Manne just keeps on working. Apparently inspiration is for amateurs -you have to keep working each day to be a pro. And so, Manuela has made a few more fabric flowers.
Just finished up a show at the Headwaters Arts Gallery. Some sold; some left to bring home. Mannie and I spent Sunday -and I mean all day- at the gallery. We talked to a number of artists in the Alton Mill, and chatted with many people who came into the gallery. All artists need to be present at any show they are in. One potential customer asked me about the title to my piece "I never met Gauguin." Being present enabled me to give my story and there was a chuckle about the story behind the picture. No sale but who knows about a future encounter. I remember speaking to someone years ago at a show and 3 years later she came to my studio saying it was time to buy one of my pieces as she had seen my work at a number of shows over the years. You never know. All that aside, it is now time to produce work for the next season of shows.
The clamps for the Quilting/Embroidery frame that I had first used kept falling off as Mannie moved the unit around to work on it. And so the search began to find a way to secure the frame and leg together so that Mannie could work on it and move it about as she worked. We used c clamps with not much better results. What to do? What to do? Then I received a flyer from Busy Bee Tools and lo and behold I saw an Angle Clamp Bessey. I could drill a hole into the legs I had built, insert the clamp, add the frame and tighten down. When we got them home Mannie wanted to use the bar part to go on top of her frame and work, and screw the tightener from below. We tried that and it worked. The clamps did not come off and Mannie could move her frame around at will. Ahhh... Now, before these clamps went on, Mannie had tried velcro to attach the legs. The velcro did not hold when Mannie moved the unit around. But, we kept it on to decrease any movement of the wood frame and the legs when
Over the last whale I've worked each day on a new oil pastel painting. I have amassed a few as I have taken time to put Mannie's work on the blog as well. Albeit my oil pastel works are only 5" by 7" pieces., they do present unique challenges. The pastels I am using have a thick tip which makes getting into small areas a little difficult. I may need to whittle a point on the pastel in order to get to the smaller spaces -or buy a set of Sennelier oil pastels that come with a point. I am having fun determining colour combinations that work together to create harmony and/or contrast. I am limiting my blending to about 3 colours because to add any more seems to create a muddy appearance. And once two layers are on the oil pastel for a third layer either slips about or grabs the layer beneath and puts pits in the work. Remember, too, I have not abandoned pyrography as I now burn the image lines into the paper to create the look you see here.
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