Opening Up

I have a solo show!
Well, its the coffee shop at church, but it is a nice space and good motivation to work.

I have volunteered to coordinate some art and artist things at “the grove” – and one of the things I get to do is put together a featured artist exhibits each month. So my month is April, (including the first weekend of May)

I have 10 pieces on display – including one BIG ArtQuilt which was completed a few years ago. The rest are pieced fabric, mounted on stretched canvas. They range from 11″ x 14″ for $75, to 20″ x 24″ for $160.

So, if you happen to be in the area this month, please stop by “the grove” and see what I have been doing lately. The church is located on Gilbert road between Germann and Queen Creek – south of the 202 freeway. 2777 S Gilbert Rd., Chandler, AZ 85286 480.883.3733. If the coffee shop is closed, ask the receptionist to let you in.

Most recent piece:

“Opening Up”
20″ x 24″

This is the most recent in a series of works using greens, browns, raspberry red and golden yellow. Several have images of doors and/or windows, opening into light.
They represent what I hope for and what I am experiencing in my life right now.

North Window 18″ x 24″

Orange Chocolate and Raspberry Chocolate 14″ x 14″ each


One more opening door:
I will be showing at the Vision Gallery in Chandler starting in June. Art on Boston closed at the end of March, but I have a few pieces in the Tempe Center for the Arts store. So as one door closes, another one opens, and another, and a window too!

new pieces



I finished 2 more 16″ x 20″ pieces.
these will go up at Art on Boston next week – through January.

left is
Watermelon Pickles

right is
Keep Knocking . . . and the door will be opened for you

Surprised By Hope


“Surprised By Hope”
by Adriene Buffington
(c) 2009
ArtQuilt (pieced cotton fabrics on stretched canvas)
36″ x 60″

Surprised By Hope

WOW!

I finished my big commission – and Ken and Janet loved it…
so do I!

After lots of pondering, I decided to add a golden ring behind the two circles. Probably the most difficult possible construction – but the design was what I wanted.





almost finished


I am almost finished with this amazing and wonderful piece!

photo above is all sewn together – all 3 feet by 5 feet of it. Setting circles into the background was a challenge!
The piecing will be mounted over a stretched canvas, to hang like a painting.

I still want to add one more design element – debating between either a ring or another circle.

(the ring would be stripped fabric – not white)


working on a comission

A very exciting opportunity!

I have been asked to make a piece for a couple who love my work. They have seen several pieces at Art on Boston, but wanted some thing bigger.
36″ x 60″ to be exact – which IS bigger than the 24″ X 18″ and 16″ x 20″ I have been doing lately.

I am very excited about this!!!


I’ve got a contract and a deposit and 6 weeks to work in. With a lot of freedom. I chose a color palette of red-oranges and blue-greens.

I’d like to play with a spoked-wheel or semi-circle motif; this couple ride a tandem bicycle, and there’s a half-circle window in the room this piece will be displayed in.

So far I have cut and sewn several strip-sets. (photos are 3 of these)
Rather than cut into my actual fabric, I decided to take a photo and print a copy, then cut apart a paper version and see if I like the way it looks. (this saves me the anxiety of making a mistake)
Except the printer wasn’t working very well, and I needed a new color ink cartridge.
I ended up with a new printer! I have now printed a couple copies.

Okay now – back to the studio to play with my printed fabric. This is fun!

Open Window

My newest piece in the doors and windows series:



Open Window

now on display at Art on Boston gallery
24″ x 18″
$160

This piece came together very quickly, in one sewing session – although I had a bunch of the greens and yellows already stripped and sewn.

As I was working on this, I was looking at it from another direction (rotated clockwise) – but it felt better with the light coming downward.

Then we went to France and I took all these photos of sunlight shining through arched doorways, onto steps – and they looked a lot like this piece! deja vu?

This is the 1st century Roman arena in Arles
– still used for bullfights and other events – although they stopped the gladiator contests and throwing Christians to the wild beasts a while back.

So I am expecting to make a few more doors and windows with roman arches and stairs with light flowing down –

Inspired in France

lots of interesting doors and windows









Praying for an Open Door – so I made one!

OPEN DOOR
18″ x 24″
pieced fabric on stretched canvas

The last in the blue series – for now.

I made the outside border of this for another piece (Entrance, below)– but it was too big. So I had a frame with nothing inside of it. Tried a couple of different things and then the white lines just worked perfectly as a door. I want it to be a door OUT – so I used fairly literal sky and grass fabrics for what’s out there.

I have been thinking about how the doorways seem to have been closed lately, and how frustrating that’s been. So I decided to create in my Art what I hope for in my Life. This is a visual prayer, I guess.


Entrance 16″ x 20″

my thoughts on why I do what I do



I was invited to share my ‘creative process’ at the grove last Sunday.

I set up a table and a design wall and brought some examples of my ArtQuilts.

I also tweaked my artist statement a bit, to put on some cards – so here it is:



My
ArtQuilts are like families of color and shape, expressing the emotional and physical relationships between members of a whole. The pieces are similar, and yet unique. While one calls loudly for attention, the character of another is discovered only with time and focused attention. The colors and shapes relate with one another in a dynamic of tension and harmony.



In my family as well as my art, an informal structure provides a framework for direction, yet freedom and spontaneity are encouraged. As my children, both fabric and flesh, move towards maturity, I gradually surrender control and encourage them to become what they are created to be. I make decisions and direct the process, but I am not certain of the outcome while I am creating.




I believe it is an act of worship to celebrate the life and the gifts which God has graciously given.
I am blessed with abundant love, vital faith and rich creativity. Through my art I express the joy of living and maturing as an artist, a Christian and a woman. These compositions of cut and sewn fabric are my psalms of praise.