Archive | June, 2024

Dirty Dozen Exhibit in Cape Canaveral, FL

By Ellen Lindner on June 29, 2024 in Uncategorized

Y’all, I am SO fortunate to be part of the Dirty Dozen Fiber Artists. This group of women is not only artistically talented, but great friends! What a blessing to each of us.

Here’s most of the gang viewing our current exhibit. Can you tell we’re having fun?

Dirty Dozen art at The Cape Center. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

L-R: Linda Geiger, Ruth Anne Parker, Gabrielle DiTota, Perlie Petrillo, Sandy Shenker, Ellen Lindner, Kathryn Robinson, Dij Pacarro, and Anne Kobus. Not shown: Jill Brown, Andrea Luliak, and Becky Stack

Our group is mostly about making art, but we also like to occasionally display our work. Right now, we have 19 pieces in an exhibit called Fiber Arts: An Ancient Local Tradition. The oldest textiles in the world have been found at an archaeological site in our county so this exhibit was curated to honor that. It’s on display at The Cape Center, in Cape Canaveral, FL. It’s a very nice venue, with most of the artwork well lit. Visiting is free and it will be up through October.

Here are just a few of the wonderful pieces on display.

Gabriele DiTota’s huge banana leaf is the largest piece in the exhibit. To make it she printed an actual banana leaf with cyanotype. The title is No Bananas Today. It was made during the pandemic, when many things were out of stock at the grocery store. She has text on the piece listing several other things that were also hard to find.

Gabriele DiTota with her piece, “No Bananas Today.”

The Cape Center was specifically looking for pieces with a local or environmental message for this exhibit, so Sandy Shenker’s piece about Red Mangroves fit right in. The title is Keystone, reflecting the importance of these plants in the ecosystem of our local river/lagoon. Can you see those BIG roots?

“Keystone” by Sandy Shenker

Anne Kobus created this wonderful quilt, Sunward.

” Sunward” by Anne Kobus

Andrea Luliak made this triptych featuring the life of a sunflower. She calls it Life Cycle.

“Life Cycle”by Andrea Luliak

“Salty Air and Sunshine” was made by Kathryn Robinson. It include sheer fabrics, computer printed ones, and hand stitching.

“Salty Air and Sunshine” by Kathryn Robinson

Hanging high, in the most prominent corner, are 3D fish made by Joan Engel. Part of an earlier work about the plight of fish in polluted water, all of these live in our local river/lagoon. Now displayed independently, they make great shadows on the wall.

*By Joan Engel

I hope you get to see these great pieces for yourself!

Ellen Lindner

Food and Flowers in Siena, Italy

By Ellen Lindner on June 18, 2024 in Uncategorized

While in Siena, we stayed in a lovely inn. This was the view (on a rainy day.)

It was very early spring and things were just beginning to bloom.

This photo is looking back at the building.

We had our fanciest meal in Siena. We think our table was located in an old wine cellar. Here’s hubby trying to decode the menu.

I’m sure the staff thought we were rather strange, since we didn’t order course after course as those near us did. I got an appetizer only and hubby got an entree only. But, we did share dessert.

It was tasty and not overly sweet. The berries were currants, something I’d never had before. We saw them in things several times.

BTW, black truffles were in season and we had them in multiple dishes. Yummy!

Here’s an interesting take on creme brulee, (from a different Siena restaurant.) They set the sugar topping on fire as they set it down before me. I had to wait for it to go out and by that time, the sugar was hardened, and still warm.

We had some very good food, but I also got adventurous enough that I encountered some things I didn’t care for. Like melty warm, soft pork fat on toast. No thank you. (It was part of a Tuscan crostini sampler.) They love their fatty pork!

I’d definitely enjoy visiting Siena again.

Ellen Lindner

Siena, Italy

By Ellen Lindner on June 13, 2024 in Uncategorized

Siena is a small medieval town in the heart of Tuscany. The city center is maintained to look the way it did in the 1300’s. It’s very picturesque (or, it would be, if seen on a sunny day. It was rainy and overcast for us.)

The piazza and the town hall tower are the center of the action. Everything sits on steep hills. Can you tell how steep this street is, plunging way down over the course of one building?

The streets are very narrow, with no sidewalks. There’s just room for one way traffic and vehicular access to the city center is tightly restricted. When a vehicle comes pedestrians just ease over to the side and no one gets excited.

A Gothic church sits at the highest point in the city, made from white and dark green marble.

Traveling along the right side of the church and around to the back we encountered “the steps of death.” Or, that’s what we called them. Marble steps, wet with rain, and no handrail. Eep!

They didn’t look as scary when viewed from the bottom, but I can tell you they were pretty tricky!

Nearby we found a small grocery store. Don’t you love the way they leave the leaves on the lemons? I thought they were so pretty.

Even in the rain, it was fun to explore.

Ellen Lindner

Adding Interest to a Background

By Ellen Lindner on June 3, 2024 in Uncategorized

My current quilt is progressing along nicely, (but slowly.) I spent a LOT of time piecing the background and was quite happy with it. But, I wanted to tie the background of angular shapes into the design more. Since I planned to use large circular shapes in the foreground I thought skinny circles in the background would add interest and unity.

First, I auditioned fabrics for the background circles. I wanted them to be fairly subtle. Maybe about 5 or 6 of them. I thought these would be pretty close. But is that darkest blue too dark? We’ll see.

I drew the circles on my computer sketch and used that as a loose guide. I spent a good bit of time cutting the fused fabrics and arranging the circles. Here, 3 of my planned 6 are in place. But not attached yet! I pinned everything and studied it before fusing the circles in place.

What do you think about the dark blue circle, top left? I think it stands out a little, but I think it will work.

And this is where I am now. The background circles have been fused on and I’m working on the two foreground circles. (The colors are actually much brighter and I’m in love with them!)

OK, what about that skinny blue circle now? I think it’s okay, since the strong red foreground elements will attract more attention.

One thing that didn’t work: a wheat stencil. Actually, the stencil itself worked fine. But, it was just too large and too different from everything else. I’ll save it for something else.

I’ve been thinking about the title. This piece is about my parents. My working title was “Daddy Was a Farmer, Mama was a Southern Belle.” While that’s a great title, I don’t think it goes with the narrative of this story. I’ll simplify it and am still thinking about. Maybe I’ll use their names, the number of years they were married, or something along those lines. I can still reference farming and southern hospitality in the artist statement.

I’m getting close!

Ellen Lindner