Possible 12 x 12 Oil Painting

Here is the 12" x 12" oil painting that I could use for OVAC's annual event that is called the 12 x 12. I still haven't decided if I will give them the fiber piece that I posted yesterday or this oil painting. I'm open for suggestions!

Possible 12 x 12 Felted Piece

I've been invited to participate in OVAC's 12 x 12 exhibit again this year. I love to attend this event so I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to participate. OVAC supplies the canvas, you can choose to donate the work or receive a 50% commission when it sells, and you get two free tickets to the event! What a deal because two tickets cost at least $50.

I have a dilemma this year because I can't decide whether to do a fiber piece or an oil painting so I'm making one of each.....then I'll have to decide. This is the fiber piece I've made but I haven't named it yet.

I made a trip back to the IAO Gallery where the Fiberworks 2009 exhibit is on display to take photos. All the lights were not on so they didn't turn out very well. Carla took her fancy camera so maybe her photos will turn out better than mine.

The green felted & knotted vessel that is pictured was made by Stephanie Grubbs. This is just a close up view so you can't see the whole sculpture but I liked the way the photo turned out and you can see inside the vessel from this angle.




The next photo is part of a knitted chess set by Sara Braden. She uses recycled silk yarn and the little chess pieces are so cute and tiny! Sara buys sweaters from the thrift shop then unravels them so that's what I meant by 'recycled silk yarn'. You can see part of the gallery in the background.





The last photo won "Most Innovative" and is made by Michi Susan. It's mounted behind plexiglass and is constructed of hand made paper, twigs, and found objects like bottle caps and other things.

Tomorrow is the last day that Fiberworks 2009 will be on display. It will be sad to see it disassembled on Monday when the artists come to pick up their work.

2009 Mixed Media Collage exhibit

I entered three pieces in the Mixed Media Collage Exhibit sponsored by the Oklahoma Watermedia Association and all three were accepted! The opening reception will be Sunday, July 5 from 2 - 5pm at the Norick Art Center, 1600 N.W. 26th St, Oklahoma City located on the Oklahoma City University campus. (I supplied the link to the OWA's website but it's a shame they don't keep their website updated so it's not very interesting.)

The three pieces that I had accepted are Time In Space, Time Marches On, and Time Tracks. I like to include information like this on my blog because I have a tendency not to keep a list of pieces that have been accepted into an exhibit. You can't enter a piece that has been accepted before and since I couldn't remember what was in the Mixed Media exhibits in 2007 & 2008 it was helpful to find it on my blog. That's just one good reason to have a blog and keep it updated!

Annual Potluck Dinner

June 20th on Saturday night was the Fiber Artists of Oklahoma (FAO) annual potluck dinner meeting. This year Sue Moss Sullivan invited FAO members to her vacation cabin in Chandler and it was a treat! She has a beautiful log cabin in the woods with a nice pond and it was such a relaxing place to hang out and enjoy everyone's company. We have some excellent cooks in the group so in my opinion we always have the very best potluck dinners in the world! In the photo above Elia, Kate, and Janie are in line to fill their plates. Below is Shirley, Sue, Dorothy, and Stephanie on the porch while Shirley is conducting the meeting.

FIBERWORKS 2009 Opening Reception

Saturday night was the Opening Reception of Fiberworks 2009. The Juror's Lecture was before the opening this year so that increased the attendance of that event. I enjoyed Jiseon Lee Isbara's presentation and talk about the progress of her work. We had a good crowd and great food so the opening was a success.

The first photo is of me and Dawne talking about one of my pieces in the show.

The second photo was taken during the awards ceremony. Karen, on the left, is getting ready to present the awards. The juror, Jiseon, is standing on the right of Karen.

The third photo is a shot of the middle of the gallery during the reception.

The fourth photo is the food table. Our caterer's provided a great spread!

The Begginings of Fiberworks 2009

This has been a busy week! I've been helping with the Fiberworks 2009 exhibit which involved a ton of work.....but it's worth all the sore muscles. We accepted entries on Saturday and Monday. Stephanie laid out all the entries on Tuesday so they would be ready for the juror on Wednesday. These photos were taken Wednesday after the artwork had been chosen for the show. Eight of us worked all day yesterday to hang the show.....that's why I have sore muscles today.

I had two pieces selected by the juror for the show so I'm thrilled! I can't begin to tell you how much work goes into producing this exhibit. Fiber Artists of Oklahoma, the group that produces Fiberworks, is a small group and they do an amazing job every year (this is the 31st year!).

Abstract Challenge - Crowd

I've mentioned before that I'm a member of an online Yahoo group called Abstract Challenge. The word for the challenge this month is 'Crowd' so instead of making a little 8"x8" quilt (which is what I'm supposed to do) I painted an 8" x 10" canvas. I like the design so I think I will try to translate it into a felt piece in the near future. This should be a fun project. I'll make the felted piece much larger than 8" x 10" and try to keep the same colors and overall feeling.

Orange Hill Country

I'm calling this painting "Orange Hill Country" for lack of a better name. I've noticed that I've been using orange a lot in my paintings and don't know why. I don't particularly like that color yet it ends up on my pallet so go figure.

Still Searching For My Voice

I'm still searching for my 'voice' ......my 'style' of painting. I haven't found it yet but I'm working on it and that's the only way to do it. I found that out when I started quilting back in the early '90's. Anyway, these are two of my newest oil paintings that will end up in my unforgotten pile of work....never to see the light of day! Right now they are still hanging around my studio because they aren't dry enough to throw in the pile, lol! The painting with the green city and weird telephone poles is 12" x 12" and the pink landscape is 11" x 14". Wow, that's a pink painting, why on earth did I use that color? Oh well, I had fun.