arlee

mining the lodes

Posted on August 30, 2016August 30, 2016 by arlee

Obviously a few years ago, i enjoyed sketching, painting, drawing–why did i stop? Maybe that’s why i feel stale, stagnant and like i’m repeating myself.

Not everything made it to cloth, but i have a stockpile to pick from.

I translated ideas in my head, on paper and then on the cloth:

We are usually our own worst critics. “I should have done this, done that, not done it, oh my gadz what was i thinking”: the whole shitshubola of insecurity rolls through our minds as we cringe inwards. BUT, i think sometimes too when you look back you can see freer expression and less inhibition about trying new media or subjects. I’ve started looking at previous work (done before the last 3 years) with older (semi) wiser eyes and see common threads that i have/had lost through preciousness and the search for acceptance. In that respect i mean being part of a current trend or on the bandwagon rather than acceptance of what i do because i do it, rather than “this is what is popular”. (This year has been one of going back to myself rather than worrying about what everyone else is doing, or what the current hoopla is about online, so i say “had lost”.) The origins of our own art can be a minefield or a mine of new motherlodes. Since the “word of the year” for me is “Origin”, i’m re-exploring some of that. June 1,2012

Looking at myself again, inside, that long path behind the subconscious.

I have a (self imposed) deadline for the winged figure piece, but am going to take some deliberate time with mark makers of various sorts again.

journal: lessons to learn, Not so ordinaries

I have re-instated my Flickr account for photos. I was off there for a couple of years due to the amount of image theft that is now prevalent, but have decided while i can’t stop people, i can at least watermark enough that the work/images are clearly MINE.

Because i neither like nor allow pinning, tumblring or however else you feel you may take my photos, i ask that you respect my copyright and ask first if you wish to share to a reputable blog or website. I can’t stop you, but it would be nice if people were respectful of artist rights in this ever grabby world 🙂 Thanks, Blossoms!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/arlee/

"Rosehips", Collision: the work begins, in progress

prepping for “Rosehips”

Posted on August 29, 2016August 29, 2016 by arlee

While i want the hexes/honeycombs/cells again on this piece, this time i want to stay away from bees! They are a recurring motif in my work, but beyond just laying there on the surface, they really wouldn’t be adding much to the story, so no bees this time, i promised myself.

But what else often shows up? Yes, rivers and roots, but not for this, methinks. MMMM, roses.

From “The Weight She Carries”:

Being as it is now the end of August, and Autumn is moving closer, it’s not the flowers that are around now, (though they will make an appearance as well), but the “fruit”, the rose hips. And so, until she has an “official” title, she shall answer to “Rosehips” 🙂

Fortunately, there is a yard down the way that has a wondrous showing of rosehips, so i quickly did a clip-by and brought these home to study:

Fast and dirty paint studies this morning:

Now i have to dig out some more fabrics and figure out HOW i will use these on this:

(Actually i already know what fabrics and what technique i will use, so stay tuned for that 😉 )

This is rather a trite exercise below, but who knows how it will transform with stitch? This cloth wasn’t terribly successful on its own during residency, so maybe just a bit of make up, and it won’t be such a plain jane!

On the other hand, it may just become a sampler/test cloth, which is okay too.

And just because traditionally one shows off one’s garden produce:

This one slipped under the radar by hiding under a monster leaf–i don’t usually let them get any bigger than 4-5″ long and easily circled by one hand, as it’s too much for one “sitting” to eat. Still tasted great though–pan-fried with butter and garlic, then dipped in sour cream-MMMMMMMMMMMMMM!

Contextural Fibre Arts Co-operative, Residency 2016, Residency 2016, Shows/Publications

“Original Truths” in true colours

Posted on August 28, 2016August 29, 2016 by arlee

We hung the exhibit today at ACAD’s “371 Gallery”, and finally i am happy with the photos of this piece!

"Rosehips", Collision: the work begins, in progress

“rosehips”

Posted on August 25, 2016August 25, 2016 by arlee

Thinking of Autumn already.

Madder dyed silk to start.
I have a clear vision of this one already, with some different techniques going to be used to add life and dimension.

in progress, Probably talking to just myself

there will be feathers flying again

Posted on August 23, 2016August 23, 2016 by arlee

I’ve decided to start with this orientation, another cloth created during my summer Contextural ACAD residency.

Of course, with wings, there must be feathers. I have *just* enough of these “filler” cloths for those, more fabric designed deliberately to be cut up:

Not sure if both will be used, or just the one on the right. Or the one on the left. Or both. !!!!!!!!!!!

Previous feather work:

Above, detail of work in progress “Strange Soul Take Flight” 2013.

Below, detail of “The Weight She Carries” 2014.

There will be hexes again, but done differently this time.

Today i will take a print out of the cloth to the Day Job for those pesky boring spare five minutes when there are no duties to attend to:

Contextural Fibre Arts Co-operative, Residency 2016

Original Truth, truthfully done

Posted on August 22, 2016August 22, 2016 by arlee

Please forgive the awful background! I am having the devil of a time photographing this one so it’s true to life! I’ve tried different lighting, inside and outside, but for the first time ever trying to document my own work, i am foozled for true colour and depth of field. I don’t think i’m going to get a decent shot of the whole, until it’s hung in the gallery for the “selfEDGE” exhibit on the 28th.

But it’s done, and that’s what counts. Six weeks to the day of worrying about my time line and all the little details, and here i am finished with 6 days to spare!

Collusion: sampling, Contextural Fibre Arts Co-operative, Residency 2016, Shows/Publications

Original Truths, almost done

Posted on August 22, 2016August 22, 2016 by arlee

I thought i had been working on this for months, but as it turns out since “res” was done at the end of June, it hasn’t been that long after all. All the little details are what makes it seem longer ago than July 11th that i started it! I have only a few tiny areas left to stitch, then to back it, ready for delivery on the 28th.

As i said in a previous post, i’ve always felt alien, outsider, misfit, so this then i guess is a self portrait of sorts, another side to the mirror, that long path behind the subconscious.

I added bees, of course i added bees.

Donna Noble: You’re saying bees are aliens?
The Doctor: Don’t be so daft – not all of them.

I love Dr Who

And there’s a secret hidden under one of the larger hexes, a treatment i liked, but not for this piece!

The hex beside the lace rose is where it’s hidden now.

And now there will be a shuffling of papers, folding of fabrics, and paint and ink splashed about as i research and develop new work. Here’s a “mood board” for something i’d like to do:

with this as the primary image:

Not sure which orientation to begin with, not that it really matters as there are 2 separate cloths here. Maybe i’ll do both to give myself a break from the same thing over and over —HA, joke. I had originally thought of doing another “abstract”, rather than pictorial, but nothing is set in stone.

Days of Honey, Not so ordinaries

days of honey

Posted on August 17, 2016August 18, 2016 by arlee

Warm, sweet, humid, floriferous, heaven hued, lush honey.

(This entry is photo heavy! If you want to see some of the flowers more closely, click on the photo, then click on the size on that page. I changed my garden blog to private as no one was going there anyways…but i may move the dye resource page from it to here, as that was the primary focus in the last two years.)

We had our annual amount of rainfall by end of July, and while it feels strange, it doesn’t feel wrong to be enjoying all this while i can. DogFaced Girl is now used to stopping every few steps while i smell, touch or take photos.

I have never seen so many flowers, and never so much still green and flourishing mid August in Calgary, in Alberta, in the national parks as well. Usually it’s brown, crisp and full of seeds and burs by the last week of July.

Two kinds of prairie cone flowers in the Wildlife Rehab area. I’ve only ever seen one plant of either, and far far apart, and in different years, along here before, so to find these was a thrill!

Flax with huge flowers.

“Butter and eggs” everywhere.

Alfalfa and sweet clover that has the air laden with heady intoxicating honey fragrance.

My garden is lush, though blooming and fruiting late.

We’ve had carrots, peas and beans in abundance, tons of lettuce, green kincho and spanish onions already in many salads. The jalapeno and chocolate beauty peppers are vigorous plants–with NO flowering at all, so none of those this year–some deficiency in the soil that i have addressed too late….. You wouldn’t believe how many tomato plants there are in there–last fall i threw a bunch of several varieties in to compost, and they seeded and grew! I’ve pulled out literally tens and tens, but there are probably still 40+ in there!

The Elephant Head Amaranthus self seeded also, and while i pulled many of those, i left the more vigorous ones, and they are starting to flower now.

I have named the Ligularia “Caligularia” this year. He was “Ligulittle” last year when i planted him and barely got to a foot and a half high with three sparse flower heads. This year, he’s 4 and a half feet tall, loaded with the most brilliant sunshine heart yellow, and huge leaves.

The “pods” where the flowers develop, freaked me a little last year: i thought an insect had built a strange home in him.

Glorious, glorious yellow sunshine blooms:

And monster leaves!

My coleus has put on a show with one particular variety. This WAS a Sea Anemone Gold Series coleus and looked like this when i bought him, and through cuttings that survived being overwintered:

NOW it looks like this, showing completely different colours in the last two weeks on the porch railing flowerbox (shaded most of the day) and looking more like a “Fish Net” variety:

For clear photos of both at a grower, go here, and scroll through the photos. Not Gramma’s coleus anymore! Because this plant has behaved so strangely, i’m going to contact the University of Saskatchewan, where they were originally developed.

Jack Ruby and his Missus are still hanging around, though we don’t feed the birds from June to September:

NO relation to a certain historical personage!

My weld (the rosette shaped plants) is getting bigger every day, but i don’t expect to harvest any dyestuff until next year.

I had high hopes again for the hollyhock bed–the first year we were here (2009), they were all along the side of the house and through the backyard, and in the front garden, growing to heights of 6-12 feet.

Subsequent years, the rust got them and now there are none in the front, and only half of the side now. In the middle of June, they looked like this:

And SIGH, the rust is inevitable, and coupled with a bad aphid infestation this year, they are sad and pathetic now:

I plan on seeding in the fall in that bed, so that Rudbeckia and Calendula will hide the bottoms next year……….

The 90-year-old apple tree in the back has fruited amazingly this year. Every summer we say “oh the apples are bigger and better”–meaning they have increased in size from marbles to now small golf balls 🙂 A couple of years ago, it took 111 of them to make 1 litre of apple sauce! But this year, very very few fell before ripening, and this year they are RED instead of pink, so maybe there will only have to be 90 cut up 🙂 to get that litre because OH the taste!

We did lose another branch though–the weight of all the apples coupled with some drenching day after day rains was too much for one of the smaller branches.

The sunflowers provide much beauty

And rest stops!

Now i must finish my cold coffee, and get ready for the day job at the ffffFlower Mines, almost bland after all this!

Collision: the work begins, Contextural Fibre Arts Co-operative, in progress, journal: lessons to learn, Residency 2016, Residency 2016, Shows/Publications

push pull

Posted on August 16, 2016August 16, 2016 by arlee

There are no machine made nodules, no “dimension” beyond the tactility of the stitching, but elements of my overly ambitious plans for something else have crept in and settled comfortably.

To hell with “Concept” as i said in an earlier post. I’m tired of trying to write statements that explain WHY i did something, especially when a well written tailoring can adapt almost any piece to any show. Concept can be in the eye of the beholder as well, right? As we develop our style, our voice, whatever you want to label it, certain truths and ideas, interpretations become self evident don’t they. (Not a question, a fact.)

When you make 8 pages of notes and sketches, and still can’t quite “git ‘er done”, it’s not the right time for that CONCEPT.

So, this then is the piece i will be exhibiting. Finally titled also as “Original Truths”, since i went back to what i love and love doing. No influence from anything else, any other artist, just me. This *is* me on the other side of the mirror. I’ve heard it said that when an artist draws faces, unless in a deliberate style, that elements of their own face, or their internal guise, are more evident, so though i’m not completely sure what this says about myself, other than the feeling that i have always felt alien, outsider, misfit, stranger in a strange land.

Though most of it is done, there’s something missing. I shall have to pin it up and stare at it for awhile.

I need to pull some of the starker white to the left top somehow, but how? Not more hexes, too heavy handed then.

It’s also been a bitch to photograph—-i need that perfect afternoon light, because otherwise there is too much yellow imparted to the golds and browns in this. I’m happy with the detail shots, but the whole, not so much. Since it *is* not quite done though, i’ll worry about that later. The detail shots are good enough to submit to the show organizer.

There are 12 days until the exhibit gets set up, so hopefully i can finalize a solution to what’s missing, execute it, and photograph the whole properly.

Author: arlee