After the Storm

Spring has finally sprung, the cleanup from the storm is over with . The trees and branches have been cut up and are lined up for burning. We are going to have a lot of weennie roasts this summer. The gouges in the ground have been rolled and seeded down so as long as the barn cats leave them alone we might see some grass. Mind you, you know what they say about hearding cats!

A new show opened at Galery 96 last week and runs until May 19th at Factory 163 on King St. here in Stratford. I did 2 new felted pieces for this; Forst Floor and Hawk Moth. Both are under glass. I am working on  a series here. The first one is on land and the next will be coral reefs. I am not just usung traditional glass cloches, but making some of my own out glass pieces from the Goodwill. Here are the pictures....

Ice Storm

Yes it's April,but here in southwestrn Ontario, winter just doesn't want to give up. Last Friday we had a horiffic ice storm. We lost power for 16 hours and ended up spending the latter half of the day with a friend who did. Sadly many people to the north of us didn't have power for 3-4 days and had to go to warm-up centres. What a thought.

There were trees and power lines down all over the place, fortunately no one was hurt or injured.
Here are a few photos from around our place. The ice has melted, but here is some of the damage.

 

Yes it's an old open faced garage but it offers protection from frosty windhields and piles of snow (sometimes). We are lucky, the car was in there on the day.

 

 

It uprooted trees and decapitated others.

 

Limbs everywhere!

 

 

THE CLEAN UP

 

Working on the tree.

 

Starting a pile.

                                             Getting ready to pull a big piece down.

 

Even the girlfriend is pitching in.

 

Thanks Paul

 

Not Chris's best shot, but....

Pardon the pun.

 

 

Thanks to Chris H. Tyler, Josh, Paul, Quinn, Rachel and my hubby. Me, I spent the time cooking....do you know how much these hungry fellows can eat? The clean up continues, but it keeps raining so the ground is too soft. The other eveing my son got stuck with the trailer and my husband had to pull him out with the big tractor, so things are on hold. I'm afraid that the ducks and geese that land in the puddles may decide to nest. WE HAVE BARN CATS AND A BIG DOG!

 

 

 

 

Dying and Printing Part 1 and a Drive-by

Seeing as I have time off from working, I'm taking the time to do a little fooling around with dying and printing on fabric and paper. I'll save the paper for another post. First off is snow dying, yes we still have some, although this was done awhile ago.

I first washed my fabric and then soaked it in washing soda over night so that the colours would remain bright. In the morning I wrung them out and put them in the bottom of a plastic bucket. I tried 4 different types of fabric, this was by far the best, just plain 100% cotton. I packed the pail with snow and sprinkled Dylon cold water dyes in 3 colours on the top. I left it for 36 hours as it was taking a long time to melt on my cold basement floor. Afterward I rinsed the whole thing in cold water and rinsed again in salt water, let it hang to dry and here you have it. I think next time I would just do one piece and maybe a bit less snow. I would also like to try it with ice, for a different effect.

This next one is rusting the fabric. fortunately I live on an old farm which gives me access to alot of rusty old junk. The picture has actually bleached out alot of the overall colour, it is a pretty consisted rusty colour with some intensity. This time I tore up some rarely used white bedsheets for the trial runs. I had done rusting before but tackled this a little differently. I rolled up lengths of fabric with rusty junk as I rolled it up. I did 4 lengths. then I put them all in  a large clear plastic bag like you use for putting your leaves in. I poured a healthy amount of vinegar on top and closed up the bag. After a couple of days I turned the bag over and put in a bit more vinegar. I got some wonderful prints. I rinsed it by hand in  a bucket of salty water and then machine washed it and hung to dry.

We had some frozen blueberries in the freezer that were starting to signs of being in the freezer just a little too long and although not wizened definitely looked like they were drying out. Zip-lock plastic doesn't keep things infinitely fresh. So I wet another length of fabric and sprinkled blueberries as I rolled the fabric, then re rolled the whole thing in a green plastic garbage bag, I was out of the clear ones which I like so you can see what's going on. After that I stamped on the whole parcel and walked away for a couple of days. This is what I got. Again the photo looks sort of washed out. I think what I might do next with this piece is to use fabric markers and actually draw on some branches of blueberries in the sots where the berries are most visible.

Again this is bleached out, maybe I need to take the photos outside in some sun instead of using the flash. that is if the sun ever shines. Grey old winter is still hanging on here in southwestern Ontario.
this one was with instant coffee . the whole cloth was dyed, then spread out on plastic ,then I sprinkled extra crystals on the wet cloth. I don't drink the stuff, but my husband is going to wonder what is happening with it.

The next three are using permanent marker and then spraying it with rubbing achol. I think I will have to invest in some broad tip markers so it doesn't require me to colour everything in and because things like the dark blue happened where it left lines still.

 

 

 

The following 2 are printed but in different ways. The first one with the birds was using gesso stamped through a stencil and left to dry and cure. After which I machine washed the fabric which leaves You with a, old worn look. The bottom one is a simple block print made with cutting out craft foam shapes and gluing them to a block of wood with a heavy duty glue

 

OK, now the drive-by part. I went with a friend yesterday to see the "Paint Ontario" exhibit at the Lampton Museum. We drove through a little village named Dashwood, famous for making Dashwood Windows and Doors. I'm going to have to back when things have a bit of greenery and wander around to take more photos because there are some great old buildings in varying stated of disrepair. Great inspiration. Here are a few quick photos I took on the way home.

 

The old blacksmith shop

 

Behind the blacksmith shop

 

 

Pump and hitching post next to the blacksmith

 

An old garage

 

Light on the peak of thegarage

 

Old feed mill

 

 

 

 

More Embroidery and Spring

I'm still working on the hand embroidery of birds for that boro jacket I want to make, here are a few more photos.

 

I started this one with the intention that both birds would be the copper colour. then I discovered I didn't have enough of the same colour, natch! It wasn't feasible to go get more as I had gotten it out of town. So, I went for the ochre colour, I think it was better to have the 2 different colours in the end.

 

 

I started the nest ages ago, thinking I would dye fabric for the eggs, then I realized it would have been better to put them in first then the nest, so I ended up doing the eggs too. Also a better decision also. You'd think that I hadn't planned this well enough.

 

 

This one I think is incomplete...fix the eye, add some shading to the back.... I have another couple on the go and then I think I will start piecing. I"m not really sure how many embroidered pieces I will need in amongst the plain ones.

 

Hoping that Spring is just around the corner. Some of the snow has started to disappear after a mild day or two and rain on and off. Everything looks mucky, littered with twigs etc. once it drys up a bit there will be a lot of cleanup, it's a big property. I have definitely got the bug to get out there. I have been planting seeds and tubers. I decided to start the Dahlias inside this time as they only start flowering in late summer and you never know when the first frost will hit...September or October. More seed planting to do today.

 

A friend split up her Hibiscus last fall and gave me one, we didn't know which colour I had, but yesterday the first bloom opened.

 

Alton Mills

About once a year my sister and sometimes our sister in law get together for a girls weekend. this year it was just my sister and I and I went to visit her over family weekend (yeah a 3 day weekend).I was really looking forward to it, my cancer treatment has kept me more or less house bound for the last nine months and it was great to get out of the house and out of town.

 

Alton Mills in the fall

 

Next to the dam

 

 

The old machinery

 

Saturday we went to a little village north of Toronto called Alton Mills. The old mill has been made into a group of galleries and artist studios.

 

Gallery space

 

I confess I did not take these picture, they actually come from the mills web site.  I had my camera and wished I'd used it for a couple of shots. Basically a lot was to hard to get to with all the snow.

 

After seeing all there was to see we went for a wonderful lunch at the local 3rd generation bakery called "Rays". One of the artists at the mill recommended it. I would do the same. Great food and they had a talented musician playing his guitar and singing, mostly Gordon Lightfoot songs. He even sounded and look a bit like Gordon. Ah, memories of youth. He did play  others as well such as Neil Diamond, etc. A lot of 60's/ 70's music. Great stuff.

 

I'm hoping to take a few friends back to the area come the nice weather. Lots to see including some great old houses, including some derelict places...great photo ops. Lots of inspiration for future work.

Friends

I've been on a campaign for buttons to use in a new project. Several friends have sent me some or have sent me in a new direction to find some. However, one of my Gallery 96 mates gave me a real treasure, his Grannies sewing box. I had buttons of course...from another era as well as an unusual needle threader, pin cushion, spindles etc. The box itself is priceless.

 

I think I am going to make a scroll/book out of the 2 spindles. Am still thinking on a piece to commemorate his Granny. Meanwhile another Gallery 96 friend didn't have buttons but gave me a bunch of bone beads from Kenya. He use to teach medicine in Nairobi for several years

 

 

How lucky am I ?

 

Meanwhile I am also involved in a surface design fabric swap. this is the first month of it and I have received these one so far. Top to bottom; reverse stencil print, rust dying and snow dying.

 

 

 

Meanwhile , my own work continues and as usuall I have a couple of things on the go. Here is some more embroidery for the "boro" jacket project. I've given myself  a deadline of the 2nd week in March. When, hopefully the weather starts to change into something warmer.

 

 I have also started building to figurative bases for some felting. One is a 1/2 torso for  the moss, ferns and toadstools of the forest. The full torso is for another coral reef. Here is how far I've gotten so far. the first one is cast from my old judy....when I used to be that slim (40 yrs ago). the second one is cast on the body of an actress/dancer that I know. Probably the only one willing to pose nude and get covered in coopy plaster.

 

Adding the head

 

 

6 layers of heavy brown paper

 

                                             Adding pumice gel and beads for texture

 

Front view, first coat of laytex and aersol stone paint

 

 

Back view

 

Final coat of paint and the beginning of felting next week.