Lori’s

As the title suggests, I’m wondering how it got to be almost the end of February.  But I know that answer, of course.  Between family events (sports/school) and finishing up home improvement projects (painting on walls, not canvas), winter has been fairly busy.  But lots done.  Just not a lot of art…  I have tried to get in tiny inspirational projects this winter through a few online trading groups.  The doll above is just one for a swap with the Yahoo group, Fiber Art Traders (F.A.T.).  Several members of this group are published authors in the fiber/mixed media world, so it’s been inspirational to see their work and have them comment positively on some of mine.Also, do have some upcoming shows for spring and have been working to coordinate a group showing at a local venue - organizing is time-consuming also … but part of the deal.   Finally updated the website with some of the upcoming things - now to get the work together for each.

Not planning any outdoor shows again this season with the family schedule but hope to get in more group events with The Art Collective.  Such a neat, talented group of artists that it’s so worth getting together with them all. Check them out at www.the-art-collective.org

Okay, since I was on the computer anyway, decided to include these photos from some of the online trades I’ve been doing - fabric postcards, ATC trades and fiber art swaps -

These 2 fish postcards were from an Art Lottery Swap, where you picked numbers randomly, then were assigned fiber ‘techniques’ to create a postcard - I had several techniques that were quilters terminology so as a non-quilter, I learned a bit there.  The fish turned out fun…

This funky looking guy was from an ATC (Artist Trading Card) fiber art exchange where you had to have things extending off the ATC that would fold in using those small scrapbooking brads.  Never used those before so this was cool - I liked this so much I kept one I made (I also used cut-up slide film for the hair and those plastic things used to hang up socks in the store for arms.)

This postcard with the red mosaic ‘explosion’ was for another fabric postcard trading group - and the image below of the 3 dark red ‘things’ was a recent ATC trade for the group ATCS for All.  Check them out online as there are definitely amazing artists in this group - I’ve done 2 trades so far but this was the first time I traded a fabric card, so I hope they go over okay.  The first trade I did pencil/ink drawings but didn’t take a photo of them since I was late getting them done…

I don’t mean ‘blues’ in an emotional way; my summertime blues are clear blue skies (after many, many weeks of summer rains), beautiful blue paint on my house’s front door, and using a lot of blue in some of my new work.  Although now I’m working on a piece where red is the main color… haven’t photographed these yet, but plan on doing that this week so I can post them.  The work is progressing for the Kansas City show ‘Atmospheres’ and I am really enjoying just creating work for the joy of it.

 Here’s the heart ‘kit’ design I use in my classes. It’s a popular one and one of the more time-consuming ones to finish - but I’ve always loved doing hearts since it seems like such a nice design to mosaic.

Discovered the first post I did is dated incorrectly but not sure how to ‘fix’ that - I wrote that post on Aug. 4, not June 11.  June was when I first set up a blog and just took me this long to get it going. Like working in my studio, it seems to take a long time to get in there during the summer.  Not because I don’t feel like working on my art, but because there’s too many other demands during the summer. Plus, we’ve had such a mild summer I have no excuse (other than a rainy day) to not do my outside work!  Oh well, school begins in another week and things will get back to a routine that has to include lots of art time. My upcoming exhibit in Kansas City is looming and so much to do.  Maybe today I’ll get in there as I have to wait to hear when I can take my son in to the orthopedic group for his broken finger…

I was going to change the title above (it was the default title) but then decided it was somewhat appropriate for my first post.  Since I’m not sure who, if anyone, would read what I have to say, it symbolizes this blog experience for me! Just getting back into my ‘office’ for a bit today after spending a week away to see friends in Minneapolis area — and enjoying the last few days of summer before school begins again.

Just finished teaching a short 2-class workshop at the Quad City Botanical Center to a really fun group on Sunday.  This is my ‘kit’ class I’ve developed and seems to be a good introduction to my mosaic style. I enjoy teaching as I always find fellow fabric enthuiasts who are, like me, wanting to try different things with fabric.  One of my kit designs is shown above  - they are basic designs intended to show technique and a few extra embellishments are also an option.