A Good Week for Cheesecloth

I am working madly on a second piece to submit to the Taiwan International Quilt Exhibition - it's a departure from my usual work - I am creating an Inuit portrait and using cheesecloth I dyed a warm brown to do the reverse of my usual technique: instead of having the cheesecloth represent the light reflected off a face, I am using the cheesecloth to fill in the shadows.  It is being placed on a white buckram landscape with a river shaded in with water-soluble wax pastels.  I am awaiting formal permission to use the photo so can't show the piece here yet.  And if I don't receive permission, the piece will be exhibited solely in my living room, never to see the light of day.  Stay tuned.

Yesterday I taught seven of the most delightful students how to do cheesecloth portraits at Dragonfly Fabrics in Ottawa. We had so much fun together and they quickly became comfortable pushing glue-soaked cheesecloth around to resemble the image taken from a photo by Chalmers Butterfield that I have always been quite taken with. I took a picture of their works in progress with my phone (at right).

Based on photo by Leon Pavich (Photo: R Pilon)

And I was rewarded for a week of hard work to learn that "Musing" has been juried in to the Fantastic Fibers exhibition in Paducah at the Yeiser Art Center. The juror was Luanne Rimel, whose incredible textile works (especially of human hands) I have long admired.  I am honoured to have my name on the list of some very big names in the world of fiber art.

For now, I must get back to work on my arctic piece - hope I can share it here one day!