An Artist's Typical Week?

Although an artist's week often isn't predictable, here is one recent week's schedule. 

Sunday:

• Schedule art making for the week. 

Monday:

• Sew 2 'mugrugs' for an upcoming Bird Festival (donation). Not having sewn one for awhile, yes it took me most of the day. 

Tuesday:

• Package 'mugrugs' and contact Bird Festival committee member. 
• Sew 4 mini textile cards.
• Start sewing regular sized textile cards, then the power went out due to a wind storm. 

Wednesday:  

• Heard one of my textile cards was purchased as a gift going to England! An artist often doesn't know who purchases their art but it is delightful when they do. 
•  Sew 12 bird cards.
•  Post about bird art to social media. Bird art Post

Thursday: 

• Sew 2 more bird cards and 8 floral cards.
• Shoot a video of thread sketching.
• Assemble picture mat materials.
• Attend a lesson on mat cutting in the afternoon.
• Shop at the Second Hand Store for a steamer to set in a large pot for silk painting steam setting. Purchased 4 decorative gold wire plate holders to use for displaying textile cards for sale.

Friday: 

• Sew 11 landscape cards.
• Edit and post social media video of textile sketching. Reel of Thread Sketching
• Practice mat cutting on my own mat cutter. 

Saturday: 

• Sew one more landscape card to make 2 dozen competed this week.
• Clean studio table of sewing machine and textile cards.
• Frame 2 watercolour paintings. Unframe one of them twice, once for a fleck and once to re-center the mat. 
• Write out framing directions learnt on Thursday.
• Put away mat cutter, mat pieces, frame pieces and hardware.

        

An artist's life is so much more than creating art. 

Quilt Show: Canmore

Quilt Show in Canmore, Alberta. Oct 17 & 18/2015.  My booth will be in the Vendor's section  and if you are in the area please stop in.

 
Mug rug / wine mat sales were so successful at the recent Nelson Quilt Show, that the lights in my studio have been on well into the evenings catching up. If you are looking for gifts that mail well these are a great option. Here are a few samples I will have at the market this weekend.

This one was influenced from my recent month of painting in Alberta.

Oh, our Creston apples are so... sweet right now!

Another Alberta influence. We painters can't resist those red farm buildings!

Mauve. I am seeing a lot of purplish fall flowers right now.

 

New since the last Canmore Quilt show I attended, I have paired a local artisan's handmade buttons, from Lavender Lampworks with my artwork to create a card and gift in one. They are such a great gift for those that sew.

Another choice for a card and gift in one are these one of a kind textile bookmarks. They are removable from the card. Oh yea, the card can then be used for colouring too.

Quiltable hand painted squares in 3 sizes are popular for using in quilts, wall hangings and pillows. If you are looking for something specific, be sure to ask me. Maybe I can create it for you.

 

Larger quiltable panels are also available at a special market savings.

 Buttons  by Blue Moon Pottery look great with my hand dyed fabrics. I picture purses and pillows.

I will be bringing Win Din's mandala colouring book. http://windinnart.blogspot.ca/ Great for colouring and stitching pattern ideas.

 

 I have been dyeing and sewing all summer and will have a selection of the frameable textile cards. These have always been my most in demand item. 

Sat Oct 17 & Sun Oct 18,  you can find me at the Vendor's Market of the Canmore Quilt show. I hope to see you there.  If you can't make it but are looking for one of the items mentioned you can purchase them by contacting me directly at eileengidman@kootenay.com

Quilt Show from my Winter Group

Here is a few quilts from the Quilt Show I was in this winter. We have some excellent quilters in our group. I am much a beginner and I am thankful members are so willing to share there knowledge with me.

Three of my mini quilts with fruit hand painted pieces.
'Carol and Sue' raw edge applique and free motion thread sketching.

 A sketch I did of Carol in the studio. The farm scene was added after.

 This is the sketch that inspired the textile art piece 'Carol and Sue' which is shown in the photo above and below.

Two 'Barn Series' mini quilts of mine.

Original Design by C. C.

Don't you love the pieced sashing by J. W.

P. B's quilt. When you look at this quilt awhile, you see circles even though there are no curved pieces in it.

Wall Hangings

One of my hand painted panels made into a wall hanging by C. K.

 

S. A. bought these quilt blocks at a yard sale, added the sashing and had it hand quilted.

I can see why this viewer was attracted to A. J.'s black, white and red quilt, can you?

Made with 'Crown Royal' bags by C. K. Did you know that you can actually buy this bag from the company?

Quilt's for Charity



Quilt Show Free Draw Winner

The winner of the free draw at the Creston Quilt Show was Joan from Moyie, BC, Canada and as I was going to Cranbrook, I was able to drop it off for her at the Moyie General Store. Enjoy your Artisan Button Card, Textile Art Card, and Mug rug with hand dyed fabrics. There certainly were quite a number of people who wanted to buy the Textile Card out of that free draw.

The Textile Card that several people wanted to buy out of the free draw. It was on linen and for some reason the photo isn't great.

Now that I am finished with the Quilt show, I am getting back to working on my watercolour commission. Here it is started. There are several more glazes to go on the agave to reach the depths I want in the shadows. Can you see a few of the rocks are started in the foreground?

 

Agave plant. Isn't it gorgeous with it's strong lights and darks?

Note the iron wood snag and golden barrel cactus that are also being worked into the composition.

Creston Quilt Show

Creston Valley Quilters' Guild Show

What a successful quilt show this was on Friday and Saturday. This post will mostly be photos as I am rather spent from all the organizing that goes around getting to a show. Thank you Creston, Nelson, Moyie, Cranbrook, Kimberley, Idaho, Kootenay Lake residents for all the support you give me by visiting my booth and by buying my hand (dye) painted fabrics.

Stephanie Longpre (right) drawing the winning name for my free draw of a mug rug with hand painted fabric, textile card, artisan button card and package of hand painted fabrics. Stephanie was the event organizer and she did a fantastic job. One of her plans is to be an event planner for weddings. She will be great at it I am sure. Thank you Stephanie for your hard work organizing the show.

My booth of hand (dye) painted fabrics, textile cards, artisan button cards, mug rugs, and artisan pillows.

A few hand painted fat quarters. Win Dinn's mandala colouring book which can be ordered online here: http://windinnart.blogspot.ca/p/color-me-up.html

 Some of the Entries in the Quilt Show

 

This photo is especially for my friend Patty who also loves to use striped material.

This complicated colour combination delighted me.

The Quilt Group Challenge

Samples from the Quilt Group Challenge

Vendor's at a show develop a special connection and I met some lovely people this weekend. Here is one of the other Vendor's booths. Keith and Carol Kepke's sell precision wood crafted items for quilters. See you at the Canmore Show.



I love calendar pictures. One person did all these!

Wow what a wonderful organization that donates quilts for children. Take a look at that total.

Self portraits

The winner of viewer's choice. Such talent!