Coreen Zerr & Sari Spenser

Theme / concept        Trees and Reflections

Coreen Zerr

Fibre Art Piece            Woods on a Snowy Evening

This piece was a joy to make, reminding me so much of the poem ‘Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening’ by Robert Frost. The resounding words, “... and miles to go before I sleep” felt fitting of the fast pace of life these days, juggling work, aging parents and studio time. The process of making this quiet little quilt gave me a wonderful sense of serene and calm.

Sari Spenser                Reflections

Painting - inspired by a walk with her husband at Smugglers Cove.

I enjoy the organic patterns that one finds in natural scenes. I tend toward strong contrasts in value, but also enjoy playing with the richness within a limited colour palette. The early spring of the scene is a colour challenge. Other than the beauty of nature for itself, I love how the divine manifests itself through various levels of organization and pattern.

Coreen Zerr & Sari Spenser

Coreen and Sari have completed their work ... two amazing pieces!
Sari: I am a painter collaborating with Coreen Zerr. We are interpreting out theme in our own media. As you can see we have an interest in nature. In particular, I enjoy the organic patterns that one finds in nature scenes. I tend towards strong contrasts in value, but also enjoy playing with the richness within a limted colour palatte. The early spring scene is a colour challenge. The size will probably be somewhere around 20 x 40. We are both using a vertical format. I work in various media: pencil crayon, graphite,pen and ink, watercolour, acrylic and oil paints. It is my intention to explore this scene in each media and submit the one I like the best for the show.My painting and drawing styles tend from the photo realistic to impressionistic. Other than the beauty of nature for itself, I love how the divine manifests itself through various levels of organization and pattern.

My work at this stage is rather boring to show anyone as it is just working out composition and value studies. I do a fair bit of preparation before I put anything on canvas. In a few weeks time I shall be moving on to some colour studies. 
February posting: painting is finished! The reflection is amazing!

Sari's painting ' Spring Thaw'

Coreen: My art form has evolved over the years but has always involved fabrics. I love to do anything landscape or nature inspired and trying new techniques to enhance them. Painting fabric has become a favourite of mine, whether it is to recreate a scene directly onto a piece, or to enhance a pieced scene I have done, or simply to create yardage that I can cut up! Raw edge piecing was something that took me a few years to warm up to but now that I have, I am totally inspired by it-giving you so much more freedom to "Dance" with your stitching! One of the most rewarding and inspiring things about playing in this medium is once I figure out a new technique or process, I love to share it with others through teaching. http://www.coreenzerr.com/

The theme Sari and I are exploring  is Trees and reflection - creating a scene that will give the viewer the feeling of ... can I quote Robert Frost? "walking through the woods on a snowy evening".  We both agreed that due to the size limitations our pieces would be in a long and narrow format...so out combined wall size is within the 40 inch maximum.

The original photo was cropped to a size that works within our size limitatons, and my execution or impression of the photo and feeling. I have a bit of clean up of edges to do yet and bind it, but it is almost completed.
Coreen's 'Woods on a Snowy Evening' made its debut at the CQA/ACC National Juried Show in London, May 2011.

Coreen's 'Woods on a Snowy Evening' fibreArt