There has been a clowder of fabric pet portraits and pet memorials on my design wall this fall/winter. What’s a clowder? Clowder: a group of cats.

Over the 16 years that I have created custom pet portraits and memorials, the overwhelming number of customer requests have been for dogs. However, these past 5 months the number of furry felines I made into pillows or canvas mounted cat art has definitely been a clowder’s worth.
Whether it was a memorial wall hanging, cat pillows for birthday presents, or special Christmas presents, each of these creations delighted the recipient and gave my customers a special warm feeling of gifting a one-of-a-kind pet portrait.

Paul

In creating fabric pet pictures, there are certain aspects that are critical in the creation process of a cat portrait. These are:

• • • Capturing the correct essence of “cattitude”
    • Blending of fur
    • Representing their ever-changing eyes

Here’s how I intertwine these concepts into my pet portrait art:

Cattitude

Frequently I receive multiple photographs for a pet portrait. This allows my client and I to determine the best reference photograph for the personality traits or look of the cat that they want portrayed.

Below are four enlarged photos of Wispa, a recent pet portrait commission. While I received others, these four photographs struck me as the best possibilities. I’ve written the message I interpreted from each photo below.

Far left: the head tilt says “Hey there! Are you going to play with me or what?”

2nd: Paws on chair arm clearly state “We both know who’s queen of the house, don’t we?”

3rd: Eyes down and sitting posture speak of her intention “I’ll pay attention to you after I’m done fluffing myself”

4th: Straight on view whispers “Stare into my eyes and you’ll come under my spell”

My customer narrowed it down to the two on the left. In our email exchange, I spoke about the artistic differences between them. The first one would show off Wispa’s fluffiness on her face and chest area in greater detail, a more intimate pet portrait; the second would project a majestic, yet casual nature. As seen at the beginning of this post, she chose fluffiness.

Just to be clear, any of these photos would have made an amazing pet portrait pillow and surprised the birthday girl to no end.

Wispa’s final reference photo

FABRICating CAT EYES  

As mentioned in two previous blog posts, ( Making a Pet Portrait: Cooper’s Memorial Pillow  and  Their Eyes Speak: Different Techniques for Fabric Pet Portrait Eyes) I talk about how eyes are critical to capturing the essence of any beloved pet. Often this is where I begin laying out the fabric since the eyes then frame the rest of the creation process. 

Shakespeare’s close-up

With solid color eyes as with Shakespeare, an eye itself is usually three pieces of material and thread painting for the eye sparkle. The surrounding eyebrows and eye-circle fur can be just one piece or several appliqued one on another.

The marbling effect of cat’s eyes is captured by finding a scrap fabric that has lines within the pattern or painting that look on fabric. In Paul’s eye below, the tiny vines of green material give just enough contrast to create an impression of marbling. For Iris’s eyes, I painted her eyes and used fabric marker to achieve the depth within her eyes. Both have eye sparkle: Paul has thread for his and Iris uses white acrylic paint.

Iris’s eyes

For memorial portraits, the connection between the cat and owner is often the aspect that my customers choose to emphasize. Being able to look into those adoring eyes and feel warm memories come flooding back can be such a powerful healer. In The Art of Remembrance:Pet Memorials in Fabric, I speak of how healing from pet loss is a journey and creating a pet portrait memorial can be a part of the healing process.

WHISKERS

Some of the recent cats had whiskers that were longer than their faces. It just made me laugh each time I looked at their photos on the studio wall!

Whiskers can be created with thread or fabric markers. I usually do them with thread, just to emphasize the texture.

In Iris’s portrait above, the whiskers are several strands of embroidery thread. I’d like to say it was because I wanted to emphasize the color difference against the dark brown face. That, however, would have required forethought. Nope, this was simply that I forgot to thread paint the whiskers with regular sewing thread.

My options were to either 1) rip open the seams, sew the whiskers on, and resew as a wall hanging or 2) sew the whiskers without disassembling the completed portrait. With my customer’s permission, the whiskers were done with embroidery thread. This was an “oops” that, in my opinion, turned out for the better in the overall design.

Here’s a close up of Gabby’s whiskers. Created with sewing thread, these were done with free motion quilting, a technique where the material is guided by one’s hands as opposed to the feed-dogs of the sewing machine.

The Queen of Whiskers in this round of cat portraits, however, is Wispa. If you compare her pillow at the top of the blog and reference photo, you will see that I didn’t even approach the number of whiskers she has.

Fabric Fur

With cats whose coats are solid, colorpoint, bicolor or tricolor, it is usually easy to find corresponding fabrics. For me, it’s a question of whether I search the Fat Quarter totes first or the Big Lengths totes first. Even some of the tabby cats can be simple to create.

It is the tabbies where the overall color is blended onto a different color background or “field” and the torties and torbies that require a deeper fabric search.

Gabby

As you can see with Gabby, the patterns of the fabrics lend an air of patched fur and give that depth or field. In this portrait, I also used fabric markers to create some black fur lines as well as the dots on her snout.

Here is Iris’s portrait. While she wasn’t created recently, since she was included in this blog post, Iris deserved to have her full portrait to be shown here. The red is a velveteen fabric, soft like the blanket in her reference photo. It just sets off her piercing eyes perfectly.

Via (my cat) and I hope you sign up for the monthly newsletter where I share studio updates. As Head Supervisor, she even has her own section now.

Preparing for an art show is like getting back on a bicycle, except since it’s been 32 months since my last show, I had to: take inventory, redesign the booth layout, order what I needed, put fresh covers on the matted pictures, rewire some wall hangings with stronger wires, cut and drill holes in new flat hangers for other wall hangings, and redo all pricing tags (since I couldn’t find the old design shape).

And that’s before the grid walls…

Decisions: the grid walls

This year’s addition of cloth covers for my grid walls is an investment to achieve a gallery look for the booth.

Decision 1 – what color/ colors? With the help of my crafter friend and my daughter, I went with pewter for the display panels and black for the featured panel.

The photo below (to the left) shows one of my trial runs minus a sign talking about Evening Song Farm CSA as my inspiration. At each show one of my bigger works will be featured on a black cloth background. What About Me?, my climate action piece, is the first one.

In the right photo, you can see two bags of matted pictures and the larger canvas ones in the distance. They don’t get loaded up until the day of set-up.

Note my assistant, Via. She decided to bat a bottle cap around. I reminded her that those are her toys and she should be cleaning up after herself. I was ignored.

Decision two – Even though the previous themes for each gridwall panel are the same, what to hang on each one? There are new pieces as well as ones from before. Multiple versions of the possible layouts were made. The final ones are tucked away on my clipboard. I learned years ago that this makes the set-up go much faster … then I’m not having to make decisions on the spot.

Once that is done, the totes are packed accordingly. Extra inventory is packed and a list of what’s inside each one is posted inside the lid. This prevents the frustrations of “Now where DID I pack that piece?” when someone asks if I have XYZ with a different background color.

Fortunately my show preparation/packing list didn’t need much tweaking. Hand sanitizer and masks were two additions… a sign of the times.

The car is fully packed!

Setting up for the first show

You wonder why you’re doing this when:

• You are placed 15 feet away from the music stage and there’ll be bands all day long.
• It’s been so long since you set up your tent and it’s hot and it takes you an additional hour and you’re not even done.
• Getting the bungie cords through the gridwall covers takes so long that you just attack/slice more of the sewn openings to get it done quickly.
• 9 feet on paper does NOT match 10 feet on the ground.
• The sides of the tent billow like sails while you’re trying to set the tent up.
• You wake up at 4:15 AM the day of the show and can’t get back to sleep. Oh, and the show goes from noon until 7 PM.
• You get there 3 hours early the day of the show because you never finished the night before.
• There’s no breeze for most of the first day and it’s 89 degrees F and your booth faces the afternoon sun.

You do a happy dance because:

• You got moved away from the stage.
• You have the location of everything already decided and it’s all in one tote and product placement is a breeze.
• You like the way the booth looks and it’s not even all finished.
• A fellow crafter you haven’t seen in 2+ years pops by your booth and his booth is diagonally behind yours.
• You see your friend for the first time in 32 months and it feels like it was just last week. (Of course, that could be from talking on the phone 2-3 times a week.)

Inside of booth with featured panel in the middle

Not all shows are the same

So craft shows are a unique entity unto themselves. Some have only crafters who make their own product; others allow people who assemble pre-made things. Some have just crafters with a small food section; others have the vendors and a food court. Some add additional attractions to bring people in – petting zoos, bands on stage, beer tent, etc. Each draws a different crowd.

Even shows where a crafter/artist has been before, things like the weather, economy, world events, or other things happening in the nearby towns affect who attends. One year you could have a buying crowd, the next a strolling crowd. As a vendor, one never knows.

Since shows are a way for people to find out about my custom pet portrait and pet memorial work, I never determine “the real success” of a show until the end of the year when I find out how many custom orders came from a particular show.

Don’t get me wrong, I do a huge happy dance inside when I sell my works at shows. Seeing how much the person likes that particular piece is always so gratifying and affirming. I love knowing I’ve covered all my expenses and more. And at this time, shows are also a strong marketing strategy.

Here’s some of the new Faces collection and the Spirit Animals collection on the new shelving unit. Looks like Calvin, the Crafty One, and Tom-Tom, the Pouncer, made their way off the shelf and over to the adjacent panel.

Notes from behind the scenes

Going to the bathroom at a craft show or getting lunch at a food stand is a developed art form. It involves finding a nearby vendor to “cover your booth” as well as timing it perfectly (looking for that lull in the crowd traffic) and then hoping there isn’t a big line ahead of you at the porta-potty or food truck. And when the stars align, you can get there and back before another customer shows up.

Wind is not an artist’s friend at a show. A slight breeze, yes, for that can certainly cool you down. However, the gusts that grab your tent top and sides and turn them into sails are not welcome.

There is a learned skill to holding onto a truss or side pole with all your might to keep the booth from going slightly airborne. Even with heavy weights, tents can lift. I bring four or eight 5 pound weights to go at the base of the legs, stakes to pound legs into the ground, 4 concrete-filled PVC pipes with rope attached to tie onto the tent at the corners, and, in case of strong wind forecast, dog screws with 4 ratchets to attach at corners. Not that I use them all each time; however they’re there if I need them.

Rain and dew aren’t a vendor’s favorites either. Besides the fact that rain keeps crowds away, it’s a matter of protecting your art as rain hits the side of the tent and roof. Some sides are completely waterproof. Mine are not, thus requiring plastic to go behind the panels when there’s moisture. On those cool late summer/early fall nights, dew forms inside a tent requiring everything to be covered with plastic or tarps at the end of the day.

But the most challenging thing for me is when it’s raining hard during a show and the rain starts coming into the tent. Clear shower curtains clipped to the front tent trusses and weighted down with clamps have worked the best for me. There is an opening for people to come through and they can still see what is being sold while the clamps prevent the curtains from flailing all over.

This event was held on a recently mowed field. There were crickets everywhere! One or two came home with me.

What makes it all worthwhile

At my second show, I was so moved when two different former clients came up and talked with me about how touched their daughter and wife were with their holiday (2019) gifts. Here are those portraits…

Kitchie and Tanner

Other tidbits

There are certain things that are constants and require no thinking at this point in my career: insurance, a shopping app, and a packing list.

I use SQUARE for my transactions. I find it simple to use and even with my sometimes wonky phone, it worked like a dream this past show. An investment in a battery pack is invaluable so that you can still process sales if the phone runs out of battery.

I have ACT insurance. Prior to moving to Vermont, I only had a rider on my homeowner’s insurance. At one Spring Marketing Conference sponsored by the Vermont Crafts Council, there was a couple who shared what had happened to them. Their studio had burned down completely. Listening to them talk about the help and support they received as a result of having their insurance policy through ACT just convinced me that this was an investment I needed to make. I chose to get annual coverage because that way it was on auto-pilot. I didn’t have to remember to apply for insurance for one show and then the next and I had that backing all year. Besides, it ended up being less expensive.

A packing list is another necessary tool. I was able to pull up mine from 2019, tweak it a bit and use that to be sure I had everything I needed. With the exception of the phillips head screwdriver I left on the kitchen table, everything made its way to my first show. Even had extra tent stakes, electrical tape, and string to lend to other vendors who needed some supplies.

For the following three shows, my routine was basically the same. It definitely was an advantage that I had been to two of the shows before.

Olivia at her first show. I decided to bring her even though she is still a WIP (work in progress).

I’m currently unpacking from my last show. The next one is in 6 weeks, which gives me plenty of time to go through my winter-themed inventory and make whatever is needed for the November shows.

What has been so satisfying has been sharing my art with others in-person once again. Being able to describe the how-to to interested visitors and watching people’s reaction when they go through my Look Book of completed pet portrait and pet memorial custom orders is always invigorating as an artist.

Part of my vision for my business is to be recognized widely as a pet portrait and pet memorial fabric artist, to the degree that a magazine or other media asks to interview me. Since no one is knocking on my door yet, I thought I’d practice here this month.

What is it that you do?

I collage with fabric. That is, I audition and cut up pieces of fabric to create a picture that comes either from my imagination or from a photo.

The start of Olivia

When and why did you start The Quilted Jardin, LLC?

There were two reasons:

1. I wanted to have something to do when I retired that would bring me joy and provide additional income.
2. I had run out of people to whom I could give my quilts, fabric pictures, and other sewn crafts as gifts.

So it just made sense to start a part-time business back in 2006 prior to my retirement.

What is your most favorite tool?

My Bernina sewing machine! Bought second hand, it’s been going strong for almost 17 years now.  

If you are thinking of a handheld tool, it then has to be my surgical seam ripper. This has the smoothest way of slicing through threads. I can even use it to undo the layered thread painting of an eye sparkle (and that’s A LOT of thread) without slicing the fabric underneath.

Who are other fabric artists whom you admire?

Susan Carlson, Bisa Butler, Danny Amazonas, and Nancy Prince

What is the most satisfying part of your work?

Helping people along the grieving process through the experience of working with me in the creation of a pet memorial and/or receiving one as a gift.

What is your artistic style?

Whimsical, colorful, and playful

Carrots and “More Hay, Please”… Bella with a flake of yarn hay

What has been a challenge you’ve faced?

A significant challenge was the cancellation of many art shows due to COVID-19. With one of my grandchildren having respiratory issues, I made the choice not to do any shows both in 2020 and 2021.

However, I was able to work ON my business and now have a shop and a blog. 

What are your next artistic projects?

I have several large WIPS (works in progress) that I am determined to finish and some new ideas.  

• • “What About Me?” is my almost completed polar bear in the Arctic night.
  • “Flowers ‘Round the Seasons” incorporates flowers from each season into one work.  It needs more embellishment on the flowers.
  • “Blue Owl and a Blue Moon” is at the beginning stages. This will depict Olivia’s cousin.  

Interested in purchasing any of these including Olivia?  Just email me for more specifics.

Where are you? 

I currently live in North Bennington, Vermont.  I am less than 10 minutes away from my daughter and her family and 70 minutes away from my son and his family. 

What do you like to do for fun?

Play LEGO (Pirates, Soldiers, and Wizards) with my oldest grandson, read, “do art,” and go for walks with my younger two farm grandkids, be silly with all three of them, keep up with my ever-expanding perennial garden, and garden for others (even though I get paid for that).

What do you wish your customers knew about your work?  

Two things: First, the photo you send me is critical to the process. When I get a reference photo that isn’t the right color of the animal, it’s difficult to proceed. Sometimes an additional photo or two can set the record straight and I can find the correct fabrics. Other times it takes multiple reference photos and even more progress photographs of the changes back and forth before it’s on the right path.  

Second, a number of my customers who had a portrait done when their pet was alive have told me later that they were so happy they commissioned one when they did. Their beloved pet had since died and the portrait I did helped them get through the grieving experience.

Shiloh died about a year after his fabric portrait was completed. He hangs in his owner’s bedroom.

I just love your work.  How can I keep up with all that is going on with the Quilted Jardin?

I send out a monthly newsletter that shares what’s happening in my studio, highlights various topics like pet rescue, pets as family, etc. and shows some of my works.  You also are entered in a monthly drawing for either 3 fabric note cards or a 8×10 inch matted picture.  Just sign up here!

FYI – it is a DOUBLE OPT-IN, so if you don’t see it within 12 hours of signing up, then look for the confirmation email in your junk folder.

It’s that time of year when, as a small business owner, I take stock of how the past year has gone and pull together my thoughts for the upcoming year.

When I retired early in 2016, it was to move to Vermont for family, fabric, and farm. Those 3 F’s, with the additional one of flowers, have guided my decision-making process since then.

Back in January, I chose to not do in-person shows for the second year in a row for family reasons. (Although, to be precise, there were only a handful of shows that actually happened in 2020). Being of my “”certain age” and having a grandchild who is medically vulnerable, I just didn’t want to take that risk.

For the past four years, I have identified goal words as my inspiration. Early this year, I chose:

PROCESS (both the noun and the verb)   

Learning how to blog, how to set up and manage an email newsletter, and on-line marketing were all completely new processes in which I immersed myself this year. I finished up the last of the college courses on social media/ marketing (funding for the courses were specifically for Vermont business owners who were affected by COVID). 

Keywords, SEO, and product descriptions became part of my life as my daughter and I worked on creating my online store. A grant from the Vermont Arts Council  allowed me to hire a consultant for a store/ website review and for studio photography.  

Taking photographs of all my work that were clear and color correct and developing a filing system for each of the different sizes/uses was a long, long adventure (my polite way of saying it was challenging). I struggled for months with phone photographs, even with a “make it better” app. Finally the mental logjam broke when we realized that my daughter had a digital camera, her studio lights moved over here, and I hired a local photographer to come to my studio, help set it up properly, and give us a mini-tutorial.

On the artistic side, I practiced painting eyes and noses to the point where I am pleased with the results. Two of my commissions were on the bigger end of the scale and one included a house, something I haven’t done in 9+ years.

Part of any job in life is our mindset towards it. Another significant shift for me was from “I need my daughter to do those technical aspects for me” to “I can do this myself.”  And while I am not completely on my own yet, it will happen soon. 

Two books in shifting my mindset that were very helpful early on were Amber Rae’s Choose Wonder over Worry and Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert.

I have developed solid strategies for those times when my art process stalled. I learned to call the emotions by name, to invite them in, listen to their thoughts, fears, and worries, thank them for their concern, and send them on their way. Imaging became a valuable tool. On a walk with my younger grandson, seeing the frozen creek and hearing the water flowing underneath, I was reminded that there is movement under the surface even when things appear frozen.

Unveil

This year the Quilted Jardin unveiled:

• This blog
• A monthly newsletter (you can sign up here)
• The on-line store
• New options for eyes and noses for pet portraits and memorials

I also unveiled more of the artist within… just by practicing and giving myself permission to experiment without the pressure of results.

Looking Ahead to 2022

I’m beginning to gather a list of possible goal words like a squirrel gathers nuts.

Striving for that healthy BALANCE between my art and the gardening I do for others is paramount. 

It’s time again to STRETCH myself to ACQUIRE new skills: Pinterest as a marketing platform and a different method of fabric collage.

Upgrade the shop, EXPAND offerings for pet portraits and memorials, and SYSTEMATIZE all the processes for a shop listing. 

Even as Omicron becomes more established in Vermont, it is with a sense of hope that I am tentatively planning to return to in-person shows in late summer/ fall of 2022. Over the next week, I’ll finish my written review of all aspects of my business in 2021 and  finalize my plan for 2022 – Quarter 1.  

Happy new year to all, and good luck with your goal setting, whether personal or professional!

Back when my daughter was expecting their child, needless to say we all were excited. Kara Fizbeauchamp, my daughter-in-law, wrote “When Your First Grandchild is a Farm” for me and framed it within one of her paintings of garlic growing. I wanted to share it with you as the farm has always been a centering place and creative signpost for me.

When Your First Grandchild Is a Farm

by Kara Fitzbeauchamp

A grandparent is intimately involved in the birthing of a farm baby. It’s unclear how long a typical birth takes, but you’re on call or active duty for the duration of the pushing, screaming, crying, and cursing. Unlike the human birth, you will find yourself sharing in the physical exertion, exhaustion, fatigue, and dehydration of transitioning the grandchild from gestation to breathing on its own. But like a human grandchild, once the birth has been crystallized, the adventure has just begun.

Perhaps with the human baby, the grandmother is exempt from the primary duties of general care-taking – being free to focus on spoiling, baking for, playing with, adventuring with, singing to, reading to, and primarily having a wonderful time with the new being while mom and dad nap between feedings, cleaning, diapers, tantrums and vomit.

Three of my favorite photos of my two farm (human) grandchildren

Well not so when your first grandchild is a farm: When it’s hungry for transplants, you’ll be spending hours bent over with your hands in the dirt, plunking one optimistic seedling at a time. When parents have neglected daily hygiene routines, you’ll be out there weeding like there’s no tomorrow. You will find yourself shoveling a much larger volume of feces than a human baby could ever cumulatively collect in diapers. It’ll expect you to build, make, and sew it all sorts of toys, like wash stations, harvest bags, compost bins and flower beds.

Old wash station with harvest bags, and planting onions in the snow with Kara at the old farm.

On top of all this, the farm grandchild is oblivious to the weather, so you’ll have to do these things in the rain, snow, wind, heat, sun and maybe once a hurricane.

Winter at the farm, and the damage from Hurricane Irene at the old farm (photo by Adam Ford).

Yes, you will have more work with a farm grandchild because the farm parents cannot do it all themselves – it’s simply too big. (If someone alerted farm parents to this phenomenon, they may have used better farm birth control).

But just like human grandchildren, the joy it provides melts the burdens of raising it: Weekends outside reveling in the blessings of the earth; reconnecting with dirt, that essential medium transporting us to childhood where life is a series of sandcastles to build and cookies to eat; impressing yourself with your body’s ability to physically toil the way it did when you started a family of human babies; watching the farm grandchild grow and mature into a beautiful, abundant, resilient multi-species system that may one day inspire other farm baby births.

Carrots recently washed waiting to be packed for the cooler. Photo by Adam Ford.

And you’ll eat!! You’ll eat the most rewarding, colorful nourishment because that needy, demanding, high-maintenance grandchild gives back delicious gifts. (This is an advantage of a farm grandchild because you would be in serious trouble for eating a human grandchild.)

Rows and rows of tomatoes growing in one of the long high tunnels. Photo by Adam Ford.

The magic of being a grandparent is that you don’t know who that being will be, but you will love the hell out of it. And lucky you – not everyone gets to grandparent an ecosystem.

The glorious ecosystem that is Evening Song Farm, CSA. Photo by Adam Ford.

 As I mentioned earlier, the farm has been a centering place and creative signpost for me throughout the years. When my job consumed  too many weekends, I would head up there and just weed and weed and weed. Their business card of carrots stacked high at farmers market was my inspiration for the first carrot fabric picture. To this day, the carrot art pieces are my top seller in the On the Farm Veggie Collection.

Interested in purchasing carrots (or another vegetable) for your home or as a gift? Contact me.

Thank you to Adam Ford, an amazing photographer and author. He has captured those littlest details of both the big events and day-to-day doings of the farm over the years. Choosing which photos of his to purchase was so challenging.

And a special thank you to Kara, for the wonderful gift of her art, seen below, and this written piece. 

People at craft fairs often ask me how The Quilted Jardin got started. Well pull up a chair, get a cuppa as they say in the UK, and I’ll tell you a story that crosses the continent and comes full circle.

New York City – Chicago – Upstate New York

The Quilted Jardin is woven from the generations of my family. The threads of my skill and love for sewing reach back to my mother who sewed all my clothes and taught me to sew as I grew up in Chicago, and beyond to my grandmother, a seamstress in New York City in the early 1900s. Living in upstate New York, after years of sewing quilts and snowmen for friends and family, I found myself with that twitch to sew something different.  

My mom adjusting one of the many Halloween costumes she made for me over the years, and a quilt I created

Vermont – Florida – California – Upstate New York:  

 At the 2005 Vermont Quilt Festival, I took a fabric art class called Accidental Landscapes and was hooked. Such amazing results of beaches and mountains without the precision of piecing! The fabric just flowed into vibrant designs from my memory and imagination. My children encouraged me to sell them. I asked my son and his girlfriend to collect seashells on their college spring break to Florida. My daughter, who was working in California as a park ranger, designed my logo. The family stamp of approval was given to the name, and The Quilted Jardin was in business. Jardin is Spanish for garden, honoring my dad’s heritage.

Beach and mountain wall hangings embellished with shells and yarn

Washington – Upstate New York: 

I quickly discovered that I needed to modify the technique I was using.  No matter how I tried, there were spots in the mountain peaks and ocean waves that got missed in the top-stitching process. I shifted to raw-edge machine applique without fusing.  

Translation: instead of sewing the closest possible to an ironed down edge, I sewed what looked like an old-fashioned blanket stitch directly at the edge of the fabric. I also did not iron on a special material to prevent the edges from unraveling a bit. My reasoning was that it would be too much to fuse down all the material I would ever use.

One day my daughter emailed me several photos of a hike in the Northern Cascades Mountains with her environmental education graduate school cohort. These just called out to be transformed into fabric, and the results were beyond my wildest imagination. I was painting with material and threads and embellishing with beads as I combined my daughter’s photographs with the wall hangings I was creating. These custom designed fabric collage landscapes became my next passion.

My daughter’s graduate school cohort on a hike in North Cascades National Park, and my fabric rendition of the photo

Upstate New York and Massachusetts

If I could make beautiful art pieces from landscape photos, I wondered if I could make a fabric pet portrait of an animal. This led me to create a simple fabric collage piece of my cat, Niles. 

Don’t ask me why but I took it to one of my shows in Massachusetts. When asked “Could you do my dog?” I was initially speechless. “Well, I never had done a dog before but I’d be willing to try. What kind of dog do you have?”

I don’t remember what breed it was but I clearly recall thinking, “Oh, fiddlefarts, you’ve never heard of that type of dog before. You might be over your head.” Thinking quickly, I offered “Here are my thoughts. Don’t pay me now. If you like the finished pet portrait, it’s yours and pay me then. If not, that’s fine.” And that was how I started doing fabric pet portraits.    

Birds, houses, landscapes of vacation spots, wedding sites, cherished places (i.e, the site where her son’s ashes were strewn) and even a human portrait – all were done over the years because someone asked if I made it. I learned to reply “Not yet, however I’m willing to try.”

As you can see from this 2012 business postcard, my custom work spanned a variety of subjects.

Vermont- Upstate New York – Vermont: 

By 2012 both adult children had settled in Vermont. My son and his girlfriend (now wife) bought a farm and were growing organic vegetables; my daughter and her boyfriend moved back east, got married, and bought a house an hour south of the farm. I love my trips to the farm and also the southern Vermont trips to see my first grandchild. As my professional job took over more time/energy and the business plummeted to almost nothing, my kids encouraged me to retire early and move to Vermont. While it took 8 months of planning, prepping, and patience, in 2016 in a 3 month fell-swoop, I sold my house, left my job, and moved to a new house in Vermont with a studio on the bottom floor.  

I shifted my niche to specialize in pet portraits and pet memorials. It was the perfect blend of my artistic skill and my gift of empathy and compassion for those navigating the path of loss.   

The farm remains an inspiration for my work. I have a whole collection, ON THE FARM, that celebrates the vibrancy of vegetables and the adorable nature of farm animals.

The two farm dogs, Echo and Callie, appear often in my Instagram feed and Facebook posts and on some art pieces. My daughter has become an integral part of the technical end of the business. My 3 grandchildren help bring forth my playful nature and ability to look at the world through different eyes.    

It feels like I have come home.