Great challenge

Yes, this is a challenge.  I know that when I travelled to Europe a few years back, I wanted to take pics in some of the museums.  I learned that if I changed  the aperture settings I could take great pics with no flash.  (If you wanted to take pics in some of the museums, you could not use a flash, but you had to buy a separate entrance ticket).  I can't wait to experiment while in Arizona!

How did she do it????

We have been exploring the work of Vivian Maier recently and have a little challenge going about doing self portraits in the manner that she did them, usually holding her camera at her waist and capturing a reflection of herself.


I took my digital camera into my bedroom and tried to do a pose similar to what she had done with her SLR camera.

Too low

Too high

better angle, too bright

too much flash

way too much light
I tried to turn off the flash but the camera refused to take a shot. OK got that!!

getting closer

tried it with no flash

This is going to be a real exciting learning experience.
To think that Vivian used a film camera to get those shots is boggling. She would have to shoot a roll, get it developed before she even knew if she had the correct focus.  I can take a lot of shots and choose instantly which ones I want to keep.


I have taken a few photography classes-mostly with my old SLR camera. these included developing my own prints in the darkroom. I was quite reluctant to buy a digital camera but finally gave in and bought a Nikon. The photography teacher at Niagara College used to say "Make every print count." Now I still try to make every one count but I have the luxury of deleting the prints that I don't like and only keeping the good shots.


I am looking forward to seeing what Al does with this challenge.

self portrait challenge

wow the more I look at Vivian Maier's self portraits, the more I see. they are fabulous. I am going to try some too.
maybe have to go find some fab mirrors. she did just amazing things.


Karen

Things to Ponder!

I tell my students when their work ends up doing a complete 360....
" it is not what I planned, but exactly what I wanted"

Looking forward to a new adventure!

Well soon Debbie and I will be leaving for our first winter holiday to Arizona!  We usually go to Florida in March every year, but we needed a change.  Florida just isn't doing it anymore.  We found a wonderful "artists' " town called Tubac.  The arts are everywhere there!  I hope to do a lot of drawings and some small watercolours and of course some hand dyeing and sewing.
We are also going to Phoenix for the AQS quilt show! OH BOY!
I would also like to thank Lisa for the wonderful day we had at her pottery studio.  I am excited about  what I produced and can't wait to see the end results.
I was teaching in Amherst NY this week and the students were amazing.  We were working on my new folded fabric techniques.  They were very excited and the results were great. I thought I had a lot of fabric stash!
I promised myself I would set new challenges for myself this year.  Karen has challenged me to take a self portrait every day while in Arizona.  I plan to get real creative with this.
Have been clearing up a lot of loose ends before going away.  Customers quilts, commissions, gallery work, even dental and eye appointments!
Watch for those portraits!
Al

Chronicles of Snow Dying

....And when the caterpillar thought the world was over, she turned into a butterfly.


The story continues.  I was not really satisfied with the results of my snow dying experiment so I decided to continue with the same fabrics and re-dye them using the same snow dying techniques.


I soaked them again in soda ash and dried them. I found aluminium broiler trays at the dollar store. The have slots in the bottom to allow the snow and dyes to melt off but keep the fabric elevated from the water.

I crumpled up the fabrics with lots of twists.

I covered the bundles with a smaller layer of snow. It was about two or three inches deep. Last time I used way too much snow. It took almost a whole day for the snow to melt.

Then I sprinkled dye powder on top of the snow. I used black, olive green and brown dyes. I also discovered that I have a few tins of black!!! why?? I don't really know.

But actually the black is a good choice for this type of dying. As soon as I sprinkled it, I could see the separation of colour. A dark blue emerged first, then something along a cranberry red colour. All of the dyes that I used the second  time released different colours as the snow melted.

I rinsed and rinsed and washed and hung them over the shower rod to dry. Next time I take a selfie, I will have my makeup done. We've been discussing Vivian Maier's work and I have decided to follow her example and do a lot of self portraits.

I think I have finally finished!! The colours are very vibrant. There are a few very good lines of separation, which is what I was hoping to achieve. Heat setting to follow and then I hope to use them in a series of  log cabin quilts that I am planning.

Thanks for stopping by.

Karen of the Fabrigos.

our road trip to the potters studio

Jo talked about our road trip to the pottery studio in her post. I, too, want to thank Lisa Skog for her generosity in opening her studio to us. She was very hospitable in showing us her work as well as her home.
Lisa's pottery is very inventive. She is not afraid to try anything from the looks of her work. She is a pretty savvy business woman as well. She created a lot--I mean a LOT-- of small easily sellable doodads for the Christmas market in order to make it possible for her to make larger more  artistic pieces .

I think that its very apparent that one of Lisa's philosophies of life is --Go for it!!! She has experimented with other crafts including stained glass but I think she has found her calling in pottery.
The aspect of the unknown is especially exciting. You really don't know what the piece is going to look like when you finish.


Her lovely home is also a work of art. Definitely not your cookie cutter decorating.  When you enter the home,  there is a feeling of serenity and safety. The colours are bold and the furnishings are beautiful pieces that came from Malaysia with lots of beautifully carved dark wood.
Thanks again Lisa and I can hardly wait to see our results.


One of the things that Jo mentioned is collaborating with artists of different mediums. I wholly agree with Jo's comments about how much we can learn from other artists. I hope that we might be able to do a little bit more with Lisa and any other artists that we meet along the way.


When I started making art quilts, I took several classes in painting and I am still doing that. I learned a lot about colour and composition from various teachers. These lessons have definitely influenced my fibre art. It's not easy to point at something in one of my pieces and say that I learned that in painting class but I do feel that other classes have influenced how I mix my fabrics and colours--and I am not afraid to mix bright colours--I just really feel that learning from other artists benefits my art work.


Thanks for stopping by!! What's your philosophy of life?
Karen