Is it safe? II

The second quilt in this series has a color scheme more intense than the previous one. It is mainly because the topic of information security becomes more and more important. 

Once again, I started out with the Thermofax. The objective was to create a printed piece of fabric as a starting point. After a few trials, I very quickly got the expression I wanted by using crimson and purples. Additional prints by using gold as an effect made the final touch. 

Then, the hunt started for matching fabrics. I had a rough idea of the overcall design, and knew I wanted larger fabric pieces as opposed to a very complicated patchwork design consisting of tiny pieces. My stash did not contain good supporting fabrics, so I needed to make my own. Using Procion MX dyes, I created two series of crimson reds, purples and blues. Some of them shown here.

I then started to play around with the full ensemble of fabrics.

It took a while until I had them all in place. Usually there is a lot of folding, cutting, moving fabrics around and so on, until I am satisfied. This is definately a fun, creative part for me. I wanted a mix of larger untouched areas and the smaller, more detailed, busy areas in this piece. Towards the end, I still needed one contrasting color in browns that I did not have in my handdyed stash. So I needed to dig around amongst my commercial fabrics. Found a perfect match with some wavy print which reminded me of elecro waves in computers. Perfect for this piece.

The top was finally as complete as could be. 

I knew I wanted a collage look, just as the first quilt in the series. I got good supporting threads from my favourite supplier of handdyed perl cotton (she does three kinds of threads, they are all great for handwork).

In addition to covering my quilts in hand stitching, I also twist my own cords that I decorate with. 

For this particular piece, I needed the numbers 0s and 1s in cutouts which I made from my Scan Cut machine. The fabric is easily cut out after it is backed with a coat of Vlisofix-similar paper.

After spending about 50 hours of stitching, the final piece looked like this.

Notes from a traveling journal

2015 was a very busy year for me workwise as I spent a lot of my time packing and unpacking suitcases travelling from location to location within the company I worked for at that time. I worked for a company that has offices all over the world. The year had 10 trips and. a total of 100 days of travel for me. Spending a lot of time in hotel rooms is an understatement.

These notebook or journalpages were created in each location as the year progressed. Serving a dual purpose of being my creative pocket each day in addition to leaving me with a nice souvernir from each trip.

Each notebook page contains ephemera and memorabilia collected in each place and inspired by characteristics of each location, in addition to experiences had and people that I met on my way.

For display purposes all journal pages are mounted on a piece of cloth, but soon it will be turned into a book.

The piece does not hold a very high artistic standard as it is merely what it is: Journal entries for a travelling quilt artist. But when the pieces are shown at exhibits, it always causes people to stop and have a second look, or to have the story told.

Explanations and notes about each journal entry:

Edinburgh (Scotland)

Coblestones from Princess Street stenciled and outlined with stitches. Ribbon from the Dakota Hotel where we always stayed. The grass is never greener than in Scotland even in the Winter. Stamps to mail postcards home. The E logo is taken from the Scotish Railway station at Edinburgh Waverly. Hand dyed threads for stitching.

Bergen (Norway)

The characteristic houses of Bryggen is hand drawn and painted with Inktense Pencils. Bergen gets a lot of rain throughout the year, so drew raindrops, too. Cutouts of the hotel logo and a fish in a net. Stamp with the portrait of one of Bergen's big sons; Ole Bull.

Singapore I
The impressive trees at Gardens By the Bay is appliqued and embroidered. The wheel is the big Ferris wheel by the seaside. HOPE is the word for the big project I was leading at the time, and the stamps shows two various trades that are going extinct in Singapore. Vintage threads for stitching.

Bangalore (India)
The colorful strips really illustrates the vibrant Saris of our Indian developers on the project team. When we visited, they all dressed in their best Sari with a high glam factor, displaying a massive impression for me who was dressed in a black and white businesslike dress (!). A nice elephant button found in a store. Tag from teabag.

Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
Hand drawn tiles from the pattern in the cobble stones of the Ipanema beach using Inktense pencils. Palmtree and ribbons illustrating the festive carnival season. Authentic miniature flipflop from Havaianas. Silk ribbon and hand stitches with Aurifil 12wt.

Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
Hand drawn image of a Rio favela by using Inktense. Souvernir statue of Christ the redeemer purchased on the top of Corcovado in Rio. The newly learned word HOLA cut of a Brazilian newspaper. Beads spelling SAMBA and BOSSA NOVA. Embroidered masts and a brass coin. Hand stitched with Aurofil 12 wt.

Singapore II
Photo image of an elephant taken in the Singapore Zoo during feeding time. The luxury hotel Marina Bay Sands hotel is painted and stitched. Singapore MRT (metro) is printed using a selfmade Thermofax screen. The top of a Tiger Balm box and sequins indicating the wonderful exotic fruit selections in the city. Hand stitching with hand dyed threads and Aurifil 12 wt. 

Houston (Texas)
Appliqued (rental) car and long and winding back roads during rush hours going to and from work. Selfmade Thermofax screen is used to print the street map (of Houston). Image of the Houston skyline. "Green stuff" (money) and lots of dollars for shopping.

Singapore III
The massive flower boxes on the balconies of the terraced hotel which was my home for many, many weeks that year in Singapore, is illustrated using twisted cords in various threads and ribbons. Little napkin coaster from the Regent Hotel stitched on. Small "flower" to represent the lovely Botanical gardens. Hand stitches using hand dyed threads.

Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)
The Kuala Lumpur skyline with the Petronas Towers is chosen to represent this city. It is also embroidered. Inside the towers, the que of turists in imaginery "Disney lines" (painted on the floor) in line to get up to the Observation deck (86th floor).  Piece of Malaysian $1 bill.

Is it safe? I

This is the first quilt in a series of several. As an Information Management Specialist, I work with content management, collaboration and information security as topics all the time.

This series started with an inspiration given to me. on a work trip, at the end of a (very safe) flight from Houston, Texas, to New York. As we were told to turn of our electronical devices towards the landing, I saw the screen of a monitor in front of me, flash in a computerized way with various colors in greens and blues. The numbers 1s and 0s danced in front of my eyes. Immediately, the idea of a quilt formed in front of me. I know from experience the importance of quickly jotting down ideas and sketches before the ideas disappears, so I grabbed the sketch-/notebook and quickly put the idea to paper before the airhostess urged me to put away my purse...

The result is a quilt series called "Is it safe?" with this one being the first one.

For the main panel, I have created a Thermofax (C) screen with the image of the 1s and the 0s. I used a plain white cotton cloth for the base of the Thermofax printing which is printed using acrylic paints and additional silver paint coats that I used a creditcard and/or a sponge brush to create the effect.

The larger patches with the numbers are painted through a stencil, each patch is ripped into shaped and stitched onto quilt. The rest of the fabrics are Bali batiques and Japanese tie-dyed fabrics.

The quilt is completely hand stitched with various knots and stitches, using a variety of threads which is either commercially spun and dyed, or from a collection of handdyed threads specially collected for this piece. The beads with 1s and 0s are additional elements in the theme and purchased in a Houston beadshop. So are the other beads as well. My custom made twisted cords add to the surface design as well.

Curiosa:

The quilt is entirely hand stitched and embellished during a work trip around the world and has completed one "round" from Oslo-Paris-Singapore-Tokyo-Houston-New York-Oslo, and has been worked on in hotel rooms in every destination. It took a total of 4 weeks to complete, creating several comments from hotel staff in 3 continents.

The quilt was first shown at Carrefour Europeen du Patchwork in Saint Marie-Aux-Mines, France, September 2014.

Also on desplay at 11th Patchwork Meeting Prague, March/April 2017.

Prague - here I am! 🌸

We have arrived in Prague and the quilts are hanging on the walls. The exhibit opens tomorrow and is open through Sunday.

You will find these quilts which are mine and on display this time.

Towards the Prague Patchwork Meeting 2017

There has been a slight pause in the blog because of intense workmanship to prepare for the next exhibit. Preparations have been made to participate at the 11th International Prague Patchwork Meeting which is held in the Czech Republic. Two days ahead of traveling, all of my pieces are ready to be packed up for safe travel to be brought to the venue.

We will be at the venue each day to meet visitors and to explain about the artworks. The exhibit opens on Friday March 31st and is open through Sunday April 2nd.

I am bringing 8 pieces this year, some are shown before and 3 pieces are brand new. Once we get this far, it is always a special and a humble feeling to see the exhibitor's list. It makes me feel proud in many ways both for STING Art quilt to receive the invitation to exhibit, but also to be able to pull it off myself, in between a busy life with family and another professional career...

Spread all over my living room floor this is my sight tonight:

The pieces which are a result of my travels and reflections on life

The newest ones in my collection has a theme on information security

If you happen to be in Prague this week, please make sure to stop by! :)

(Note: the Blog will be updated as we go along with more information about each piece.)

Carrefour Européen du Patchwork, Alsace 2014

Two years ago, Sting ArtQuilt, the group of textile artists that I belong to, was invited to exhibit our work at the annual Patchwork meeting in Saint-Marie-aux Mines in Alsace, France, during their 20 year anniversary event. It was a big exhibit for us where we were to cover 40 meters of wallspace (widthwise) between us, and we were given a beautiful venue - the second floor of the town's theatre building. Elaborate, restored and well kept.

We were invited two years in advance, so we had plenty of time to get our stuff ready. However, as always, time got a bit tight in the end for some of us, but we made it.

Finally, my precious pieces of Art could be spread out on the floor - all ready to go.

This is the collection that I brought with me. The photos are taken on the wall at the exhibit, hence the little metal cords and some other distractions in the photos.

A nice collage of all my pieces.

Our venue was on the second floor of this building.

All good things in life
55 x 60 cm
(2014)

Caught in a life
100 x 120 cm
(2012)

Under the Tuscan Sun
100 x 65 cm
(2014)

Is it safe? I
60 x 100 cm
(2014)

Damned if you do, damned if you don't
100 x 80 cm
(2014)

All for one, one for all
90 x 90 cm
(2014)

Welcome to my new space!

I am a Norwegian textile artist and art quilter who lives in Oslo, Norway.

I enjoy creating my own pieces of textile art as part of my journey through life in addition to being a full-time Information Management professional, wife and mother. Creating textile art is a part-time activity for me although I am very serious about the work I do. Most of the pieces are created preparing for national or international exhibits and have been displayed at several venues. I don't do commisions, but my art work is for sale.

This blog will be my area for sharing creativity and the process related to my textile art. 

I work typically in mixed media using cloth as the main canvas and adding elements to enhance the expression. Added elements can also be various layers of fabrics in a collage setting. 

I mostly create my own fabrics by dyeing, painting and rusting. Mostly they are collected during my many travels and often it is the little embellishment itself the whole reason for making the complete piece of art in the first place. 

Please enjoy the ride! 😊