have the perfect set up at my studio for doing this...the fabric, a place to cut the fabric, the sewing machine, the stretcher bars, a big, high table to work on, etc. Plus it doesn't rain inside...it may get cold but if I am moving around it isn't too bad.

So last week I decided to stop by Home Depot and get an electric stapler.  Found a good one and got a couple of boxes of staples that the person told me would fit the stapler.

It was in my trunk and before I could get it out, my husband saw it and got upset that I had purchased a stapler without discussing it with him....well, he still had the original electric stapler from before. It is a Stanley but I needed staples. So I went off to the Ace Hardware to get them and came home with a couple of boxes of staples that seemed to work. However, when I got down to the studio, they just jammed in the stapler.  So I pulled out the stapler that was still in my trunk and loaded it with the staples that were supposed to fit it....nope, just spat out staples two at a time...

So, I have one piece of fabric with the collage sewn one and two staples holding it to the stretcher bars.
Decided that I just could not face Home Depot to take the staples back today to exchange them so will do so tomorrow.

And I had so hoped to get these five collages done...finished, wired and everything....ughhhhhhh!

This seems to be the way things have been going for me. Something that shouldn't take very long seems to take way too much time!

Ah well, tomorrow is another day.

Getting Little done

While I was away for a week, I came down with a horrific head cold and had a very sore throat and lots of coughing. For the first time in many years, I simply gave in to the cold, for about the full 10 days that it takes, slept, napped, drugged myself up with decongestants, and played games on the computer since I wasn't able to do much else.

But now I am feeling much better and am ready to tackle the art world. What has happened though, which happens to me any time I am away from the studio for any length of time, is that I become overwhelmed with ideas.

Of course, when I go back to the studio, there are always things in progress to some point or other. But then, while I have been away, I start getting new ideas, which I wake up with in the morning, or fall asleep with at night or just dream up during the day. Sometimes I wish I could shut my brain off.

I did the 5 collages for ONE and have started doing some along the same vein but larger for myself. These are done on upholstery fabric, have various items in them, including circles cut out of other fabrics, vintage linens and silk screening. They have a minimal amount of stitching in them.

So on my mind has been the question of how to display them...I thought about matting them, ready for framing and then thought about mounting them on rigid board, and then decided that they would really look best sewn to a piece of fabric that is then stretched onto stretcher bars....I will tell you, storing these babies is not as easy as storing regular quilts! I can't pile them up on the bed and they are not beginning to take up lots of room on my new storage shelving....oh well, I guess that is what the shelving is for.

But, to backtrack some, on the 15th I had to get my Sketchbook Project sketchbook mailed out which I had finally finished the night before. The entire project moves along and you can see a progression in my work as I did the book over 6 months' time.

So, here are a few pages from my sketchbook project....this page has lines on the left made with graphite and the lines on the right are stamped using cardboard.

On these pages I started making a grid with an ink pen and then began coloring it it with multiple glazes.

On two pages that I painted and over painted, I just made lines with my ink pen....very similar to a lot of stuff I have been doing in my fiber work lately.

And more lines, similar again to the fiber work machine stitching I have been doing a lot of....

So, today is Thursday and tomorrow I am back in the studio, having spent a day this week doing clean up and organizing. I purchased a new electric stapler so I can more easily staple fabric to stretcher bars, so that is one thing to do, I need to trim up a couple of quilts and get facing on them, mount the new collages of the new stretched fabric. and then I am ready to figure out how to displace my felt pieces...those may also go onto stretched canvas...and then, I can open the sketchbooks and really look at all the ideas I have been jotting down....

A nice week away

I have returned after spending a week up in the cabin in the Sierra foothills. The first day was cold but then the weather turned spring like. Just beautiful. I spent time creating new samples for my on line class lessons, read an entire book, had naps, thought about quilt ideas, and just generally enjoyed myself. The only complaint was that I picked up a sore throat and head cold which I am still trying to shake! oh, well...and next week it will be time in the studio...just hoping that the weather stays a little warmer longer as that studio gets so cold. When the outside temperature drops past 60, so does the temperature in the studio. Someone told me I could get fingerless gloves as WalMart so I guess I will have to venture in to find some.

But, I am going to share with you the other collages for ONE!

ONE is a 1 day sale of 100 collages created by 20 artists. You can follow the link to get all of the information. This is another Virginia Spiegle fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. Many beautiful things to purchace!

Save the date! Feb. 16!

Meanwhile, I have continued with the circles in a larger format and will be posting them soon!

On line classes starting up

I have just announced my on-line classes on my website.

Better Art by Design is a six week class. Students leave this class feeling more confident about creating their own original quilts. Work is done at home and lessons are posted each week with a critique by me to help you understand the ideas better.  This class begins on Jan 31. Information is available on my website.

Advanced Better Art by Design is a four lesson class given over 8 weeks. This class is designed for those who have taken Liz's Better Art by Design class and are ready to do some more intensive work. Critiques are given as work is uploaded to the private Yahoo site. Again, go to my website for sign up information.


 I will also be teaching three classes at Quilt Nebraska in July.

In October, I will be in the beautiful Hudson River Valley enjoying a stay at the Greenville Arts 1889 Inn teaching Better Art by Design. This is through Hudson River Valley Fiberart workshops. Would love to have you come join me at this delightful time of the year!

Today was my last day as Rector's Warden for my church, All Saints Episcopal. I have turned all responsibility back to the rector who returned this past Monday and will be going off to the cabin for week on Wed. afternoon. I am looking forward to this peaceful time although I will be doing some fine tuning for my on line classes.


I am including a few more of the collages for ONE

 Yellow Circles 1

Yellow Circles 2

Put Feb 16 on your calendar so that you may bid of one of 100 collages available from twenty wonderful artists!

Happy New Year

The end of 2010 has come upon us. There are so many things I wish for, not for me personally but for the entire world.

I wish that everyone who could would give something to end world hunger.

I wish that everyone who could would give something to bring infrastructure to third world countries so they could have fresh, clean water and sanitation disposal.

I wish that we would all learn to appreciate and respect our differences and live together in peace.

I wish that we would all do what we can to help take care of our environment.

I wish that countries could be at peace.

I wish that children were never killed in violent acts.

I wish that we could all see beauty in our lives and take time to appreciate it.

May you have a happy new year and may 2011 be a happier year for everyone on this earth.

Another Day in the studio

Some time ago, Virginia Spiegel asked me if I would like to participate in a one day auction of collages to again raise money for the fight against cancer. I have joined her campaigns many times either by creating postcards or collages (last year) so of course, I said count me in.

So today I finished them up and now will be sending the photos off. Save this date and information:

One Cause, One Wednesday, One Hundred Collages

One Cause – The Fight Against Cancer.

One Wednesday – February 16, 2011.

One Hundred Collages – Created for this event by an all-star team of artists: Natalya Aikens, Pamela Allen, Laura Ann Beehler, Liz Berg, Pokey Bolton, Laura Cater-Woods, Jette Clover, Jane Davila, Jamie Fingal, Gloria Hansen, Leslie Tucker Jenison, Lyric Kinard, Jeanelle McCall, Linda Teddlie Minton, Karen Stiehl Osborn, BJ Parady, Judy Perez, Cynthia St. Charles, Virginia A. Spiegel
The goal – Raise $8,000 for the American Cancer Society in just one day. More details and a preview of artwork: http://bit.ly/ciJ0TN

I thought I would show you one of the five collages that I have completed for this event. The series is called "Yellow Circles". It is approximated 7" x 5" and is mounted on 10" x 8".

This is Yellow Circles 4

During this past summer, after my return from Switzerland, I began working with commercial felt. It has been very rewarding for me as I have done a number of different things with it. Some I have shown on Face book as they were done. I purchased industrial felt in a couple of different thicknesses and also had some circles punched for me and bought grey waste felt, that left over after punching out gaskets and things. This image is one which is a piece of commercial felt with some of the circles I had cut which have been needle felted onto the background felt. Then I took a piece of the grey waste, cut it to the shape I wanted and couched it down. It is far too dense to needle felt. I am now working on a very large piece that has this same waste and is being stitched by hand onto a large piece of 1/4" felt that is about 70" by 36"....this will take some time! I am glad I am working on this in the winter since it sit under the heavy felt blanket while I stitch!

This piece is not very large and will be mounted on mat board suitable for framing. It should be placed behind glass to protect it from dust. Since it is felt, it has an affinity for any stray pieces of almost anything.

where you have been, Liz?

It has been six months since I posted.  I have been doing art work but not a lot.

During the past year and a half I have served as Rector's Warden at All Saints Episcopal church in San Leandro, which I have attended for the past almost nine years. I stepped in to fill in for someone else. I have done this job before and it hasn't been too bad....regular visits with the priest to discuss the parish, plan making, etc....leading the vestry...all that kind of stuff. Well, six months ago, after a lot of on again-off again decisions, my priest decided that he was indeed going to take a three month sabbatical after a month of vacation, meaning he would be gone for four months.  The planning before hand took a lot of work and dealing with everyone's anxiety about his being gone was hard. But, here we are, just a little over a week before he returns to the church and less than two weeks when I will be relieved of my job completely as I will be going off of vestry. While he has been gone, I have been in charge of things...of course we have had an interim priest with us but she has only been handling Sunday services and any emergencies. I have gotten all the rest.

As I realized that my time was coming to an end, I started to relax and it wasn't until that started that I realized that I have been somewhat tense and stressed during some of this time. Nothing serious but enough that it was interfering with other parts of my life...mainly my art. So I did a little bit here and there, made some baby quilts that still aren't finished and just fussed around.

A couple of weeks ago I traded some rubber stamps (well, a lot of rubber stamps) to a friend for her 48"x18"x72" shelving unit. My husband gave me a hand putting it together and the next day we were back at Costco to get four more. By the time we had finished putting the last one together, we had it down and worked as a team. Then came all the rearranging which meant that heavy bins had to be moved around and we decided to change the layout of the wooden shelving units that my husband had made for the studio some time ago. Two of them came up front and make a nice display shelf for art work as well as a good place for me radio and ipod player.  The other four were stacked one on top of the other and then put together to make another 4'x8' work table with shelves underneath. They also hold bins of fabric. Now the new shelving is holding tons of frames, finished art work on stretcher bars, paints, silk screens, rolls of fabric, batting and tons of other stuff. There is still some space but for once I have my special papers laying flat on a shelf under the work table. One of my 6' tables is just folded up and the other one still have piles of stuff on it that I need to get sorted out. It is the place that I can sit down and work on collages and mixed media stuff. Another 6' table is still piled high with stuff...fabric to be ironed, work that needs to be finished, etc.

But today, I spent five relaxing hours back in the studio. I am back on track and ready to go full speed ahead.  Some of that time was spent cleaning up for then several hours were spent on collages.

I have a lot to share but don't want to spend all night doing it so this is just to help bring everyone up to date.

My Better Art by Design class will go on line again, starting the first of February. I will start taking sign ups later this week.

thank you all for your patience as I frittered around...it is now time to get back to the business of making and selling art....what a concept!

Back in the Studio

Well, today I finally made it back in to the studio.

It is a fascinating process...coming back after being gone for quite some time.

My mind is overflowing with so many thoughts and ideas that I sit and wonder what to do...should I start painting with the colors of Lyon? Should I work out the shapes of the buildings in Lyon and turn those in to abstract? Should I start doing some brush painting? Should I start doing some collages? Should I paint fabric? Should I work on my felt?

Just what should I do? It is really hard to come back after being gone...

I had left a rather large piece of felt partly stitched (about a 30" x 30" piece) so I decided to try out my new eyes with George and see how that went. It went fine once I tuned him up and cleaned him out and gave him some new juice (as in oil) and the we were ready to do...but just what did I want to do with this piece?

After some thought I just started stitching. The flow of the machine and the color being laid down by the thread was mesmerizing.  It felt good. It felt like what I should be doing. It was right. And I did a lot of problem solving during the process of finishing this piece.

So, now I am back in the groove...at least a little. I did some brush work on old maps and also on a piece of canvas I have painting. I have gotten my juices going again and now I can fall back in to the routine of making art....

Slow right now

I have spent about 4 hours in the studio during the past four weeks....not much time at all.

But, art has constantly been on my mind!  I have spent time looking over the pictures I have taken and have thought a lot about how I could represent what I have seen.

I have been drawn to the colors of Lyon.....off white, dirty white, creamy yellow, ocher, and pink.  Many of the buildings are built with natural stone which happens to be pink or ocher. And then there are the colors of the shutters: green, blues, browns, peeling white paint, green metal, gray, all sorts of colors. And the beautiful greens of the trees! What a delight!

There was a lot of art everywhere! Art on almost all of the buildings of some sort...either in the gargoyles, or in the faces in the wall, or the coloration used, or the placement of things, or the graffiti or the public art, both very old and very new.

This trip was very special as I traveled by myself in a country where I did not speak the language. I found most people to be very nice and helpful. I was fascinated by the neighborhood of my hotel which had a tiny collection (or maybe it was really pretty big, I couldn't tell) of many different peoples from many different countries...or at least, home countries.

World Cup games were on the the streets were filled with honking car horns when a team one, and the national flag of that country was waved proudly.

I was able to go at my own pace and take time to view what I really wanted to take time to do.

I missed a bus to go out of town and ended up waiting 2 and a half hours for the next one but just sat at the river Rhone and watched life going by. A group of some African people gathered across the river and some were on stilts, all brightly dressed, and I could hear their drum music across the river...it reminded me of Uganda but I know that wasn't where they were from.

There were times when I wished I had someone to share a thought with but I was quite a peace with myself.

This trip provided a lot of reflection time and a lot of visual ideas that are still sorting their way through my head.

I returned and it took about five days for me to finally get back on US time...waking up at 2 am is not so good when the whole day stretches out ahead of you!  To have a nap or not...would I be able to go ahead and sleep later or not or would I be up way too early?

We then took four days and went up to our cabin in the mountains where it was the absolute other end of the scale...very quiet, earth colors everywhere, greens, browns, and blue skies, and quiet except for a few birds.

For the first time I saw a number of crows up at our place...they caws filled the air with a screeching sound and disturbed the peace of the area...but then I guess they might have been warning everyone about our dogs where were with us!

So tomorrow I go in for cataract surgery on one eye (the other eye is fine and just has the very beginnings of a cataract) so one eye is it. I have made the decision to have my left eye vision corrected to a mid range so that I can machine quilt without glasses....I will need new glasses for reading (although my arms are still long enough to read if I hold something out far enough) and also for distance. I anticipate smooth surgery by a doctor who did both of my father's eyes and I have complete faith in him...not withstanding the notification of the dire consequences that could possibly happen...at least they were given with the percentage of possibility which made it somewhat better...a 1% change of something isn't too bad...

I am looking forward to next week, as I play some more with my felt and start painting with the colors of Lyon...and then we will see where that all goes!

Still in Switzerland

Once in a while, I was able to see the Alps outside my hotel room...

Because of the weather, many people who had come to hike the Alps were not able to....

My students worked very hard and I am quite happy to show a few of the more finished pieces.

These are just a few of the pieces that were done...one was finished, one was fused and ready to quilt and the other was partially quitled.

The greatest part about being a teacher is when the students make a gigantic, or sometimes small, breakthrough in their point of view. For many of the students, they had done none or little free form work. This opened up new horizons and helped them take those first steps in to creating their own works.

I love this! I love to see people "get it" and really get excited about making their own work rather than just doing things like someone else's.

It is so gratifing to do this....many years ago while in college I turned my nose up at teaching but then, what did I know at the ripe old age of 21? What a snob I was! I do have to keep teaching in balance because it is so easy to get caught up in teaching and not spend enough time in my studio which is most important to me. It is where I keep fresh, try new ideas, follow my ideas to where ever they go, and just absolutely be myself. I am in solitude there with few distractions.

I am truly blessed to be able to live this life both teaching and working in the studio.

I stayed with Patrica after the workshop;

Her home is out in the country in a little village and is absolutely delightful. It is very modern and comfortable with a beautiful garden. Her home is filled with art she and her husband have collected from all over the world. As her husband travels for business frequently, this collection has become quite large and very interesting.

The garden is in a Japanese style as you can see from the Bhudda sitting outside the window.

As it was late spring, everything was blooming and the iris were most impressive. I took many pictures of the koi pond, and other flowers and various decorations.

Marianne Bender was also at the seminar taking a workshop with Dijanne Cevaal's workshop.  Sophie had taken my on line classes and it was great fun to see what she was doing. She had worked with some photographs in one of my classes before and was continuing to do so in Dijanne's class.

This is one of the two pieces she was working on in the class.

Marianne Bender was also taking Dijanne's class and  is the one who was responsibile for getting my name to Christian Sauder who put on the seminar.

Later, we went to Marianne's winery and had a delightful time eating little bites of cheese, bread, meats and tasting five different wines they make. Absolutely delightful as Particia Sylvia, Marianne and Margo, all from my on line classes got together with their husbands for this fun time. What a wonderful experience to be able to visiti someone's winery and share with them in their home.

this is inside the outside of their home and tasting room and the other picture is from inside with Marianne. I neglected to get a photo of her husband who was watching the weather constantly while we were there.

Patrica, Sophia, and Patricia's oldest daughter, Enodie, went to see a wonderful retrospective exhibit of Nicolas de Stael...he committed suicide at a young age (45) but went through cubism to his own work and it was great to see the transformation of his work over his short lifetime. His color work and composition are truly outstanding and I was so happy to be able to see this artist's work and to add another artist to my library.

At the museum there was a wonderful sculpture garden which we enjoyed walking through.  While there we saw this woman sitting and joined her for a conversation.

  

Great artwork, including one of Rodin's five, The Kiss, a Henri Moore piece, a large, three sided mosaic by Chagall and many others.  A delightful day which was finished up by searching for appropriate tee shirts for my grandsons.

I did it again! My students' work

I actually got on blogger again! I found the right button, found the place to put it in Anglais rather than French and off I go! Now I will see if I can upload any pictures!

 One of the students, Anne, brought in a lot of fabric swatches which greatly improved our ability to find the right color for our exercises...I just thought they made beautiful pictures by themselves!

 so now we start with my students! Some are Swiss, some are German and some are French...but all spoke French except for me...

Anne-Marie (above)

Anne (above)

Catherine (above)

Caty (above)

 Christiane (above)

 Marie Elisabeth (above)

 Marianne (above)

Marie France (above)

Martine (above) who was also my translator

The other Martine (above)

Nadia (above)

Suzanne (above)

These pictures were all taken on the last day and also show the quilts they started. We had a lively discussion about art quilts and traditional quilts and how difficult it is to be accepted in a club when you do art quilts. (sound familiar) Also a lot of discussion on when is a quilt art...at least Europe has a strong respect for craft which made it a little easier!

This was an outstanding class and it was wonderful as we got to know each other, even with the language difficulties.

More to come...