art by natalya

superbowl of art

2012-02-03T12:25:00.000-05:00

Yes I know it's the Superbowl weekend, I have been informed. But just before the big game, my friend Katya and I are having an Art Superbowl by celebrating the opening of our exhibit Russian Art II: fiber.paint.photo. It is our second exhibit together in the spacious gallery of the Mahopac Public Library. The exhibit runs from February 1st to the 28th, and we'd love to see you Sunday!

The artwork is on the walls and ready to be seen!

Come join us for the artist reception on Sunday, February 5th from 1 to 4P (you'll be back in time for the Superbowl!)

wordless wednesday

2012-02-01T07:00:00.000-05:00

bbrrrr.....

piecing it together

2012-01-30T13:49:00.001-05:00

My work is now on view at the ArtsWestchester Gallery in White Plains, New York from January 28th to March 17th. Here is the theme of the exhibit:

"Collage is an obsessive art form with as much emphasis on process as on finished product. Piecing it Together is an exhibition of eight Westchester artists whose work exemplifies the range of this quintessential modernist medium in the 21st century. Their pieced-together artworks challenge the expected and the everyday."

I am honored to have been invited to participate. The opening was on Friday and well attended. I of course forgot my camera, so please accept these meager phone pix...

at the gallery entrance

it is a wonderful space with extra high gorgeous ceilings of a former bank

view of my section from above

foto/fiber

2012-01-27T09:37:00.000-05:00

Virginia Spiegel is at it again! Raising money for the American Cancer Society. The link to Foto/Fiber fundraiser is on my side bar, and here's the link to Virginia's blog where she is profiling the studios of participating artists, including me today. Here are two sneak peeks at my fiber bonuses, the third is on Virginia's blog as well as pictures of my studio.

wordless wednesday

2012-01-25T07:00:00.000-05:00

twinkle twinkle

scenes from the studio

2012-01-20T09:29:00.003-05:00

There is a lot going on in here...enjoy a few pictures, I'll write more later!

wordless wednesday

2012-01-18T07:05:00.000-05:00

meow...

first art of 2012

2012-01-13T07:00:00.000-05:00

I thought I'd start the new year off with a bang and create some art. Or in this case finish some. I have actually lost track of when exactly I started this piece. It has gone through quite a few incarnations. I'd be happily working on it and the next morning would totally hate it...again and again and again... But this week something went differently. Perhaps it was another deadline motivation, perhaps the stars aligned. In either case I am happy with the result, which will be traveling to Philly soon to participate in the Synchronicity exhibit at the Highwire gallery, which is part of Fiber Philadelphia.

wordless wednesday

2012-01-11T07:30:00.000-05:00

piles...of costumes

merry christmas!

2012-01-06T11:33:00.004-05:00

You didn't think it was over, did you? We're still celebrating! It's Russian Orthodox Christmas Eve tonight....

wordless wednesday

2012-01-04T08:00:00.000-05:00

happy new year!!!

2012-01-01T00:01:00.000-05:00

an artful review

2011-12-31T08:00:00.000-05:00

The last day of the year calls for a year in review, right? Of course! Time for an artful review. I have done these every year with my journal quilts or journal sketches, but there are none of those this year (boy do I feel liberated!), so instead a collage of art created this year.

Only eleven pieces this year as opposed to last years seventeen, and well short of my goal of thirty. Am I disappointed? Not at all! Who was I kidding with that number? Only myself.... My most important goal this year was reaching a balance between art and life. So I think the lower number of art corresponds to that goal, and I also think that the quality of my art is stronger this year. I'll continue to work towards the goal of balance between art and life in 2012. My other important word for 2012 shall be 'passion'. Passion for everything I do.

How about you? What will be your word of 2012? What will be your passion?

new art!

2011-12-30T15:47:00.000-05:00

Before the year is over, I thought I would share some new art that I created this autumn. I thought I had finished these two pieces back in October, but they hung on my design wall, then on my bedroom wall, back in my studio... and something kept gnawing at me. Then a conversation with a fellow artist, and boom! I knew what to do. So the other night I added more background stitching and now these two are complete and ready to be shared with the world!

City Love Affair 1

City Love Affair 2

Both are interpretations of photographs I have taken of one of my favorite cities, St. Petersburg, Russia. The materials are vintage linens, vintage lace, paper, cotton embroidery floss, cotton thread and silk thread. Techniques are computer manipulation, free-hand machine embroidery, hand embroidery. The sky is poetry by Alexander Pushkin, celebrating his beloved city.
I have a few more pieces started in this series, but those will wait for the new year before they are close to finished.

wordless wednesday

2011-12-28T08:00:00.000-05:00

merry christmas!

2011-12-25T09:43:00.002-05:00

wordless wednesday

2011-12-21T07:30:00.000-05:00

a nutcracker romance

2011-12-18T08:54:00.000-05:00

This weekend is a lovely whirlwind of ballet.....

wordless wednesday

2011-12-14T20:08:00.000-05:00

rockstar boro

2011-12-09T08:30:00.000-05:00

When Melly Testa started her Rockstar boro project earlier this month and called for people to join her, I jumped! Of course I didn't really have the understanding of what boro was... I have had a vintage 60's coat dress that I overdyed waiting for me to work on it in my studio for a while now. But that wasn't boro! It didn't need mending, just embellishment. A bit deflated at first, I went digging in my mending bin (it's quite large, as I tend to avoid mending at all costs) and there were my favorite jeans that were already in a state of boro!

You see I had loved these jeans so much that I actually patched them when they first ripped at the knee. Just a piece of muslin at the back and some plain stitches with a variegated thread. Little did I know that it was beginnings of boro! Then the jeans ripped again and into the mending basket they went; I must have had a different favorite pair of pants then, as they laid forgotten for a while.

So now I have them out and I dug through my scraps to pull out a few that spoke to me...

Then I edited them. I'll get to stitching soon... Now I want to wear these jeans - they still fit!

wordless wednesday

2011-12-07T20:07:00.000-05:00

Niche!

2011-12-06T08:34:00.000-05:00

I am honored to have been selected a finalist in the NICHE Awards in fiber, art quilts category. It's a very exciting validation, especially to be among such wonderful artists in all categories. The piece they selected is Piter's Rooftops1. Here's look at the art quilts category and here's my page.
"Sponsored by NICHE magazine, the NICHE Awards program began in 1989 to celebrate excellence and innovation in American and Canadian fine craft. Artists are recognized in professional and student divisions." Cool? Oh yes.....

atelier

2011-12-05T12:27:00.001-05:00

My studio is slowly turning into an atelier... It's Russian school Christmas play costume time once again! I don't have anything to show for my labors yet, except the mess in my studio....

The story this year is "12 months" based on a story by Samuil Marshak, it's very difficult to find the English version of this online. Here's one version and here's another. Piece them together and you'll have one resembling ours.

Three of the 12 months (December, January and February)

The young bratty queen.

The good soldier.

The good stepdaughter.

stitched

2011-12-02T09:29:00.000-05:00

Want to take a really fun class? My friend Deborah Boschert is teaching her lovely whimsical style of art quilting online with Stitched.

STITCHED is a collection of 20 online video workshops by 20 talented fabric artists. Students have access to all 20 workshops and can choose to view and work on the projects any time of the day, any day of the week. Registration opens on Dec 1 and the workshops kick off on Jan 1 and run through June 1. Registration is only $89.
Deborah is teaching a workshop titled, "Branches, Buds and Blossoms: A Botanical Fabric Collage." She includes videos on selecting fabrics, adding surface design, composing and improvisational hand embroidery.
Here are more details on her blog. Registration is open now!

wordless wednesday

2011-11-30T08:05:00.000-05:00

from snapshot to art quilt

2011-11-28T10:40:00.001-05:00

It's here, it's here! The latest issue of Quilting Arts! With my article on how to take your own snapshots and transform them into art quilts with a little play in Photoshop. Hope you don't mind me tooting my own horn here, it's always exciting to see your own name in print...
Enjoy!

thanksgiving vignette

2011-11-24T09:06:00.000-05:00

up above is what I am thankful for.....

happy thanksgiving!

поздравляю со днём благодарения!

wordless wednesday

2011-11-23T08:03:00.000-05:00

wordless wednesday

2011-11-16T06:48:00.001-05:00

a little experiment

2011-11-14T13:09:00.000-05:00

Someone please remind me to not start any experiments containing vinegar at 9:30PM on a Sunday night, please? Don't know what possessed me. Well actually I do. India Flint. It's her fault. I got her book Eco-Colour a few months ago. Read and fantasized. Read some more. And then put it aside and got busy with other things.

You see natural dyeing has been on my mind for at least two decades. Back in my fashion days when a friend and I fooled around with the idea of opening an eco-consious fashion company. And later when I started art quilting seriously. I have researched buying naturally dyed fabrics. I have bought books on the subject of dyeing with natural material, on growing dye plants. I even built a planting bed outside my studio planning to put dye plants in it (it's filled with hostas). Aside from all that I have done nothing about plant dyeing, but resolved to use recycled and vintage material for my art. Then India Flint goes and writes a book.

Last night I finally got to reading a really cool eMag that I down loaded a month ago, Colorways. And there it was, a small article on a some basic techniques by India. I looked at the ingredients list: vinegar, spray bottle, plant matter and fabric. Why I have all those things right here! The kids are in bed, the husband is at work, why not conduct a late night science experiment, right? So I did. Orchids from a bouquet past its prime. Onion skins from the onion basket. Blank silk chiffon scarves from a shopping spree a Dharma. I followed directions and created two little surprise packages to open in a month.

Now, will someone please remind me to do so? Thanks!

a foggy morning vignette

2011-11-10T10:33:00.001-05:00

click to see bigger...it's worth it!

wordless wednesday

2011-11-09T08:23:00.000-05:00

nyc

2011-11-06T21:08:00.000-05:00

A couple of Fridays ago Vivien and I escaped to NYC during the school day. Boy oh boy do I miss being in the city everyday... It was so invigorating to just drive in, see an exhibit, have lunch and drive out. Is it sad when so little really makes your day? I'll take what I can get.....

A peek at Explosions in Color by Carol Taylor at the Art Quilt Gallery (that's Vivien taking the same photo as I)

wordless wednesday

2011-11-02T08:22:00.000-04:00

sunday vignette

2011-10-30T15:55:00.000-04:00

Vignette - a short, impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment or gives a particular insight into a character, idea, or setting.

city inspiration

2011-10-28T08:36:00.000-04:00

Last Sunday I took my kids to the Katonah Museum of Art for a family art day based on their current exhibition titled "New York, New York!". The girls had sooo much fun participating in different art projects! I got inspired too and could not keep my sketchbook in my purse. They were building and decorating buildings and I drew a little. 'Twas so much fun!

A temporary installation of kid art!

wordless wednesday

2011-10-26T08:20:00.000-04:00

a Sunday vignette

2011-10-23T09:14:00.003-04:00

Vignette - a short, impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment or gives a particular insight into a character, idea, or setting.

Autumn is here...

wordless wednesday

2011-10-19T08:19:00.000-04:00

wordless wednesday

2011-10-12T09:03:00.000-04:00

handcrafted

2011-10-09T08:56:00.000-04:00

I have the honor to have been published in Handcrafted Jewelry Magazine this month! I don't do jewelry very often, so it was a pleasure to be able to design this piece just for them. I had a lot fun asking friends to send me pix of their dogs for this and then playing in Photoshop and crafting. Do you recognize the pup in the photo? Above is the back of the pendant featured, below is the front.

tarting things up

2011-10-07T08:17:00.000-04:00

While I was cleaning my studio the other day I happened upon a collection of some of my older tiny framed windows artworks. I don't know what came over me, maybe it was the cleaning that did it.... But I felt the urge to add bling to these little pieces and make them into jewels. I wanted to doodle on them like I frequently to in my journals or on ATC's. So I dropped the cleaning and got right to the glitter. These are some details of the first piece, where I tarted up the frame. It's going to someone special today and I am going to keep adding bling to the others. Why not! A good interlude before starting another serious piece, right?

wordless wednesday

2011-10-05T09:02:00.000-04:00

wordless wednesday

2011-09-28T15:49:00.000-04:00

a group exhibit

2011-09-27T14:12:00.000-04:00

Today I finally made it to the Mahopac Public Library to see the exhibit put on by FANE, a fabulous local group of art quilters that I belong to and which is led by our fearless Jane Davila. Sadly tomorrow is the last day of the exhibit. Enjoy a collage of a few of the many details that caught my eye today.

today only!

2011-09-26T14:07:00.000-04:00

ok ok....not just today, but all week. But today and tomorrow would be best! What am I talking about? The SAQA reverse auction of course. The third part started today at 2P and will continue all week. My piece is on page 3b. Please take the time to go shop for some affordable art and support a good cause. Thank you!

wordless wednesday

2011-09-21T10:02:00.001-04:00

a bit of art

2011-09-19T11:12:00.001-04:00

In midst of working on two large pieces and one medium, I took a wee break and made this small one for a good cause. I belong to the Katonah Museum Artists' Association and this is for their annual fundraiser for the museum. The museum gave each participating artist a 6"x6" canvas to do with as they wished. The exhibit and sale will be displayed at the museum from October 1st to December 31st. Do come by if you are in the area!


Colonnade, Natalya Aikens ©2011 (mixed media on canvas)

wordless wednesday

2011-09-14T06:53:00.003-04:00

stitching

2011-09-10T12:33:00.000-04:00

I have been stitching up a storm in my studio. Pedal to the metal on the machine and intensive hand stitching working up calluses. Feels so good to be back in the groove! I am not ready to share the work just yet, but here is a collage of a few detail shots. I have been sharing some on my Facebook page during the week, so if you'd like to know more of what happens in my studio daily, you can join me there.

wordless wednesday

2011-09-07T07:03:00.000-04:00

Chicago - my kinda town...

2011-09-02T12:36:00.000-04:00

Last week I had the good fortune to be teaching at the Create Retreat in the Chicago suburbs. Of course as usual, I was so busy teaching, I totally forgot to take pictures of my class room, the students or their projects. Sorry....

Portion of the Marc Chagall "America Windows" at the Art Institute of Chicago

How about I make it up to you with some lovely pictures of Chicago?

Column and ceiling from the Chicago Stock Exchange Trading Room from the Art Institute of Chicago

I taught both my classes on Wednesday and on Thursday I had a day to play hookey. So I took myself and my traveling buddy Irene on the town. I have never been to Chicago before and thoroughly enjoyed playing the tourist, taking pictures at every corner, walking around looking up, stopping short and generally annoying the natives!

Feast you eyes and enjoy!

Millennium Park entrance to the Art Institute of Chicago

Looved! The tree shape on this building.

Gardens of the Millennium Park

Jay Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park

Cloud Gate aka the Bean aka Blob aka totally cool!

Painted Forest in Lincoln Park

Lake Michigan harbor

Rainbows in the Crown Fountain

Portion of the Healy and Millet Dome at the Chicago Cultural Center

Ceiling at the Chicago Cultural Center

Book display at the Chicago Publishers Gallery and Cafe

wordless wednesday

2011-08-31T08:28:00.002-04:00

wordless wednesday

2011-08-24T07:59:00.002-04:00

wordless wednesday

2011-08-17T07:27:00.001-04:00

wordless wednesday

2011-08-10T09:10:00.001-04:00

an artists' studio

2011-08-09T09:48:00.000-04:00

This summer I had the pleasure of vising the home and studio of fellow Fiber Revolutionary Judith Plotner and her husband Stan Plotner. It was so lovely to spend a bit of time with these two prolific artists and very interesting to visit their studios. Thank you for letting me visit Judy and Stan!

a retreat...

2011-08-07T07:55:00.001-04:00

Back in mid July I hosted a leeeetle art retreat in my home. A few friends (Kristin, Robin, Deborah) came to stay with me and one (Vivien) came over daily. We had an incredible time chatting, sharing, stitching, discussing, brain storming, viewing, you name it. We had a get-together with a few other local artists and shared some more. We went into Manhattan and saw various exhibits and some fabric and notion shopping. It was like a gigantic playdate for artists!

clockwise, art by: Kristen La Flamme; El Anatsui; Rayna Gillman; A-POC

Clockwise, art from: Metropolitan museum of Art; MOMA; MOMA (Gilbert and George); Metropolitan Museum of Art

The whole time was wonderfully exciting, deeply thoughtful and truly inspiring. I highly recommend regular get-togethers with kindred souls for general well being!

easing in...

2011-08-05T19:32:00.000-04:00

front view

I am back in the studio, slowly starting to create after a month away. Feeling pretty good so far! Yesterday afternoon I made these three "spirit flags". They are for an exhibit in September by FANE, a group of art quilters that I belong to, headed by our fearless Jane Davila.

back view

Just some painted used dryer sheets, lightly hand stitched and machine embroidered with ghostly window images.
Next up: a baby blanket! Put together yesterday, pinned in place today, to be stitched tomorrow!

wordless wednesday

2011-08-03T08:18:00.001-04:00

wordless wednesday

2011-07-27T07:19:00.002-04:00

wordless wednesday

2011-07-20T07:07:00.002-04:00

happy birthday USA

2011-07-04T08:47:00.000-04:00

timely new work

2011-07-01T21:44:00.000-04:00

St. Pete Window/Питерское Окно 25 (detail)

Just in the nick of time I finished and mailed off my annual contribution to the SAQA Auction. A worthy cause, a good organization helping artists like me to grow. The auction won't start until September 12th, so that gives everyone plenty of time to browse the selections and pick their favorites.

St. Pete Window/Питерское Окно 25 (12"x12")

With this piece I continued my current favorite stitching technique of gathering and pulling fabrics into peaks and valleys. This started with a Photoshop® manipulated photograph that I took this past summer in St. Petersburg, Russia. It was printed on silk organza, layered with remnants of my grandmothers' lace curtains, free-hand machine sketched with rayon thread, and then intensively hand stitched. I added a border of navy cotton and stitched some more.

wordless wednesday

2011-06-29T07:38:00.000-04:00

something to crow about

2011-06-24T09:33:00.000-04:00

Three exhibits are happening right now where you can enjoy my work and the work of my fellow artists.

St. Pete Window 3 / Питерское Окно 3

In White Plains, New York, the "A Spin on Green" exhibit of the Katonah Museum Artists Association sponsored by ArtWestchester. I had the opportunity to go to the opening reception last Friday, it was quite a fabulous affair.

Such a wonderful space too, an old bank, they don't make them like that anymore. The exhibit is up until July 30, hope you have time for a visit.

In Morristown, New Jersey, opening this Wednesday June 29th is Fiber Revolution's "Visual Thoughts" at the Morris Museum. This exhibit will be up for quite a while, so plenty of time to plan your visit, June 23 to October 16th. A terrific venue where I am happy to exhibit with my fellow art quilt revolutionaries!

Russian Fairytale Village 3 (detail) / Деревня 3

And finally in upstate New York, at the Earlville Opera House, I am honored to be exhibiting with some grand names in the art quilt world: Elizabeth Barton, Benedicte Caneill, Elsie Dentes, Susan Lenz and Mary Ruth Smith. The exhibit is titled Six Contemporary Quilt Artists and will be up from July 9th to July 30th. And how cool is this? For the opening they are having an ice cream social on July 9th! That just might push me over the edge and make me take that long drive...

wordless wednesday

2011-06-22T15:37:00.002-04:00

something to blog about

2011-06-21T21:41:00.000-04:00

Finally! Life has been a crazy whirl wind of activity (end of school year activity, birthday party activity, packing for camp activity, finishing touches activity), so it feels good to have a completed artwork to share. If you have the latest copy of In Stitches emag, you know how this piece started. I shared some early/mid stages of stitching in progress.

There is quite a bit of personal "stuff" attached to this work. The linen cloth belonged to my grandmother, I painted it with neo-color crayons while in Russia last summer and ripped it to pieces. This spring I put it back together with the help of painted dryer sheets, silk organza, some free-hand machine embroidery and a lot of hand-stitching, a lot. Old linen is such a joy to hand stitch...

Crimson Little Flower 8 / Аленький Цветочек 8

wordless wednesday

2011-06-15T07:11:00.002-04:00

wordless wednesday

2011-06-08T15:25:00.002-04:00

spiritual tradition

2011-06-04T21:56:00.000-04:00

Last Thursday evening I had the pleasure of attending an evening of poetry at the Chelsea Art Museum in NYC. The evening was part of a series of events scheduled around an exhibit titled Concerning the Spiritual Tradition in Russian Art. Some very famous names were represented, you can read a very interesting description on the link above. I found several pieces very inspiring and thought I would share them here with you.

bold detail from Composition by Mikhail Koulakov

Can you feel the passion in that red stroke in The Church of Saint Trifon by Tatiana Levitskaia?

I was in love with the shadows produced by an instalation by Artem Mirolevich

This is detail from Alexander Ney's Weatherman

Shimon Okshteyn, Color of my City (a detail)

How lovely and quilt-like is the detail from a work by Valerii Pianov?

Hope you have a chance to see this wonderful exhibit, it's only open until June 11th.

wordless wednesday

2011-06-01T09:16:00.001-04:00

permission to quit

2011-05-31T21:16:00.000-04:00

Granted.

Remember April? Yep, the month before May. Remember my daily discharge project for April? I just finished it. I hate to leave things unfinished. I feel like I cannot move on to the next thing until the first thing is done. I do not have too many UFO's precisely for that reason. Not everything I finish is worth showing to the world, but at least it's finished. And now I finished the April discharge. And I am sharing it with you. I enjoyed the unpredictability of bleach discharge, I did not enjoy the chemicals... But I am glad I experimented, learned what I did enjoy and did not enjoy. I got it out of my system. So above is the April discharge collage and below is one of my favorite results.

Want to know what else I finished? The daily journal project for 2011. Yep. Actually what I did is I gave myself permission to quit. I had a hard time finishing April due to family obligations and teaching commitments and in the interim I have lost the "need", the "drive" to finish this project. I wanted to be doing several other different projects that are burning in my head, but I could not get going on them because of this ridiculous desire to not leave things unfinished. So I made a deal with myself - finish April and then I could quit. So - I quit. There will be no May or June. I will work on what is exciting to me now. Maybe there will a July or August, maybe not. I'll let you know.
~Happy creating!

wordless wednesday

2011-05-25T16:20:00.000-04:00

Create Retreat in Costa Mesa California

2011-05-24T18:57:00.001-04:00

Was so much fun! I just wish I was better at taking pictures during class.... I remembered at the last minute to take a few photos in my Hand Stitched Jewels class and that is what I will share with you here.. I had several beginners and several experienced stitchers in the class and it was wonderful to work with a student at every level (one student confided that she only learned to thread a needle a few weeks ago! she made great strides!)

The Mix Your Media with Photoshop class was busy busy busy! The students loved discovering what they can do on the computer screen and then seeing it in real life printed in the afternoon. Sorry not a picture....we were all too busy!

wordless wednesday

2011-05-18T21:51:00.000-04:00

leaving on a jet plane...

2011-05-17T07:02:00.001-04:00

...do know when I'll be back again...(sorry can't help myself with that corny line!)

I am on my way to Costa Mesa, California to teach at the Create Retreat this week. I am so looking forward to being in sunny Cali and participating in this cool and fun creative endeavor!

I'll be teaching two classes: on Thursday May 19th it is Hand Stitched Jewels at 6PM where I will show my techniques of adding hand-stitching to your small art quilts, a three hour class;

and on Friday May 20th at 9AM is Mix Your Media with Photoshop where I share tips on how to play in the Photoshop program, learn the basics that will get you started in a whole new medium and we'll experiment printing on fabric, paper and recyclables.

Just in case anyone has been thinking about it, but haven't signed up yet, there is still time if you are local! See you there!

textural inspiration

2011-05-15T10:01:00.000-04:00

The other day Vivien and I had the opportunity to go to the opening reception for the Quilts: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum Part II. For me these venerable old beauties are all about the details and texture. Oh how badly I wanted to touch them! No worries, I didn't... But here are some pictures to just try and show you all the visual excitement I experienced. Sadly the museum building has been sold to MOMA and the future is uncertain... If you are close by, I highly recommend seeing the exhibit.

Diamond Four Patch in Cross by Lureca Outland

Soldier's Quilt

Sarah Ann Garges Applique Bedcover

Hawaiian Flag Quilt by mother of Minna Ferguson

Yuen No Akari: Light From Far Away Space by Setsuko Obi

new work!

2011-05-08T22:10:00.000-04:00

The opening reception for the Art Bazaar exhibit went off without a hitch! There tons of people there and the fabulous corner location was perfect for walk-ins on a balmy Friday night. Best part - seeing lots of good friends, some that I have not seen in a long long time; second best part - seeing a few red dots even before the opening (you go Kate!).
So now that the social madness is over I thought I'd show you the two pieces that I created specifically to debut at this exhibit and teased with the details in the last post. Here they are:

Piter's Rooftops 1

and Piter's Rooftops 2

I tried to photograph my process of creating these pieces, but of course the deeper I got into them, the less photos I took. So.... here is the progress of Piter's Rooftops 1.

I started with one of the many photos I took of the rooftops of St. Petersburg, Russia this past summer. I cropped and sized and manipulated the photo in Photoshop®, printed on silk organza, pieced, layered on vintage lace curtains (my grandmother's) and silk habotai. That's what you see at the top of this composite.
Next I put the pedal to the metal and "drew" all the important lines with black silk thread. Since I did not use a stabilizer, the thread tension naturally gathered the fabric and "shrank" my composition (I knew this was going to happen, counted on it and calculated for it). That wonky second image is the result of these shenanigans.
Next, I pinned my cloth to a balsa wood board, picked out the colors of the cotton variegated thread and started stitching. A work out for the calluses on my finger tips. I worked all the excess fabric into grooves, flattening the gathered areas.
This is when I started forgetting to take photos of my progress even as I remembered to take the detail shots...oh well. There you have the final image. I stretched the stitched cloth over wood stretcher bars, wrapping the fabric all the way around. I didn't piece, just wrapped tightly and trimmed away the excess as I hand stitched everything into place.

There you go... my process... whatcha think?

art bazaar

2011-05-06T10:26:00.000-04:00

Phew! The art is hung on the wall and I am ready for the opening reception!

I completed two new pieces for this exhibit at the Art Bazaar Exhibition that I am participating in during the month of May. They will be revealed today and you get a sneak peek up above. Here are a few close ups of the details and the wrapped edges to savor....

When I can breathe after this weekend, I'll share my process here and add the images to my website.

stitching madly

2011-05-01T20:29:00.000-04:00

Been really busy here finishing up new pieces for the Art Bazaar exhibit which opens this Friday May 6th. Here's the invite, hope many can join us. And here's a tease of the piece I finished this afternoon.

wordless wednesday

2011-04-27T12:57:00.000-04:00

Easter crafting

2011-04-22T16:27:00.000-04:00

My Easter egg collage (the bottom row is felted, I'll save that post for another day)

Yesterday I could not resist decorating my house for Easter, before starting my traditional baking marathon. Easter is one of my favorite holidays and the most important in Russian Orthodoxy. There are traditional sweets to bake such as kulich and pascha.

Eggs to color (this year I tried some new naturals dyes, still a mystery in the fridge...). Above are some of the blown out chicken eggs that I have painted with acrylics and nail polish over the years.

The fabric egg display.

For a few years now I have been doing fabric eggs, this year I didn't have chance to make them, but my girls and I sure had fun decorating with our ever growing collection. In my zeal to decorate and share I posted a photo to Facebook and got so many lovely comments on it that I thought I would share my process here.

I start with styrofoam eggs and sand away the ridge. My other ingredient is glue, preferably Modge Podge or a matte medium.

I pick some fabric scraps and randomly cut them into smallish shapes. Fabric selection is important as if it's too thin the glue will seep through and if it's too thick it will not "hug" the egg.

I start by brushing a layer of glue onto my egg and randomly attaching my fabric pieces.

Make sure that the pieces butt up against each other with no spaces showing.

Some overlap is OK as long as the fabric is not too thick.


As I start running out of space, I start cutting my fabric pieces to fit. Hopefully only the last few will need to be trimmed.

Now you can just let the glue dry and leave as is. Or if have some small sequins you can attach them by pushing a pin through the center right into the styrofoam. I have also used brass pins to make designs over the fabric.
Have fun digging into your stash!

wordless wednesday

2011-04-20T08:55:00.000-04:00

wordless wednesday

2011-04-13T07:06:00.000-04:00

earthday

2011-04-12T07:05:00.000-04:00

We're celebrating Earthday a bit early in my kids school this year as it falls during spring break. I am doing a recycled art project with first graders this time. I think I have learned a few lessons since last year when I had second graders build all sorts of contraptions large and small and the glue took forever to dry.

These kids are younger, so we're decorating backgrounds, cutting out our hand-prints and finding initials in the logos. They are having a blast and the teachers are appreciating less mess...

bleach in April

2011-04-08T07:31:00.000-04:00

I decided that for my April journaling challenge I will experiment with discharge. I have only played with bleach a tiny bit in the past and had always wanted to experiment some more. So now is that experimenting time. Off to the local quilt shop I went looking for some solid cottons. Silly me had no idea how hard it would be to find them...

I settled on four dark colors I thought would probably discharge well.

So far I am not too impressed with the way this dark brown is discharging, but I do like the teal green that is making an appearance. I would like some more drama please!

For a few days I will experiment with leaving the dishwasher detergent and bleach pen on longer, and putting on more layers. I am looking forward to trying out some shibori like attempts at my little squares soon too. Oh and my new thermofax screens will probably work well also. Any suggestions and tips are welcome! What can I do to achieve more drama?

wordless wednesday

2011-04-06T07:30:00.001-04:00

journal books

2011-04-05T09:15:00.001-04:00

"Keeping it together" could be the alternate title for this post. I have finally gotten around to putting together my journal books for the first three months of the year (how quickly is it flying by?).

I decided on hand made paper, which I ripped into small pages. I have sewn on the daily journals, one on each side and put them together by month with a cover that I drew in marker.

For now the books are just loosely held together with a few stitches.

I do not feel at all finished with these books. I think my next step will be reinforcing the spines with some linen thread.

Not sure where I will go next, but thoughts of dipping edges in paint are swirling in my head....

space between

2011-04-04T20:21:00.002-04:00

I am honored to be included among the talented artists invited to participate in the Space Between exhibit curated by the fabulous duo of Leslie Jenison and Jamie Fingal. My piece is Steni Mezhdu Sosedyami/Стены Между Соседями/Walls Between Neighbors.

Here are a couple of close ups. I used vintage lace curtains, my own photos of inspirational St. Petersburg, Russia architecture, manipulated in Photoshop® and printed on organza, recycled paper, rayon thread and variegated embroidery floss. It is mostly hand stitched. If any of you follow me on Twitter or Facebook you might have seen me complain of my raw fingers...this is why!

march

2011-04-01T07:25:00.005-04:00

Here's the collage of daily journals for March. I experimented with Tsukineko inks and chose to paint objects in order to learn to control my materials. My first attempts were heavy handed to say the least...I learned to lighten up, dab my paint brush in a rag before putting it fabric and in the last few days I learned that a natural bristle brush holds a LOT more ink in it then a synthetic brush. I'm working out the details of how I am putting these little pieces of fabric together and will share that soon. Meanwhile I am trying to decide on my technique for April... ....decisions decisions....

mini playdate

2011-03-31T11:52:00.001-04:00

Tuesday I had a lovely time having a mini playdate with Rayna Gillman. Most of my playdates are mini, due to the fact that they are limited to the time between kids being dropped off at school and picked up from school. Adding the hour there and the hour back from Rayna's house, this playdate was even more mini. But! We made the best of it, fit in a yummy Peruvian lunch and lot's of conversation. Rayna has a wonderful studio in an old Johnson and Johnson factory. I just love those old brick buildings, so much character. Of course I neglected to take a picture of this factory....

But I did take pictures of Rayna's studio and a little of our playtime. Rayna told me all about thermofax screens and we made some for me.

She insisted that I make a trial run with one of my screens, and how can I resist getting my fingers in some paint if only for a minute. I can't wait to start playing with my new screens in my studio. Stay tuned! For now it's back to designing the 3rd grade playbill for my daughters musical next week.....

wordless wednesday

2011-03-30T08:48:00.002-04:00

red & white

2011-03-26T17:17:00.005-04:00

I had a very hard time editing the gazillion photos I took....kudos to the design team who dreamed up this wonderful visual feast! Run don't walk (if you can) to see this gift to NYC, it's up only until March 30th. Click on my photos to see a larger versions.

wordless wednesday

2011-03-23T07:39:00.000-04:00

wordless wednesday

2011-03-16T11:35:00.001-04:00

playing with Tsukineko inks

2011-03-12T16:23:00.006-05:00

My challenge to myself for the month of March is to master Tsukineko inks. OK maybe not master, but learn to be much better at them. Long time ago Judy Coates Perez gave me a quick lesson on using them, but my brain is a sieve... I just remembered something about using aloe vera gel instead of water. So I whipped out my inks and started painting. Disaster? Not quite, but not all that pretty either. I was tired of doing abstract, decorative doodles and figured the best way to teach myself would by trying to paint actual objects. I am not looking for absolute realism here, just close enough, mainly learning to control of the medium. Judy was kind enough to answer my question or two and I am slowly getting better. Her main tip in my opinion was to heat set as soon as you like what you see before going further. That has certainly helped! The only problem with this is that I have an ulterior motive as usual. I would like to possibly do some pleine air painting when the weather gets warm enough and definitely would like to use the inks in my life drawing class which starts in April. Having a plugged in iron in the great outdoors is a problem and may be a safety hazard in a studio of an art center too. So.... where does that leave me? Why of course I must master my materials with out the benefit of heat. Wish me luck!

wordless wednesday

2011-03-09T09:47:00.002-05:00

international women's day

2011-03-08T06:49:00.000-05:00

Here is wishing all the women of the world a wonderful International Women's Day today. Your strength saves us all!
Поздравляю Вас всех с Международным Женским Днём!

wordless wednesday

2011-03-02T06:42:00.000-05:00