First it was all about quilting and then dyeing and then I started making books and zentangling and drawing. Now I have given up on limiting myself and this is all about my creative journey. Hope you'll join me on my journey and invite me on yours!
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Busy Weekend
Ten yards of fushia gradations to add to my stash for Nancy Crow's Workshop
Old copper pipes wrapped in modant-soaked cotton waiting to get buried in my compost pile. Results in a month.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Quilts for Japan and Friday Favorites
Quilts for Japan
Kathy Loomis at Art with a Needle has an opinion about how to efficiently help Japan. Her approach is certainly valuable and needed. And/Or you can less efficiently but very compassionately donate a quilt through Quilters Newsletter. I personally think any help and show of compassion is a good thing and feel no need to bash those who choose a different pathway of service. Here’s how you can be part of the quilt donation, if you choose:
• Send quilts of any size from baby to adult to:
Dana Jones
Quilters Newsletter
741 Corporate Circle, Suite A
Golden, CO 80401
• Mark your box: “Quilts for Japan.”
• Send quilts as soon as possible and no later than April 30, 2011.
Friday Favorites
The last few Fridays have seemed kinda bland to me but I wasn't sure what was missing. Then Kathy posted her tutorial on the perfect facing for a quilt. Tutorials! There have not been many tutorials lately! Anyway, I don't know that I agree with Kathy that a quilt has to be faced to be considered a work of art and not a pot holder but I do occasionally like to use a facing.
Another tutorial is here. It is a picture tutorial on tying a quilt without leaving tie ends flying in the breeze. The method is called a decatur knot. I am going to be trying that out!
I have been working on my artist presentation of Elizabeth Barton for my drawing class. As I have perused her blog entries for the last couple of years, I have found wonderful blogs that when put together could be a book on how to create art. Here is another excellent post--this one is on using values in a quilt. I don't know that it qualifies as a tutorial but it sure does teach me a lot.
The last tutorial I want to highlight this week was written by Rosalita at "...And Then We Set It On Fire." Rosalita went to great detail in her instructions for parfait dyeing. Do take a look at the tutorial, give the technique a try, and post a comment on the Fire blog.
Lastly, a give-away! Lynn Krawczyk is being interviewed this coming Sunday on Blog Talk Radio. To celebrate, she is going to give away a copy of her brand spanking new, not yet released DVD, "Print, Design, Compose" to a lucky listener. Here is the information about the where and when. The how will be told during the interview.
This Saturday is another dyeing day for me. I will be finishing my dyeing for Nancy Crow's class, doing some snow dyeing before the last of the snow melts, and maybe trying Rosalita's tutorial.
Friday Favorites
The last few Fridays have seemed kinda bland to me but I wasn't sure what was missing. Then Kathy posted her tutorial on the perfect facing for a quilt. Tutorials! There have not been many tutorials lately! Anyway, I don't know that I agree with Kathy that a quilt has to be faced to be considered a work of art and not a pot holder but I do occasionally like to use a facing.
Another tutorial is here. It is a picture tutorial on tying a quilt without leaving tie ends flying in the breeze. The method is called a decatur knot. I am going to be trying that out!
I have been working on my artist presentation of Elizabeth Barton for my drawing class. As I have perused her blog entries for the last couple of years, I have found wonderful blogs that when put together could be a book on how to create art. Here is another excellent post--this one is on using values in a quilt. I don't know that it qualifies as a tutorial but it sure does teach me a lot.
The last tutorial I want to highlight this week was written by Rosalita at "...And Then We Set It On Fire." Rosalita went to great detail in her instructions for parfait dyeing. Do take a look at the tutorial, give the technique a try, and post a comment on the Fire blog.
Lastly, a give-away! Lynn Krawczyk is being interviewed this coming Sunday on Blog Talk Radio. To celebrate, she is going to give away a copy of her brand spanking new, not yet released DVD, "Print, Design, Compose" to a lucky listener. Here is the information about the where and when. The how will be told during the interview.
This Saturday is another dyeing day for me. I will be finishing my dyeing for Nancy Crow's class, doing some snow dyeing before the last of the snow melts, and maybe trying Rosalita's tutorial.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Not in Love
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Black Magic Rainbow
Now I am going to pack it away for my Nancy Crow workshop the first week of May.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Friday Favorites
Drawing Update:
No pictures to show but I had a great time drawing our nude model Wednesday night. I am 57 and I discovered that I had never really looked at a human body before. Oh, like I have seen mine, and I have seen other women's as we dressed and undressed in the locker room and, of course, there have been husbands and babies, but it was not the same. This time we were supposed to look long and hard and maybe even stare a bit. I discovered that the human body is really beautiful. I loved being loose in my drawing and being able to caress the curves with my charcoal. Very satisfying.
Friday Favorites:
I still don't have the collage technique down yet. I have read multiple blog entries with instructions, pictures, even tutorials but when I try it...well, it ain't pretty. But once again I am being lured into another attempt by Jane at Janeville. I like the whole idea of creating my own fabric. I just need to put my big-girl boots on and keep trying till I have magic like Jane's students. Any secrets you want to share with me?
WARNING WARNING
The rest of this blog has to do with eco dyeing. If you have not yet been sucked into the void, run now.
I have been reading India Flint's book, "Eco Colour." It is a very personal view point read. India certainly has strong opinions about how we should be treating the earth. I doubt that I will become as ecologically friendly as India but I am watching for the first signs of green here in Maine so I can start dyeing fabric with the leaves. I already have my buckets of seawater for a mordant. I look at them every morning making promises that soon, very soon, I will be using them.
She is going to be presenting a workshop at Haystack later this year but it is my busiest time of year at work. I asked my boss what he would think if I asked for that week off of work. I can't remember exactly his response but it was something like, "I would think you are tired of working here." LOL
Speaking of Eco Dyeing, Kaite has been trying her hand at it. Here is the fungus she found and started soaking as a dye. And here is the first results.
Related is the "Out There" project in England. They grow plants specifically for dyeing.
And Jasmine has her own eco-dyeing/erosion bundle going as wrapt trees. I do think my erosion bundle next year might look more like these wraps.
I hope you have a great weekend. I will be home for the first time in several weeks. I have some dead roses from Valentine's Day that have been waiting for me. We have a date on Saturday.
No pictures to show but I had a great time drawing our nude model Wednesday night. I am 57 and I discovered that I had never really looked at a human body before. Oh, like I have seen mine, and I have seen other women's as we dressed and undressed in the locker room and, of course, there have been husbands and babies, but it was not the same. This time we were supposed to look long and hard and maybe even stare a bit. I discovered that the human body is really beautiful. I loved being loose in my drawing and being able to caress the curves with my charcoal. Very satisfying.
Friday Favorites:
I still don't have the collage technique down yet. I have read multiple blog entries with instructions, pictures, even tutorials but when I try it...well, it ain't pretty. But once again I am being lured into another attempt by Jane at Janeville. I like the whole idea of creating my own fabric. I just need to put my big-girl boots on and keep trying till I have magic like Jane's students. Any secrets you want to share with me?
WARNING WARNING
The rest of this blog has to do with eco dyeing. If you have not yet been sucked into the void, run now.
I have been reading India Flint's book, "Eco Colour." It is a very personal view point read. India certainly has strong opinions about how we should be treating the earth. I doubt that I will become as ecologically friendly as India but I am watching for the first signs of green here in Maine so I can start dyeing fabric with the leaves. I already have my buckets of seawater for a mordant. I look at them every morning making promises that soon, very soon, I will be using them.
She is going to be presenting a workshop at Haystack later this year but it is my busiest time of year at work. I asked my boss what he would think if I asked for that week off of work. I can't remember exactly his response but it was something like, "I would think you are tired of working here." LOL
Speaking of Eco Dyeing, Kaite has been trying her hand at it. Here is the fungus she found and started soaking as a dye. And here is the first results.
Related is the "Out There" project in England. They grow plants specifically for dyeing.
And Jasmine has her own eco-dyeing/erosion bundle going as wrapt trees. I do think my erosion bundle next year might look more like these wraps.
I hope you have a great weekend. I will be home for the first time in several weeks. I have some dead roses from Valentine's Day that have been waiting for me. We have a date on Saturday.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Drawing Class Update
Monday night we drew self-portraits while staring into a mirror. Notice the look of confusion and horror on my face as people say it looks like me.
Tonight I get to draw a naked person. I have never gotten to draw a naked person before so I am very excited for the opportunity. I don't think I will be posting those pictures though.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Light on the Ocean
Spring is starting to arrive in Maine and I have been wanting to go down to the ocean. Then, when I read that sea water is a mordant for eco-prints, WELL, that was just the incentive I needed to go to the beach. We did not arrive till early evening. It was not by design but it was the time of afternoon/evening when the light is golden. Enjoy the view!
My Heart of Steel on display
Look! Juanita Yaeger at Art-Quilt-Works attended Volusia: Wrapped in Fiber where I have my quilt displayed. She mentions it in her blog and a (tiny) picture of it can been seen in her pictures. Look for the picture with the flowered dress with two white stands on either side. The one on the left has my Heart of Steel piece on it. It is a side view but still I am super excited.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Friday, March 11, 2011
Drawing Class Update and Friday Favorites
Drawing Class
I am really psyched! For my drawing class, each student needs to choose an artist for a class presentation. I checked with my instructor about choosing a modern, living, fabric artist and she approved. I chose Elizabeth Barton for several reasons. Primarily I suppose, I really like her work. But just as important I think is that she writes a really good blog. She has many posts that show her work from the beginning photograph, to her drawings from the photo, and then to the finished quilt. And it is not just the pictures but she talks about her thinking process along the way, stuff like why she emphasized this and not that. Lastly, I chose her because her use of drawing to turn the 3-D world into a 2-D quilt is my reason for taking a drawing class. Seemed like a good fit to me.
Anyway, I am psyched because I wrote Elizabeth Barton and she sent me an email back. I was concerned that the only way I could do the class presentation was to capture pictures from her blog and website. Would that violate copyright? I was not sure so I thought, better safe than sorry, and I emailed her for permission. ***fingers crossed*** She said "yes!" Woot!
Friday Favorites
Module 5 of Sharon B’s Stitch Worksheets are ready and, for a short time only, are for sale at half price. This module of instruction for hand embroidery includes 17 stitches, most of which I don't recognize. Fortunately, if you need some of the basic stitches in order to understand these more advanced stitches, she has FREE links to the introductory stitches at the bottom of the post. And if you need some more embroidery thread, this site is giving away 3 free skeins.
Some people like this kind and some people like that kind of fusing material. Laura weights in with her opinion. Sounds like WU WU is her mostest favorite although she does talk about different material/techniques have different requirements.
Carol Sloan at the Sketchbook Challenge gives us a little tutorial on how to paint/draw a tree. A pine tree actually. Hers turned out looking pretty good. I will give it a try but will use my fabric gel pen and Inktense pencils on fabric whether than water colors on paper.
In case you have not yet tried Citra-Solv, here is a tutorial posted by Lyric on the Sketchbook Challenge . At the end of the tutorial she says you can color the black and white image in a variety of ways. Here is what I did for the November Challenge of Interpret This! The quilt started with a picture I transferred using Citra-Solv.
Thanks for reading!
I am really psyched! For my drawing class, each student needs to choose an artist for a class presentation. I checked with my instructor about choosing a modern, living, fabric artist and she approved. I chose Elizabeth Barton for several reasons. Primarily I suppose, I really like her work. But just as important I think is that she writes a really good blog. She has many posts that show her work from the beginning photograph, to her drawings from the photo, and then to the finished quilt. And it is not just the pictures but she talks about her thinking process along the way, stuff like why she emphasized this and not that. Lastly, I chose her because her use of drawing to turn the 3-D world into a 2-D quilt is my reason for taking a drawing class. Seemed like a good fit to me.
Anyway, I am psyched because I wrote Elizabeth Barton and she sent me an email back. I was concerned that the only way I could do the class presentation was to capture pictures from her blog and website. Would that violate copyright? I was not sure so I thought, better safe than sorry, and I emailed her for permission. ***fingers crossed*** She said "yes!" Woot!
Module 5 of Sharon B’s Stitch Worksheets are ready and, for a short time only, are for sale at half price. This module of instruction for hand embroidery includes 17 stitches, most of which I don't recognize. Fortunately, if you need some of the basic stitches in order to understand these more advanced stitches, she has FREE links to the introductory stitches at the bottom of the post. And if you need some more embroidery thread, this site is giving away 3 free skeins.
Some people like this kind and some people like that kind of fusing material. Laura weights in with her opinion. Sounds like WU WU is her mostest favorite although she does talk about different material/techniques have different requirements.
Carol Sloan at the Sketchbook Challenge gives us a little tutorial on how to paint/draw a tree. A pine tree actually. Hers turned out looking pretty good. I will give it a try but will use my fabric gel pen and Inktense pencils on fabric whether than water colors on paper.
In case you have not yet tried Citra-Solv, here is a tutorial posted by Lyric on the Sketchbook Challenge . At the end of the tutorial she says you can color the black and white image in a variety of ways. Here is what I did for the November Challenge of Interpret This! The quilt started with a picture I transferred using Citra-Solv.
Thanks for reading!
Sunday, March 6, 2011
What's that?
That is part of the 45 yards of fabric Rosalita and I dyed on Saturday. I will show you better pictures when I have it ironed. **Groan**
Friday, March 4, 2011
Friday Favorites and a book review
Friday Favorites and a book review
Well, perhaps a an update on my drawing class, a book review, and then Friday Favorites.Last week was Spring Break and it was a very good thing because I was behind on my homework. I finally got caught up with my 2 great masters in my sketchbook, my large copy of a great master, and the large interpretation of a Japanese Wood Block Print. Last night we started a new technique, chiaroscuro, which I will need to practice before I show it to you but I thought I would show you a couple of pages of my sketchbook.
My instructor commented that she liked the way I had set up my sketchbook. On the left I have printed instructions and an example (generally found on the internet) of whatever technique we have recently talked about and then on the right hand page I have my attempts at the style. My goal is to make my sketchbook a reference manual for me to refer back for the different techniques.
Book Review
My friend, Beth, a fellow member of FIVE and an artist on "And Then We Set It On Fire," loaned me her new book, Three-Dimensional Embroidery. She was right. I have fallen in love. I don't care for books that just show pictures of others' work for me to drool on. I want instructions. But I don't want instructions to make a purse or a bag or a whatever, I want technique instructions. This book (!!!) has projects I really want to do. I want to experiment and play. I want to stay home from work and stay up at night and work on these projects. I am giving Beth back her book because I have bought my own.
Karen, who was the guest blogger this week at "And Then We Set It On Fire" posted a nice description of her experiments with TAP (Transfer Artist Paper) and Lutrador. I have both of those products but have not really experimented much with them. This was a nice reminder to me to get them out again and see what I can do. I think I can incorporate them in my experiments with inks this month.
Crazy (please hear me saying this as K-raaa- z) Mom (momma) Quilts gives a free pattern for a stash buster quilt. The rest of this paragraph is just me being philosophical if you want to skip it. I struggle with myself over patterns like this. It is quick, easy, pretty cute, fine for a baby to throw up and poop on quilt. As an "textile artist" am I too good to make it? Does all of my work need to be original, inspired, quilt show worthy quilts? Or is it okay for me to sit down and produce something that takes less creative juice but will probably be appreciated as much (probably more by some people) than an original design. I don't have the answer but would love to hear yours.
Sharon at Pin Tangle has found Kuler. "Cooler?" you say. "Yea, Kuler," I say. It is an adobe application that allows you to choose color schemes. Check out what Sharon has to say about it and click her embedded tutorial on using it. Pretty cool. I tried unsuccessfully to figure out what color wheel it uses --the traditional RYB one or the corrected YMC wheel. Makes a difference for artists mixing paints or dyes. Do you know? At any rate, I tried to find my favorite color scheme (orange, purple, and yellow-green) which is a split triad but couldn't get that combination to come up.
This link goes to Wen Redmond's blog rather than to a specific post on the blog. She took a commission for the Elliot at Rivers Edge in Manchester NH. In 3 or 4 or 5 blogs (I lost count) she takes you step by step from the commission to the finished product. It is an excellent 1-2-3 tutorial. Thank you, Wen!
Vicki Welsh is a woman after my own heart. She loves experimenting too. Here are her experiments with Shiva Paint Sticks.
I am sure there are many wonderful blogs that I have missed this week but it is time to publish. They will have to wait for another week.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Can't wait till Friday Favorites
My friend, Debra, sent a plea for help with a charity quilt she would like to make. At first I thought I would include her plea in my Friday Favorites but since there is a short time frame for the help, I decided to send out an "Extra." I plan to participate.
From Debra' Design Studio
Every year Bentwater, the community in which I live, raises alot of money for the American Cancer Society. Last year's tally was over $50,000 and I was told we are the 2nd largest contributor to the ACS. One of the biggest events is the annual Auction held in April. Last April one of my crazy quilts brought in $1500 during the silent auction.
This year I would like to make a 9 patch quilt for the auction. I may embroider flowers and birds through the middle blocks and border. I haven't decided yet.
But----I need some help getting the blocks made!
Would you make some 9 patch blocks (or even one) and send to me?
The quilt needs 55-75 Yellow and Cream Blocks
100-125 Red and Blue Blocks
This is for a Queen sized quilt.
The deadline to get the blocks in my hot little hands is March 15th. I will need time to get them arranged, the top pieced and then quilted for the early April Auction.
If you don't have my address, email me. If you could also email me with Your Intent so I have an idea how many people and blocks I can count on. Think about it--- this is a very easy thing for you to do to contribute to a huge cause. Please help me out!
From Debra' Design Studio
9 Patch Blocks Needed!!!!
This year I would like to make a 9 patch quilt for the auction. I may embroider flowers and birds through the middle blocks and border. I haven't decided yet.
But----I need some help getting the blocks made!
Would you make some 9 patch blocks (or even one) and send to me?
- 9 patch blocks need to be 3½ inches (use 1½" blocks or strips)
- Use the same 2 fabrics in the block (all the X position is the same fabric, all the Y position is the same fabric = 2 fabrics per block)
- INNER 9 Patch----colors should be clear to bright in hot colors; i.e. reds, oranges, yellows, red-violets Paired with clear to bright shades of blue, green or blue violets
- OUTER 9 Patch----colors should be shades of (bright)Yellow Paired with tone on tone cream (for strong contrast)
- Fabrics can be solid, tone on tone, hand dyed, small print, very subtle textures.
The quilt needs 55-75 Yellow and Cream Blocks
100-125 Red and Blue Blocks
This is for a Queen sized quilt.
The deadline to get the blocks in my hot little hands is March 15th. I will need time to get them arranged, the top pieced and then quilted for the early April Auction.
If you don't have my address, email me. If you could also email me with Your Intent so I have an idea how many people and blocks I can count on. Think about it--- this is a very easy thing for you to do to contribute to a huge cause. Please help me out!
(Colors are approximate!)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)