Greetings Fibre Friends...
I am finally back to the blog...starting the new year with a different take on sharing. I hope to be able to continue with a more "reader-friendly" chat blog rather than always advertising classes and things to do... we are all doing a whole lot of "not much" just now, and that needs some support!
Has this been 'THE most difficult time in my life' for you and not just me?? I think about that a lot - and all of you.
I am so pleased that the calendar has turned and that we are all thinking about changes happening in the world that are on the POSITIVE side rather than focusing on difficult days. January has been just a bit scary lately - so hoping that you are all focusing on support for our Community, neighbors, and friends.
Here in Ontario, we are on a "soft lockdown" or pandemic holding period and once again a 'Stay at Home' order has been issued that is focused on keeping us all safe and protecting our neighbors and those we come into contact with as well as our family members and ourselves.
Sewing, design play, and my weaving practice continue in my Studio 214D space at the TETT. I am still traveling into Kingston (when the weather permits) to my little Stone-walled Artist's Studio at the TETT Centre here in Kingston, ON. It is both a sanctuary and a place to contemplate my next steps.
I am loving the camaraderie of the other six Creativity Studios Resident Artists and great artist friends who are allowed into our BIG EMPTY BUILDING because our Studio spaces are like apartment rentals - we can come and go, but it is lonely (and sad that we do not see friends and neighbors coming for their "Art" fix.) The Galleries are dark, the Weavers, Potters and Lapidary Guilds and the Dance School is not running classes at all... with the only people in the building being staff, and who are Guild members and have building access on a very limited basis. I have Lake Ontario just outside my window, so the days pass quickly, watching the skies and the changes in water and weather...
Busy working on a new project quilt - for the CONNECTIONS FIBRE ARTISTS group exhibition entitled "RE: Connections" that was to open in FERGUS, ON in early February. The Opening is now delayed by the pandemic shut down. We are hoping for a Gallery Opening for the exhibition with limited admission for visitors on February 20th (please follow the Wellington County Museum and Archives website for more information), but there will not be our normal and much-loved Opening Reception this year.
This artwork just happened - fun, bright colours and with a focus on an artifact from the Museum's Archives - "Two Girls and a Canoe". Based on a photo that I selected to use for my inspiration.
The quilt is in the last stages of the quilting process and will perhaps be done today - with borders to be added before the week is our and frame mounting to happen soon. I will be adding some photographs soon that will be fused onto the finished surface, and lend a hint to my inspiration. Below is the inspiration photo from 1915.
I will be adapting some silk organza prints of 'Two Girls in a Canoe - A Century Later' into the final piece... tracking and finding photos is good fun... sample below.
Have a good week ahead and I hope to be able to post more often...
Note that my "Let's Stitch Again - Indigo Cloth Piecing" class scheduled for January 23rd has been postponed once again and will not happen now until March.
Miss seeing you...
bethany