Virginia A. Spiegel

Enfolded

Just as the tulip revealed much beauty in death a week or so ago, so this Japanese Iris bud is as gorgeous as the coming flower. Purple is the color (and fragrance) of June. Iris, catmint, and baptisia are all in bloom and the air full of lilac.

Windblown

Sometimes the wind comes up and everything falls out of focus. Even though this is technically a failed photo, I love the watercolor effect.

There’s a new post on The Garbage Day Project today. It’s the season of discarded lawn chairs, hoses, hose reels and more.

Float

Do you remember this painting from last summer? I have had it hanging in my studio for quite a while (since I dropped it while hanging it above a fireplace and punched a tiny hole in it from the corner of the mantel).

It has been fun to work on it with Caran D’Ache artists’ crayons while it was hanging. It has been a kind of meditational activity. I believe it is finally finished now with the addition of a very faint “Float.” It’s a very peaceful and relaxing piece to have in my studio, a place where I generally do not like to have a lot of art to distract me. I must say that I still wish I had what I first painted, so I may have to re-visit this topic on another canvas.

Float - detail

Lynn Krawczyk, curator of Breaking Traditions, is going all out this year.

This annual art quilt exhibit not only benefits Fiberart For A Cause, but it will also be a traveling exhibit. The exhibit, with the theme With One Voice, will premier at the American Sewing Expo and then travel to

Fabrications Retreat
Garland Resort
Lewiston, Michigan
October 7-10, 2008

Carnegie Center for the Arts
Three Rivers, Michigan
November 9 - December 20, 2008

212 Arts Center
Saline, Michigan
July 1-31, 2009

Siouxland Samplers Quilt Guild
Siouxland City Convention Center
Sioux City, IA
September 19-20, 2009

Lynn is seeking other venues; contact her at FibraArtsytsa@earthlink.net

The only entry fee is a $10 donation to the American Cancer Society through Fiberart For A Cause. We are within $400 of reaching our $30,000 goal for this year and Lynn has her mission to raise at least $1000. All the entry information is here.

Winter Trellis - detail

One of the most beautiful things about fiber is that it just becomes more beautiful over time. This is a detail from Winter Trellis, a piece created for and revisited periodically in the The Garbage Day Project. The fiber has totally changed as it has weathered, gaining a shaggy, mountainous look.

Shooting Star

What a perfect name! This flower, according to Tallgrass Prairie Wildflowers by Doug Ladd, is member of the primrose family. I highly recommend this field guide, published in cooperation with the Nature Conservancy, as it is arranged by color of flower. While you have to catch the plant in bloom, it’s a good trade-off as plant i.d is easy and fast.

I am stubbornly sticking with my old Nikon Coolpix for my blog photos, even though I could use a Nikon D50. I like the challenge of shooting a good photo with a point-and-shoot camera.

There’s a post today on The Garbage Day Project. It’s more about texture than color.