New Directions in 2014

Hello "strangers"!  Where did the year go?  My new hip (named"Lexus") is healed up, I turned 65 (yikes) and have entered the world of Medicare and Medicare supplements.  In November we also celebrated our 45th anniversary with a trip to Kauai, Hawaii.  Back to Minnesota cold.

This year I've taken some new directions, with art quilting on the back burner.  Two years ago I took a weekend collage workshop from Laura Lein-Svencner and followed it this past May with a weeklong collage class at  Dillman's near Lac du Flambeau, WI (the wild north of the state).

It's a fascinating new direction for me.  The process begins with altering many types of paper such as National Geographic pages, dictionary pages, etc. with gesso, Citrasolv, NevrDull (yes that's how you spell it), stencils and acrylic paint.  These papers are coated on both sides with acrylic medium, dried, then layered and fused with a heat tool.  Paint is brushed on, wiped off, more layers are added and the composition grows.

Here are some samples of my pieces from 2014.  The first two pieces (birds) and last two are 8" x 8" and the others are 6" x 6".  All are mounted on wood panels about 1" deep.

Wishing you all well in the upcoming New Year.  Francie Ginocchio

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Irene MacWilliam - Nature

I was asked to be a member of "Crossing Oceans"  an invited group of international artists from around the world, each offering their own unique perspective on the chosen theme of NATURE. Textile artist Jane Rollason is the curator of this group. Members of this exhibiting group are: Jane Rollason (UK), Hilary Beattie (UK), Charlotte Yde (Denmark), Irene MacWilliam (Northern Ireland), Bergen Rose (US), Dijanne Cevaal (Australia), Lin Hsin-Chen (Taiwan), Ineke Berlyn (UK), Frieda Anderson (US), Christiane Kuhr (Germany), Elaine Quehl (Canada), Pat Archibald (Scotland) and Kay Haerland (Australia)
see
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Crossing-Oceans-Textile-Artists/1444364839182803

I was asked to produce 6 pieces for the above group. It was suggested we make pieces 24 x 12 inches either portrait or landscape. I made my pieces as 3 sets of 2 using black and white striped fabric.

Vine Leaves Red

Vine Leaves Green

Flowers in Vase 1

Flowers in Vase 2

Bird and Flowers 1

Bird and Flowers

Lines or circles

Lines or circles, that is the question. Originally my idea was to continue working with my theme of 2013 - lines - as I still have a couple ideas. But for one of my online groups Stitched I picked the theme circles. For this group we have to make 4 quilts per year. It is now early March and I have completed 7 and am working on number 8. Overachieving? Maybe <gr>. Or I could choose circles for this group as well? Or I could work with both lines as well as circles? At the moment I just don't know.
Any way here are pictures of the circle quilts I have created. There is one more which I cannot show you yet, as I will be helping Kelly on the Fire blog in August.

Duck!

Overlapping Circles

Within the Circle

Circles never End

Life is like an Onion

Throwing Pebbles into the Pond

Moving On!

I have to admit....coming up with a theme or concept that truly inspired me for the coming year seemed a bit elusive.  Not sure why. Perhaps because I just finished up two major projects and needed some "brewing" time.  But....a few days off made the difference it seems.

My pieces for 2014 are going to be from some of my favorite photos of old (and rather crumbly) barns.  I'm so excited to get started on this series.  I don't think it will be as close to realistic as some of my recent work. At least in  my head there is something I want to try out.  I'll keep you guys posted along the way!!

Here are just a couple of my photos that are begging to be translated!! I even have their titles already!!

Patchwork

Coming Unhinged

Windswept

The hard part now is to pick out the remaining three. There are so many that I truly like!! I'm thinking I will do the six for this group for this year but I don't think it will be the end of the series. At least if they turn out like I see them in my head!!!  And we all know how that sometimes goes!!

Now to come up with a name for the series.....hmmmmmmmmm.............

Today is the day.....

Just stopped by the studio to finish up putting things together to take this evening for my art show opening.  SOOOOOOOOO nervous....and excited.  Thanks to all of you who have gone on this journey with me toward my 2014 goal of a solo show.  I'm finding it quite nerve-wracking.  I've been in shows before but only with a few pieces and a whole lot of other artists.  This is the first time it's just me.  Good news AND scary news. The success or not...all on me...

OK...gotta think about something else now.  Like what the heck to wear!!!  Still haven't decided.  Perhaps coveralls with paint all over them????  Sheesh....no idea.  Can you tell I'm nervous????

I'm planning on taking the whole weekend OFF!!  No schedule....no plans....just winging it. Probably catching up on some much missed sleep?

I'll report to you all next week...photos and everything!

Final piece started

So...now I'm on the fifth and final piece for the show.  I wanted to follow the "life" of the pecan from sapling to final purpose.  And the final purpose of pecans is TO BE EATEN! -- preferably in a pecan pie or pecan waffles!

I'm working on the Pecan Pie first.  I printed a copy of my mom's pecan pie recipe (which she got from her mom) on an 8" X 10" piece of silk organza.  Now I'm working on the slice of pie.  Screen printing is done on one of the dyed fabrics I did for this series and I'm just filling in with a lighter brown color wash to give it some depth.  I took this photo so you could see the un"washed" pecans and the "washed" ones.  When I'm finished with this wedge, I'll be using this for one of the textile additions.  I have some hand dyed and spun wool from my niece (keeping it in the family ya know) which I have braided and will be using it for the fluted outer "crust"

I was struggling with this one earlier today. I took a break for an episode of Frasier and a cup of Earl Gray tea.
 B R E A T H E..........

Came back to the studio and things started falling into place a bit better.  It might change a bit before it is done but at least now I have the complete piece in my head.

The working title for this one is Final Purpose. Not totally what I want but I'm currently brain dead.....
Any suggestions are welcomed!

Gonna grab some dinner now. Not sure if I'll make it back out to the studio. I think it would be best to go to bed and get a new start tomorrow.

Winter Harvest completed!!

At last! It is completed and ready for the photographer on Tuesday!

I used some of the crushed pecan shells on the tree bark.  And I filed down some half shells to add to the ground cover and one falling from the tree!

Here it is!

WINTER  HARVEST

(keep in mind...these are my photographs. They will look much better after Shawn gets a hold of them!)

#4 Winter Harvest - plan to be completed tomorrow!

Well, I'm having a blast!!!  Was working on this piece today and had a brainstorm.  I have bark cloth (thanks Wil!!) and my tree has bark........so........I took bits of the bark cloth, adhered them to the "tree" and then painted them in.  So far I have done the trunk  (well....in this photo TWO of them are painted in.  I left the other two naked so you could see the difference)  In actuality they are all painted in now.  I'll be adding some to the larger limbs, then some crushed pecan shells (like in Emergence). The pecans on the ground - that is how we harvested them....shook the limb and they fell down among a good bit of twig debri and then we picked them up off the ground - I have screen printed in the black "shadow" of the pecans.  Then I will screen print over that with the brown.  I also have several half shells of my real pecans which I'm thinking about adhering among the screen print ones.  There will also be several tufts of grass sticking up.

So....here it is so far. The bit on the left of the tree is still a bit wet which is why it is also a bit shiny. The top and bottom bits have not been painted in yet.

WINTER  HARVEST