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Sunday, February 6, 2011

Fiber Art, Snow Geese, and Sketches

Enjoying nature, shapes, lines and colors.....Snow Geese
We headed north to LaConner on Friday to the Skagit Valley farming area to see if we could spot some snow geese or eagles. There were thousands of snow geese! And I counted 12 eagles. As always, I carry my sketchbook, and captured a quick sense of the shapes. Lately I am paying more attention to shapes in my paintings and perhaps these will end up more refined in paintings to come.
As far as the eye could see, white covered the farmer's fields. They did look like snow, and up close, lovely swan shapes with black tipped wings, honking madly. We were lucky to see this entire flock raise up as one, flooding the sky with beating wings, turning on a dime altogether, like one massive organism changing directions, here, then there, and turning back around and landing again.Fiber Art
I have been focusing on birds the last year. Two weeks ago I worked on a fiber/paper stitching project. Here is a close-up portion of it. It incorporates fabric, my sketch of a heron transferred to fabric, embroidery stitching, tea bag paper, beading and more. I'm not done with it yet, it's an experiment but I'm liking the mix of textures and the pale muted colors, different for me.We visited the La Conner Quilt Museum again. There's a wonderful exhibit of contemporary hand stitched items which I would post pictures of, but they weren't allowed. However, there were also some outstanding examples of crazy quilts from the 1800's, with their amazing quantity of handstitching on every one.
And a final quick sketch - from the turret window of the museum looking across the street.
Taking time for nature, art, sketching, stitching with good company, what could be more satisfying...

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

The first time I felt the snow geese fly over my head.It was astounding...I could actually feel the flapping in my head and thought how powerful it must have been when the migrations of all animals and birds were much larger. What must it have been like to feel the stampeding of the buffalo. Now every year I just have to go to LaConner and get my migration fix. :o)

HeartFire said...

Yes, having the sky filled with the geese and their beating wings and the honking was so incredible, it just riveted my attention... like being at the center of that wildness.
Delorse

Anonymous said...

Wow, you have quite the art interests! I’d *like* to be creative, but I’m not very. I dabble with crafty stuff, but that’s about it. I do best when I have instructions and am trying to train myself to “just do it” and not be so worried about how something’s going to come out when I try to come out with my own ideas. I need to allow myself to experiment with the various scrapping techniques! (Did you know that one of the “newer” techniques for scrapping involves stitching on paper? Kinda fun and I love the multimedia look when elements are varied like that!)
S

HeartFire said...

S
I love mixed media and am doing much more of that. Early on I was a watercolorist plus did regular sewing. Now I experiment with everything! Everyone is creative in some way, just have to keep at it, and discover what you enjoy most.....
Delorse

ramona said...

I love this post. It has all my favorite things, art, nature and textiles. Your sketches are beautiful! and your comment "like being at the center of that wildness"
makes me feel especially good this morning. Thank you.

HeartFire said...

Ramona,
There's something about those things that refreshes the soul. Feeling "at the center of that wildness" I liken to being awestruck by the awesomeness of life, the grandeur of how interconnected it all is...
Thank you for stopping by.
Delorse

rivergardenstudio said...

I love snow geese as well, and love it when they fill our skies. I also live in the pacific northwest and thousands of birds rest in our refuges on their way north in a month or so. Hope that your weekend has been wonderful. roxanne