Party at the Clarke's..

Wow, I am exhausted. The summer has just begun and we have a lot of travel and visitors planned.

On the fourth we had the first official party at the Clarke house with our amazing friends. My sister and niece were here for several days, then dear friends Phil and Elisa stayed and then we are off to Atlanta twice over the next month. My time in the studio might be limited for awhile.



Friday night was the Liberty Town opening. "Diamond.." and "Overcoming the Seeds of Doubt" will hang through August. If you are around Fredericksburg, stop in and see the show.

On the easel:

Painting for an upcoming project

I am working fast and furious to prepare for a big project in a couple months, here is a little snippet of what I have been painting this weekend.

Now if you haven't caught Rice Freeman-Zachery's latest podcast with my dear friend Melly Testa, you should mosey on over and give it a listen.

Liberty Bird show

Yesterday I was notified that "Diamond" and "Overcoming the Seeds of Doubt" were accepted into the Liberty Bird show at Liberty Town Arts. The theme is art inspired by literature about birds.
The show opens with a reception this Friday night from 6 to 9 p.m. and will hang through August.

My sister and her kids have been here since Saturday. It is already Wednesday and a holiday weekend at that. More friends in for the weekend ahead and the 4th of July festivities....

Would anyone like to name the latest painting? I have been unable to settle on one.....

I started a commissioned painting today and have a handful of painting on the working list....
On the easel:

Upcoming classes- summer and fall

It is hard to believe July is already here and that means International Quilt Festival Long Beach is only a few weeks away! This year I am teaching three classes, doing open studios and a Make it University workshop. If you are planning on going to festival this year it would be great to see you, please stop by and say hi or better yet come dabble with some paint in one of my classes.

here's my line up:

International Quilt Festival, Long Beach

Thursday, July 22
Mixed Media Painted Fabric
Using textile paints, gel medium and decorative printed paper images create a fun versatile fabric that can be used to make tote bags, fabric bowls, vessels, sculptural objects or book cloth.

Friday, July 23- 10 am-12 pm Open Studios
3pm- MIU workshop: 
Embossed Metal Origami Pop Up Book
Using aluminum craft metal, simple embossing, alcohol inks and paper we will create a fun little art book, using the fundamentals of origami to create expanding pop up pages. These are so cool, easy to make and they make awesome little gifts.

Friday July 23, 6-9 pm
Fiesta Ornaments
Inspired by Mexican tin folk art, these fun and festive ornaments incorporate painting with textile paints, quilting, embossing and sewing metal.

Saturday, July 24
Painting Fabric for Whole Cloth Quilts
From adding details, dimension or shadow to creating fully illustrated scenes, paint offers endless 
opportunities for creating special effects on fabric. Working with various types of fabric paints you will learn different techniques for applying paint to fabric, creating smooth gradations of color and adding fine lines and details.


Whispering Woodlands, Wisconsin

I am really excited to be teaching at Whispering Woodlands retreat center, in beautiful Verona, Wisconsin, just west of Madison this summer.

Saturday, August 14
Tsukineko All Purpose Inks
Tsukineko Inks have a broad range of applications for painting fabrics. You'll learn effective blending and shading techniques, working with wet and dry brush application methods. You will be amazed at what these inks can do.

Sunday August 15
Heavy Metal Play Day
Spend a day working with craft metal and discover a variety of ways you can add flash to your mixed media projects. Learn several embossing techniques, working with an assortment of tools to create designs with dimension and texture on aluminum and copper. Methods for joining metal  to other media and adding color with alcohol inks will also be explored.

Each student will receive a Creative Metal Tool kit ($29 value) and aluminum and copper metal courtesy of Walnut Hollow.


CREATE Retreat, Rosemont, Illinois

As summer winds down and we transition into fall, get another few days of creative time in at Interweave's first mixed media Create retreat in the Chicago area.

Thursday August 26, 6-9 pm
Tea & Ephemera
Your mixed media cup will runneth over when you join me Thursday evening August 26th from 6-9 pm for tea. We will explore a number of ways to add visual texture and imagery to mixed media work with tea bags, yes, I said tea bags! rubber stamps, painted and printed fabric, paper scraps, paint sticks and colored pencils.

Saturday August 28, 9 am-4 pm
Fiesta Ornaments
Inspired by Mexican tin folk art, these fun and festive ornaments incorporate painting with textile paints, decorative stitching, embossing and sewing metal.  These make excellent gifts for the holidays, so get a jump start on that holiday giftmaking with this workshop.

Sunday August 29, 9-12 pm
Tea & Ephemera  FULL
Your mixed media cup will runneth over when you join me Thursday evening August 26th from 6-9 pm for tea. We will explore a number of ways to add visual texture and imagery to mixed media work with tea bags, yes, I said tea bags! rubber stamps, painted and printed fabric, paper scraps, paint sticks and colored pencils.  



International Quilt Festival, Houston

I just heard the catalog for Quilt Festival, Houston is arriving in the mail this week, this is what I will be teaching there:

Tuesday, Nov 2
Tsukineko All Purpose Inks
Tsukineko Inks have a broad range of applications for painting fabrics. You'll learn effective blending and shading techniques, working with wet and dry brush application methods. You will be amazed at what these inks can do.

Wednesday, Nov 3
Color Theory
Did you know the color choices you make can transform an average piece of artwork into something spectacular? Be surprised and delighted by the effects and illusions you can create by understanding the mysteries of color. In this hands-on experiential class you'll learn key color concepts with visual examples, mix new paint colors, and create helpful charts, all providing you with the tools you’ll need to see color in a whole new light.

A trip to DeKalb, IL

I have lived in Chicago almost 5 years and sadly I had not been more than 30 miles west of the city, until Thursday when I drove out to give a lecture and teach a workshop to the DeKalb Country Quilters guild.

It was a challenging drive with one of the freeways under construction slowed to a standstill, then I ended up making multiple detours after getting off the freeway only to end up with slow traffic on several routes due to down traffic lights and road closures as crews removed fallen trees from the storm the night before. After I got out of the extended city suburbs the roads were free and clear through lovely green farm land dotted with barns and silos.

The DeKalb quilters made me feel very welcome despite my nontraditional take on quilting and on friday we had a great class with painting for whole cloth quilts.

Gorgeous color, huh?

Everyone did beautiful work and we had a great space to work in, what more can anyone ask for.

New Painting on the easel....

On the easel:



Mice. Not sure where the mouse imagery is originating, but there is something compelling about their innate ability to go unnoticed and generally influence an environment underneath the surface......I think of Galadrial's words:

“Even the smallest person (or "creature" in my economy) can change the course of the future."

The calm after the storm

We have had some crazy turbulent weather this week. Yesterday evening around 5 we had a front come through with powerful thunderstorms churning up tornadic activity in many parts of the Chicago area. It even set off the sirens for a short period downtown, which doesn't happen too often, but also happened on friday. Luckily, the majority of the storm passed through fairly quickly and left an amazing colorful sunset.

Today, I am off to the western suburbs to give a lecture and teach at the DeKalb Country Quilters Guild and the sun is shining with no threat of storms, yay!