Somaphony Launch Party

My friend, Nate Lewis of Somaphony is proud to announce Open (he)Art Surgery. The Somaphony Launch Party!

Please join Somaphony for an unforgettably funky evening as they officially launch into the District!

Somaphony is a clothing & art line based out of Washington, DC that combines elements of music & anatomy into surreal designs. If you are in the D.C. area, go and support art.

Visit the Somaphony website.

Latest happenings at Harpo

A week ago, taping began on the new Rosie show.

Thursday I heard a commotion and looked off the balcony to see a crowd gathered on the corner. Evidently Oprah and Rosie were down there unveiling the new sign.

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This is what I really want to do right now

When those first few signs of fall are evident, I always want to break out the knitting and start a new project. I really love to knit because it engages a totally different part of my brain than painting and quilting and frankly I have a hard time just relaxing without something in my hands.

For some time now I have wanted to try knitting a mobius scarf, click on the link to get a full description of the mathematics of a mobius circle. A mobius scarf is a knitted circle with a twist in it, that only has one edge. If you run your finger along the top edge starting where the knitting was tied off, it will go along the whole top and bottom of the circle in one long continuous line bringing you right back to the beginning.

This is a small sample to help understand how it would knit up.

When you knit a mobius, the top and bottom edges of the scarf are all on one long circular needle. It has an unusual caste on, I followed Cat Bordhi's great tutorial here. I found that it helped not to try and figure out what was really happening as you cast on and knit those first few rows, but just have faith that it's going to work.

That tail sticking up next to my thumb is the beginning of my first row, it ends up in the middle because when you knit the first row you knit the top and bottom edge in one continuous line. The first row is knit all the way around but half the stitches will be knit and the other half will create a row of purl.

For my scarf I cast on 150 stitches of heavy weight worsted yarn on size 10 US needles, this should create a 50" circular scarf that can be looped around twice for a big cowl. I have two skeins of yarn and am just going to knit until it's a width I want (maybe 10"?) or until I run out, whichever comes first, using a pattern of knit four rows and purl four rows and repeat.

I am getting the itch to start painting and sewing, it seems like it has been so long since I have worked on something for myself. I really need to unpack my suitcase from my trip to Cleveland

and then clean off my table so I have a place to work

but first I have to write an article for Quilting Arts magazine based on one of the segments I taped a couple weeks ago for QATV.

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Color is Amazing!

Earlier this year my daughter Indigo came across an interesting example showing how one color can be extremely affected by another color, she created this series of images to illustrate this particular phenomenon.

In the image above, it appears that the eye on the left is blue, matching the blue circle on the upper right, and the eye on the right is gray. Believe it or not, both eyes are the same gray!

In the image below, cover the gray side of the image with your hand and watch the half of the eye on the red field turn blue to match the blue circle on the right.

Pretty cool huh?

If you are interested in learning more about how colors interact and how to make them work for you, my online Color Theory class is on sale during the month of September for $45.

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Terry Dixon Reenslavement Revisited at Caton Merchant Gallery

My friend, Chicago artist Terry Dixon has an exhibit in Manassas VA:

"Telling that slavery did not end with the Civil War,Terry Dixon presents a body of work depicting African-Americans being forced to work for free from 1865 to 1945. His work is created through abstract digital images with acrylics, oil pastels and inks. Terry Dixon lives in Chicago where he continues his artistic discipline. He is as associate professor of computer arts."

The show runs from September 8th - October 26th. His work is remarkable, so go see it if you are in the area.

The Helium Burden Blog

I have started back at my other blog The Helium Burden with regular posts about my brain cancer diagnosis. I decided to share that blog here with you, my fellow artist and friends. I love dialogue and welcome it, so don't hesitate to share your thoughts and comments.

Here is the CaringBridge site my husband keeps updated.

Recently, I was approached local artist friends offered to put together a benefit to help Craig and I with medical expenses accruing from my recent diagnosis. I am overwhelmed, humbled by and grateful for the generosity of artists and volunteers who have committed to be a part of this act of service and sacrifice. The event will be on November 5th from 4 to 6 p.m. here in my town of Fredericksburg at my church, New City Fellowship. I am speechless, to be honest.

My hope and desire is to get back to the easel once radiation is over early October.

Until then, I have a few paintings left from the "Birds" show at FCCA if you would like one. As always I can work with you on payment.



"Sparrow"
5"x7" oil on panel
$300



"Black Swan"
5"x7" oil on panel
$300


"Osprey"
5"x7" oil on panel
$300



'Magpie"
5"x7" oil on panel
$300



"Dark Eyed Junco"
5"x7" oil on panel
$300



"Ruby Throated Hummingbird"
30"x24" oil on panel
$1200



"Osprey"
5"x7" oil on panel
$300



"Great Tit (UK)"
5"x7" oil on panel
$300


"Bald Eagle"
30"x24" oil on panel
$1200


"Cedar Waxwing"
5"x7" oil on panel
$300



"Hummingbird"
5"x7" oil on panel
$300

Taping Quilting Arts TV season 900

Susan Bruebaker Knapp, Elin Waterston, Me, and Candy Glendening,
after a wonderful dinner at Taza Lebanese Grill

These are the artists who were taping on Tuesday and Wednesday in Cleveland. Susan and I emailed before hand and arranged to meet at the airport on Monday and Candy's flight also happened to arrive when mine did, so we had a nice little reunion in baggage.

Setting up

The first segment I taped was about removing color and adding it back in to fabric with two different products that are similar in that they are non toxic alternatives to bleach, yet very different in how they are used.

I demonstrated multiple techniques with each product. A few reverse shibori techniques with Color Remover by RIT and painting, stamping and thermofax with DeColourant. 

By the way, my daughter Nina designed the thermofax image I used and Lyric Kinard made the screen.

Preshoot photo

We're on...

Shown here on the monitor: the first half of the segment was about using Color Remover by RIT. This stuff is soooo cool, I wish I had played with it sooner. It is a non toxic alternative to bleach for discharging that is activated by hot water and neutralized by rinsing in cool water! I showed several easy alternative ways that I discovered to use it besides boiling it on the stove.


Working with both products in one shoot was a lot to cover, the segment could have easily run twice as long.

Susan was great about taking photos while the show was taping from the tv in the green room.

There's my hair hanging in my face again, film crew doesn't like that, lol

QA Editor extraordinaire Helen Gregory with Susan Bruebaker Knapp preparing for her taping.

Some extra makeup to get us through the day.

Candy stopped in after lunch to start setting up for the DVD she was taping the next day. Isn't this color chart amazing? Candy is a college biology professor and this is her Candiotic table of elemental color. The upper left triangle are all the colors created by the dye primaries, cyan (turquoise), lemon yellow and fuchsia and the lower right are colors created by using cerulean, tangerine and mixing red.

notice barrette in place for following segments, lol 

My second segment was about different methods I use to create freemotion quilting designs with the Christmas Tree Skirt I designed for Quilting Arts Gifts last year.

This is the sound guy who puts our microphones on, sitting down at the Bernina. Maybe we should teach him to sew, we could use a few more cute guys in the quilt world.

 My last segment was about painting fabric with acrylic inks.

I love the way the inks create such beautiful texture and layer over each other.

It was a fun, exciting and always a bit nerve wracking day of taping. The crew for the show is wonderful to work with, but I'm always worried I'll forget something crucial, either a specific tool for a segment or an important bit of information to say on set.

Now I can give a sigh of relief, to have it all behind me and catch up with so many things that have been put on the back burner for way too long, but first I need to start writing an article for Quilting Arts magazine on the techniques I showed in the segment on removing color.

Have a great Labor Day weekend!

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