I'm Back

     Here's what has been happening.  I moved to Boulder City Nevada last year, and it took me several months to remodel the house, and get settled in.  Then several more months to get used to living here.
       I didn't do much art and was totally without motivation or stimulation although I had a lovely new painting studio as well as a sewing room.  I missed everyone in Southern California and inspiration they all gave me.
       Eventually I started looking for like minded people, but they were hard to find.  I did run into a few women who painted together at the library and they invited me to join them.
       The Chaffey Communities Museum of Art in Ontario asked me to do a show there last June so at last I had motivation to get something going.  "The Magnolias" quilt above was at the show which was great! Not only did I see many friends there, but I sold many art pieces which was very encouraging to me that someone really liked what I was doing.
       When I returned to Nevada I went to work and painted a few new things and got them into a local gallery.  Hooray!

 These are silk paintings with stitching and applique pieces of hand dyed silks.  I spent a lot of time working out how to turn silk paintings and stitching into wall art in a frame on the wall.   Galleries are not sure what to do with a piece you can't just hang on a hook, so now I have jumped that hurdle.

     These are the latest experiments that I have been playing with,  I have been asked by SAA and WAC to give a presentation and a workshop for them next year so I have been working on a new technique where the students will work from their own photos and create silk art in a smaller format (about 8" X 10".  I think we will have fun.  I tried doing these old family photos maintaining the sepia tone with the silk appliqué and was excited about how they came out.

      If anyone is out there I will try and post again on a more regular basis now that I'm working in the studio  again.