RedBarn Studios

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I have been a bit absent of late….blogging in a rather hit & miss manner (no kidding, you say!).
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Although I have been working on my fiber art and journal projects
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(above – new canvas journal I’ve been working on & below – cropped photo of orchid quilt for group exhibition…see, told you so!),
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and taking pics of in progress work,
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and pics of cool and interesting things,
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and thinking and sometimes starting blog posts (new post from my Inner-views with another fiber artist in next few days)
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but….for some obscure to me reason…..never actually sending these thoughts of mine out into the blogosphere.
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My thinking right now as to why that is?\’a0 To some extent, it’s that my art is evolving/changing enough in what I’m producing, probably more than I can keep up with or formalize a goal for, so catching you up in blog posts is almost near impossible. New year…new habits (maybe, sorta kinda…mmmh).
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Also been thinking A LOT about my Word For The Year (a la Christine Kane). I’ve gone thru at least 7 different words that I thought might be good to implement as I go forward but none have captured the complete essence of where I am in my life and in my art at the moment.
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I also didn’t think any of the words I came up with would propel me to excel or push me forward any……that is until a few days ago\’a0 while reading a blog I ran across…
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…you know, you click on a link on someone’s blog list and when you get to that blog, as you read you click on another link in their blog list then another and another and before you know it you are at a site you’ve never read before but it resonates with you then you have another blog to add to your RSS feed…(deep breathe here..ahhh) — but I digress, big time!
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So, with ALL that said, I’m still here, plogging along, doing my thing. **Just a heads up…this post became way toooo long (a lot to say after that absence huh) so I’ve divided it up into 2 individual posts. See next post for my word of the year**
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(Note: please take the time to read Christine’s post about your 2010 word, she explains it so succinctly and has a tool that you can use to help YOU choose your word).
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See ya next time “In the Hayloft”,

Tags: Art, defining one's art, life etc., New Year, year of me by k grace howes
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I am so pleased with the very successful gallery showing we had Friday night. Jean, DeLane, Christine, Judy and I had a blast!

It was the first showing for most of us and we are very proud of the work we accomplished. It was a bit strange watching people walk around looking at our work and actually discussing what caught their eye, knowing that I was part of what they had come to see. I was absolutely fascinated by the fact that people wanted to see AND actually showed up to see our art.

Thank you to everyone who came out to cheers us on and thanks also to all the well wishers who couldn’t make it, we felt your love and support from far away.

Now I suppose you want to see some pics huh? I have to tell you that I didn’t get many pics (was too busy looking around and talking) so there are only a few.

Well, as they say, on with the show….

Some of Jean’s work…..as she describes her work, it’s a twist on the traditional….

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Pieces from Delane….and her feet quilt got quite a bit of attention. It’s fantastic close up…..

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Christines work…wish I got a close-up of the piece on the right…it a great landscape with lots of depth…..

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Judy’s pieces reflect nature in it’s finest, the black and white is a large painted one….

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I rarely show pics of my family but this is the only one where you can see my work.I will head back to the gallery in a few days to take some more pics. It was hard trying to get some good ones that night cause I either forgot to click away or couldn’t get a good enough angle.

My art quilts are in the background and the journals I am way too crazy about these days are on a pedestal in front of me. And of course, you can see the outfit I finally chose to wear….everyone said it looked very “arty”. Colours were definitely me.

BTW, that’s hubby, my daughter and my youngest son in the pic. Oldest son had disappeared to somewhere else by then.

The Round Robin (RR) Challenge….this RR was a little bit different. We each cut up a 24 x 36 sheet into what ever shape we chose but only containing 5 pieces. Then the whole thing rotated and each person made a section. We did not have to put it back together the same way and you can see that DeLane (the jacket) and I (lower right corner) chose to use our sections in……let’s say, different ways. Love how each piece turned out.

Jean’s doll “Rose” from the doll challenge and a close-up of DeLane’s challenge jacket from the RR challenge….

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And some the the guest mingling around.

The show will be hanging at Lincoln Cultural Center till July 3rd so please take a moment to go and see it. If you so choose to travel from afar to see out work then by all means come on down…hee hee.

Will be posting more pics son, I’d like to show more close-ups of our work. Thanks for stopping by.

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See ya next time “In the Hayloft”,

addendum: does anyone know how to get the pics to enlarge when you click on them…there seems to be no ryhme or reason why my pics are sometime clickable in my posts. The pics in this post are not unfortunately.

Tags: Art, FAB, fiber art, journals, mixed media, road trip, year of me by k grace howes
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POP Art 2008 (16 x 18)

Would love to post some pics of work but most of the stuff I am doing right now is computer work. Uggh!

I have though started new work on a couple of things but no pics to show just yet. First there’s the Orchid Project. I have 5 pieces to make for it and I’m trying to  whittle down my selection.

I want to try some new techniques with them but it all depends on the time frame. The 2nd new work is a larger one of my off-the-cuff pieces.

I don’t know if any of you remember about 2 yrs ago I decided to work small. It gave me a chance to get work done without feeling overwhelmed by the pressure I felt to produce larger pieces (self-imposed of course). Well guess what?

“WHAT”, you say?

I now feel the need to work larger…the smaller pieces I now find are too confining…so I guess that means that my method of pushing myself worked.

I’m find that I’m now comfortable with 18 x 24 and even up to 24 x 30 format (no sizes are written in stone mind you). I’m still struggling to start but that starting time has gotten shorter.

Some of you had commented that you like the ‘word of the year” thingy (it is too a real word!) I spoke about in an earlier post and I hope some of you have found your own words to help you the rest of this year. My two words (intention and self dicipline, the harder of the two) have greatly helped me move forward.

According to Alyson Stanfield (her book above)  we should redefine our goals especially if we haven’t done so in a while. So that’s my next step. Redefine my goals for the next year.

Have you redefined your goals lately?

Do you know where you are headed with your art?

Are you flying blind? or flying straight (a few loop-de-loos not withstanding)?

Talk to me people. Take and assessment and see just where you are headed. Hopefully it’s in the right direction for you.

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See ya next time “In the Hayloft”,

Tags: ponderings, working small, year of me by k grace howes
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Earlier this year, back in January, I began hearing about Christine Kane. First from my FAB friend, Judy, then on a blog I read quite regularly, Lisa Call. I admire both these women and trust that they knew what they were talking about when it came the inspiration of Christine Kane.

They were right.

She is very inspirational.

Word for the Year

Around this time of year we all go thru a regular and uninspiring year-end ritual of choosing  our New Year’s Resolutions. Christine Kane has a new take on New Year’s resolutions….

CHUCK the darn things out the window!

Really…cause none of us ever really follow thru with any of them anyway. Instead, she suggest we pick a word for the year.

Just one word. That’s all, she says.

“Then hold that word in your mind throughout the year, and let your word guide you to take action” (feel free to read more about it here and here).

I had all intentions of doing that this year, 2008, but obviously my life and mind had other plans. Next year though, in 2009, I intend to follow thru. I might need reminding from time to time but the INTENTION will be there.

Ah…you have just read my first word.

INTENTION

In order to start the year off right one should prepare beforehand. A few days ago I wrote down a few words and phrases that I thought might work for me: being present, choice,  discipline, focus, presence, allow…nothing resonated. I closed my eyes and got in touch with my goddess soul.

She picked: INTENTION and SELF-DISCIPLINE. (didn’t she realize that it was only supposed to be one word?).

No matter how I tried over the next few hours I couldn’t shake that 2nd word and kept coming back to it time and time again…..so I’m going with it. Enough of letting things slide (business or personal). State my intention, live my intention and be self disciplined enough to get the work done so that it can be completed.

At the end of the previous 2 years I found I could label each year. The first was the “Year of Me”. In looking back I saw that I did things that pleased me as concerns my artwork. Obviously I needed to find out more about me,, the artist, now that I had nerve enough to call myself one. The second year I labeled “Finding my Muse” cause boy did she ever talk to me …even though she did disappear from time to time…the nerve of her!

INTENTION

For 2009 I intend to begin at the beginning….at the beginning of this new year instead of the end of it.  I intend to start how I mean to finish. Wish me luck on my new journey.

What I wish for you, however, is a year of intention and meaning…in your life and in your work. I wish you peace, abundance, focus and clarity. Finally I wish you JOY and the courage to find your word for the year and let it become your guiding force.

BTW, the tag line on Christine’s blog reads:  Be Creative. Be Conscious. Be Courageous.

I love it…why not just BE!

See ya next time “In the Hayloft”,

Tags: life etc., my muse, New Year, ponderings, word of the year, year of me by k grace howes
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Whew! I DID IT!!!!

I gave my first ever guild presentation yesterday to the Moorseville Centerpeice Guild. My presentation “The Evolution of a Fiber Artist: The Life and Times of a Quilt Addict” is a tongue in cheek look at my life as quilt addict turned fiber artist.

My stomach was turning, my head was swimming and my nerves were playing up big time until the moment I stepped in front of the group. I was a member of this guild a few years ago and recognized some faces so it made it much easier to get up there and talk. Also, unbeknowst to me at the time, my year as Program Chair for Charlotte Guild had given me a chance to be at ease in front a group of people.

A couple of good friends came to support me…thanks DeLane and Jean (who, by the way, is having an Open House this Sat celebrating the opening of her new studio space in Lincolnton, Front Porch Studio).

When I start to speak, most people immediately recognize that I am not a local girl (those who know me are smiling now) so it was interesting that after my presentation a few people came up to me and thanked me for giving them some insight on where I was from.

Thanks Sandy for inviting me to speak to your guild. You were a gem yesterday and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Should be a piece-a-cake next time right? ………ha!

I will be listing my presentation schedule on my website as they come up.

See ya next time “In the Hayloft”,

Tags: schedule, year of me by k grace howes
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The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own.
No apologies or excuses.
No one to lean on, rely on, or blame.
The gift is yours—it is an amazing journey—and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins.

—Bob Moawad, Motivational Speaker

This quote spoke to me the instant I read it. I started out this year on a very positive note, saying that this would be the year of me, my beginning so to speak. It is known that if you say something often enough you believe it, well that has happened to me. I KNOW this is the year of me. Not in a stringent goal-oriented way (although I’ve put to paper all the goals I want to achieve for the year) but more that I will come out of my shell and GO FOR IT!

I truly believe that all who seek shall find…eventually that is.

See ya next time “In the Hayloft”,

Tags: life sayings, year of me by k grace howes
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Welcome to ME!

I’ve always wanted to write down my musings but the thought of a diary was just too much for me, hence a blog to let you know about me, my art and the happenings in my life.

I started quilting a long long time ago and, from the very beginning it seems, was designing my own quilts. In the last five years I got real interested in art quilts and love the freedom it gives me, I do what I want and so much for all the rules. I belong to a couple of art groups that has me reaching beyond my own expectations and it is exhilirating. I still teach at a local qult shop and am now trying to publish my own patterns so look for them from my company RedBarn Studios.

That’s all for now. Just a quick heads-up, when I get into a real creative groove or, as is usual with all of us, life gets in the way I’ll try to post often but be aware and keep checking back.

See ya next time ‘In The Hayloft’.

Tags: year of me by k grace howes
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