Author: JP Dawes Artist

First sewing lesson

| JP Dawes Artist

I was thrilled to give my 3 yr. old granddaughter her first sewing lesson.

We started with one color that she chose to use. Then when she discovered that grandma had lots of colors in the case she was ready to switch colors after every stitch. Of course, using scissors to cut the threads was pretty fascinating for her, too. 

When it was all done, it’s a little masterpiece of free form stitching. All of her random stitches made by “poke and pull the needle” are wonderful. I will frame it with a photo of our hands for a remembrance of our time together. Of course, we all know that this grandma isn’t the least bit biased!

Art-O-Mat approved artist!

| JP Dawes Artist

Wooo Hooo ! I received notice that I am approved by Art-O-Mat to become an artist in cellophane, or AIC for short.  A couple of my friends, Linda Edkins Wyatt and Suzan Morgan are also AICs. Another friend, Patty Cox is in the process of submitting prototypes for approval.

Online friends and groups are great. That’s where I met  these friends and discovered the quirky Art-O-Mat concept. Old cigarette vending machines are restored and repurposed to dispense miniature art. They are full of paintings, photography, jewelry, sculpture and most other kinds of fine craft and art.

This is my first item for them. It is a hand painted leather wristlet, quick and fun to do, each individually painted and crafted. These won’t be available until sometime in August but if you have a machine in your area you might find these in the slot for the brand of “Strips and Straps”. I won’t get rich on this but it’s fun to think my little wristlets will be a part of this fun repurposing venture. 

Memorial Service altar cloth

| JP Dawes Artist

Just a quick closeup look at part of the altar cloth for my mother’s memorial service on the 24th. She would have been 88 on her birthday July 28th.  She taught me how to sew and was so passionate about sewing. I thought this would be a fitting and  special memorial to her. She loved beautiful things.

I designed and quilted this from pleated silk. The cross and medallions are from vintage textiles [the cross isn’t wonky on the piece even though it looks like it here]. The swag is made of ribbon roses. It doesn’t show well  but the heart is trapunto. It was difficult to photograph the white to show any detail and the light reflected differently on the flowers than on the cloth. There isn’t any visual difference in the two whites in person.

After her memorial service, I will store this away until the next family memorial service. I will make a label for the back with the names and dates for each family member it is used for. I hope it will become a cherished family heirloom.

Mounting a fiber piece or my attempt to be accepted by the art club

| JP Dawes Artist

The local art club had their annual spring show in June. They would only accept 2-D work that was framed or on gallery wrapped canvas. It had to have screw eyes and wire to hang the piece and be fairly small.

I had words with a different art club in the area when they insisted that anything other than paintings on paper or canvas were NOT art but craft. Boy, just tell an artist that their medium isn’t art and you will be in for a fight.

I straddled the fence for a long time before I decided that I would enter a couple of fiber pieces in the show. I would play by their rules and make certain  the pieces I wanted to enter would hang like they asked.  They would be entered in the mixed media category, I thought that was great that they had this category. Maybe they were coming into the 21st century!

One of the pieces I felt would lend itself well to being mounted is one that has had two names: Dance and Feeding Frenzy.  It began with a photo I took at the local boat dock. There are monster carps there that swarm when they feel the vibrations of feet on the plank. They want FOOD! 

The fiber piece has so many layers of complexity that I didn’t feel I could just mount it without doing something jazzy to really make it mixed media. 

The first thing I did is shown in the top photo. After stretching the canvas and gessoing it…I really did start from scratch and stretched raw canvas. I used to do that in school and it was fun to remember how. The next step was to use gel medium to apply torn pieces of rice paper for texture. Because I was going to make the background of the canvas look like water plants, I also applied heavy cording. When those layers were dry, it was time to paint.
The trick was to make the canvas colors closely match the colors of textile paints that were overlaid with copper tulle on the fiber part. I wanted the finished piece to look as if it was always planned that way and the mounting wasn’t an afterthought.  At first the colors on the canvas were too intense so I knocked them back with a light brushing of white.

I was really pleased with the way this turned out. I thought I accomplished what I set out to do with this mounting.

I showed up at the check in for artwork and paid my entry fees. They accepted the artwork since it was entered in mixed media. It all went against a wall in categories waiting to be hung. I was confused at that point since the only piece so far in the category was what looked like a gauche and ink.

When we went to the reception, that gauche and ink got first place in mixed media, second was a collage with magazine pages and third was a watercolor and India ink. I wondered if I entered the WRONG category, but no, all those pieces were entered as mixed media. Maybe things have changed since I went to school but highlighting a painting with ink didn’t qualify as mixed media. With all the books, magazines and how-tos out there for mixed media I don’t understand how a qualified MFA judge could not know what was mixed media.

Please don’t misunderstand, this isn’t sour grapes. I was thrilled that they at least accepted and hung this piece. It was totally outside the box for them. I have won ribbons at that show for acrylics and I knew it was a very, very traditional show. I think every time a fiber artist pushes the envelope in a traditional show it furthers the acceptance of the medium. But, I won’t enter this show again. I’ll save my money for a juried show.

I have a solo show in February 2011. This piece is ready to go for the exhibition. There just might be an art buyer there who will fall in love with this  and it might even be purchased. Wouldn’t that be great?

Piles of Puppies and Quilts

| JP Dawes Artist

My kids were curled up with their favorite quilts on the sofa in the family room this morning. They are very discriminating kids and will pass up anything warm and fuzzy for the quiet comfort of one of my quilts.

Little Lulu didn’t budge as the flash went off, but Bandit raised his head, cracked one eye as if to say “What the heck do you think you’re doing?”.

Lulu’s quilt is one I made years ago from Alexander Henry fabric in the Garden Maze quilt pattern. Bandit’s quilt is an antique tumbler charm quilt. That top piece was bought for $1 at a garage sale and was long and skinny. I reverse sewed enough to make it into a nice rectangle when I put the two ends together. It has soft cotton batting, is tied on the corners with embroidery thread and then hand stitched 1/4″ from the seam around each charm. It is bound with bias seam binding, keeping the lovely curves of the tumbler shapes.

For those of you who are running shreaking from the room that 2 beautiful quilts have been thrown to the dogs…..there is no difference of letting them cuddle with these quilts on the sofa than if they cuddle on my lap when I am covered with a quilt. They don’t rip or tear them or drag them around the room, they have a basket full of baby toys for that and we keep it well stocked! Besides, when I make a traditional lap quilt, I expect it to be used and loved and this picture is a testament to how much these quilts are loved.