Gayle A. Pritchard's Blog, page 12

Whooping It Up

With my hubby off to band practice, I find myself with a few hours in a quiet house. This is a rare thing when both of us are working at home. I have a long "to do" list, like most of you do, I'm sure. Instead of tackling the garden weeds after a nice rain, I decided to look through my blog posts. This is my version, for today only, of whooping it up!

First of all, I just wanted to say a quick "thank you" to those of you who read my blog, even on occasion. In looking through my own past posts,...

Hanging a Rug Part Deux

The top sleeve halves pinned in place.

As I mentioned in my previous post, making a hanging sleeve for a needlepoint rug has many similarities to making a hanging sleeve for a quilt: you have to leave extra room at the side edges to make sure the hanging rod is covered when the piece is installed; if the piece is large enough, you need to allow a gap in the top sleeve for additional hanging hardware; you have to decide on the type of hanging rod that will be used ahead of time, so that you c...

Hanging a Rug and other stuff to figure out

Magic Baby booth at a recent event.

Now that the Artist as Quiltmaker exhibition I curate has opened, and my daughter's wedding is over (I know, I never finished posting the pictures of the dress and jacket made for her...soon, soon, I promise!), I am back at work on my Magic Baby line and other artwork on my etsy store. I recently finished up several things I had cut out before the wedding. (Have you noticed my life has been defined by "pre-wedding" and "post-wedding?")
Although I had made...

And the Days Go By Waiting for Spring

As seen on etsy, an artwork by AmandaJean

I had a flash of a thought this morning while standing on my front porch: sloshing around in mud puddles in early spring. I can't tell you when exactly, but it would have been in the persistent indentation in the gravel road in front of my childhood home. We had those kind of rubber boots that rose above the ankle and had an elastic ring that fastened to a button on the side of the boot. Since I was child number four of five, they were no doubt...

More Experiments: Painting Lace

A selection of paints on hand to try: Jacquard Dyna-Flow, two Pearlescent liquid acrylics, Deka Perm-Air paint, and a pearlized Createx airbrush paint.

My daughter is getting married in late spring. This is a joyous occasion, of course, and has presented me with some new opportunities to experiment in the studio. How are my studio experiments connected to a wedding, you ask? It started when my friend Susanne Gregg agreed to make my daughter's wedding dress.
My daughter is not a traditional...

Experiments and Getting it Done

I found this poster in Galway, Ireland several years ago. When I travel, I like to find stuff to use in my artwork.
There is nothing like teaching a class to inspire some quick work in the studio. Tomorrow is Week 3 of my class Unraveling the Stories: Narrative Fiber Collage. Each week, I like to present a few new approaches in addition to the creativity exercises I hand out as 'homework.' I also like to develop a new artwork over the course of the class, so that students can see my process...

Tristan's Celebration

Fellow blogger Tristan Robin is celebrating his 300th follower! Wow, I am really in awe of anyone who has put out that many blog posts, let alone ones that are so fun to read. If you have never read is blog, now is the time to check it out. Leave a comment, and you can also be entered in his art supply celebration giveaway. Good luck, and thanks to Tristan for the fun reading.

Losing Our Minds

My friend and fellow artist Christine Mauersberger, sent me an email yesterday with pictures and a question about a family heirloom, a gorgeous mid-19th century red and green quilt. I didn't ask permission, so I won't post a picture of the quilt here, but will tell you a story of what happened when I looked at it.
Gayle and Christine at our group exhibition opening, Flavors of Fiber

I am not an expert in 19th century quilts. My research expertise has been focused on the contemporary quilt...

New Classes Scheduled

I am teaching classes locally for the first time in many years: check out the Winter Newsletter at BayArts for more details. (My class descriptions begin on page 11 of the pdf document.) Hope to see you there! Here is the newsletter description for the first one, coming up in January.

Mixed Media - new & cool
Unraveling the Stories: narrative fiber collage - with Gayle Pritchard

In this course, you will learn the elements of design, composition, color use and idea development...

Baby, It's Cold Outside...

As I stood outside on my front porch today, a snowflake landed on my black glove. The glistening white stood in sharp contrast, so I could see every detail visible to the human eye without a microscope. Looking at it immediately reminded me of how much I loved cutting paper snowflakes in elementary school, and how, when the folds were opened, a lovely surprise revealed itself. Today's snowflake was teeny-tiny, less than a quarter of an inch in diameter, and it was absolutely perfect. Every...