Got It!

The red one is simply, "Reaching Up" and the large one if "Beyond the Boundaries"

Thanks!
Liz
p.s. this really wasn't a contest because there wasn't a prize!

Contest! Name these quilts!

This quilt you have seen with a very poor photo taken by me...now I have photos from my photographer and it looks, oh, so much better!

I am trying to decide if I should just name this piece Fences #... or if I should come up with a better name. Of course, I pose this question as I really don't have a better name so I am asking you to help me. Suggest a name for this one and for the next one.


This piece is all hand dyed cottons which have been cut and fused. I then used Neocolor I crayons to add additional color and I love the way the red-oranges just pop. It has so much depth in it in person. I am really happy with this one.

















Now this is finally the picture of my bigger one. It is roughly 50 x 50 " or something or other. My photographer forgot to take two sets of slides for this as I have to send out a set tomorrow so he still have the quilt to retake and I can't measure it right now.

Again, Fences.... or something new and different. It really is interesting to see this photographer because of the size and the mess in my studio I have had a hard time seeing the entire thing at once or from a distance. The background fabrics are dyed cottons which have been fused and then crayon work have been done on them.

The bolder colors are dyed raw silk which I have also silkscreened with a sublte color. The stickts and other blue squares are all machine quilted with a matching metallic thread so it picks up some sparkle...a little difficult to see in the picture.

So, what do you think about a title for these pieces? Of course, they are in my Fence series for they don't have to be titled Fence # such and such. Give me a hand!

Study in Red Postcards

Third time is the charm...finally got Study in Red postcards up...these two were done on monoprinted fabric and then I had a ball doing rubbings on my plastic mesh and then doing applique with commercial fabrics and then satin stitching. Did 14 of these, I think, for mailing to my Art2Mail group.

Where Have I Been?

This was a fun piece to do...different layers of paint and then swooshing through with a combing tool...lots of fun! Can't wait to cut it up!


I did a couple of pieces with reds and just really had a blast. This one above and the one below both have a piece of gridded plastic that is used over flourescent lights...just plopped it down and picked it back up!
This hot little number is not a monoprint but was painted in one of my surface design classes and I just came across it. Took my neocolor I's and did rubbings with my favorite plastic needlepoint canvas... I have two sizes of circles and they are both fun to do!
And then this is a final picture of a monoprint that I really like and am trying to decide if I will cut it up or use it and go from there...I'm thinking about cutting it and adding it to other collaged stuff.

It seems that I have this need to communicate with my group here...lest people think that I haven't been doing anything.

Well, I did take five days off and went up to the mountains where I read, worked on my art journal and cut down trees so that we will have a defendable area around the cabin. I also played computer games. What a change.

Came home Tuesday night and immediately started working on fabric!

However, the week before I was very busy doing monoprints! Those are so much fun that I have scanned a bunch and have posted them...each of these just represents 8x10" of the fabric.

So I have also been doing a Study in Red series of postcards which will probably go out to my Art2Mail postcard exchange group...or at least some of them. I used a monoprinted fabric, did rubbings and then added some commercial fabric sticks and then sewed...well, I have tried twice to put in two of the postcards but blogger is having one of those times...oh well.

Tomorrow I take off to one of Gerrie's favorite places...Bishop's Ranch...for three day retreat with members from my church. It is all about discovering our creativity and I take lots of stuff to help people unleash themselves creating art journals...it really is fun to watch people realize that they don't have to make "ART" and can just have fun with paint, paper, rubber stamps, etc.

See you all next week when I will have pictures of the finished big quilt!

more pics

So I have finally been able to get these little pieces up...these are all 6" x 8" and matted on 11 x 14" They are all actually rectangular but the way I shot the quickie photo sure doesn't show that...glad I don't try to do my work for slides...I'd never make it in a show! I have also done some minimal beading on these...using turquoise, fascetted beads and seed beads...you can see that I don't go over board with the beading!!!

Long time

It seems like it has been a long time since I have visited my blog...well, I will share pictures of bunches of new postcards.

Virginia Spiegel and Kerry will have Art for a Cause at Houston Quilt Festival this year. They will be selling postcards to benefit the American Cancer Society again. Although Virginia told me I didn't need to give her any for this, I can't help it. Cancer killed my mother (well, she was partly to blame since she smoked heavily for 60 years) but it cut short my relationship with her at a time when we were really coming together. So I do what I can.

I also still need to get 40 of these babies mailed off to my Art2Mail groups...I sent one whole list's worth to Virginia for her on line sale...guess I better get working!

I've almost finished my big piece...now I remember why I like to do smaller things. I am finished sewing the binding by hand and then have to get it to the photographer's as I think I will enter it at PIQF.

Lots of entries coming up...so much work to do...

I have been reflecting on Sonji's words about race...I found it so helpful to hear her say that we need to accept each other in our differences and not try to make everyone like us...whoever "us" is. The entire issue of race relations keeps bopping around in my head. I am so upset about the lack of releive going to children who are starving in Africa, women who are raped in the name of revolution, children who are forced to kill parents. We can head off to fix the world in Iraq but we seem to be rather blind to groups of white people who keep killing each other en masse in Europe. And then, today, I was reading about a new group of supremest white young men in Russia who are out to cleanse their society. Just what their parents fought against...well, sort of. I can get totally depressed but remind myself that I can only do what I can do. I am working hard to help earn money for a school and orphanage in Uganda and I guess that is what I can do. This helps children who have lost parents due to AIDS and children who are HIV positive.

But back to art...something isn't working right...I have uploaded some other pics twice but nothing shows up even tho it says its up...oh well, will try another time.

Public Rejections

I went public with my rejection of the World of Beauty show yesterday on QA. It has had the intended effect...a lot of people now realize that many of us who are in shows get rejected...we don't get in to all of the shows. It is interesting, however, that the odds of getting in to WOB were not too bad as 40% of the entries did get in.

I was looking back at my pile of entries for other shows which were declined and the odds of getting in those was even worse. At the Holter Museum of Art there were 55 pieces selected from 1400 entries; the Marin Society of Artists selected 113 pieces of art out of 1600 pieces entered by 568 artists; Touchstone Galleries has 348 artists enter over 1000 pieces of art and 67 were chosen from 65 artists.

And then there are all the rejections that don't tell you how many were entered or picked but just send back your notification sheet.

So I just keep entering and have had a lot of pieces accepted in different places...it just depends upon what the jurors are looking for and being at the right place at the right time.

Oh well, Summer Fun didn't make World of Beauty in Houston but it is going to the Pennsylvania Quilt Festival and will also be at the Marin Needlework and Quilt Show soon. So we just keep slugging away, sending in money and self addressed stamped envelopes along with our hopes...

New Website is UP!!!

Yaaaaahoooooo! Gloria did it! I've got the best website out there, thanks to Gloria Hansen and her magic! I am just so jazzed about it. She has been so wonderful to work with and has captured the feel exactly like I wanted it but didn't know I wanted it...It feels like me!

Ya gotta check it out! www.lizbergartquilts.com

I've been so busy updating stuff for her and getting all my data together that I have barely had time to do more work...but then spending a day yesterday with my dad and doing other obligatory things gets in the way...

Gotta finish quilting this big piece which takes muscle power to move it around but it's getting there...a few more days!

This blog ring

It's interesting how one can begin to feel out of the loop if one doesn't keep up on the other blogs in the ring. I've been really busy doing all sorts of things...especially getting that last quilt finished for the show and other stuff.

Started taking a look at a few of the blogs and hit Gabrielle's and was blown away by her thoughts about being in the moment, so to speak, of doing what you are doing artistically...my spin on it, I guess.

I have really been feeling like I was a little strange. At one point I posted about being so absorbed in my art that I found it difficult to do other things (except for my grandson, that is) and that started a discussion about doing the things we "need" to do...I know, I do take care of the absolute needs but I am really finding that there are a lot of things that really don't fall in to that category that I used to think did.

But, after thinking more, and reading Gabrielle's pithy words, I have come to understand that I am really different from a lot of people and that is because I can become so absolutely focused in my art that everything else disappears. I really don't know quite how to explain it and I guess I am really trying to figure it out but putting words to it.

I know I cannot stop the creative process that takes place in my brain. It is always going, always storing ideas and inspiration, noting colors, textures, odd sightings, interesting formations, whatever is around me. I am an observer and was really in a good job as a probation officer because I did a lot of observing peope (in addition to being paid to ask the most private questions of people). Of course, I did get very tired of being around the people I was around and not having anyone come to see my because they wanted to see ME! I also realize that I was very focused when I was in that job also. In fact, focused may not be the right word...maybe obsessive would be better (in fact a psych exam did state as much).

I am most happy when I am in the middle of creating. However, I am very happy when I am able to instill the sense on creativty in others. It is so rewarding to see people begin to grasp what I am saying about their creative abilities and to finally accept it for themselves.

I have given up (pretty much) being competitive with other artists as I have come to truly understand that there is room for lots of great work. I may really admire someone else's work and that does not mean that mine isn't good, just that theirs is different. (don't know if I am making sense because it is late)

My very best friend, Carol Suto, had her I Remember Mama quilt accepted in this year's show and mine was not accepted. I was very excited for her and really ok about mine not getting it. Then she got the call that she had won 2nd place for hers and I can honestly say that I was as excited for her as if I had won. And the greatest part is that we had already planned to go to Houston so she will be there to receive the award herself. She is just starting in the world of art quilts and has so much to say and does such a dynamite job at doing it...she just retired last month so finally is able to give her art her full attention. I can hardly wait to see what comes out of her! Her work and mine are so totally different...she has stories and things to say and I am very abstract in my work.

Anyway, back to trying to figure out my mind...not that I really could but it is interesting to think about...sometimes the images and thoughts that pop in are very distracting, expecially when I am in the middle of a sentence about something else, talking to someone...I get this kind of glazed look, stop talking and, whomever I am talking to has to bring me back and refocus me...no, it is not a seizure but that sure would be easier to explain! It's like my brain hops and skips around various ideas but once I latch on to something, I am really focused. I do my best problem solving at night when I am quasi-asleep...solve all the technical problems, figure out how to accomplish what I want to accomplish and put it all together. So, in the morning, all I have to do is to follow the plan of action I worked on during the night.

Oh well, guess I better get to sleep so I can work on the quilting of this big quilt I am doing...

See ya...

Got it fixed, thank you very much

went in, took that personality test thing off (it was only partly right anyway) and things are back to normal...Of course, haven't a clue as to what else might have been in that post but I'm sure it wasn't very important...

Thanks for the help!

my blog site

Can anyone tell me what happened to my blog site? Half of the stuff is with a tan background and other junk and my stuff on the side doesn't show up until much later. I didn't do anything...at least I don't think I did, except to go to that site for the personality test and then tried to put it in my blog...

Any ideas?

New Piece Finished

Well, I finally got a new piece done. Between Gabrielle and Ellen Lindner who have both cut up their quilts, I did the same thing. It is easy to see where I cut this one up but I think it looks much more dramatic cut up and satin stitched down to the black quilted under quilt. It is going to a show at a gallery in Auburn, CA with the California Fiber Artists, a group I belong to.

This piece is called "Syncopation" and is a nice size of 36.5" wide by 41" high.

I have been working on my rust piece which I am still quilting by hand and am ready to sandwich another large piece that is almost 60 x 60...got to go over to the church on Thursday as every horizontal surface in my studio has way too much stuff to clear off to work on something this big...as soon as it's pinned, I start quilting so should have it done by early next week.

Then I've been working on little ones...some of which have shown up on my website under the Sketches gallery...the Color Spots...

Well, back to the work at hand!

Our Very Own Sonji Hunt

I've been really busy so have just breezed through the blogs lately and haven't kept up my own very well.

Yesterday I opened my new copy of Somerset Studios and was busy reading away when all of a sudden, I realized I was reading about our own Sonji Hunt and her clothing books. What fun! A whole other side of her that I didn't realize was there! What a very talented young woman! Way to go, Sonji!

The Joys of Grandmotherhood

Last evening my daughter called to see if I could come over and babysit my almost nine month old grandson for the evening so they could go out and look at cars. I had just finished all the putting together and quilting of a new piece that has to be delivered on Wed. and needed to true it up and put the binding and sleeve on...but really too tire to do it last night.

Went over and when Jacob heard my voice he broke out in to a big smile. Boy oh boy, if that isn't enough to make your heart melt! Then he reached for me! Of course, by then I was putty in his little grabby hands.

What was so very special is that I could just lay down on the floor with him and observe and interact with him in ways I was never able to do as a parent with my own two children. I'm not working out of the home, I'm not in a very stressful job, I don't have to get up at any certain time, I've raised children and am much more comfortable with them, and I don't have day in and day out responsibility for him. I could watch his little mind work. He isn't crawling yet...almost, but he inch-worms himself around and as a consequence has great upper body strength!

I watched him turn things on and turn things off. I watched him grasp things with great purpose. I watched him just studying things. I could just watch his little mind working. I listened to his new sounds and laughed at his new raspberry sounds and new giggles and laughs. Got to feed him dinner and give him a bath and just watch him playing in the water!

It was so just delightful. I babysit him every other Friday and I really look forward to that special time with him. I can not believe the feeling of utter love I have for this little boy but am so grateful that I am able to have this time with him and get to really know him in a special way that I never could with my own children.

I love being older...I feel wiser and steadier. I don't have to prove myself although my little bits of insecurity creep in at times. I am who I am and I don't feel like I have to apologize for myself (although I am beginning to wonder if I haven't gone off the deep end as I am so deeply committed to my art that I have a hard time focusing on other stuff at times!)

Sorry to give you all of this but it was important to me!