Busy Week

Busy week!

 First,  I had to finish my quilt for the Out of Asia challenge on Art Quilts Around the World.   It is the third challenge for this year.  I am trying to keep to a theme for my work this year.  Here is my first challenge, a self-portrait.  I haven't finished the second one  yet.  Oops.

And second, I needed to finish my intro post for the Fire Blog.  I am "mother" this month.  We are playing with the Gelli Plate all month.  I have asked three fiber artist who have mastered the Gelli Plate to take turns posting on the blog.

And third, my mother is arriving tonight and I have been cleaning, cleaning, cleaning all week!  A clean  house is not as high on my list of priorities as it is on my mother's list.  What can I say?  If I get to choose between cleaning and an art project, cleaning will lose every time.

So, given all that, there are no Friday Favorites this week.

Before and After

Last night I watched lesson 2 in Clara Sonheim's class.  I got carried away with adding stuff to my prints.  Here are some before and after pictures.  I am not showing the really dreadful ones.

Before

After

Before  

After

Before

After

Friday Favorites

I have found out I am the stick in the mud at work.  We are required to attend a mandatory meeting at work(does the redundant "required/mandatory" tell you how I feel about it?).  The planning committee wants to do ice breakers multiple times during the day.  I hate ice breakers.  Now I learn they want to have a theme to the food we are required to provide for lunch for the pitch-in.  If I have to bring some food to share to a mandatory meeting at work the only thing I want to be told is "thank you."  Anyone else with me?

Friday Favorites
Funny how not taking a class can open up time to do other things like checking out blogs.  I found lots of good stuff this week!

Let's start with some eye candy
Both Kathy and Beth got to attend the Form not Function Quilt Festival and have shown some of their favorites.

Lessons To Learn
Elizabeth Barton talks about how to use photographs in your artwork.This post shows how she uses a couple of pictures at the beach and turns them into sketches and larger pieces and why one would work well as a quilt and the other one would not.

I am connecting you to Wen Redmond's blog rather than to a specific post because she has three posts which show her fabric collage technique. She also tells you about her upcoming class on the technique.

This is another tuning fork quilt from Heather but here she goes into her design process of creating the quilt.  Very informative.  I have been reading some art instructions that talk about how making rules for a piece provides you greater artistic freedom.  That point is made very clear with Heather's process.

Dion Dior provides drawing instructions for bowl shaped flowers.  She really does an excellent job of showing you how to get the perspective correct.

Gelli Plate
I almost put this under eye candy because that is what it is but since I just got my first gelli plate, I am especially interested in Jane Davies's approach to making prints with it.


You are too late to sign up for Carla Sonheim's gelli plate printing class but she is offering some other online classes. I am just finishing the gelli plate printing class and felt I learned a lot.  The classes aren't very expensive and she does an excellent job of instructing.  I like her format of a couple of short videos for tutorials and some short emails with additional tips.

Until next Friday, happy blog reading!

New QAYG Quilt

I have started a new Quilt As You Go (QAYG) quilt using some of my many, many leftover traditional blocks from the white, black, and red quilts I made a few years back.  I am slicing and dicing the traditional blocks to add a bit more interest before doing the stitch and flip technique.  Here is one of the larger 12x 12 blocks with the center leftover block sliced and diced.  I have 22 blocks done.  Just need to make 8 more and then start assembling them.

First EVER prints with the Gelli Plate

I am taking Carla Sonheim's Gelli Plate Printing online class.  Here are my first ever gelli prints.  They are all 10"x14".  I hated them last night but this morning they look better. Still just a beginning.  Today we get the second lesson about how to add the next layers using stencils, stamps, and other texture stuff. 

Do you have a favorite so far?

Pictures of my prints

I finally got an opportunity to take some pictures of some of my prints  They are all 22" by 30".  My inspiration artist is Mark Rothko and the quote I had in mind when I created them is by Friedrich Nietzsche. 

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.  If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened.  But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself."

This post has been shared on Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Fridays.

Zentangle Book 4 No. 16

A Zen Water Fall

Zentangle Book 4 No. 15

Prehistoric surf boards

Zentangle Book 4 No. 13

The Alien from Independence Day.

Friday Favorites

My last print class critique went well.  I am in love with the pieces and want to frame at least 6 of them.  They are all 22" by 30" and printed with oil-based ink on BFK Rives 250 paper. I will frame one with the money I made at the Gardiner ArtWalk.  For the rest I will have to stagger that expense over a few paychecks.    I was going to post a picture of one but my camera is dead.  Maybe tomorrow.

Friday Favorites by Category

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Judi Hurwitt directs you to Sherrill Kahn, a mixed media artist, who has recently put out a DVD. The pictures Judi shows of Sherrill's art remind me a bit of Jane Davies's work.  Love that abstract stuff!  If you want to see more of Sherrill's work and some tutorials from her, check out her site here.  You could also check out her 10 minute video on stryofoam plate printing techniques on YouTube.

Wen Redmond gives you just a peek at how she creates substrates for her collage work. She has some mixed media classes coming up.

EyeCandy
Jane Davies shows you her art hanging in the gallery.

Tips for the Week
Kathy Loomis tells you how to turn junk into junk art in Part 1 and Part 2.

Tutorial
Sarah Whittle show you how to make an Armeanian Edging Stitch.

I sold stuff!

Thank you if you crossed your fingers that I would sell something at the Gardiner Artwalk.  I sold several things!   Woooo Hoooo!  Here are  my first three customers.

 She bought a rust accordion book she is going to give to her niece for a wedding shower.

 She bought the purple and green print. It is hard to see in the picture. The ground is a collagraph, the purple bird is a lino carving.  The bird is from a photo that my sister-in-law took in Florida.  The flashy tail feathers  are the bird's mating feathers.

Here are my favorite customers. They bought a bird print, a rust book, and one of my fiber pieces. 

I had a couple additional customers after them but by then I was starting to get used to the idea of selling my art.

Friday Favorites

 It has been a great week!  It is the last week of my print class and I am in love with my latest series.  I will post pictures next week after the critique.  Tonight I will be at the Gardiner ME Art Walk.  This is my third time so maybe it will be the charm and I'll sell something.  Imagine that for me please!

So many wonderful sites that I have visited this week and so little time. Let's get started.

Friday Favorites

First and most important, a couple of give-aways.  First, Lynn Krawczyk is giving away a Soy Wax Inspirations DVD by Susan Purney Mark.  After the fabulous fabric I made with soy wax on a silk screen, do I want this DVD?  YES!  You have till Monday to leave a comment and get your chance.  Second, you have till Sunday to leave a comment on the give-away from Sue Bleiweiss.  She is giving away a free stash pack from Vicki Walsh's shop and a couple of other things.  You get to choose which stash pack you win! Sounds good!

Next,three lessons.  Nina-Marie talks about a color lesson she learned from one of my favorite artists, Elizabeth Barton. Colleen Kole tells you the ten things she learned about free motion quilting. And Lisa, shows how she turned two ugly fabrics into winning pieces.

Remember how I hate to throw away anything and it is even better if I get to repurpose it?  Kathleen Loomis shows how she turned her  husband's pants into a bag.  She was inspired by a friend who is hoping to recycle donated clothing into usable items for people in Haiti.


End your week with some eye candy at Heather's Blog.  She is quickly joining Elizabeth Barton as one of my favorite artists.  In fact, she is taking an online class with Elizabeth and here is the quilt she is working on for the class.