Be Delighted

"Oh my my my my, what an eager little mind!"

Auntie Mame

Saturday, October 22, 2022

Hearts For Uvalde

 Every year I am asked to contribute artwork to the annual Dia de los Muertos exhibits and activities in town. In past years I have painted and stitched skulls, Catrinas, Frida Kahlo images, and marigolds. This year I felt a need to address a recent, more heartbreaking and tragic event: the shooting of 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas. Such mass shooting events, a common presence in the U.S. now, usually trigger the endless rounds of debates over gun control and mental health, with no resolution in sight, which only adds to the sense of futility. I didn't know how to address that in art so instead I created a series of prayer flags based on the Tibetan tradition, and also recognizing the Mexican decorative tradition of papel picado. Each flag, for each person lost, was created from bright colours of fabric because I wanted to express the vibrance of their souls and not their tragic, brutal deaths. In the case of schoolteacher, Irma Garcia, I added the name of her husband, placed together on their flag, since he died of a heart attack the day after the shootings.

The flags are currently hung in a banner across a wall at the Buddy Holly Center, above some of my older works. Here is part of the exhibit, plus each person's flag, with their names lovingly embroidered. My plan is to pass them on to the families in Uvalde after the show is over.

Techniques: piecing, quilting, crochet, and embroidery, with added lace.
























https://ci.lubbock.tx.us/departments/buddy-holly-center/fine-arts-gallery

https://www.internationalfolkart.org/learn/lesson-plans/papel-picado-(dia-de-los-muertos).html

https://www.internationalfolkart.org/visit/  Whenever you visit Santa Fe.

https://www.spiritualtravels.info/spiritual-sites-around-the-world/north-america/wisconsins-deer-park-buddhist-center/tibetan-prayer-flags/

Monday, July 4, 2022

Creatures Great and Small

 Just a lot of small, recent works focusing on animals and birds. I hope you enjoy them.


                                                    Side Eye 6" x 6" sold to David Box



                                        Backwards Glance 6" x 6" sold to Sherry Grusendorf.



                                                                       Crow  6" x 6"


                                                                    Snow Hare 6" x 6"


                                                                    Bear Stare 6" x 6"




                                                                       Sparrow 6" x 6"


                                               Burrowing Owl 4.5" circle Sold to Sukie Danks




                                                 Chance 6" x 6" A horse I actually know.




Descent (from my sketchbook) done with Posca pens



                                                                Cedar Waxwing 6" x 6"





Saturday, April 2, 2022

More Solitude

                        A continuation of my Solitude series, little houses in various landscapes.

                                                                      Solitude #6



                                                                        Solitude #7


Solitude #8 (sold)


Solitude #9


Solitude #9 framed


Solitude #10


Some of these were on display last month. They will all be framed for a show in June.













Wednesday, January 19, 2022

Solitary Houses

 I've been working on some more imaginary textile landscapes using both traditional piecing and quilting but also slow stitch, and improvisational piecing and layering, with a variety of natural fabrics (cotton, silk, and linen) plus lots of embroidery, bits of lace, some tulle net, and a dose of crochet.

Solitude #1 started out as a purely abstract exercise in random stitching and piecing, about three years ago, but adding a small house recently gave it a mood and presence. I saw a small cottage on a cloudy Yorkshire Moor and wondered who lived there so quietly.


This was followed by choosing another abstract exercise done shortly afterwards, and adding another cottage, this one a little more defined and with richer colours.
Solitude #2

The next one was more deliberately planned to include a house, this one an obviously Southwestern style. I had cut up an old quilt top I was never going to finish, and added a small section of that along with some bridal lace I once bought for no real reason, but it was pretty.
Solitude #3

Solitude #4
Another Southwestern house, but a bit plainer and slightly more somber. Perhaps it's raining.


Solitude #5
This one is not even completed. I have yet to stitch the border (usually a tight zig zag) and it feels more like an abandoned farmhouse somewhere. Probably my least defined building, and it looks lonely.
update: now sold


                                                            Solitude #6?
                               Well, it's a start so I might document the process. Stay tuned.

                P.S. the pale lavender silk above, that shows up in a few of these, was given to me by Glenn's grandmother, Grumpy, back in the late Seventies. She used to sew and tailor clothing for the wealthy people in town, some of whom went shopping for fabric in London and Paris. Grumpy gave me about two yards of it, pure silk with metallic embroidered paisley sections every few inches, which makes me believe it's a fine Indian sari silk. I've used about a yard of it already, but snip by snip it finds its way into some of my works.





Friday, September 24, 2021

Landscape Forms

 I'm back from a very long blogging break. In fact I had almost forgotten that I had a blog. While I continue to putter my way through all sorts of art mediums, fiber works, abstract painting, collage and art journaling, I like to come back to the landscape as a place to get lost in.

Recently I tore sheets of watercolour paper into 8 inch squares and set myself a task of just doing a series of small landscapes in both transparent and opaque acrylics. Here are the results, some more abstract than others, but each one, though mostly from the imagination, conjuring a certain feel for place. Enjoy the journey.







 These works are available on my Etsy site. www.Etsy.com/shop/artbyValya.