RedBarn Studios

The next issue of the iNNer EyE Zine is percolating away in my brain. The theme has been picked and little tidbits of inspiration and creativity are making their way to the surface.

For those of you who don’t know, a zine (pronounced “zeen”) is a self-published book of whatever your heart needs to express. It can be full of images, poetry, art…almost anything is game.

The cool thing about them is a that it’s a little bit of creativity that is instinctual and personal to the creator that YOU get to share in.

iNNer EyE Zine, Issue 1

In addition to ideas for the new zine, I’ve also been putting together a new list of artists to inner-view for this 2nd issue.

Here’s a call to you….if you can think of a fiber or mixed media artist you’d like me to inner-view, by all means, drop me a line and let me know. It’s so much fun getting to know a little more about our favorite artists or someone whose artwork or personality intrigues us.

On another note, Alma Stoller has a blog all about zines which is how I got started making them. She’s got a new zine swap that just got started. If you wanted to try your hand at it, this is a great place to jump right in.

Creating my first zine was loads of fun and a great challenge to myself. I didn’t even mind the hard work! Challenge yourself….sign up for the zine swap and consider making your own bundle of creativity.

Stay tuned….

Tags: Inner-views, mixed media, paper art, working small, zine by k grace howes
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A few weeks back when, for some bizarre reason, we were inundated with oodles and oodles of snow for the 2nd time this year, I got caught up big time in the snow dyeing jag that went around.

I gathered up a big rubber maid tub of snow and proceeded to colour me some fabric.

And yeh…I think I went overboard a bit there in the snow gathering department.

BTW, forgot how cold snow can be if you intend to shovel it with your bare hands so had to don hubby’s hiking mittens.

I proceeded to mix up 3 colours per batch of fabric and got to work making some snow cones.

The colours are always sooo delicious looking dontcha think? Because I normally dye in my garage which was way too cold to stand in for any length of time I set up shop in our sun room.

I was very careful to roll up the area rug and put down a drip cloth and newspaper on the floor under the table and on the table as well.

Here’s the 2nd colours now added to the snow. Last time I snow dyed I used my smoothie machine to crush the ice from my fridge (think I’ll buy a bag of ice next time instead).

I also had the fabric sitting in a basin that was tilted on one side so the fab would not sit in the melted ice.

This time, as you can see in the photo below, I used plastic grids suspended over each basin so the melted snow drained away from the fab. Doesn’t it look a bit like I’ve burned the tops of the fabrics in the photo.

It took a while for me wash out the fabrics. Remember I was in the sun room –not my normal dyeing location — and after all was done and things were cleared away, I put the fabrics on a chair by the garage door to rinse out later.

But, someone moved moved them to a different place. Believe it or not, because they were not there for me to notice I completely forgot about them until a friend reminded me that she had not seen the results of my snow dyeing session.

Duh! I eventually found their hiding place so here they are. Not too, too  please with the results but they will do for now.

Berry Patch 1

Rapunzel Gold

Berry Patch 2

12 Limes and a Lemon

Of course my favorite, because I am still very much in a chartreuse mood, is…..12 Limes and a Lemon.

Enjoy the eye candy!

Tags: hand dyeing, surface design by k grace howes
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Yesterday I got straight to writing my morning pages and then ventured into my studio. I only had a few hours to work cause it was P-day! (Prom-Dress-Buying Day).

Anyway I wanted to try a new-for-me technique (Wen Redmond’s holographic images) and remembered that I had seen an article about it in one of the zillion Quilting Arts (QA) magazines I’ve acquired over the years.

What I decided to do next was different than my original plan. Instead of sifting thru all the the magazines searching for the article, I decided then and there to grab a few (okay about 10 or 12 of them), settle in a comfy chair and ingest some creativity.

This regular habit of mine was long overdue.

When I get the mag in the mail I usually read it front to back..no skipping pages — ooh shock horror! My friends laugh and think I’m loony but I just cannot read the 3rd article (or whichever one) first. It’s just not in me, so there… you know one of many, I’m sure, eccentricities of mine.

But here’s another thing that I do….when I first sit down to read the mag I make sure I have a pen and some post-it note tabs with me.

As I’m inhaling the words, I come up for breath long enough to write the name of the article (or a pertinent tidbit to remind me of what it contains) at the top of a tab and stick in on the 1st page of the article.

The tabs are placed in the mag in a stair step manor so that I can easily view each one. When I run out of tab room on the front, I just place them so they face the back of the mag and I have another stair step heading back towards the front of the mag. This way I can flip the magazine around to the back to see other tabs.

I started doing this before QA began offering their article index on their website. It was so automatic for me to start tagging as I read. Besides, I could just see me misplacing the printed index sheets somewhere in the abyss of my studio. With my way I just look at the top of the mag to see which articles it contains and go from there.

I did get thru at least 5 of the magazines before I had to get ready to hand over the credit card. What a morning well spent! …even if I did get sidetracked.

Tags: down time, monday posts, this 'n that by k grace howes
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Another artist I inner-viewed for my zine, The iNNer Eye, was Sarah Ann Smith. I’ve been waiting to post about her until after I had finished reading her new book, Threadwork Unraveled.

I was itching to get to it but, in the end, wound up reading it on my daily bike ride (don’t worry..it’s a stationary bike, ha!). Reading it that way, taking it in — in little bits –  was excellent because it gave me a chance to absorb ALL the information she packed into it.

And what a fantastic book this is!!!!! As stated on Amazon, “Sarah Ann Smith unravels the secrets behind how it’s made, how to select the right thread for the right job, and how to use it to enhance your piecing, appliqué, and quilting”.

The book is filled with her “Sarah-isms” throughout that makes it such a fun and informative read. Sarah explains things in such a concise and direct way that gave me many Aha! moments. I now have a much better understanding of how important thread is to my artwork and how to effectively use them to enhance my pieces.

If you haven’t already purchased this book I HIGHLY recommend you add it to your bookshelf (check Sarah’s website below).

I met Sarah virtually, online a couple years ago. A comment on her website/blog probably made me laugh and I responded. That’s who she is, a wonderfully quirky, fun, helpful and endearing person and author.

Sarah is also a very accomplished art quilter. Her work has been featured in regional, national and international shows and exhibits, in galleries and has been published in local and national magazines.

My favorite piece of hers, Fields of Gold, recently won a 2nd place award in the IQA Art Quilt Miniature category. That’s the biggie Houston show people! I sometimes roared with laughter when reading her answers to my questions. Smile along with me and…

Enjoy this insightful look into a wonderful fiber artist, Sarah Ann Smith…

Marshall Point Light

Inner Eye: What informs your artwork?
Sarah Ann Smith: Everything and anything!  Ideas often appear fully (or nearly fully) formed in my head.  Other times it is as if the view is foggy and as the fog lifts and burns off, the images reveal themselves inside my head until there is a clear picture of what wants to be let out and put into cloth.

IE: Why fabric/thread/paint as a means of expression?
SAS: I have sewn for almost as long as I can remember.  In first grade, a neighbor-girl made me an apron for my Barbie doll. Why she did this (as she didn’t know me well), I don’t know but I still remember how amazed I was that she MADE the apron herself, AND that she gave it to me! I loved it! Obviously, the fiber bug was in that apron and there is no antidote.  Thank heavens!

Naiads

IE: Who continually inspires you?
SAS: My friend Kathy, whose textile art amazes me; my kids and hubby; my friend Marie, who explores EVERYTHING;  my mini-group, the Frayed Edges–I am blessed that we found each other; Mother Nature.

IE: What, if anything, precedes the full blow idea for a piece of art?
SAS: There is almost always a picture inside my head clamoring to be released into cloth–usually there are bunches of them jostling to be first out!  and not nearly enough time to make even a fraction of them.  It’s as if I need to try out the ideas inside my mind first to see if they are worth making, because I don’t have time to spend on something that’s gonna flop for sure!

Buoys #1

IE: What matters most to you about the work that you do?
SAS: All of it! And that it gets made….  I want the piece to work visually/creatively.  I want the workmanship to be flawless.  It’s nice when the image resonates with others, but some pieces are just personal and need to be made no matter what.

IE: What do you ask of yourself in terms of your art in the next 5 yrs?
SAS: Oh my gosh… that is SO precise and forward-looking and planned and demanding.  I don’t think I work that way… the pressure of failing to make a specific goal (or several) would just do me in!  All I want to do is keep making quilts and art and writing.  And I have to do it within the context of caring for my family, and maybe,  just maybe be lucky enough to win a second ribbon in Houston.

Fields of Gold

IE: If you could not pursue your art, what other way would you spend your time?
SAS: If I couldn’t make art, I think I’d be comatose or dead! I’d go stark raving mad if I couldn’t create!  Even if I were somehow incapacitated and couldn’t sew, I’d find some other way to make art…Think Frida Kahlo flat on her back, rigging up an easel above her bed so she could paint while flat on her back in a brace.  Where there is a will, there is a way!

Sarah Ann Smith

Website: http://www.sarahannsmith.com
Blog: http://www.sarahannsmith.com/weblog/
To read Inner-views of other artists click here and here.

To purchase a copy of my zine “The iNNer Eye” please check my Esty store.

Tags: Art, Inner-views, monday posts by k grace howes
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My cousin Francine, who lives in France with her wonderful hubby, Lucas and the cutest baby boy ya ever did see, the ebullient Mr. Kieran, is a fantastic scrapper (that’s scrap book lingo I think).  Anyway she had this brilliant idea!

In order to keep up with ALL the things on her mind and the endless things she, like the rest of us, has to remember like…

• daily to-do lists
• artwork to complete
• deadlines to remember
• thoughts and ideas that pile up in our brains like a cars on a highway at rush hour
• and the all too important shopping lists (us folks gotta eat)

…she came up with a clever way to both coalesce and compartmentalize this information, keeping it in one complete package while also making it convenient to carry.

She punched holes in 4 or 5 small exercise books, decorated and labeled the covers with the info they will contain (she is a scrap booker after all) and put it all together with a couple of binder rings.

This way whenever she remembers to write something down about whatever task that needs to be completed or another crazy, fantastic idea pops into her she just pulls out her trusty bound notebook,
…..jots the info down to remain there in perpetuity (or till it disintegrates over time, lol)
…..then pops it back in her handbag, or rather diaper bag right now and gets on with her day (which probably has more to with running after K-man).

How fantastic is that?

Tags: this 'n that by k grace howes
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Okay, so I finally figured out how to shoot movies (I’m still perfecting that craft), I know I can edit out all the bloopers and messed up bits (lots of those buggers) and I now know how to add audio to my video (love that part). Play time is over…right?

Heck no I say because I’ve just added a new video to my YouTube site!

Remember the “Journey Girl” I painted  on the front of a cereal box I cut apart a few months back? The one I used in my zine? Well I’ve posted a video of what I did to create her. It were fun!

(Mummy, if you’re reading this….I know that that last bit was bad grammar but in blogland, sometimes that’s allowed).

I got such a kick out of going green with the cereal boxes that I thought a short vid was needed. Okay, okay….that had nothing to do with it, I really wanted to play with iMovie again.

So……on with the shoew!

(if you are having trouble with the video, click here to go directly to my YouTube site and view other videos as well).

Tags: mixed media by k grace howes
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