Happy Birthday to Me ...and thanks to all who make it possible

Yes, you, my friends, my family and readers and supporters and sister/fellow artists. Without the support and encouragement of all of you, my life would be far less than what it is. I am fortunate to spend my time in work and play that I am passionate about, intrigued by, immersed in and always learning from. I am grateful for those who sign up and pay for workshops, who buy my art, who find and help me with other gainful employment, always creatively challenging. And for those who read and comment and make my day by passing along a blog post or two.

Today I am spending the day in my usual dance of work and play, making a few phone calls to set up projects (the latest non-art gig is to develop a curriculum for Villa Finale, a National Trust for Historic Preservation property), spending some in the world out there via internet and working on a new quilt design. It is incredibly difficult to realize that I have been on this earth for 63 years -- I still seem to spend most of the time looking out from a 7- or 12- or 28- or 35-year-old brain. Somehow I seem to be all those ages, plus more, all at once.

We spent the Easter weekend with family, my parents in their mid-80s, a whole raft of nieces, nephews and cousins of nieces and nephew, a feast of many hands, a spring (albeit too dry) afternoon with blessings for us all. 

Here's to staying healthy, happy, thankful and playful, and I hope you all join me in a toast to life today and every day. Poetry, welcome.

Between the Lines Artist Profile

My artist's interview profile was featured this past week on DINNER AT EIGHT, the blog for the curatorial team of Leslie Jenison and Jamie Fingal. I'll have a piece in their upcoming exhibit Between the Lines.

Here's a reprint of my profile -- but head over to the site to see the great write ups daily about each of the participating artists. It's been my daily blog reading lately! I'm honored to be in such great company.

1.  What do you call yourself - art wise?   Artist. Fiber Artist. Textile artist. Artist who makes quilts for the wall. Depending on who asks. 

 
2.  How do you jump start your creativity when you are in a slump?   Usually I wait it out for a while, believing in compassion for myself at this age, and with the experience of knowing that slumps really don't last forever. In those instances I try to feed my imagination with a trip to a thrift store to look for textiles, or a trip to the library for new books. Now that I have a computer-linked TV I might watch a documentary or film about an artist. But when a slump looks like it is taking serious hold I make myself pull out fabric and pile it on the design table, auditioning colors for something working out of one of my ongoing series.

 3.  If money wasn't an issue, what would you do with your art?   With just a bit more security in the financial realm I would enter more juried exhibitions -- especially non-art-quilt ones. And if money way REALLY no issue, I'd take on some giant-scaled art collaborative projects, pay a slew of assistants to do all the drudgery parts of the process, make some enormous art quilts/installations for non-profits or schools (with the participation of those within them) and see where that led us!

 4.  Do you keep a sketchbook, journal, etc.?   I do on-and-off. Right now is "sort of on," but not daily. I do use sketchbooks and journals to inspire new projects when I think I don't have any ideas. My piece for this exhibit was taken directly from a collage that I had tucked away in a sketchbook -- I rarely work from sketches or paper designs, but when I do, the work comes from an old sketchbook or journal, rarely a current one. 

 5.  Where can people see your other work this year?  shows, books, magazines, etc.  In my studio, at the Twig Bookstore in San Antonio (a small ongoing exhibit/sale). 

 6.  Do you teach?  where?   I teach weekend retreats at my home/studio, El Cielo, which is on the top of a ridge northwest of San Antonio in the Texas Hill Country. I also teach at the Southwest School of Art and around the country at conferences, guilds and shows, but I confess that this year I have been less active as a fiber arts teacher, since I have been working quite a bit for an international program based at Alamo Colleges. Through that program I teach creative workshops to Central American teachers who are the U.S. to add to their abilities to teach in their rural schools back home, as well as teaching art workshops to Central American Youth Ambassadors and their Texas hosts.

 7.  Is there a particular artist who had influenced you in your art life? and why?   I am still looking at Matisse. His paper cutouts, use of color, amazing spirit as a lifelong artist all inspire me, and have since I was in high school. 

 8. Where or what show do you hope your work will be in someday?  Quilt National. But I've never had the courage to enter! 

 9.  Describe your studio workspace.  I have the studio of my dreams. For years I worked in a dusty, un-air conditioned crumbling shed/garage. When we moved to the country about 5 years ago we landed in a big house with a separate studio/apartment and 2-car garage. It's large enough for me to use for teaching, but not so large that I don't have to keep it cleaned up. And there is a 20-mile view outside the doorway, and a 10 second commute to the kitchen.

10.  What 3 tools could you not live without?  The Bernina; cheap scissors that I don't have to worry about and toss when they get dull; fusible web.

11.  What drives you to make the work that you do?  A respect for creativity and our human right and responsibility to live in its realm. A profound love of color and texture and shape that is part of my birthright. The desire to tell stories about life and living my life through potent, powerful images.

12.  How do you balance your life?  On tip-toe. Teetering this way and that. With the support of my partner. By living away from a lot of distractions. 

Coming up next year: Copper Shade Tree Gallery

From Gerald:

Hope all of you are having a great Spring. The wildflowers are in full bloom in Round Top which means... tourism, thank goodness.

We are excited to announce the participants for The Art in Fiber 2012:

Connie M. Fahrion
Cindy Henneke
Lisa Kerpoe
Ginny Eckley
Suzan Engler
Liz Axford
Jo Sweet
Carolyn Dahl
Jack Brockette
Susie Monday
Jane Dunnewold
Mary Ruth Smith
Laura Ann Beehler
Diane Sandlin
Andrea Brokenshire
Linda Teddlie Minton
Martha Tsihlas
Susan King
Barbara Booth
Annie Smith

- Thank you all for joining us. We are truly excited about this upcoming show, and look forward to a great artistic relationship with you all. Each one of us has the responsibility to carry our art form to new levels... The Eyes of Texas are Upon Us, yes, we are being watched. Having said that, your creativity is extremely inspiring to others.

"Copper Shade Tree Expansion" We finally made it happen. After discussions about a new expansion, Copper Shade Tree has just about doubled in size. We were given the opportunity to acquire additional space in The Stone Cellar, and we took their offer. The front room of The Stone Cellar was the wine room. They moved the wine to the cellar and it looks fantastic.  The Art in Fiber 2011 show was the premier opening in the new room. Make plans for a visit to Round Top and stop by to see the new look.

From Photo to Fabric -- Image Prep for Thermofax

Continuing the on-line investigations today (yes, I'm home and laying low with a spring cold, it seems), I've been looking for a good on-line photo editor that will take the place of PhotoShop for those of my students who don't own the software. 

 

The original photo

Since my knowledge of Photoshop can be contained in a thimble (I use it exclusively to resize photos and to turn photos into high contrast black and white images to use to make thermofaxes), it doesn't take too much to satisfy this tech need. And I found much more than needed with Pixlr. And even Pixlr Express will do what I need for converting to a thermofax-friendly image. Pixlr has been around for a while so it may be familiar to you -- best of all, of course, it's free and it takes up no room on your computer. You can save the images you create or alter into several different formats including jpeg and tiff files.

 The photos in this post show several different conversions using different tools in the software. Here are the tips I can share so far: use "desaturate" to convert from color to black-and-white. Up the contrast all the way, adjusting brightness as you see fit. These actions take place under the "Adjustments" tab at the top of the image editor. Then under "Filters" apply the "art poster" effect, moving the toggle switches to see what different effects you get. If you want a "noisy" print, use the NOISE filter before you play around with art poster.

Try your own combinations of actions and order of actions to vary the image. You'll find a rich field of image ideas to convert to thermofax screens, stencils, traditional screen-prints or even stamps with cut foam or surestamp.