ATCs about birds or feathers

I joined an all-fabric ATC swap at Stitching Fingers.  For November the theme was birds or feathers.  Here is a picture of the ATC I received from Patricia who  lives in Crumlin Village, Dublin.  It is a thread painting of the North Atlantic Puffin.  They live off the coast of both Ireland (her home) and Maine (my home). That is fun.

I made her this ATC named "A Murder of Crows."  When I was attending the Nancy Crow workshop in Auburn NY I saw lots of crows.  Come to find out Auburn has been the winter home of thousands of crows for the last 100 years or so.  Here is a link for more information about the crows in Auburn.  I placed a black feather on some scraps from a quilt I made named "I am the Center of the Universe."  It turned out a bit wonky and at first that upset me but then I decided that was a "design element."  LOL

This ATC is left over from a swap with Veronica at Fiber Antics.  I have held on to it since last February because I love it so. Since it also had a feather on it, I have sent it off to Patricia.

Enjoy Patricia

Friday Favorites

 I hope you had a good Thanksgiving! Friday sneaked up on me since it was the day after Thanksgiving.  I mean this week was made up of Monday, Tuesday, the day before Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving, the day after Thanksgiving, play date with Beth, and Sunday.  LOL

Friday Favorites
I have found a new source for thermofax screens.  And even better, she is having a give away.  It is not too late to sign up.  Here is the link.  Believe me, I thought twice before giving you the link.  I big-time would love to win the mini-sets.

Here is an enhanced layering technique of what I did when I made my Blue Rose. I wanted to show you a picture of it but I don't seem to have a picture of it.  I will take a picture tomorrow and show it to you. Anyway, I like the fact that she used all translucent materials and that she thought to use a soldering iron rather than the tiny pair of scissors I used.

Because I personally like  self-reflection and evaluation I was interested in Kathleen Loomis's post on how she evaluates her pieces when she is finished with it.  Before you read her post, do stop and view the detail of her quilt, Crossroads 4, that won second place in Quilts=Art=Quilts.  The show was at the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center in NY where I took Nancy's workshop.  I got to see her piece in person and it was very exciting.  I also  noted that she donated 3 small quilts for the mini-quilt raffle fund raiser.  I would not mind winning one.

I love Deb's stuff and this newest project is no exception. I  loved it before I realized that the blocks are each unique.   In this post she is doing a self-critique.  I want to learn more about the technique she used.  In her post she links us to this post on self-critique.  It is a new blog for me.  Well, it is not really a blog but a website.  I liked it enough to join it and will now receive 2 free emails per week on art topics.  I will warn you, while the site promises not to sell you information, the day after I signed up for the art email I received multiple spams.  Just saying.


And here is what I personally love to do.


See you next week!

Second 8X10 Finished

Apology to Mary

First, I need to grovel and apologize to Mary.  Mary is the artist who created the fabulous triptych depicting wind generators that I featured in my post labeled "My motif has been stolen."   She is rightfully  proud of her work and contacted me about my post. She is concerned that I claimed she stole anything.


Let me be clear.  I was making a very bad joke.   As I explained in an earlier post, I had seen a wind farm for the first time just a week or so before.   After some investigation I think it was the largest wind farm in NY with 195 wind generators.  It was absolutely astounding. And I happened to see it on my way home from a workshop with Nancy Crow on motifs.  So I took pictures and have started drawing sketches.

When I saw Mary's quilt of wind generators I was delighted at how beautiful it was and decided I was on the right track of creating a series using motifs of wind generators.  Would mine be like Mary's?  Absolutely not!  I don't do the realistic art quilt thing.  Do I expect the rest of the world to not create anything--quilts, statues, drawing, paintings, carvings, etc--having to do with wind generators?  Uh, I don't think so.  If I have another idea for a motif and find out that someone else months and years before I even had the idea created something using the same idea, will I joke that they "stole" my idea.  NO WAY.  I may be thick but I try not to make the same bad joke twice.

My motif has been stolen!

Take a look at this!

First of the 8 X 10s finished

Friday Favorites

For some odd reason, many of the restaurants in Auburn (where Nancy taught at QBL2) covered the top of their tables in paper.  I saved those papers and thought I would do something with them.   The first paper technique I want to try is from the book, Drawn to Stitch.  In this technique you stitch the butcher paper with the sewing machine and then wet the paper and remove as much of it as you want.  I thought I would try doing that but add a layer of polyester organza so I could wash out some paper and burn out some of the organza for a double layer.  Here is a picture of the fabric, paper, and stitching.  The paint on the organza is an earlier experiment at a monoprint.

Everything was going well until I tried to burn the organza.  Oops.  I forgot it was silk instead of polyester.  Silk doesn't burn.  Okay, plan two.  Now I will just shred the silk.  Silk likes to fray nicely.  The project isn't done yet but here it iswith the paper washed out and the silk trimmed.  It is just laid on top of the hand dyed fabric on which I will mount it.  It is destined to go the Harlow Gallery for their 8 X 10 fund raiser.

Friday Favorites
Here are three more ideas using fabric and paper.  This one is from Judi Hurwitt at Approachable Art.  This technique uses matte fluid  medium.  Another technique I found this week can transfer photos to fabric using a gel medium.  Her results look fabulous.

And another paper technique I want to try is featured in Kim's Hot Textiles--faux chenille with organza and paper.  I linked you to Part 2.  I assumed there is a Part 1 but the Part 2 gave me enough information to give this technique a try so I almost skipped Part 1. But then I felt guilty so I went to look for Part 1 and found that it covers a different but related paper/fabric technique. So glad I checked it out too!

And since it is starting to get to that time of season...Wonder what you can make in a hurry for Christmas?  Try Alisa's chunky bracelets.  I am not a bracelet wearer but I do think I may make a couple for daughters this Christmas season.

Motifs

The whole week with Nancy was about linear motifs.  I have always avoided lines and never used a motif.  Now I see lines and motifs everywhere.  How about this wind farm in NY for use as a motif?

 

Second Assignment and Friday Favorites

Here is a picture of my second assignment.  The piece is only partially sewn and is a failure as far as completing the assignment but Nancy did say that it is on its way to becoming a good composition.

 Friday Favorites
I didn't have much time to cruise last week--Nancy keeps you busy!  And in my very little free time I spent  in the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center's show, Quilts=Art=Quilts.   I have found a lot of inspiration there!   By totally ignoring my husband in the few minutes I have free, I have had time to find this one post.

Here is Connie Rose's success with eco dyeing with alum.  Makes me yearn to get back home to my black walnut brew.  I think I will try her recipe, wrapping method, my walnut brew, and see what I get.

First Day With Nancy Crow

All week we are using a linear motif each student was to design before coming to the class.  Here is mine.

The first day we were to create two finished sewn-together compositions of about 36 inches square. The first composition was to use black and one color in a flat and a bright tone.  The second composition used white and the same color  in two tones.  Here are my 2 compositions.
 

And the journey begins

Saturday we drove from Maine to NY.  Stopped along the way at Brattleboro and I got these lovely antiques to use for batik.

Sunday we attended church in the local LDS chapel. We drove past it a couple of times because it did not fit the typical LDS chapel architecture.  No wonder.  It started out life as a Catholic Convent.

Tomorrow morning Nancy Crow's class starts.  Wish me luck.

Friday Favorites

Woooo Hooooo!  I am taking another course this Spring!  Here is a description of it.

ART 309 Intermediate Printmaking
Application of basic knowledge of printmaking to individual imagery with an emphasis on the development of technical skills and aesthetic concerns. Prerequisite: ART 209 or ART 210

I have the prereqs and the time slot is at the end of the work day so it fits my schedule!  I am so excited.  The instructor is Karen Adrienne who is an excellent teacher and is open to my working with fabric.  I learned a lot from her in my first semester class on beginning printmaking so I expect to learns tons this time too.  I am soooo excited!


Friday Favorites
Lyric Kinard wrote a post on the watercolor class she is taking.  I was glad to see the post. Do you debate about whether you should take more classes, less classes, no classes?  I wonder if I am taking too many classes and should spend my time honing the skills I already have. But I am like Lyric and like to add something new to my skills. And I have found that whatever class I take, I learn more about art in general that I can then use to enhance my art. Obviously, (see above) I am on the side of taking classes, so long as you use the skill in your own voice. For me, that is the key.

What do you think of this spider web?   I think it is luscious.  If I were a spider that is what my web might look like.  Don't you think it would look great as part of a quilt?   I mean making it all 3-D and everything on the quilt.

Just discovered Peggy at Woman with Wings. She is another woman who thinks that leaves should not go to waste before being boiled for dye. Tee Hee  Here is a picture of some black walnut hulls that I brought home to Maine from Indiana when I was there in September for a work-related conference.  (Black walnut trees don't grow in Maine.)  They are currently dyeing some yardage for me.

And another new site that I found this week is this one by Susan Lenz. She has multiple blogs but here are my two favorites blogs/posts so far.  This one is her blog for grave rubbing quilts.  I love that!  It is not that I am gruesome or anything but having been raised Mormon, dead people are just people who have moved beyond the veil but are certainly not gone or scary.  This seems just such a cool way to remember them.  And then there is this fabulous post on another of her blogs.  I'll be experimenting with this technique when I get back from Nancy's workshop.

Beverly tried a first mixed media piece with great success.  She gave great step by step directions for how she  made it.    I wish I could get a better look at her edging though.  The description of it is very interesting.  The art quilt is her entry for the Tangled Textiles Challenge.  Here is my favorite quilt for Challenge 3--Tools-- and the link to the personal blog of Dutch Comfort with pretty clear step by step instructions for how she made it.  Thanks both of you lovely ladies for telling us how to make our own attempts with the techniques you chose!

This post I bookmarked just for the inspiration of the quilt she is working on.  I love that style so much.  Do you use inspiration from others' quilts?  Is that wrong?  Sometimes I will hang some photos of quilts--like this one--on my design wall as I am working on a quilt.  Not that I want to copy the quilt exactly or even roughly.  I do like my own voice.  But sometimes when I get frustrated with my design or stumped about the next step, I can look at the successful quilts that are similar in style and they will give me an idea of something to try (or something to take out) and a hope for being successful.  Looking at them is calming and gets my creative mojo flowing again. What do you think?  Is that cheating?

I love the first of the Month!

Ah!  The first of the month!  I love the first of the month.  I get paid monthly so the first of the month I feel RICH!  RICH, I tell you!  For about a day.  Less really. 

This month I have used my disposable income marked for art/quilting supplies on: 1) renewing my SAQA membership, 2) buying a yearly membership in SDA, and 3) joining the local art gallery, Harlow Gallery, so I can show my work there.

So now it is the second of the month and  I am back to penny-pinching.  I am trying to figure out how much money out of the food budget I can eke to actually create art this month.  I am sure my dear and loving husband will not mind having rice and beans for Thanksgiving.  LOL