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I'm Back!

2011-08-01T10:52:19Z

My last post was 427 days ago. I am a little late in getting back to you. Here is what happened. I hit the wall. I developed an artist block so severe I could not make art at all. And as a result I had nothing to say at all.

My block was caused by my technophobia. I am sure of this. I could not figure out how to use my computer to help me get my art out there. So I shut down. I put away all my fabric, closed up my sewing machine, and brought my quilts back to Florida where I store them.

I thought I was taking a month or two off but that was not the case. I did not touch fabric for over 6 months. I had lost my desire to create. I preferred social events to being alone in my studio.

Happily I am now able to tell you that I have found my mojo and I am back. It happened at my retreat.

In March I attended the Focus on Fiber retreat for the 2nd time and there I regained my momentum and started on a whole new series. I now can't wait to get to work everyday.

I have written about FOF in a past post and told about what a wonderful time I had last year. The 2nd visit was even better. I brought a project that did not go well ( remember I still had no mojo) and had no other fabric to work with. I was forced to go into the scrap pile for materials for a quilt. This made me work outside my box to say the least. I decided to make a house quilt, something I had thought about before. Working with these new materials, and getting a lot of input from others at the retreat brought out a spark in me that had lain dormant for many months and stimulated not one but three small quilts. I have been happily making house quilts since then.

So why didn't I start blogging again? I could not find the page to open anymore. It was lost on my computer somewhere and I could not figure out where it was or how to go about finding it. Remember, I started off by mentioning my technophobia. Every once in a while I would make a half hearted attempt to search my computer but drop the search when the same place did not suddenly list my blog page. Finally one day I mentioned to my husband that I had this problem. In 10 minutes my page was back. Lesson learned, use your resources!

So what have I done about my technophobia? For one thing I have forgiven myself for having this problem. I found a friend in my neighborhood who is willing to show me what I need to do and if I am still thickheaded she will do the computer work for me. I can ask my husband for help, too. I am even thinking about taking a course on computers. The important this is I can now enter my quilts when I choose to.

Last month I made a quilt and entered it and I am waiting to hear back if it will be accepted. I think it will be as I got very good feedback from the show curator already.

So, as I said before, I am back. Glad to be here. Now I just have to figure out how to add in my photos. I guess I will have to ask for some help.

Serendipity

2010-05-31T09:18:00Z

I am technologically challenged and it is starting to affect my self esteem. I have always thought of myself as a bright woman. I went to college. I have a master's degree. I taught for 35 years. But I cannot seem to learn the simple things I need to do to effectively use my computer to attain many of my art goals.

My husband used to do the things I could not do as he is not similarly challenged. That isn't working for us so much anymore. I ask and either he barks at me or he is not available, or he tries and has trouble himself and the blue stream comes from his mouth.

So I am on my own with a predicament. If I want to re-size photos to enter shows or have things printed I need to find someone else to either teach me ( once again) or do it for me. I think I have found that person, but the story is a little convoluted.

A couple of months ago I came across a photo online that knocked my socks off. It was a night scene of a beach with a purple sky. Something about this photo screamed quilt to me. I had never made a landscape quilt from a photo although as I mentioned in my last post I take tons of photos with that in mind. I did a little searching around and found the photographer, got in touch with him and received permission to use his photo in a quilt. I then made a quilt using his photo as inspiration.

In reading this photographer's website I find that he is a person who has all the skills I am looking for in a teacher. He lives in Australia and I live in the US., but despite that, I have proposed a barter of my quilt in exchange for his knowledge.

I am not sure how all this will work out or if it will happen at all, but I just love the possibility of the whole thing.

Here is a photo of my quilt of Mike Vlack's photo, " Rock Pool at Bondi Beach".

Easy Come Easy Go

2010-05-27T09:52:00Z

In my last post I mentioned the artist in residence program I was going to participate in. Unfortunately, I have had to turn this down as I was told security is a problem at the facility. I was planning on leaving 2 good sewing machines there. With advance notice of several thefts and break-ins over the last year I feared for my machines as well as my own personal safety, so I am back on my own in my little cottage by the sea.

Hopefully I will pick up the pace and start concentrating on work. I have still been doing very little work and a lot of everything else.

On Monday, as I took my morning walk along the canal the light and the slack high tide were just beautiful. Every house and boat were perfectly reflected in the water. As I walked I lamented having not brought my camera. I usually walk the half mile to the end of the canal and another half mile further before I turn around. This time I turned around at the top end of the canal, walked home and got my camera, and returned to walk the canal again taking shots along the way. Hopefully, there is at least one quilt to come out of all those shots.

I don't know about you but I take loads and loads of photos and they usually just sit in the camera for months. Eventually my husband will empty the camera and load the pictures onto the computer and then in some very distant time I look at the pictures.

I have only made one quilt so far from all those thousands of photos. I have painted a few, but not many. One that I painted is a picture of a bay house. Bay houses were built in the marshes off Long Island , probably in the 1920's or so. At one time there were hundreds of them. Clammers built them to live in for the warm months while they worked. Now there are just a few left and they are mostly in very poor shape. It is illegal to build them but the ones remaining can stay until the forces of nature bring them down. Then they cannot be rebuilt.

Opportunity Knocks

2010-05-13T10:09:09Z

I have been offered the artist in residence position that I talked about in my last post That should help me focus on my work as I will be setting regular hours and treating my work like a job. I will have studio space in a senior center and I will work with the seniors to create a heritage quilt.

I am excited about this opportunity. I have talked about wanting separate studio space away from home for a long time. Now that dream is coming true and I am just waiting to see if what I wanted works for me. I will have a lot of room to spread out and a ton of storage space.

This is coming just in time as I have been taking a vacation from work since I got to NY two weeks ago. I have been seeing friends and family and having fun. I have been reading and beading and walking, but hardly any sewing or designing. I don't even have my next project in mind yet. That almost never happens. I am usually mentally one or two projects ahead as I work on a current one. I know, though, that as I pick up the pace of work everything will fall into place.

I went into Manhattan to see a show with my friend Leah yesterday. As we walked from the train we passed through the Garment Center and stopped in at Mood Fabrics. That is the store made famous from Project Runway. What a great store! They have three floors of all kinds of fabric, roll after roll of silk, cotton, velvet, etc. I did not have a ton of time so did not buy anything, just enjoyed looking. I will definitely go back with more time to spend.

Musings

2010-04-11T09:48:00Z

My life takes a turn twice a year when I relocate to follow beautiful weather. I have spent the winter and early spring in Florida, and shortly, ( before it gets too hot), I leave for New York where my life takes on a different rhythm.

Here, I work most days in my studio and can concentrate on my work at least for a few hours every day. I get a lot of work done. In NY, I am much busier and do not have a studio at all. I work at my dining room table and have to clean everything up after each session of work.

This year I am trying something new. I am in talks with a local social services agency for an artist in residence position. If this happens I will have studio space to work in in an independent living facility for seniors and should be able to get a lot done. I will also be able to impact the seniors I would be working with, which I would really enjoy.

I bring a ton of "stuff" back and forth. Today that is my job, to decide what it is I want to bring this year. Last year I brought all my silk dyes, and paints, and never used them. I swore I would not bring them back this year. But what if I need them? I will probably bring them again. You never know.

Then there is the fabric and the thread to be considered. What to take, what to leave? I want it all with me but cannot possibly bring it all, so choices have to be made.

This is really a delicious predicament to be in. I get to touch all my fabric and think about what I might want to do with it over the next 6 months. I think, dream, imagine all the projects I might come up with. It takes me hours. I fill up a huge suitcase.

I also have to pack up clothing. That takes me ten minutes. No dreaming, no imagining. Just tossing this, that, and the next thing in the suitcase and on to something else. No worries, no predicament. One little suitcase. You can see where my priorities are.

I love NY for many reasons, not the least of which are my family and friends of long standing, but in Florida my artisitic community really feeds my spirit. These people are somewhat new friends, most of whom I have met in the last 2 years, but, boy of boy, do they speak my language. I am sorry to leave them.

At the same time I look forward to the energy and action up north. I will spend time with my son and his family and with my sisters and theirs. My granddaughter, Gabby, will entertain me no end. She is a bright and active 14 month old piece of sugar.

So, as usual, I have mixed emotions as I leave one life behind and reenter another. I am so glad I don't have to choose one or the other. I would not be able to decide.

Recently I was going through family pictures that I removed from my mother's apartment as we closed it up after her move to a nursing home. I found a gorgeous photo of my father as a very young man. He was dressed in a tuxedo and was very debonair. It called to me to make into something and so I started to make a book page for a future book but changed my mind and made a small quilt instead. Here is a picture of my quilt.

My Week at Sleep Away Camp for Fiber Artists

2010-03-24T10:06:00Z

I spent last week at Focus on Fiber, Mary McBride's self directed retreat for fiber artists, at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. Mary is making magic with this annual retreat.

The artists Mary attracts are a wonderful eclectic mix, serious about their work and eager to share thoughts and ideas, whether it be about art or being in business. We worked, we laughed, we danced, we ate and we drank wine, lots and lots of wine ( well, not me so much). There were 19 of us, half local and half who traveled from various places as far as Canada.

The Center is in a lush piece of woods filled with saw grass and trees. The soaring, architecturally divine studios and walkways are cut precisely out of these woods. Every place you look is a scene. My room was a serene retreat, all white with a taupe quilt for a touch of color. Inside the dry studio was a helter skelter jumble of tables, sewing machines, fabric, and all the other things we need to do our work. There were several huge windows to let light in and that let us see the beautiful surroundings when we looked up from our work. The wet room, where we dyed and painted fabric, was quiet and colorful. A third tiny studio held my ironing and cutting station and was used by one other artist, Janet, who did magnificent small quilts reflecting her time volunteering in Guatemala.

Sue Flynn, a local chef, cooked three meals a day for us and what a job she did! She was like a sorority house mother, taking care of all our dietary needs with the most sumptuous and delicious meals.

There was yoga and massages for our sore backs. Jacque Davis led wave dancing at 4 pm to get the blood circulating after all that sitting at the machine. There was cocktail hour every afternoon at 5 on the deck of Pamela Allen's cottage.

You know how successful this event is when you realize that of the 19 artists only three were new this year. I was one of the three newbies and I think all three of us will become regulars, too.

So I've told you about the structure of the retreat but not about the heart of it. It was fabulous! We worked hard.   (I quilted and completed one quilt, worked on another and spent 2 days in the wet room dyeing silk scarves) We sang songs and told jokes. If you asked for it there was input on your work. I was convinced to step out of my box and remove the border from my quilt so the artwork would pop. I did and it worked.

I was able to concentrate on my work when I wanted to, or join in conversation if I chose. There was always someone to visit with when I got up to stretch.

I spent some time with Rosemary Claus-Gray dyeing a pair of pants in a wild and crazy design. She later took me and the other newbies to a gazebo like structure called the Pod which is hidden deep in the woods. It is a zen like space where you can meditate or read or pray.

One night, late in the week Jacque and Sheri Cooper, who are brave and adventurous, wanted to return to the pod and invited me, the cowardly one, to join them. The woods were pitch black as we left the wooden walkway and I was terrified. When I mentioned bears or panthers I gave them a good laugh. They convinced me to tag along and so again I stretched my boundaries and did something I would never have done any other place or time. I was rewarded with a feeling of courage and a sense of wonder at the beauty of the night. And no bears or panthers came along.

Our last night was over and we had returned to our rooms when I heard a commotion outside my door.   I opened it up to find a few of the others complaining about no wine being left. Well, I had some so they all came in to have my Manichevitz, a very sweet wine, I also had some dates in my room so we had a party on sweet wine and dates and laughed into the night.

Now the retreat has ended but I have 18 new friends and cannot wait to return. Thanks, Mary.

A picture of our dry studio looking chaotic but actually quite quiet at 6 AM.

Thoughts on Work

2010-03-10T11:39:00Z

If you have been reading along with me you know that I committed to making a quilt a month this year. That commitment was made before my 94 year old mother fell, breaking both clavicles. The time I have spent with her has severely cut into the time I have for my art. Amazingly, however, I have kept up with my one a month schedule. When I was most stressed out from seeing her in pain and helpless, a few minutes spent touching fabric was very soothing and turned out to be very productive.

I always work on one quilt at a time. From the time I pull out the fabric until the bottom of the hanging sleeve is hand sewn down I focus on that one quilt. With that being said, I am always designing more quilts in my head, mostly in the middle of the night. So I am usually ready to start the next quilt as each one is finished.

On Monday I am going to Focus on Fiber, an artists retreat, for a whole week . I am bringing one quilt ready to be quilted and enough fabric to start one or two more. I am also bring silk and dye to make some Shibori scarves. Since I never have a whole day devoted just to my work, let alone a week, I am prepared to change my one at a time method. I truly don't think I can focus on just one thing for that concentrated amount of time.

I love this photo, taken of my granddaughter, Gabby, at 2 weeks old. The expression on her face just knocks me out. I am planning a series of quilts using this image, since I haven't been able to get it out of my head for a year. I see hats and wild hair and skin tones of every color. Just a little more planning and I will be ready to start. I will keep you posted.

Stepping Up

2010-02-27T11:29:00Z

My resolution for the year was to step up my productivity and concentrate on marketing myself as an artist. I am managing to work in the studio every day, although not full time. And, since my quilts are not very big I am on target to create one a month so far. That is two for the year. Okay, so it is early but I am committed.

Now it is time to look at what else I can do. This week I will design and order business cards and start to look around for a venue for my work. Mostly, it just sits around under the bed, so it is time for it to see the sunlight for a while. I am thinking of hosting an open studio/ one woman show for all of my friends, neighbors, acquaintances, etc. You know, anyone I can pull in off the street with the offer of a glass of wine and some nuts.

This is all pretty huge for me. Until recently I was excusing myself for calling myself an artist. Every positive comment on my work was met with a "Thanks, but look at this mistake" type of comment back from me. Somehow in the past few months I have started believing in myself.

The result of all this confidence is that I am planning on raising my prices quite a bit, perhaps doubling them. It will be interesting to see if pricing my work at this new higher level will convince the viewing audience that I take my art seriously, and if that will result in sales.

Rejection, Regrets, and Resolutions

2010-02-17T11:02:00Z

I entered my first show in January and was rejected. I don't take rejection very well usually, but somehow I think I knew this was going to happen. I entered the wrong show. The people accepted do a deeper more complex type of art. This is not a commentary on the pros or cons of any form of art or an excuse for my own. It is just a fact. I work simply and my art is not deep. It isn't done laboriously. There is a place for it. That venue was not the place.

I will try again for sure, but I will do more research before I spend my money on a losing proposition.

My regret is that at the same time I entered this show I could have entered another show. I planned to enter both but since I am a newbie at this I ran out of oomph to figure out all the things I had to do for two entries. So I picked one without giving it enough thought. I think I would have gotten into the show I did not enter.

The lesson for me in this first show experience is to do more work. I will work harder the next time to ensure I enter correctly and I will not give up when the going gets tough.

Here is a picture I took in Heritage Village in Largo, Florida, where I live in the colder months. This ancient truck has been in this spot for what looks like forever. I always wonder what its story is.

Making Time

2010-02-04T10:52:00Z

I am having trouble making time for my artwork. I wake up early and go on the computer, then I read the paper, and then I enter my studio. I work for a while and then more distractions. Right now my mother is in rehab for a shoulder injury and I know I will be visiting her for many hours every day. Relatives keep coming to visit. Even if they don't actually stay with me at home I spend a lot of time with them.

I have also gotten involved in doing challenges and they really take up a lot of time. I think I need to bow out of these.

The reality is that even though I like to think of myself as "working", I have been treating my work like a hobby. I have not set specific hours in my studio. I work my studio time around whatever else I feel like doing.

I made a resolution to make a quilt a month this year and I am already falling behind schedule. Obviously, this is an outcome and not a goal. The goal should be how much work I will do in a day. That is something I can control. If I get in the studio for a specific number of hours in a day I will put out that much work. That will lead to my outcome of a quilt a month.

Here is a photo taken in Mikonos that I am determined will be the inspiration of a quilt soon.

Going on Retreat

2010-02-01T11:48:00Z

I have decided to go on a retreat. I am going to Mary McBride's Focus on Fiber in March. This is a self directed event with no instruction. Seven lovely days of no computer, no television, no newspaper, no books, or appointments. I am leaving my wonderful husband, my mother, sister and friends behind. In other words, I will have no distractions. Just me, my fabric, and my sewing machine.

I am getting nervous. I will be there without a car so I need to plan in advance for every single thing I will possibly need. Also, I have ADD for sure. I work, I stop, I work, I run to the computer, I work I get a snack, I work, I read the paper. It is hard for me to put several straight hours in at one time. I have decided to bring at least 4, possibly more, projects to work on while I am there, so if I pop up ready for a change I can change to another project. Hopefully that will help me make use of all this glorious time and not spend it sitting on my butt dreaming. Of course I will certainly do some of that very thing, just not too much.

The retreat takes place in a wooded setting so for sure I will bring my camera to take lots of inspirational photos. I have started dying silk so I will bring plenty of that. Of course I will bring something to be quilted and fabric for designing another quilt or 2. that takes me up to 4 different things I can do. If I bring more than I think I will ever need I should not run out of projects.

Another fabulous thing about this event is that it seems to attract some very well known artists in the art quilt world. I am happy to get the chance to meet and know some of these people who are achieving so much in this field.

This week I will start to plan my projects and make my lists of what I need to buy, and what I have that will need to be put aside. I think I am getting excited.

I have decided to post a photo from my collection with each post from now on. I know I don't enjoy looking at print alone so why have I been forgetting that.

This is photo shot on a trip to the Dora Canal in Mt. Dora, Florida. The canal is a mile of natural Florida at its best. I took literally hundreds of shots in one hour. Each is more breathtaking than the one before. There were egrets, herons, alligators, and snakes. There were majestic trees of all varieties. And every once in a while you could see a house through the foliage. I would love to live on the banks of such a gorgeous place

The Power of Words

2010-01-28T12:53:00Z

I read a phrase in a letter to QuiltArt this week. It was an introduction of a woman who wanted to say where she was from. This simple expression is stuck in my head. "I am from the Kingdom 'o Fife" she said, "across the Firth of Forth". What a beautiful collection of words. This sounds like a place in a fairy tale.

I have Googled both parts of the sentence to pick up images and there are images of the bridge over the Forth, which is a river, or firth.   Fife is a place across the river from Edinbourgh. It has a famous golf course and there are some beautiful pictures of that.   And Kingdom, I guess that is a gorgeous way of saying county or town.

This information is not satisfying me and does not seem be helping me get this out of my mind. I need to respond to this in my own way. I will have to make a quilt or some other piece of art titled with this phrase.

Now my problem is getting my own images or permission to use images I have found online.   For my own images I will have to go to Scotland. This is very tempting but not happening any too soon. I may just have to make up an image to go with the phrase.

All of this is pretty novel for me. I respond to language but not usually this viscerally. And I have never before been driven to create art based on a phrase.   We shall see what I come up with.

Does every quilt need to say something specific?

2010-01-17T11:35:00Z

There is a lot of talk about what an artist is trying to say in a piece of art. I don't always have something to say specific to the piece I am working on. My theme is saying something, but as I begin thinking about the next piece of art I don't always have a question I am answering or statement I am making.

I have two series I am working on, Skyscapes and Gardens. Both use very strong color and are all about the beauty I see in nature and my optimism about life in general. I have a sun in almost every piece.. The sun is the basis of all life. It gives us warmth and light as well as food. No sun means no plants or animals, no earth, nothing.

I always start a quilt by picking the main piece of fabric, the background. From there I start collecting the rest of the fabric I want to work with without regard for what I will use them for. I don't always have a "picture" in mind yet. This is my favorite part of quiltmaking, playing with fabric. I hold the fabric, I place it down on the background, I imagine possibilities. I don't cut yet. I work out my ideas by leaving the fabrics lying on top of the background as I go about whatever else I am doing.

All this time I am not trying to say something. I am just having my zen moment with the colors and the textures. And, as I pick up my cutter and begin work that zen continues with no outside thought except to execute what I now know I want to make.

Where am I going, or am I already there?

2010-01-13T12:00:00Z

The more I look at art quilts the more I realize that I am not in sync with most art quilters. My work is very bright and colorful with simple shapes and design. Most of what I see is dark or neutral in color and more complex. I don't think that is what I will ever do, but should I be attempting to change what I do to get more complex?

My work feels right to me. I know what I am trying to convey and how to do it. I start with the idea, pick the fabric, take cutter in hand, and off I go. It is not in my nature to plan out a design, trace it to a pattern, and then go through a lot of steps to get to the end. Do I need to do all that to make good art?

Mark making is very popular, now. You know, stamping, screening, stenciling, printing, etc. I have done it in classes. I love to do it. The fabric just sits in my closet, usually. I need to see the fabric as "something" in order to put it into one of my quilts. Using the marks as they are, in an abstract composition, doesn't work for me.

Oy, I did not think this conversation ( monologue) would be this deep.

Hello and welcome!

2010-01-11T11:10:00Z

Good morning world! Wow! I am really excited to be making my first entry to this brand new blog on January 11th. This came as a direct result of my word for this year which is "step-up". I have decided to step up in my life as an artist and sharing myself is part of that. To have this up and running so early in the year is amazing to me.

So, who am I? I am Brenda Schlechter, a woman, wife, mother, mother in law, daughter, sister, grandmother, aunt, great aunt, and friend. I am also an artist, photographer, retired teacher, reader, biker, swimmer, and walker.

I have been making art since the mid 1980's. While I started with watercolor and acrylic paints I have always had a special place in my heart for fabric. I love fabric. I love touching it, the smell of it, the colors and textures. So I eventually began to quilt. At first I made traditional quilts, but about 2 years I made my first art quilt. I think that all the previous ways of making art were preparing me for what I am doing now.

I love to use bold, bright colors and fairly organic shapes in my work. My message is about the beauty of nature and the simplicity of life.

This is Skyscape I, the first art quilt I made. It has raw edge applique, and is made from hand dyed cottons and velvets as well a commercial fabrics.

I hope you will come back to visit with me soon.

Brenda

Welcome

2010-01-08T20:03:40Z

Welcome to my blog. Please check back soon for new entries.