I drove to Longmont, Colorado today—to a charming little bungalow on a street lined with small businesses housed in what used to be a residential neighborhood.


My destination was the studio and gallery of KC Willis, cowgirl and mixed-media artist. I've admired KC's Lipstick Ranch artwork for years and was thrilled to find she lived so close to my daughter and her family.


KC (left) and ranch hand Betsy (right) greet visitors with brilliant smiles and a real enthusiasm for their work.


KC stands beside a fabric collage made to honor the spirit of painter Georgia O'Keeffe. KC values strong women—women with skills, women with heart, women with sass!


The light streams through the windows of KC's gallery, dancing on the walls and calling attention to the fabric collage.



KC, Betsy, and sometimes KC's mother work together to create more than 1200 mixed-media fabric collages for catalogs, shops, and private commissions every year!


Recently, KC has opened her studio to workshops, in addition to the other work.


Notice the beautiful frame on the wall and standing on the floor. KC's husband handcrafts these beautiful wooden pieces!


Part of her secret to success is offering collection pieces in various sizes and various prices. This is just one tip from her upcoming online marketing seminar.


Faithful companion Fiona greets visitors with a friendly wag of the tail and keeps KC company in the studio.

For more information about KC's Lipstick Ranch collection and online workshops, visit her Ning website http://studioretreats.ning.com/page/visiting-artists-classes
or
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lipstick-Ranch-The-Art-of-KC-Willis/91032020893?v=feed&story_fbid=173663281494

My only regret of the day is that KC's studio is so far from mine, I won't get to see her very often! She is a kindred spirit and I treasure the time we had together today. You can bet I'll be making my way back to the Denver area again ASAP!

It was more than 70 degrees in Denver today and the snow is melting. What unusual weather they have here!

DH and I went to several art galleries today in the Santa Fe Art District and in the Museum District.

One of the high-profile galleries is owned and run by an astute woman and we fell into conversation about fiber art. She said one of the most-attended and publicized exhibits they ever had was a fiber-art exhibit about two years ago. Convergence, the international weavers association convention was in town and they coordinated an exhibit at the gallery.

The gallery is in a fabulous building and has well-known client all around Denver and beyond. The exhibit was covered by all three art critics in Denver and by magazines and news organizations as far away as Sweden.

Sadly, they sold only one piece during that exhibit! What is the deal? Fiber art is just as time-consuming as painted art, in some cases more time consuming. Fiber art requires just as much skill, design sense, vision, command of technique and materials but is considered a craft, rather than an artform.

This is no surprise to me, or to most art quilters for that matter. I was pleased the gallery owner/manager had the vision. Maybe we're making progress! What do YOU think?

There are three images in this posting: sky, golden leaves, and a textured wall—all altered with displacement maps.


My goal is to blend the three together to create an abstract background.


Also, don’t miss the video tutorial on replacing colors! It’s the top link in the column to the left. Hope you like it!

DH and I are currently in our beloved Santa Fe. My heart soars to the heights of the rugged rock formations and thrills to the colors of afternoon light glancing off the mountains.

Yesterday we visited Chimayo (apologies for the spelling), a tiny village tucked into the mountains about an hour north of Santa Fe. The village is home to a tiny church, built in 1816 that is called the American Lourdes. So many faithful have come here for healing of the body or spirit.

The adobe walls are surrounded by candles and makeshift crosses people have fashioned from anything they could find (twigs, popsicle sticks, cut tin cans, nails, and the like) and then fastened them to the fencing around the parking lot. Fascinating.



There was snow here in the high desert yesterday and we woke to a beautiful dusting of powdery precipitation on the pinon trees, adobe walls, and grasses. What beauty there is here! It is so inspiring, I've been working on a concept for a new book.

Remember the altered photo of parrot tulips I used for the padfolio project? Here is it again, with some of the color changed to purple. It was fun and easy to do using the Replace Color feature in Photoshop/Photoshop Elements.

It has been printed on fabric and is just waiting to be stitched!


This is the way it looked after altering using the pebbles Displacement Map (#8 on the CD in the back of Next Steps In Altered Photo Artistry) + watercolor + poster edges.


This is the original photo—just a snapshot taken in the gardens across from the courthouse here in Fort Wayne.

Let me know if you're interested and I'll prepare a tutorial on Replace Color!

This is the piece Lori and I finished for the “Art to Gogh” benefit for Mental Health America in Allen County yesterday. It is entitled “News from Home” and has a collage of the local newspaper on the left side and a Threadography of the Fort Wayne skyline on the right. The tattoo stencil on top in Earth Safe Finishes copper Shimmer Translucent pulls the sides together.


It was really exciting to be in the room with so many local artists. Here I am stitching away on the panel. The canvas with the collage is on the floor to my right, just waiting for the finished panel.


Once the Threadography panel was secured to the canvas, I stenciled a swirly tattoo design to pull the sides together. Translucent copper Shimmer was perfect because it drew the color out in the stitched panel without overpowering the composition.


This is a detail of the tattoo on top of the stitched panel. You can see white thread in the clouds and the texture of monofilament thread in the blue sky.


Jay painted a still life from actual tomatoes. Other artists around the room painted from photographs, pictures in magazines, illustrations in books, and some from memory. It was an education for me to watch the painters in action.


Justin is a law student, who works in acrylics. He has sold more than 300 paintings to help put himself through school!


This is one end of the room at Moore and Associates (Thank you to Chris Moore for providing a venue for the event.) There are two gourd artists, a wood carver (amazing work), as well as artists working in oils, acrylics, pastels, and spray paint.


This young lady was working in pastels, creating a hauntingly beautiful piece in a children's theme.

The fanciful work of this acrylic artist was very popular during the bidding yesterday evening.

The mayor was on hand at the dinner and live auction last night to raise money for Mental Health America of Allen County. What an interesting mix of people, music, food, and lively bidding. In spite of the fact I found a chunk of pottery in an egg roll, it was a delightful evening—and once again I'm honored to participate in this small way.

Janet Hartje wins the pendant!

Thank you to all who posted about the dichroic pendant to help breast cancer research. Janet Hartje wins the drawing! Janet, please e-mail me with your snail-mail address—and congratulations! In my opinion, as we work together to battle breast cancer, we all are winners. DS says this sounds corny, but I don't care. :-)



November 10 and 11 I've been invited to speak to RiverWalk Quilters in Naperville, Illinois. Sharing the adventure that has resulted in Next Steps in Altered Photo Artistry and Altered Photo Artistry is always a pleasure for me.

I always send or take a small Threadography piece to be given away as a doorprize. The photo above will be taken home by someone at the meeting that night. If you're in the area, I hope you'll join us!


This is the original photo. Hard to believe, isn't it? In the workshop on Wednesday, the 11th participants will work on their OWN altered photo, stitching it and turning it into a fascinating altered photo panel ready to be framed or finished with binding.


Doesn't this just beg for beads? I love the stitching and have been including collage and mixed media techniques more often.