The Art of Everyday Life

This is called Twilight in the Ozark and was on an older blog page. I am bringing it back because it was accepted at The Waverly House Gifts & Gallery,Holiday Season Show to Benefit The Regional Girls' Shelter. The show will open with an artist reception Friday, November 6, 2009 from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m.
The them is The Art of Everyday Life. If you live in the Springfield, Missouri area drop in to meet me and the other artist. The show will run form November 6 to December 19,2009. This is an honor to be accepted into this show. There will also be a silent auction. 100% of the auction will go to the Regional Girls Shelter.
You can visit Waverly House at www.waverlyhouse.com


Twilight is my favorite time of the day. The sky is getting dark and the lights are Just comming on. But here in the Ozark the rolling hills in many shades of green are a wondrous sight as the sun dips below the horizon. This is just part of every day life here in the Ozark.

Cancer, Anyone?

Thedoglived.blogspot.com
This is the blog for my daughter, Teresa. She was diagnosed with breast cancer December 2008 just before Christmas. Her blog is about her dog's cancer and about her cancer. It tell you all the medical procedures she went through, her thoughts and experiences during and after treatment. It is good reading for anyone who has cancer or anyone who know any one with cancer. She has what might be called sarcastic, and humorous way of dealing with this.
She lives in Riverside, in Southern California area called the Inland Empire. Trying to get medical treatment in an area that has one doctor for every 100,000. documented people and god know how many undocumented people is what California calls medical care. Maybe my statistics are off here but you get the idea.
She has decided that this in unacceptable, especially for someone that has just been told they have a devastating diagnosis like breast cancer. She has been asked to head up a committee to raise money to start a Breast Cancer Resource Center in the Inland Empire. IT will be called The Pink Ribbon Place. Her blog will also take you to their site where you will see the quilt that I made called Teresa's Water Garden. This quilt will be used to raise money for the new Center.

Persian Garden (Taken) sorry

This is a more traditional quilt and large enough to cover a full size bed. 100% cotton. It is called Persian Garden because it reminds me of a Persian rug in bloom. It now hangs in my daughter, Teresa's, law practice in Riverside California.
Most of the quilts in my closet are traditional quilts. Some are in various stages of a work in progress.

Hard Edge Abstract

This is one of my oil paintings. It took a long time to complete because each color had to dry before I could move on to the next color. The brush strokes go from left to right. This was very controlled painting and an exercise in discipline for me.

The Fall Trees

Well as you can see I am thinking about fall. Mostly because it is only 42 out today and it has been raining continuously for 36 hours.
The photos attached to this blog are of one of my favorite art quilts. The trunk of the tree is made form hand died velvet, yarns and cotton with lots of machine stitching. There is also silk leaves, and cotton tree limb. The trunk is actually 3 dimensional and inspired by an art quilt I saw in Tucson AZ in 2008.

Fall Nights

It is fall here in the Ozarks and the leaves are starting to turn color and the weather is cooling down. Today it is raining so I am all into fall colors. This is called Fall Nights and is made form cotton and polyester and has beads for a little sparkle.

Iris in bloom (SOLD)

This art quilt was made 2008 in the spring as the iris were blooming in our yard. This background was painted on white fabric. The Iris are made from cotton, silk and polyester. Some of the iris are painted with water color dye. Some have Angelina fibers on them. This was a labor of love and sold quickly to some one from California. I hope they enjoy the vivid colors as much as I enjoyed making this.

I'v got Chickens......real chickens and quilted chickens

I am a grandmother again. Well not to the human kind of grand children. The chicken kind of grand egg kind. I guess that is what you call them when they come form chickens that I raised form one day old little baby chicks to these giant hens that are now laying eggs.

These were therapeutic baby chicks that I purchase as the request of my real Grand daughter, McKinzee in May, 2009. Knowing that she would not actually be there to help me I still purchased 6 baby chicks. I was getting over SHINGLES, that is a whole other blog. and I needed something to get my mind off the pain.

But now they are a year old and I have made a quilt called "There is Always One in Every Bunch" . So true in life as it is in chickens.


I fussed and babied them to the point that one of my neighbors asked me if I had made them a quilt yet. NO I have not. Our dog, BarBee, has one. Our cat, Muffin, has one. So why do the chickens not have one? Well winter is not here yet so never say never.

Any way we converted the pony stall into a chicken coop, enclosed a chicken run, put chicken wire over the top and now they are happy and I can sit and watch their funny ways all I want. They are hysterical and amusing and very therapeutic to have. They are MY chicks not my husbands. He does not claim them and will have nothing to do with them. So he says. But he did help build their coop, run and roof. And he does eat the eggs.

Yes we have eggs finally. After 20 weeks and $250.00 worth of chicken feed, structural improvements and hay we have our first egg last Sunday. We have had a total of 7 eggs in 9 days. Not bad for the first week.

The above photos show the 5 chicks, one died, and our dog BarBee. BarBee could also be called a grand mother as she has protected the chicks and from opossum, squires and night and day varmints.

Lillies sold.

This is a photo of lilies in my back yard. I used this photo to inspire the art quilt "Lilies"
I had to pick the flowers and arrange them in a vase with leaves. This is a very formal presentation of the back yard photo but I think it works well for Fiber Art.

Where have I been?

Where have I been you ask. Off taking photos for inspiration and driving the highways and by ways of Missouri. This area of our country is great for color, and nature. I can hardly wait for all the fall colors. It has been a particulary wet summer and so promises to be a very colorful fall. So look for some fall art quilts soon.
I am looking forward to Meet the Artist at Waverly House Gifts and Gallery here in Springfield tonight. My friend Robert Ranney robertaranney.blogspot.com
will be there giving demonstrations of fiber art.
There will be many things happening in the month of September to get the creative juices flowing so look for new works soon.
Thanks for viewing my blog.
Vivian

The Deep

This was inspired by my memory of the California Ocean. It is make from fibers, yarn, beads and framed in black wood. This is a mixed media art work with lots of texture. There is no glass over the textile so that you can enjoy the raised work.

Burning Embers close up

This is a close up of Burning Embers. It contains silk, hand dyed cottons, ribbon and beads. My friend in California gave me some beautiful red silk and was telling me about the fires that consume California. I made this to memorialize the smoke, fire, flying embers and ash that takes over an area. The loss of lives and property is overwhelming for the victims.

Burning Embers

Here I am at the 2008 Junita K Hammonds Senior Art Exhitition with Burning Embers in the background. This was a show the featured artist over 55 years old that are active and competing in the competative world of art. It was an honor to be juried into this show.

new inspiration

Today we went to a beautiful park here in Springfield, Mo. to photograph nature at it's best for inspiration. I have a lovely back yard but this park was acres and acres of grass, trees, flowers, water, rocks and the bluest sky I have ever seen. I have been working on a new piece and was not sure how to finish it. After our visit to this park I am going to declare it finished just as it is. No point in trying to improve on nature.

THE ICE STORM (sorry.....I am sold)

My first winter living in Springfield Missouri was the worst in "living memory." Or so I am told. I was profoundly effected by the sight of giant oak trees bending under the weight of the freezing ice. Many trees were toppled and lost forever. As their branches cracked under the weight shards of ice fell to the feet of the tree. The sky was multiple shades of gray, damp mist. The air was fridge and forbidding. It was truly a most beautiful and dangerous time. I hope you can appreciate what I was trying to convey.
Yes.... I decided to part with this.   It was not at Waverly Art Gallery 10 minutes and it SOLD.

THE ICE STORM..... CLOSE UP

This gives you an idea of the detail work including the beads and stitching.

Meadow Lupines up close

This is a close up of Meadow Lupines. You can see the texture and stitches. This kind of art is hard to appreciate unless you are able to see it in person.

MEADOW LUPINES (sorry... I am sold)

have you ever walked through a meadow and looked down to see small blue stalk like flowers bending in the breeze? This is what they look like to me. Kind of like a Monet painting.

RIVER ROCK

This is one of my favorite small pieces.
A technique that I developed and used many times to look like rock. This particular collection of rocks is in a river stream with the leaves of fall and the green moss of summer.

The Coral Sea (SOLD)

The Coral Sea is in the home of another artist, Elizabeth Brown of Ava Mo. (LIZ ART). It was an honor to me that she purchased this small reminder of the warm tropical waters.

Organic III

This lovely piece is called Organic III. It is all about form, shape and color with lots of texture. I chose to frame this to give it more substance and definition. I started this piece while living in California about 6 years ago. But never quite finished it until 2008. I like to think of it as my first completed art quilt.

In the beginning

This is the beginning of my blogging experience.

I will try to take you on my artistic journey and show you some of my work.

This is not to say this is all of my work just the ones worth publishing and selling.

Most of the work you will see has been completed since 2007. Some have sold and others are available for sale. They will indicate which is available. If you see one that is sold and you simply can not live without it I will attempt to do another. But since they are all sold as originals I will not do an exact copy. Why would you want a copy any way? You would want an original. Yes?