Artsy Shoes

I have always admired the graffiti that I see on moving trains, and this past summer my husband surprised me with an anniversary trip to an artsy destination I have always wanted to visit:  San Francisco.  I got to see lots of awesome graffiti all over the place:

I also have been wanting to do my own "graffiti" on a pair of shoes, and I finally took the step to do some.  They are still a work in progress, but I have finally drawn everything on it. 

 

They have some of my favorite things, plus a little doodling.  Now, I just have to add the color!  I have to have them done by Halloween, so I can wear them to the Quilt Festival!

Practicing on friends

I am really enjoying manipulating photos on Photoshop to create fiber art.  I am still just a beginner though, so I decided to make a couple of medium sized art quilts for friends to get some more practice with some of the program features.  These are my works in progress:

This has been a tremendous learning experience so far.  I have started the quilting on one so far. I did not know that I could print overlapping tiles when printing my projects.  That really helped me put them together more precisely.  Man, I sure wish I had figured that out on my "Jumping the Broom" quilt.  Oh, the time and frustration that would have saved...........

Quilting Arts

Quilting Arts Magazine recently had a reader challenge entitled "Friendship and Devotion".  I don't read the magazine as soon as I receive it most times, because I want to read it when I have time to sit and take it all in.  (Having two little ones certainly takes up a large portion of my attention, of course!)  So, there wasn't much time for me to get something done.  Luckily, I immediately thought of an artwork I began years ago, that was just sitting in my closet with no home.  It was about the size it needed to be as well.  What was the problem? You see, it was inspired by friends who are no longer friends with one another.  So I took a look at it, and changed it up just a bit to fit the current status. Then I appropriately called it, : "Frenemies"!  Here is a snippet of it.....

I don't want to show the entire thing because...da da da dummmm....It was accepted as a finalist in the challenge!  Hopefully you will be able to read about it and see it in the February/March issue of Quilting arts!
 

What have I been up to?

All this year I have been participating in exhibitions opportunities.  Since my last posts about the quilt festival, I have been very busy.  My Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) quilt sold for $150 again this year.  I was a little worried that it wouldn't sell because the design looked so simplistic.  Believe it or not, there was some thought and effort put into it.  I am very thankful that I was able to help raise money for SAQA.

In other SAQA news, the members from Texas had an opportunity to participate in a traveling trunk show exhibition entitled "A Texas Experience".  At first I thought about the Alamo, but wasn't really inspired by that.  It seemed too stereotypical.  The deadline seemed to creep up on me, and I decided that I wouldn't have enough time to get it done.  Then the deadline was extended, and I remembered that I wanted to do a small series about cowboy boots a while back.  The problem was that I didn't own any and hadn't taken any pictures of any.  Coincidentally, the next day, my fashionable co-worker strutted by in her brown cowboy boots accented with purple stitching. I convinced her to let me take her boots on a little trip outside to photograph them.  I then took one of the photos, manipulated it on Photoshop, and stitched over it like crazy!  Here is the result:

"A Cowgirl Necessity"

"I'm so excited!....and I just can't hide it!"

I got accepted as one of 22 finalists in the IQA Traditions exhibit!  What an awesome blessing and opportunity.  I'm doing the happy dance!  Every year when I attend the show, I look at the works on display with awe, and now I will have something displayed there!  Woo Hoo! 

Happy Daddy Day!

I decided to create a piece of art for my husband for father's day.  I like the way it turned out for the most part.  I love the way the quilting on the face turned out!  I usually shy away from that.  Anyhoo, my hubby was pleased. 

Accepted!

One of the things I have always wanted to do, not unlike many fiber artists, is to be accepted into exhibits and shows.  I had not really tried to enter many in the past, mostly due to my insecurities, thinking my work may not be "good enough".  However, keeping with my inspirational quote for the year, "Perfection is the enemy of greatness", I decided to enter a few shows this year.  What do I have to lose?  My goal is simply to be accepted. 

So far, I have been accepted to two exhibits:  All Things Fiber with the Arts Council Brazos Valley this summer where two of my older pieces are being displayed now through July 31st,

 

 and the other is the "What's for Dinner" exhibit at the International Quilt Festival in Houston this November.  In this exhibit, participants were asked to make a placemat and their favorite meal--yes, as a piece of fiber art!  I did what no one who knows me would be the least bit surprised about: pizza!

 I also entered the "Traditions" exhibit at the IQA Festival based on one of my favorite wedding pictures.  I really tried a lot of new techniques in this one, and regardless of being accepted or not, I am really proud of it.  I have not heard back about this one yet, but I am keeping my finger crossed!  Because of the rules, I can't post any pictures of either of these works yet.  But here is the photo that I drew inspiration from.