Back Again.............

This has been a very busy few weeks. As well as my artwork, I'm on the board of the local Perennial Society and their big Plant Sale/Exchange is coming up on May 27/14 at the Forestry Farm. I'm the coordinator of this sale, so there's been quite a bit to do. Also, lucky me, I picked up the worst case of the flu I've ever had in my entire life. I won't go into the details but at one point, my husband had to hold me up so I could get from one room to another. This went on for what seemed like forever, but I finally started feeling human again about a week or 10 days later. This put me so far behind with everything that I was in a panic.  

I had been invited by the S'toon Quilters Guild to give a talk, which was scheduled for May 12. I had still been feeling a bit off, but hanging out with these ladies cured anything that was remaining. I gave my talk and had also brought along a couple of tables of goodies for them to see, everything from products/techniques that I use to a few pieces of my more recent work. They were so enthusiastic - there were many questions about my "stuff", about teaching, about everything. The entire experience was the high point of the week to that point. I want to thank the SQG once again for inviting me.

The next day I met with June Jacobs of Handwave Gallery and handed over several of my pieces for her to hang in her gallery. Ever since I started doing artwork in a more serious way, long before I started this kind of fiber art, I had always wanted to show at the Artisan Faire and have pieces in the Handwave Gallery. Never did I believe that after only one year of showing, I've managed to accomplish both of these things. Being in Handwave is a humbling experience to be sure. Have a look at their website and check out the caliber of artists there.....humbling for sure!  The following are some of the pieces that are at Handwave Gallery: Thank you June!!

 This is Bergenia and is based on a clump growing in my front yard. This is my newest piece.

This is Cranberry Flats Autumn. 

Dotted Blazingstar. A SK wildflower. Beaver Creek Conservation Area is packed with these guys in the summer.

Looking Up Through Autumn Leaves. This is from last autumn taken at Blackstrap. 








Also, hopefully within the next couple of weeks, I'll have two new pieces at the Craft Council Boutique. The Boutique has been remodeled and thanks to the hard work of Donna Potter and the other staff members, it looks amazing! They've opened up the back room and it's larger, brighter and everything has breathing room. They've done an excellent job. So - looking for a gift? That's a very good place to start.  These are some of the pieces that I have in the Boutique right now:

 On the Open Prairie. This looks a bit "orangy" on my screen - it isn't in person. 

Autumn Birches. This one has a bit of hand work in it.

 

Gone To Seed. This is one of the new pieces that will be at the Boutique in the next couple of weeks.











Well that's about it for today.  I really really will try to post more often in the future.  I now have virtually nothing in my inventory, so will have to work like a mad woman for the next few weeks.  I have been asked to be one of the Featured Artists at Anna Hergert's Open Studio at the end of June, so will now have all new work for that. I'm looking forward to this very much. It's always a really fun event and this time, my husband and I are considering making a bit of a holiday out of it. Let's hope for nice weather. 

See you soon................................donna

GARDENSCAPE 2014

Gardenscape is now over and done for yet another year.  The weather, with the exception of one day, was terrible, especially when the whole idea of Gardenscape is to bring about thoughts of spring....of gardening....hmmmm...hard to do when it's snowing.  Anyway, the Art Show was reasonably well attended and I managed to sell a few pieces. 

 This is Grandma's Pansy and was so-named because my Grandmother loved blue pansies and always had them in her garden. This piece is sold.

On the Rocks  is still available.  It certainly attracted a lot of attention at Gardenscape. Email me if you're interested in this piece. The artwork is 10" x 8" and is framed to 15" x 12". It sells for $280.00

 







This piece is sold also, in fact, I think I could have sold it about 50 times!  I don't think I have ever done any work that has attracted quite so much attention.

This is The Dandelion-gone to Seed and is available. It measures 7" x 5" for the artwork and is framed to 12" x 10".  I'm asking $185.00

This is also available for $190.00. It's called Oriental Lily, measures 7"x5" for the art, framed to 12"x10".

This is Dotted BlazingStar and was inspired by the multitude of these flowers growing at the Beaver Creek Conversation Area.  It measures 6"x4", is framed to 10"x11" and sells for $115.00.

 I have a few more pieces available and will post them next week.

While at Gardenscape last weekend, I was asked by a woman to reproduce a piece that had already been sold.   Although I was quite prepared to do another version for her, it seemed that she wanted the exact same image.   I will do commissions, but I won't do duplicates of a piece already sold, regardless of size.  I sell my work as original art and just don't feel it's original if I'm selling duplicates.  I also don't feel it's fair to the person who has purchased the original.  Once I've used one of my pictures in an art piece, it's permanently retired. I'm sorry if some people find this annoying, but I assure you, I have hundreds of pictures and if you find one that you like, I have LOTS more and can make it up into a thread painting that's unique to you. 

Now that Gardenscape is finished, I have a talk to prepare, a few pieces to finish for a gallery and then I've promised myself the summer in my garden. I've just started my second year of showing and am very pleased with the way my art has been received.  I've met a great many other artists and have to say that, for me, getting togther with these people is the high point of Gardenscape. These people were a tremendous support to me last year at Gardenscape 2013, which was the very first art show for my stitched pieces. I was very glad to see all of them back this year, with a few new, welcome additions. I hope we can get together in between art shows in the coming months!

I intend to post more regularly in the coming weeks.  I find it difficult to justify spending time on my computer when I have work to complete, and so I'm afraid my blog gets neglected. But I am planning on getting a website put together in the near future or possibly an Etsy shop. Who knows.....but I do know that it's nearly time to get out the camera for the spring season and seeing as how the Beaver Creek Conservation Area and Cranberry Flats are basically my "front yard", I'll definitely be spending lots of time there. I have a fairly major project on the back burner and will tell you about that when plans are more concrete.

Ok - I'll post more in a week or so. Look for more of my work by the end of April at the SK Craft Council Boutique............................................................................donna

Did anyone see March???

I distinctly remember it being cold - VERY cold.  I also remember being very very busy. I hate that - when weeks and weeks pass so quickly that you can barely keep up. Ah well....here's some of what went on.

The beginning of the month I was in Moose Jaw teaching a thread painting workshop to a group of women from the Prairie Hearts Quilters Guild. My pal Mary and I drove down together - it was great to have company, especially considering how cold it was outside.  The room we occupied for this class was huge!  It was the Art Room in one of the high schools and I have to say that I was very impressed. The lighting was terrific and everyone got to work at their own table. Work from the high school students was scattered around and goodness, there's a LOT of talent in Moose Jaw.  But the workshop was fantastic. I've never seen such an enthusiastic group of women. Even on the coldest day in something like 20 years, everyone showed up and produced work that simply astounded me.  I had assumed that there would likely be some who would have free motion quilting experience and this was the case, but the class ran from a few with no free motion experience at all to very experienced artists.  Anyone who started from scratch caught on immediately and those who already had a grasp of FME zoomed ahead. We got through all of the material I had prepared and got to spend the whole second day working on projects.

 

We had yummy treats too!!!

....working away .....

See how much space everyone had??

The only down side of the whole weekend was the weather. My car wouldn't start Saturday morning, so we hitched a ride with the owner of the Cottage Redland B&B where I was staying. When we got back later in the day, it started fine, but I was then completely paranoid that it wasn't going to start another time and worried that I wouldn't be able to get to the workshop, or get my car loaded up to come home. But it all worked out, thank heaven. My car is a Mini Cooper and as such, doesn't have a block heater (synthetic oil) and this was the first time that it wouldn't start. Mind you, there was a wind chill factor of around -50C.  When we went to pack up to leave, I found that the hatchback had frozen shut. Now, lifting two large, heavy sewing machines over the front seats (yup, it's a two-door) would have been pretty difficult for me, but thanks to Linda Dirkson's husband, who I'm told is experienced in packing cars, everything got stuffed in. So, other than problems related to the weather, the whole weekend was terrific. 

Thanks very much to Linda Dirkson who organized the workshop and to all the participants from the M.J. Prairie Hearts Quilt Guild. It was a pleasure meeting you all. I have pictures from the workshop that I'll send along to Linda - so if you'd like to have a copy, please let her know. Or, if you email me, I can send them along to you directly.  Email me at acdc@sasktel.net.  Thank you also to Linda's husband for his help loading my car - you have no idea how much I appreciated this.  And to the wonderful folks at the Redland Cottage B&B who looked after us very very well, fed us to bursting and acted as chauffeur on the coldest day of the year.

Incidentally, if anyone is ever looking for a place to stay in Moose Jaw, I can highly recommend this B&B. It's a lovely old house in a beautiful part of town. It's all furnished in period furniture and I have to say, I have never eaten so much for breakfast in my life!  Fabulous meals! The individual rooms are very large, and the beds are sooooo comfortable - best sleep I've had in about three years - no kidding!!  I was very impressed with Moose Jaw as a whole - I had no idea it was such a pretty city. There's an abundance of wonderful old houses, many of which have to be in the 100+ years old category and very well taken care of.  As one who loves old things, I felt very at home there and will definitely go back.  

So, that's the beginning of March.  I'll post another time on Gardenscape.........donna

I'll Try This One More Time.......

On my last post, I had posted a couple of pictures of the last two pieces I had completed.  They looked OK in the preview, but when I looked at my blog from a different computer (actually, a couple of different computers), the colors were horrible. The lichen on the rocks was glowing orange and while in real life, they were very orange, the colors in this post reeked of  Halloween.  I've never had a problem with color before, so I deleted them from the post and tried again. So, I hope they look a little more realistic than the previous ones.

 Well, this still doesn't look quite right to me, but at least they don't glow in the dark. This picture was taken last spring on an outing with my pal Judy. We had found a very hilly location that was loaded with crocus clumps and incredible rocks. This pair just begged to be photographed. There were lots of other rocks in the area as well and I think I took a picture (or two, or three) of every single one of them. I really do love rocks.

This is Amaryllis papillio and was growing happily in my kitchen for most of December, along with several others.


For those of you not on the Canadian prairies, you'll likely be shocked to hear that it's still extremely cold. By that, I mean in the -30's overnight and added to that is the windchill factor, which can put us in the -50C range. Chilly in anyone's language! It makes traveling something of a challenge and this Friday, I head to Moose Jaw, SK to teach a workshop on Thread Painting. The class is pretty nearly full and I'm looking forward to it very much. I've been getting materials together for awhile now and am happy to be ready. My friend Mary is also driving down with me to take the class, so it will be good to have some company. We're both staying in a really beautiful B&B that's in an old house filled with antiques. I might want to stay!!!

That's it for this post. I have another piece in progress and will post it when completed. It's one that I've tried before and never quite got it right, so am trying it again - so far, so good. Hopefully, I will be able to get posts up on Fridays. Gardenscape in Saskatoon is at the end of March, and I have to get a few more pieces ready for that, as well I have a gallery commitment, so I should be producing pretty regularly for the next month.

Ok - stay warm and stay safe. Cheers........................donna

Mad March

Woops!

Well, I had originally posted my latest two pieces, but after looking at it, I see the colors really look terrible. So, I've decided to take them off rather than post pictures that I"m not happy with....will re-post them as soon as I have had time to figure out the problem.

Seeing as how we seem to be in yet another never-ending winter, I thought I'd show you where I live. This next picture is what I see from my bedroom window.

We live on an acreage that originally had only a few conifer trees and one lone poplar planted on it. We've spent the last 20 years planting trees and everything else with roots! My husband is English, so it's genetic!

This is the south side of the house. As well as putting as many plants as possible into the perennial beds, we also have lots in pots.

This is our pond, soon to be (re)moved and relocated to a different spot - too much sun. The gardeners who read this will appreciate why when I say that it gets sun all day. We're re-doing part of our "yard" to a Japanese-influence garden and will put the pond there.

And this is some of the front.  It's hard to see, but every available inch of space has been planted. This was the reason we moved to an acreage in the first place. We had a nice little house in the city, but we ran out of yard!  We also collect peonies and have around 70 or so now.  I belong to the Saskatoon Perennial Society and their plant sale and exchange is coming up in May. If you're interested at all, this is a super group of people and the meetings are actually fun! We have speakers frequently, garden tours,  and always have good eats!!! Check out their websites for activities. 

Okay - that has to be it for now. Next weekend I'm away, so likely won't get to post again until I get back. Once March is over, I plan on making some additions to this blog, as well as possibly adding a website to show my work.

Cheers and Think SPRING!!......donna

A Promise to Post and a New Piece

It's been over a month since my last post, so it's well past time I did this again.  I've made a promise to myself to post on a weekly basis - more than that and I'd be repeating myself - less than that and there's no point in having a blog, so I'm going to try to be a bit more diligent about all of this. It would also be really nice to NOT have to review exactly how to post every time I attempt to post. Okay then.

Crystal

This is Crystal, who passed away about a year ago. She was owned by good friends Pat and Bob and is very much missed.  Pat and Bob have had boxers most of the years that we've known each other, but Crystal was special. She was very bonded to Pat-and Pat to Crystal. The original picture for this was taken by Judy Wood, who does amazing critter photos.

I've never done an animal before, or a person for that matter, and this took quite some time. Eyes are tough so I did them first by hand. No point in spending hours and hours stitching only to have to scrap the whole thing because the eyes were messed up. However, this turned out ok I think. Now Pat and Bob haven't seen this yet, so I hope they like it. I'm always nervous when someone looks closely at my work. You would think I'd be over that by now. Nope. Maybe never!

As always, this piece was done with an ordinary sewing machine - NOT an embroidery machine.  It was stitched free motion on plain cotton.  My process involves many techniques and those change depending on what I'm stitching. Frequently, my backgrounds take more time to produce than the subject of the work.  I've used photo transfer at times and have no problems with doing that. I've transferred a more exciting sky, for example, in exchange for one that's not as interesting. Also I've photo transferred water. It's my practice that if I can't improve it with stitching, then I don't stitch it. Simple as that. 

 I'm going to be very busy for the next several weeks getting ready for March.  I'll be speaking at one of the meetings of the S'toon Quilt Guild, as well as teaching a two day thread painting workshop. As well, I've decided to enter Gardenscape once more and am very much looking forward to seeing all the really great people I met last year. I also have to prepare several pieces for a gallery, and decide on an entry to a large exhibition. On top of this, I'd like to get this blog to a place where I have some pictures posted and all the usual blog stuff that I don't have up and running yet.

I've been asked whether or not I do commissions and/or teach. The answer is yes to both. In fact, as mentioned above, I have a two day workshop coming up on March 1 and 2 that I'm very much looking forward to.
Alrightee! That's it for now. I'm not sure what day I'll be posting on, but possibly I'll aim for Friday. That way I can include anything that I've done over the week, or can complain about what I haven't done over the week. And I don't know about you, but this winter can end any time now! Talk soon.

A REVIEW OF MY FIRST YEAR

Well, it's not actually a calendar year, but it's the end of the show/exhibit season for me.  And what a year it's been!  I've been blown away by the reception my work has received.  I've managed to sell most of what I've produced and am looking forward to starting a whole new series of pictures. 
The past year in SK was incredible in terms of color. When spring finally arrived, it brought the richest bounty of botanical goodies that I can ever recall in all my years on the prairies. An abundance of rain resulted in flowers and plants that I have never before seen growing here. The ditches became resident galleries displaying miles and miles of flowers as you can only see here, on the prairie! In fact, I personally had several near misses when looking at the offerings in the ditches very nearly put me in the ditch. 

This was the vacant lot in the Preston Crossing Mall, just across from Pet Smart. 







And the views on the highways were nothing less than spectacular. Summer was pretty hot, but I managed to get to the Beaver Creek Conservation Area and Cranberry Flats about three times a week to take photos to use in my artwork. I do believe that I have enough pictures to last many many years. And autumn, well what can I say of a season that's already pretty wonderful. This year was no exception, but maybe even more beautiful than usual. 

This was taken at Blackstrap on one of the last few days before the wind blew all the leaves off the trees. It was a gorgeous day.








From all of the photos that were taken on my many outings, I produced what I believe to be my best artwork to date. I had a very successful show at Agar's in September (thank you Judy Wood!) and at Artisan's (thanks to June Jacobs and the Committee) and then at Sundog (thanks again to Diane Boyko for all her organizational work).  I now have work in a great many homes all over this and other provinces and even one that went to London, England. I would like to thank everyone who purchased my work. I can't express how appreciative I am and how much your support has meant to me in this, my first year showing. 

 This piece was Bark and Lichen and was sold complete with the finger prints of everyone who looked at it closely. For some reason, it invited a very close look!

This piece is On the Open Prairie and is for sale at the Boutique at the SK Craft Council in Saskatoon.

I think this is possibly the best piece I have ever done. It was also the first piece I sold at Artisan. This is Blackstrap Autumn Hillside.









 
 The picture for this piece was taken at Beaver Creek by my husband, Adrian, who takes wonderful photos (that I can use!!).  It's called Bend in the Creek and has been sold.

 This was also taken by Adrian and again, is at Beaver Creek. This was titled At the Creek's Edge and is also sold.






 

Cranberry Flats. This was taken just as you leave the entrance and walk toward the river. It's called Trail to the Lookout and I'm keeping this one for myself.

This is called Autumn Birches (even though they are not all birches), and is for sale at the SK Craft Council Boutique on Broadway Ave. in Saskatoon. As well as my usual machine stitch, I've done some silk ribbon hand stitch on the leaves.






I have a few more unsold pieces from this year's work. If anyone is interested in having a look, please just contact me at acdc@sasktel.net.  All of my work is framed.

So, that's it. I can hardly believe that nearly a year has passed since I first decided to show my work at Gardenscape last March. It's been a whirlwind. I've sold a great many of my pieces, have been offered exhibition and teaching opportunities and met hundreds of people. 

On a final note to this post, I would like to offer one final piece. The photo for this was taken by my pal Judy Wood, who I would also like to thank for all her support over the past long while and for being my own, personal Google! 
And to my wonderful husband Adrian, who suffers through frozen dinners, late dinners, (sometimes no dinners!) so that I can work in my studio. If I could clone him, I could be a billionaire!

Meet The Blue Heron: