Busy days...

Another thing that has kept me rather busy is the annual exhibition at the Bunbury Regional Art Galleries, The Christmas Shop. It's a very unique exhibition in which all works are for sale and once sold are removed immediately and replaced with something new.
I entered six pieces this year and was accepted. I entered two art quilts and four Obi Belts (I'm hoping that by making them something practical they will be more likely to sell)
They are all hand printed, dyed, stitched, quilted etc.

I've also been busy establishing my Etsy store. More on that later :-)

Parkland

My best friend Carly opened her solo art exhibition this past weekend in Denmark at the Old Butter Factories Art Gallery. I was so proud to be there to be part of this very special and exciting event with her. Carly and I have known each other now for 13 years and although for much of that time we've been separated by physical distance, I always find we slip so easily back into our comfortable friendship without even trying. She is such an inspiration to me. At 30 she is establishing herself as an artist, she is a specialist art teacher - having worked in some very remote communities; she is a wife and a mother to the most precious two year old twins. Somehow she manages to make her art an integral part of her life and devotes the time to persevere with her craft, whilst balancing family life and also her career as a teacher.

You can see why she is such an inspiration.
I am so damn proud of you Carly!

Stitched and Bound by themes...

So the 'quilt' is done, with much relief. I'm reasonably happy with it; in hindsight there are things I would perhaps do differently, but given that this is my first large scale attempt at making a quilted textile piece I'm pretty happy with the result. It has been a learning curve and has certainly fueled inspiration to produce more pieces like it.

I've been doing loads of research into quilts, tradional and contemporary. View the stunning online exhibition Australia Wide here. One artist I particularly admire is Pamela Fitzsimons from NSW. [I can't find a website, but there are a few images online if you care to google.] Also Wendy Lugg is very inspiring. Wendy is a WA artist so I have had the pleasure of viewing her work in the past.

Anyway, I digress. A HUGE thanks goes out to Clare Day for taking some

snapshots of my quilt and burning them to a disc for me, the images have been submitted to this years Stitched and Bound exhibition which will be held at the Mundaring Arts Centre in July. Fingers crossed!

There are a few other art awards and exhibitions coming up later in the year which brings me to a point that I'm struggling with: Working to a theme.
Some of these awards have designated themes to which the artist must adhere. Some are easier than others. This one in particular has me stumped! The theme is Gold.

I've never really worked to a theme before, usually I have my own direction or themes present in my work, so this is a challenge .

If anyone has any useful advice I'd be most appreciative!