Garden Tour, part III

In addition to Jana's spinning, we also set up a table for demonstrations. Peggy brought her watercolor crayons, and played with them. Pat was so interested that she had to try them, and I am going to insist on some play time later too. A pattern was drawn on muslin or plain cotton fabric, and colored in with the crayons. Then a spray bottle of water was used to wet the drawing, or a wet paint brush was used and the watercolor crayons blended together in a vibrant color wash on the fabric. The photos show the step by step process, from drawing to crayon to painting with the water. Peggy made several floral paintings, lilies, poppies and pansies. Pat made the lilies drawing and also free hand imaginary flowers. The colors were very intense, and Peggy says they are better on fabric than watercolor pencils. They should be heat set with an iron for permanence, and thread painting will give them wonderful detail and accents to finish them off. Amy brought her "Gelli" plate for printing with acrylic paints, and used mostly natural materials to use as masks, ferns, maple leaves, candy tuft, geranium leaves, etc... To layer the paint on the fabric she used foam stamps, of ferns, leaves, dragonflies, and butterflies. Working mostly in greens and purples, she was hoping that some of the finished pieces will work well together in an art piece. Pieces of fabric was brought so that visitors could make a sample to take home, printing with the ferns and foam stamping dragonflies. People were very excited to try the process out for themselves and to see how easy it was, or just to watch and see what Amy created. The last photo is of the end of the day, Jana spinning and talking to guests, and Peggy and Pat just relaxing after taking everything down and packing up. Photographs: 1. Pat's sketch 2. Peggy's watercolor crayon sketch 3 & 4. A water wash added 5. Peggy 6, 7 & 8. Amy's gelatin prints 9. Visitors, Jana, Peggy, Pat

Garden Tour, part II

I'm just going to post a variety of the textile artwork that we displayed in the garden. Corienne did the woven hangings and several stuffed animals made from hand woven fabric, Maureen made a large wild colored hanging that we hung on the monkey bars, and a long floral that was hung from the rafters of the BBQ structure. Pat's children's quilt, based on the book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" was thrown artistically over the hammock, and another hanging was hung from a bird feeder. The trees around the pool had low hanging branches, perfect for hangings, and the gardeners finally decided they were Alaskan Yellow Cedar. Various other art quilts were by Amy, Peggy, Jana, Maureen and Pat, and hung on rock patio walls, and wooden deck railings and assorted other spots. Kay's couple in the hot tub masterpiece "Aged to Perfection" was a big hit for it's humor. Peggy also had several watercolor paintings in nice frames that she had brought along, and a collage of old sewing ephemera, also framed. By four o'clock the heat was starting to get to us, and we took everything down in record time, packed up and called it a successful day. Thank you to our hosts Mr & Mrs Lieder for their hospitality and wonderful garden.

Garden Tour, part I

The Garden Tour was wonderful fun, I took so many pictures, that I'll have to post them in two batches. I tried to choose the pics that show the garden setting the best. We spent two frantic hours trying to find places to hang the textile art, we had a preview, but it didn't help much, as we didn't know what articles we would have. There were several basic areas, the entry way, among the giant fir trees and Rhododendrons, around the pool, and around the decks and walkways. The entry way had a black chain link fence, that we hung a sign on and something bright to attract attention. Amy's stained glass "Pink Passion Iris", and the Fyber Cafe sign that Kay made for us, were on the entrance gate, flanked by Peggy's watercolor crayon floral banner, and "Flamingo Tropicana" by Amy. An ancient Rhododendron, was strung with various smaller pieces, Peggy's dragonfly and moon gelatin print, several of Amy's "Gelli" printed journal pages, a small piece by Maureen and an Iris table topper by Pat. From 2pm until 4 pm, we were serenaded by a musician who sat in the shade by the pool, and played wonderful guitar music. Lots of people toured through the garden, wandered among the trees, and came over and visited with us. They said with pre-sales and tickets sold that morning, they had over 150 people, touring 6 private gardens, and the Master Gardener's "Discovery Gardens." They even got front page coverage, on the TV section of the paper, with a nice story about the League of Women Voter's and their fund raising efforts. For a first year, they did very well, next year they are talking about including some of the local wineries in the event. We displayed our "What's My Line?" challenge on easels along a rock wall, they made a very cohesive unit, all mounted on stretched frames with gray fabric behind them. All though the two tall easels blew over later in the day in the wind. Jana brought her spinning wheel, and spun ALL day, she said she hasn't gotten as much yarn spun in a long time. She visited with lots of people and showed them her dyed Merino wool, a blend with dog fur, and a blend of silk and mohair, and silk hankies. Lots of touchy feely stuff. Photographs: 1. Garden view 2. Pool & rear of house 3, 4 & 5. Entry gate & fence 6, 7, & 8. String of smaller pieces 9 & 10. "What's My Line?" challenge