New Work - Mink and Sycamore

 I am pleased to share with you my latest work, Mink and Sycamore, part of my Flora and Fauna series.

Mink and Sycamore

I am interested in the small mammals that make their homes near my suburban habitat in Pennsylvania. I enjoy catching glimpses of them, and am saddened but also intrigued by their eventual demise and their skeletal remains. Mink and Sycamore is the latest in a series that uses macro photos I take of the skulls, printed as cyanotypes, then combined with botanical prints from the area I observed them in. It’s a bright and somewhat cheerful momento mori.

Mink and Sycamore - detail 1

Materials: artist painted and commercial cotton and silk fabrics, wool yarn

Techniques: cyanotype prints from original macro photos, leaf monoprints, patchwork, couching, stitching

Mink and Sycamore - detail 2

Size: 46"h x 59"w

Mink and Sycamore - detail 3

Mink and Sycamore made its debut in the current Summer Issue of Quilting Arts Magazine, as the opening image for my feature article "Pressed in Cloth - An Enduring Vision".

Mink and Sycamore - detail 4

In the article, I talk about my life and long-term work as a fiber artist, and detail my tenents for the core vision that informs my work. I think artists at any and all stages of their creative journey will find it useful.

Mink and Sycamore - detail 5

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Experiments in wet cyanotype - part 103

Welcome to part 103 of my experiments in wet cyanotype printmaking. I had an steamy hot day to work with, so rather than venture far I picked what was readily at hand-- some horribly invasive Japanese knotweed leaves and some lovely native boxelder twigs. This time of year the leaves are fresh and vibrant, but there are already a few bits of insect damage apparent. These are the print layouts, on cotton, after treating with cyanotype and Solarfast chemicals and before exposure.

I'm also back at it with the experimental prints on mineral paper. These are incredibly unpredictable and often spectacular. Here I'm using some cutleaf elderberry leaves and boxelder twigs.

Here's all the prints after exposure and before rinse out.

Those rusty brown colors on the mineral paper always rinse out, so it's fun to get a photographic record at this stage.

Here are the two finished cotton panels. There's lots of good stuff going on in these prints. At some point they will make their way into an art quilt or some other form of fiber art.

Here are the mineral paper prints. I love them so much, I feel like this batch is extra-special.

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Quilting Arts Interview

 I'm so happy to share this interview I recently did with Quilting Arts Magazine Editor Marcia Young. Set aside 15 minutes, grab a favorite beverage, and enjoy this glimpse into my life as a fiber artist. I think you'll find it both entertaining and useful. And look for my article in the Summer 2026 issue, available soon in your mailbox or local bookstore.

As always, you can pick your platform to find and follow my content, and as always, thanks for reading.

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Quilting Arts article

 I'm thrilled to share that my work and my journey as an art quilter is featured in the Summer 2026 issue of Quilting Arts magazine, as part of their 25th year celebration. In the article, Pressed in Cloth, I talk about my path over the past 25+ years, along with insight about the framework that guides my creative direction. I know it will be a helpful touchstone to anyone at any stage in their quilting exploration.

And there's plenty of eye candy, including the first look at a quilt I am debuting in this article. (More on that to follow.)

To quote Editor Marcia Young, Quilting Arts is not just a magazine, it is a 25 year creative conversation. The digital edition of this issue is on sale now, and the print version will be available on 6/16, so this is a great time to subscribe--here's a link for a discount rate.

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Artwork for Art in Embassies

 I am honored once again to lend artwork for the Art in Embassies program. Two of my art quilts have been picked up and are on their way to Astana, Kazakhstan. They were chosen, with the assistance of a curator, by Ambassador Julie M. Stufft. I am grateful to the ambassador for her interest in my work. This is my third time participating in the program.

Included are In Dreams I Went Fishing. Imagery in this quilt reflects my thoughts on the past use of the resources of the three rivers in Pittsburgh PA by indigenous peoples, changes wrought by industrialization, and post-industrialization restoration efforts.

Materials: wool, silk and mylar fabrics; cotton, silk and wool fabric. Techniques: wet process cyanotype/solar dye, needlefelting, hand embroidery, beadwork, hand stitched patchwork.

Size: 49”h x 77”w

In Dreams I Went Fishing

In Dreams I Went Fishing - detail

Also traveling to Kazakhstan is Late Summer Roses. This work was begun plein air in the garden of the Governor’s Residence in Harrisburg PA. I was inspired by the late blooming roses and the mellow brick pathways. 

Wool and silk fibers, wool and silk fabrics, hand painted and commercial fabrics, needlefelting, stitching, hand beadwork.

Size: 54”h x 47”w

Late Summer Roses

Late Summer Roses - detail

When the art truck was here for the pickup, they also dropped off my quilts, On the Verge and The Organic Garden, returning from their time at the Embassy in Papua New Guinea. I appreciate the care that goes into transporting the works.

On the Verge

The Organic Landscape

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Experiments in wet cyanotype - part 102

Hello, and welcome to the 2026 season of my wet cyanotype printmaking. I've been at this particular part of my artistic practice since 2017 and I'm still going strong. I started this session with some blooming black cherry twigs. In the first photo I'm roughly auditioning their placement on the cotton sateen panel before applying the cyanotype and Solarfast chemicals. 

Here's the same panel with the wet chemicals applied and the twigs and flowers carefully arranged. I did another slightly smaller panel with a slightly different mix of chemicals.

I had some pre-treated small sheets of fabric leftover from another project, so I used the last of the twigs to set up a traditional exposure.

Here are the two wet cyan panels after exposure but before rinse out. Flowers are, for me, one of the more difficult things to print, as it's easy to overexpose them and/or underexpose the leafy parts, so I wasn't completely confident that this would work out. It's looking reassuringly good at this stage.

Here are the finished prints. I am so happy with all the details, including the small individual blossoms sprinkled about.  I'm also pleased with the cherry pink colors--these chemicals are a bit like pottery glazes in that you can't really tell when applying how they will finish up. I got it just right this time.

Here are the the traditional prints. I used to do a LOT of these, and they still resonate, but I prefer walking on the wilder, wet-cyan side.

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New Work - Under the Flying Up Moon

Under the Flying Up Moon

I am happy to share my latest work, Under the Flying Moon. It's part of an ongoing series, preceded by Under the Thunder Moon, and Under the Pink Moon.

Under the Flying Up Moon, detail 1

This quilt references a colloquial name for the full moon of August, when fledgling birds leave the nest and take to the blue skies. It serves as a metaphor for seasonal change, both in the yearly path of the earth around the sun, and in the stages of our lives as we experience them. I included vintage needlework as a homage to my aunts and grandmothers, whose farm chores left them little time for personal goals, yet they found a way to “keep their hands busy” and express themselves artistically. The patterns they chose often portrayed the flower gardens they meticulously maintained.

Under the Flying Up Moon, detail 2

 This work continues my long fascination and with and practice of cyanotype printing on fabrics, using botanicals directly and printing from photographic negatives.

Materials: cotton and silk fabrics, vintage needlework panel

 Techniques: traditional and wet process cyanotype prints, patchwork, stitching

Size: 48"h x 33"w

Under the Flying Up Moon, detail 3

The vintage embroidered panel I acquired long ago as a gift from a lovely friend who knew I collected these beauties. The side panels are cyanotype images from pictures I took on an early version of a digital camera, in 2008, of a magnificent catalpa tree in the Lancaster PA Central Park. The leaf prints are a selection of wet cyanotype prints from the past several year's experiments. Obviously I am a firm believer in having a wide and deep library of self-produced imagery to work with when inspiration strikes!

Under the Flying Up Moon, detail 4

I am honored that Under the Flying Up Moon is one of two pieces selected for the SAQA Exhibit Connecting with Nature, which will be at the Strathmore Mansion in Rockville MD from June 20 to July 31, 2026. The other work selected is Under the Pink Moon, which is a wonderful companion piece.

Under the Pink Moon

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Experiments in wet cyanotype - part 101

As I'm gearing up for this year's botanical printmaking season, I realized I had one set of prints from late last fall I hadn't shared yet. So here for your enjoyment are a pair of black cherry leaf prints, done on cotton sateen.

You can see from the state of the leaves how late in the season it was. 

Here they are after exposure but before rinsing out. It was a nice sunny day, but only in the 60's F. Wet cyanotype prints are much more subdued when done in cooler temperatures.

Here they are rinsed out and finished. Still somewhat subdued, by my standards, but in this case that's exactly what I wanted for the project they are destined for. They will be very lovely and lyrical once they are stitched up.

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