Archive

Every year in June I go to the International Encaustic Conference in Provincetown Mass.  It is a wonderful gathering of painters, printmakers and artists of every ilk. There are lectures, demos, book-signings, a hotel-fair where we get to see each other’s work and a vendor room to die for. I plan my art-life around this […]

I’ve been doing some research into calico prints from the early to mid 20th century, the time that my great-grandmother Grace would have been quilting. I’ve also been taking a closer look at the photos that I have of the crazy quilt that hangs at the Veazie Congrational Church (pictured above), the one quilt that […]

I have been working on prints for my great-grandmother Grace’s quilt for the last few days. I have been trying to come up with something approaching floral. Not really my wheelbase and frankly I’m not thrilled with the results so far, and I’ve managed to burn myself on my heat gun in the process. I’ve […]

I thought about calling this one, “A Woman’s Work is Never Done”, but that seemed too cliché. Over the Christmas vacation I cleaned out my studio of a bunch of  stored up yarn and knitting needles. My mother called before we headed up to ask about a sweater pattern book that she knew I had and […]

One of the things that intrigues me about working in wax is it’s ability to preserve things. Flowers are pressed between pages of waxed paper, bronze sculpture is sealed with wax to prevent tarnishing and fruit is covered in a wax coating to keep it appearing fresh a little bit longer. In his treatise, “On […]

For the quilt that I’m making for my grandmother Halice I chose from my existing stock of encaustic monoprints. When I started cutting up the prints into the required shapes I realized I needed another sheet of the dark print for the large triangles in the middle. No problem I thought, I’d just make another […]

Ok, to clarify things, I keep referring to these ‘things’ I’m making as ‘quilts’. I know they are not really quilts and to any quiltmakers out there among you this is probably annoying. A ‘real’ quilt has a front, (typically of cloth, yes) some sort of batting (typically cotton or wool) and a backing. That […]

I was reminded this week to go slow and pay attention to what I’m doing, both by my sewing machine and by the terribly helpful people (Tyler and Anita) at Sew Portland, where I took my little Janome 2222. I had I become convinced that the timing must be off because it kept jamming (it […]

I am excited to tell you all about a new project I am starting. I am calling it, “The Family Memorial Quilt Project” (unless or until I come up with a better title – suggestions welcome). I come from a very large extended family, full of strong, independent women, many of whom are, or were […]