Tracy McCabe Stewart - Contemporary Fiber

preliminary sketch whooping crane

Hi all,

I am beginning a new wading bird piece in the series I am working on- this time based on a whooping crane.  Whooping cranes are one of those saved from the brink of extinction stories.  They were on the verge of extinction, but are now only endangered due to some incredible efforts to save them.  It’s an inspiring story you can read about here.

I began this series largely because I love the look of wading birds.  Most of them are incredibly graceful, gorgeous creatures. 

In addition to their good looks, I connect with my best self when I am outdoors and they are a reminders of those wonderful times that I manage to get myself into that quiet, connected space.  They are also symbols for me of a more meditative, mindful state.  Wading birds stand or move slowly, watch and wait.  They patiently wade through the unseen waiting for that which they desire to reveal itself.   There is a calm quiet energy about them that is a great teacher for me.

In addition to all of this, wading birds are an early warning system for ecological concerns.  They are losing habitat daily and many species, including the whooping crane, are endangered.    For me, they are a reminder of my commitment to land preservation.

As I have posted previously, I start with a photograph of a bird that has a body position that I like and do a preliminary sketch on batting from there.   This one again, is of a preening bird and the body position is pretty complicated.  My drawing is REALLY rough, but it’s enough for a starting point.

Here’s the final piece of that reddish egret I’ve been working on:

Reddish Egret (C) 2010 by Tracy McCabe Stewart

“Reddish Egret”

(C)2010 by Tracy McCabe Stewart

Hand dyed silks and cottons, Shiva paintsticks, colored pencil.  Fused, machine quilted.

We are off to Cedarburg, WI for a weekend with our neighbors and to see the fabulous musician, Marcia Ball.  I already have another wading bird piece in the planning stages to begin when I return.

Have a great weekend!

Tracy

Progress on Reddish Egret Piece by Tracy McCabe Stewart

The feathers are all hand dyed fabric, the beak commercial cottons.  On to the body next!

I know I said I would post pictures of my last heron piece, but I don’t like the feet on one of them.  The scale is wrong.  Pictures will have to wait until I fix them.  In the meantime, I am starting a new piece of a preening red egret. 

I am concentrating on wading birds: herons, cranes and egrets for the whole of 2010.  Here’s the next one which is much smaller than the last one!

I decide on the basic positioning of the bird from a photo.  I used the picture as a reference to make sure I have proportions, general outline, and orientation of body parts correct, but pretty much wing it from there.  I usually don’t even make the same kind of bird.  I then freehand draw feather directions,  eye placement, etc.  Here’s my general drawing for this piece.  I think the head is a bit bulbous and the beak is too wide, but I can change the dimensions as I add the feathers:

(very) rough drawing for egret piece

Since I fuse my compositions, rather than piece, I make my general drawing of the bird directly on to batting.  From here I cut and iron on all of the hundreds of individual feathers directly on the batting. 

Here are the basic colors of the bird.  I hand dyed gradations of the colors and will further enhance colors with paintsticks or fabric paint later in the process.  Reddish egrets are a steel blue and rust color with a grey-black beak.  If I follow a triadic color scheme, my background will be a yellow-green or green or red.  None of those sound appealing to me.  I’ll audition fabrics when the bird is done.

hand dyed fabrics for egret piece

More to come as I progress the piece.

I spent Tuesday and Wednesday in a workshop with the incredible Mary Hettmansperger; learning metal techniques to combine with fiber art.  I was an action packed two days.  I learned a ton and we had a fabulous time.  Mary is an incredible teacher:  very, very funny and really informative.  I cannot recommend her highly enough.  If she comes to your town, run to take classes with her.

The course was on making mixed media art quilts, but most of us concentrated on learning the metal techniques, rather than creating a finished product.  I started in the art world making jewelry, so some of the metal working stuff was review for me.  Mary uses basket making techniques in her metal work and that was all new (an great) stuff.  Here are some action shots of the workshop:

We learned a great stitching/looping technique for attaching things like rocks.  We worked with bth 26 guage wire and waxed linen.  It’s really beatiful and sturdy when done well like Mary’s pieces:

Looping technique piece by Mary HettmanspergerAnother beautiful one by Mary:Mary Hettmansperger piece

Rock stitching by Cindy Heineman

Twined piece by Mary Hettmansperger

 Here’s one by Shelley:

Twining by Shelley Brucar

Combined twining and looping by Mary Hettmansperger

Stana Marie Coleman used the loop technique on this pretty piece:

Metal work by Stana Marie Coleman

 We all had fun with the torches and hammers:

Fun with Fire

Joan Bratton did some gogeous weaving on this piece:

Gorgeous stuff by Joan Bratton

 Mixed media quilts by Shelley Brucar:

Graffiti by Shelley Brucar

A mixed media mini quilt by me:

Mini art quilt by Tracy McCabe Stewart

 

 Everyone made peapods.  I can’t remember who did this beauty.  I think it beloged to Sheila Shaffer-Hirsch:

Peapod Mania!

Hi all,

We had a really cool frost a few weeks ago that created lovely formations on the trees, etc.  My pals tell me it’s called a hoarfrost.  Here are some pics of my backyard:

Frosty Willow Tree

 You can’t see it as well here, but my magnolia got some, too:

Frosty Trees

Frosty Chokecherry

I had my Needle Arts guild meeting today and Mary Hettmansperger was our speaker.  She does unbelievable mixed media work:  baskets, jewelry, textiles and a cross over between all media.  Truly gorgeous stuff.  I’m in a class with her for the next few days.  I’m hoping to take tons of pictures.  Check out her work here:  http://www.maryhetts.com/

I drove up to my house today to see a red tailed hawk munching on a squirrel on the sidewalk.  He let me stare from the car, but as soon as I came out with my camera, he flew off.  I sure wish I could have captured him on film, but camera or no, it was definitely an awesome gift for the day.

I just can’t get enough of taking classes from Barbara Schneider.  She’s a fabulous teacher and I always learn something that I’ll actually use in my work.  This class was no exception.  The focus of Barbara’s class was on expanding uses for thermofax screens and silk screens.

We started out by making oversized thermofax screens.  You’re only limited by the width of the machine, but can make them as long as you care to.  We created frames by cutting one side out of two frames and gluing them together for a larger total opening.  I made some great screens but forgot to take pictures of them.

Barbara also showed us some of her experiments with screens past their prime.  Below, she has created a sewing line to add visual interest.  Good for backgrounds.

Revamping spent screensHere are some of her results using this screen:She also showed us some different effects to create with regular screens:Thermofax screens using a sponge application

Combination of sponge and regular applications

Cheap silk screens

wax resist on silk screen

 She also showed us another method using leaves or other objects (they will get ruined) as a resist and spray painting the screen.  You then remove the objects befor the paint adheres them to the screen.

Leaf resist screens

I had to leave the workshop early, so didn’t actually make any work.  That’s also why there’s no pictures of actual work.

I haven’t had any time to play with this stuff. I have been hunkered down working on a that huge heron piece I started a few months ago.  It’s basically done, but I’m not quite pleased with the head of one of them.  Once I fix it, I’ll post pictures. 

Well, I had great intentions to promote my work through 2009 coinciding with my 2009 special pricing on artwork blitz. 

I starting feeling bored with myself and a bit weird after about a week of feature pieces; sort of like Oprah always being on the cover of her own magazine.  I am all for having a genuine sharing of my work, but this has all felt a bit too self important for me.   I want this blog to be primiarily about sharing art information and experiences with a sprinkling of tooting my own horn-not the reverse.

It was a grand experiment,  For those of you still reading, thanks for the indulgence.

Right now I am focused on wrapping up 2009 and setting intentions for the new year.  Rather than having a list of intentions, I really like the Christine Kane model of choosing a word for the year.  

My word for 2010 is pathway. 

I especially like this of the many definitions:  A route to or way of access to; way of reaching or achieving something. 

Perfect.

Laurie Perry of Crazy Aunt Purl fame has a great post on her New Year’s focus, too.  I love her idea of coming from the place of “yes” for the year.  Her post today really worth the read. 

I am closing in on a final design for these pesky herons.  I hope to post the unsewn piece over the next few days.

I would really love to hear about your thoughts for wrapping up 2009 and your vision for 2010.  Specific or general.  Please leave a comment.

Happy, Happy New Year!

I am reducing prices on my work for the remainder of 2009-Read more here

I am featuring a piece of my work every day or so through the end of the year.  Here’s today’s piece:

"Crane Series I" 2008 by Tracy McCabe Stewart

“Crane Series I”

2008

By Tracy McCabe Stewart

20″x20″

Hand dyed and commercial cottons, digitally created fabric.  Machine quilted.

2010 price: $600

2009 price: $450

 

Rust Dyeing

 

Last week  my work group, the Free Motions went up to Nina’s to do some rust dyeing.  Participants included Shelley Brucar, Nina Edelman, Leah Rosenthal, Cathy Mendola and myself  They needed to cure for a week to give the rust time to transfer to the fabric.  Here’s the results:

Rust dyed fabric

Nina had some fabulous rusty shapes to play with.  I’ll probably over dye them.  too much white for me.

 

Here’s another:

More rust dyeing on cotton

 

the rust transfer is nudged along by adding salt or vinegar to the fabric and keeping it wet.  I used both on these.  Lots of direct transfer, but not much bleed to the rest of the fabric.

More cotton:

Rust dyed cotton

and finally, some cotton velvet:

Rust dye on cotton velvet

I have finished all of the feathers on my new herons and started shading and stitching.  Here’s how the head is going so far.  It will need more shading to make it look 3 dimensional and the eye needs some work, but in general, it’s good progress.  I’ve used some Shiva Paintsticks and colored pencils all over to get some dimension and iridescence.  I’ll post more as the stitching progresses.

 

"Herons II" (c) 2009 Tracy McCabe Stewart-In Progress