Susan Schrott

I am hoping that someone will be taking pictures at the Earlville Opera House opening of Contemporary Art Quilts. I will just have to wait and see.

Good news arrived this weekend. Adagio Triptych  and Andantion have been juried into the Pen and Brush first On line Exhibition: Transitions: a virtual event of visual, literary, and performing arts

Adagio Triptych

Andantino

June 3rd – September 3rd 2010
Curated by Bina Sarkar Ellias
Founder, Editor, Publisher, Designer of International Gallerie Magazine

This a first for the Pen and Brush and it will be exciting to see how folks respond to the online venue.

What do you think?

Wide awake at 4:13 am this morning? Yup! Every once in a while, I just wake up ready to work. The only thing is, it is still the middle of the night. Perfect time to brew some hot coffee and enjoy the quiet of my studio. Yesterday I took a break from making 15 sleeves for 15 finished new pieces I have made over several months. I can no longer avoid this dreaded task, so I spent a relentlessly rainy day, cozied up in my studio making the sleeves. Right now, they are all pinned down and resting on my older daughters bed.

Sleeves Galore

By the 15th sleeve, I had enough. I was looking through some photographs I had taken of  birds at our bird feeder and found this beautiful Cardinal I captured this winter.

I immediately new this would be a fun change of pace and printed the photo onto cotton fabric and got to work. I guess this piece was still on my mind when I went to bed last night, because at 4:13 this morning, with hot coffee in hand, I headed into my studio and continued working on Red Cardinal in Winter. I have the piece quilted and am preparing to fill the center of each flower on the border, with a single gold bead.

Red Cardinal in Winter

Ah, the sun is up…need a coffee refill.

Invitation to the Opening Art Reception at the Carriage Barn Art Center

I am looking forward to meeting all the other artists who are in this exciting group show at the Carriage Barn Art Center in New Canaan, CT. The reception is from 4-6 in this magnificent stone gallery in a beautiful park. For more information, just click on the postcard on the left or the link above.

Hope to see you there.

Susan

My first acceptance for the New Year came in the mail today. I entered Autumn Gypsy Rose into the 2010 Juried Art Show at the Nathan D. Rosen Museum in Boca Raton Florida. The exhibition was juried by Jorge H. Santis and will open on Sunday February 28th and run through March 26th. Looks like a trip to a warmer climate might just be in store…who knows!

Woke this morning to snow falling and quiet all around. A perfect day to finish sewing the facing to my newest piece Andantino.

I have learned so much about myself while working on this piece. Patience, mindfulness, integrity all come to mind. I took NO shortcuts, understood that the process was what would bring me the greatest sense of accomplishment upon completion, and l let go of need for immediate gratification as this piece took about 8 months to bring to fruition. As I began to sew the facing down yesterday I was overcome with a deep sense of calm and personal satisfaction. I ran my hands over the quilt top and smiled, knowing that I put the best of myself into creating Andantino.

Andantino back

Andantino before facing

Andantino with facing pinned down

Andantino with facing before being sewn down

Andantino with facing hand sewn down

I began this piece back in May 2009 and have been working slowly and meticulously for months. Alas, the day is here when I can say I have completed the quilting. It has been a lesson in patience for me. There was no way for me to hurry through this piece. No way, to cut corners or get immediate gratification. In fact, it has been all about the delaying of gratification and more about staying focused on each and every little shape I quilted – changing threads and the constant ,constant ,constant never ending process of turning the quilt to quilt each little shape. It has been seven months of color, time spent alone, thinking through the moments of my life’s challenges and dreams and now, on this unususally warm winters day, I am at the end of this process. All that is left is the facing, sleeve, label and signing. I am planning on entering Andantino into an upcoming quilt competition and so, will not be posting full images of it so as to insure that I don’t break any of the rules about displaying work before submitting it for consideration into this exhibition. I can however, provide snippets to give you an idea of the intense quilting and construciton of the quilt and why it has taken me seven months to complete.

Andantino detail 3