2/22/14

Inspired

I keep floating back and forth between big and little feltscapes... when the big one gets a little over whelming I take a day off and start something small.

This week I've been incredibly productive. Last Saturday I woke up and went to work on adding the finishing touches to my last piece for the Hants County Arts Council's Annual Group Showcase at the Bread Gallery in Brooklyn. This was our first time hosting an opening in the afternoon and I think it's safe to say it was very successful with many new and familiar faces attending the opening.

For me the highlight of the afternoon was receiving a giant shopping bag of wool from fellow fibre artist Rose Marie MacDonald. 

Did I mention I had mistaken the deadline for the Swoon group show and it was also February the 15th... so not only did I wake up felting, I finished out the weekend hooking (Brandt the sweetheart gave me a days extension). 

I don't think it was even 4 hours before I finally had the chance to go through Marie's bag of goodies. Within a few minutes of exploring I was back at it, completely inspired to make use of my new found fibre bounty!
 
Mister checking out my new bag of loot from Marie!

Since I was quite low on many a shade of roving (almost out of blues entirely) I decided to make use of what I did have - black and a lovely lapis lazuli blend by the Uber Wench.

I experimented by starting with the shadows and slowly built up my night sky. I have a habit of starting a piece by working upside down and putting my sky in on the bottom, and then eventually I flip it. I wasn't long into this piece before I decided not to flip my canvas and my dark sky became a wild ocean.






At one point I was going to add white caps but I resisted, and Bryan kept me from adding a fish. With every piece I create I like to live with it for a little while. As I got used to my fishing boat I decided to get past my urge for white caps and giant jumping fish and I made a little "Big Tuna".





The last few days I've been working on a feltscape inspired by the latest handbill for the Bread Gallery, also a Carol Morrison original. Hopefully my 3-D wall hanging will be a fitting tribute to this beauty! This piece will no doubt make an appearance at the 16th annual Great Little Art Show, May 9th - 11th, at the Avon River Heritage Society Museum in Newport Landing, NS.



This showcase features work by myself, Carol Morrison, G. A. Jank
and nearly 20 other members of the Hants County Arts Council.
 
Getting ready to stitch on the foreground of my latest 3-D feltscape ,
inspired once again by the plien air paintings of Carol Morrison.

 

Sometime I just need to sit beside the piece in low light
and map out where I'm going to put the next layers


I'll keep you posted on my progress...

2/21/14

Hooked on Swoon

 
 



I was beyond excited when I heard about this group show. I've always been a fan of the paintings of Carol Morrison; her plien air studies of our Nova Scotian landscape truly capture the simple beauty of the area I like to call home. So when I heard about this challenge, I jumped in feet first!
 
 
This juried event, asked rug hookers to choose a piece by a Swoon artist as their inspiration. Both the inspiration piece and the hooked work will be shown together in this unique show.


 
 
Carol Morrison's Pumpkin Paddler, 2013
My rendition of Carol Morrison's pumpkin paddler.

 
 
Last summer I was fortunate enough to organize a show for Carol at the Bread Gallery in Brooklyn along with metal sculptor G. A. Jank. Since August I have carried around copy of their handbill in my car, simply because I love the image so much.
 
I was so impressed by Carol's collection of work based on Hants County that when Brant Eisner, Swoon's director, put out the call to artists for a group show  I knew right away I wanted to hook Carol's paintings... in fact I didn't want to hook just one... I had 3 images in mind that I just knew I had to translate into fibre!
 

 

I'm not kidding about my excitement.... I started hooking the White Cliffs, St Croix River on Christmas Eve... I just couldn't stop myself!

 
 
 
 
My work in progress of the White Cliffs of Saint Croix.
My inspiration for the White Cliff of Saint Croix by Carol Morrison.
 

Now that these two are finished I want to attempt one of her back lit winter scenes...

 
 

Hooked On Swoon – A group show of hooked work, inspired by Swoon artists!



Show Runs: Sat, March 01, 2014 - 2:00pm to Sat, March 29, 2014 - 6:00pm

Opening Reception: Sat, March 01, 2014 - 2:00pm to 5:00pm
  



 
 
Please join us for the opening reception Saturday, March 1st from 2 – 5 pm.




 

Swoon Fine Art and Antiques
 
1410 Hammonds Plains Road
Hammonds Plains, NS
B4B 1P6 
 
   
Hours:
Monday - Friday: 12 - 6
Saturday: 10 - 6
Sunday: Closed
 
 



2/16/14

Two openings in one day!

I wish I could have been in two places at once yesterday, but I put on my President hat and attended the opening of the Hants County Art Council's 3rd annual group showcase at the Bread Gallery in Brooklyn. This was our biggest show at the Bread Gallery to date, with 21 of our members participating. The variety of work was impressive, with bright colours being a common theme - a perfect compliment to the blahs of winter.
 
Meanwhile in Halifax it looks like I missed a heck of an opening at Argyle Fine Art. With dog being featured upstairs and cats down stairs "Cat Person. Dog Person. Which are you?" brought many a two legged and 4 legged art lover to the gallery.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Cat Person. Dog Person continues until March 4th and the HCAC Group Showcase continues until March 30th.
 
 
 
 
"Our own little piece of Heaven" on display at the Bread Gallery in Brooklyn
"A Day at the Beach" on display at Argyle Fine Art in  Halifax
 
Some of my Woodland Wool creations on display at the Bread Gallery