Back In The Studio

The first week in April until now I have had a physical issue that has basically kept me out of the studio, at least creatively. I did check e-mails on occasion. But yesterday, even though the last vestiges of the physical issue are still a problem, everything changed.

Those of you who are artists probably know what I'm talking about. Yesterday I felt driven to get back to the studio. It was an actual physical, gut level, tangible feeling!! Like hunger pangs are physical. It felt like I would burst if I didn't get out here today and begin something creative. And here I am.

The first order of creative business was to assembly my new easel!! Yep, since so much of my work now involves painted canvases, I was thrilled to find this adjustable easel for an amazing price a few months ago. This morning my husband helped me assemble it and I will be pulling out the paints the minute after I publish this post!!

I know I have a number of series pieces that are running behind schedule but I feel the need to do something not "required" of me....something a bit simple but it is important. It is a piece that "came to me" recently and I'm so excited to get it started!!

Here's my new toy!! (the little table beside it is for my brushes, paints, palettes, etc.) I'll keep you posted on the new piece as it progresses. It feels SOOOOOOO great to be back in my creative environment and have the energy to actually make art!

When Inspiration Hits!

The latest challenge for the 12 X 12 pieces is the theme - OPPOSITES. You might think that would be an easy one, right? Perhaps so. However, I struggled with it for weeks now and was just not coming up with something that excited me.


Until today. At my wit's end, I decided to google OPPOSITES just to see what might show up....maybe an idea to work from...or maybe even inspiration! One of the first selections was a list of opposites. Well....that sounded promising!! And sure enough, the light dawned, birds sang, euphoria filled the studio!!!

I decided to use a few of the opposites in one art piece!! Well....when I started looking and thinking, I came up with more than a few.

So here it is...I had a black and white piece I did for a project a couple of years ago. I started with that (the Picasso-esque man and woman in the woven textile background. Then I cut and added the strips for the left side and top.

FOURTEEN OPPOSITES

Yep...you read it correctly!!! There are actually 14 opposites in this one piece. Can you find all of them? I'll get you started....one of them is Black/White. The other 13 are up to you to find. That's why I put it on this post as a large photo. Some of the opposites are perhaps not as easily seen as others. A couple of them are a bit subtle. But they are all visible!! One I ditched (natural/synthetic) because it would not be discernable in a photo.

Good luck! I'll publish the list on November 1 so you can check your list!

Weekly Creativity - Week 4 - Confetti Dyeing

Ok, you just gotta try something that says "confetti" right? This is just one of the options for this process.

My original purpose was to obtain a background for a new art piece I'm working on.  Alas....neither of these new fabrics will work.  On to plan B for that project.

Stil...I do love the fabrics and KNOW they will find their way into my art and probably soon.

Here's the process

Soak fabric in soda ash
Place wet fabric in a flat container (so you can spread it out but it doesn't need to be totally flat)
Sprinkle dry dye powder onto the fabric (I used a mesh tea ball for this and it worked really well! still..it takes a light hand)
Scrunch the fabric up a bit more
Spray with a mix of water and soda ash (I just used liquid from the water/soda ash which I soaked the fabric in)
Let it batch for a few hours at least
Rinse, wash, dry, iron

And here are the results:

Confetti Dyeing - 1

This piece of fabric I left at the full 40" long



Confetti Dyeing - 1 - detail

This piece was way to dark so I thought I could try for a bit lighter the next time. Used a good bit less dye powder
Unfortunately, it is still too dark for what I need.  But, especially in the detail shot, you can tell why it is called "confetti" dyeing! The dye powders do separate into their component colors

Confetti Dyeing - 2

Confetti Dyeing - 2 - detail



I used white cotton PFD, Dyes (Ecru, Straw, Hollandaise, Bronze and Pewter)

The Long Road Home

After my original idea for this challenge for one of the internet groups grew to 20 X 20, I had to come up with a new idea in that theme.

This month my husband and I did a whirl-wind trip to Texas. Driving straight through there (1,100 miles one way) and straight through back (another 1,100 miles). The reason - my dad's memorial service. All this in 5 days. So Road Map was an appropriate theme for me this month. And due to this long road trip to my home state, to my parents land where my dad's ashes are now buried, I've chosen to title this piece:

The Long Road Home

So, I went quite literal this time. White cotton background (just like a real map) The roads, county lines, road numbers, railroads, rivers, etc are stitched. I then painted in the colors of the different roads and the river with Pigma Brush Pens.



Weekly Creativity - Week 3 - Sugar Resist

This week I tried a new resist technique I had read about on another blog (And Then We Set It On Fire). I've done resists with commercial products, flour, even baby cereal...but never sugar! So I just had to give it a try.

While the main emphasis was on sugar syrup that one makes with granulated sugar and water boiled, etc. I had limited time so I just found the other sugars mentioned by someone else on another post....pancake syrup, molasses, and corn syrup. Sounded like enough to give the technique a try and see what happens...and here are the steps and the results.

First I set everything out - vinyl work cloth, palatte for resist, fabric, resist printing tools, syrups, and Jaquard Dyna-Flow paints (on the original tutorial - thickened dyes were used but again - time constraints won the day)

All Set to Start



Then I applied the resists

Pancake Syrup / Computer part

Molasses / Commercial Stamp and Punchinella

Corn Syrup / Squiggly Straw and tray from package of glue sticks

Jaquard Dyna-Flow paints were applied with syringes. I used Violet, Periwinkle and Midnight Blue on all the pieces.

Pancake Syrup

Molasses

Corn Syrup





And here are the results

Pancake syrup

Molasses

Corn Syrup

So in the end, when I had hung the pieces up to dry, I had a very interesting design of paint left behind on the vinyl work cloth.  I decided to use it for a monoprint. My bonus piece from this technique experiment!

Bonus Monoprint

I really like the results from this technique. So much so that I'm sure I will give it a try sometime soon using the thickened dyes and maybe even make the sugar syrup!

And it grew and grew!!

This is the quilt top made from the map fabric I made last week.  It was supposed to be for a 12 X 12 art quilt but I was having so much fun adding in the fields, etc. that it grew to what is now going to be a 20 X 20 quilt!! This is just the top. It still has to be quilted and bound. It doesn't fit the size for any group quilt requirements I'm currently working on so I guess this one will just be in my collection!

And it came to mean a lot more to me after driving round trip to Texas in 4 days!! Maps maps maps.

Now, can you see the fun things I put in here?? 

A vineyard which backs onto a dirt road. (purple on lower left)

A forest just right of center on the bottom

A marsh near the upper left top (kind of a mottled green)

Two plowed fields (left edge just top of center and bottom right quadrant)

A corn field just up and left of center above the little pond in the center of the map

Two green fields - probably soy beans

A brown field which is fallow dirt this year

And finally, a golden field - waves of grain no doubt!

Oh and the river, of course

TAKING THE BACKROADS

I named it Taking The Backroads because whether it is on a photo safari or on motorcycles...I LOVE the backroads!!

Besides the map fabric I made, I used my own hand dyed fabrics, rusted, rouched nad painted fabrics. Only commercial fabrics used were for the roads (both asphalt and dirt). I chose them because they look like....well...asphalt and a rutted dirt road. Here is a detail photo so you can see what I mean.

I had a blast making this top. Of course, now I have to come up with another idea for the 12 X 12 challenge this was meant to be!

Weekly Creativity - Week 2 - WonderUnder Image Transfer

The 12 X 12 group that I participate in has a new theme for September - Road Map.  So I figured I would work with actual road maps! Hey, why not! I had seen this method of transferring images to sheer fabric and wanted to give it a try. So I'm doing something for my Weekly Creativity Goal and at the same time accomplishing an art quilt for the September Road Map Challenge Theme! MULTITASKING!!!

I happen to LOVE maps so I collect them from all kinds of publications. Glad now to have such a diversity. I picked out my favorites and arranged them to the size I need. It is larger than a 12 X 12 because I will need that extra for the technique I'm going to use in Step 2.

Then I covered it with a sheer silk. No idea what kind of silk it is...just found it in my stash and checked to be sure I could see through it.  First I ironed WonderUnder onto the maps, peeled off the paper and put the silk down onto the top covered in WonderUnder and ironed to down.



Next step is the big messy part. I turned the piece silk side down and thoroughly wet the back side of all the maps. Then the labor intensive process of carefully peeling the backs off the paper so only the images remained on the silk.

A final rinse to remove all the tiny tiny bits of paper still clinging to the back, and hung it up to dry overnight.

This morning, it is dry and while a bit more opaque than I had preferred, you can still see the maps through the silk. Hopefully this afternoon I'll get started on the next step of this art quilt!!  Got ya curious???





Creativity - Week 1 - Organic Stamping

It's done!! Final layer - I have a brayer that has a rubber band wrapped around it. Thought the piece could use some straight lines but needed a more random feel to it. So I used Jaquard Lumiere Pearl Blue paint and applied it with the rubber band wrapped brayer to get the random lines.  I'm happy with it now and it will go into my stash to be used someday when the time is right.  It always surprises me when I get an idea for an art quilt and so often find just the right piece in my stash...often one that was "made" even years ago!!  LOVE to have that to draw from.

Wanted to test both the technique and the paint color so I used the Wrinkled and Rollered small piece first.

Onion Stamping - completed



Onion Print - step 2

Figured out what I wanted to add to my onion stamped fabric! I used a bit of punchinella as a stencil. The paint is Jaquard Neopaque Violet applied with a stencil brush. Since I wanted it to look like the onions were printed on top of the punchinella, I took care not to overlap the onions.  Not sure if it would look like I wanted it to, I first practiced on the Wrinkled and Rollered piece. Liked what I saw and continued on to the onion piece.

Wrinkled and Rollered - Step 2

The test

Onion Stamping - Step 2

Still want to add another layer...just waiting to see what that might be...........

Creativity - Week 1

One of the goals I've set for myself recently, is to do one thing every week that I either haven't done at all before...or...a twist or tweak on something I'm familiar with.  So yesterday I did some stamping with a dried onion. This is something that Wil did on her visit here but I was doing something else that day and didn't get to play.  So now it is my turn.

I cut the onion in half and let it dry for quite a while...days and days. The background is a piece of my own hand dyed fabric. I stamped with Jaquard Lumiere Metallic Olive Green. I love the effect! Not sure if I'm going to add to it or not. Just living with this for a bit to see if it is fine as is or needs something else.



Then when I was finished with that piece, I had a bit of paint left so I grabbed another bit of my hand dyed fabric and wadded it up then rollered the paint over it.  Repeated this several times until I got the coverage I wanted.



Also made a print of the onion on paper. Thinking I might want to make a screen print of it soon.

A New Voyage

I have the privilege to belong to another art quilting group with people from all over the world.  This one is for an art quilt every two months or so. This is the first piece for that group.

So the theme is "Where I Am". The answer came very quickly for me as did the initial concept. Then it was just a matter of bringing it to life.


Where I Am - LIMBO, that's where I am these days. In just about every aspect of my life...LIMBO. Not in the theological definition. More in the idea of so many things not settled. Everything is up in the air. So that is where I am taking you with this art quilt - to my state of limbo.

I do feel as though I am barely balanced and no definite (or sometimes even a hint of) direction to go to solve any of these issues. All of them are mostly out of my control. Others are left to decide my fate. The green verdant background is the beautiful fields of abandon where I long to frolic and play....just almost within reach. The cliff on the left is the sturdiness of knowing at least my immediate future plans. But now...I'm struggling in mid air and always feeling like any day I could plunge into the roiling tumult below me. The solid part on which I can still put my feet is my faith. It is often the only thing that keeps me upright.

So that is my story of Where I Am.

LIMBO

The next theme is "Who I Am".  Again the concept was immediate but this one is even MORE difficult to decide how to put it into tangible form. But that is the fun of a challenge....to stretch and experiment on ideas and/or techniques that I haven't done before.



And So Begins Another Year!!

And now to begin the year with posting some art.   I belong to a small group of art quilters that work in 12" X 12" (remember the hot air balloon?) and the current theme is  "Size Is Not Important". And here is my art quilt for that theme.


Title: Five Smooth Stones

Concept: This was the first idea I had when I read the theme for this quarter. (OK, the second idea!) Anyway, I thought of David and Goliath. Truly size was not the determining factor in that confrontation. So I decided on the five smooth stones that David took to take to the battle along with the type of slingshot the used back in those days (and still do in the Middle East I believe). All the fabrics are my own hand dyed fabrics, the slingshot is made of a very soft leather, the leather straps I've had for years (no clue where they came from now). The straps by the slingshot are bound with a speciality yarn I had in my stash. I did minimal quilting because I used the two colors of "sand" fabric to create the undulation of the sand. Also, I sprayed the two sand fabrics with a textured spray paint called "Stone" Not sure if you can see that in the photo.

Five Smooth Stones

Now I'm ready to find out what the next theme is!! Hopefully this time it won't take me so long to get it done!
Oh and BTW -- HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you! Hoping 2012 will be artful and creative and fulfilling!

Slight Detour

Yep...took a slight detour to join another group doing 12" X 12" art quilts on various themes.  The theme for this section was HOT. Took me almost FOREVER to get an inspiration that I could get excited about.

One afternoon my granddaughter and I were cruising through Google Images and came across a ton of hot air balloon photos. I loved the color and the brightness and the feeling of freedom they evoked.  I knew then that was the perfect concept for my art quilt for this group. So I set about to design one for the quilt. I found this piece of black netting with colorful metallic dots on it. And I happened to have hand dyed fabrics to go with the colors of the dots. Then drew the whole balloon on paper and cut out the pieces to use as a pattern. I tried to keep as many of the dots on the alternate pieces the colors of the fabrics on either side. The balloon is all raw edged applique. Painted very faint clouds in the sky with Lumiere Pearl White paint. The "ropes" on the balloon are from my collection of speciality yarns. I didn't include the basket because the balloon would have had to be smaller and I wanted it quite prominent. All fabrics except the black net w/dots are my own hand dyed cottons.

Full of Hot Air

Taking a bit of a break to complete some other quilts.  A friend of mine recently died and her husband and daughters were kind enough to allow me the privilege of making two baby quilts and one adult quilt from special clothing of hers. I'll be back shortly!

 

Third in the Fig Study series

Went a bit smaller for this little quiltlet.  The finished size of this piece on canvas is only 14" X 11".  The title is Three Little Figs.  Even though there is now a fourth fig, the emphasis is on the three together so I'm keeping the name of the original quiltlet.

And this time I actually got photos of each stage of the process!  YEAH! Although the ones of the painted piece are a bit shiny....the background very closely matches the quiltlet color as seen in the first photo. ENJOY!!

The beginning quiltlet

The quiltlet stitched onto the canvas

Background painted

Three Little Figs completed

Three Little Figs detail

I used a purple ink on the border of the painted fig to copy the stitching around the quiltlet ones and green ink to give some shading to the quiltlet figs.

I already have the first three stages completed on the next piece so hopefully will have that one posted the first of the coming week! So stay tuned!

Second in the Fig Study series

I know...I said I would take photos of the process this time.  I just have so much fun I forget.  Third times the charm???? I have the canvas now for the third in the series.  I'll try to do better with the camera this time.

This second piece is called Figs of Gold.  The background is hand dyed fabric, the figs painted with metallic paint.  The shading is pen and ink. And here it is!

Figs of Gold - the quiltlet

Figs of Gold - stitched on canvas



Figs of Gold - Completed

Figs of Gold - Detail 1

Figs of Gold - Detail 2

(This one looks a bit different because I had to turn off the flash. The reflection was wiping out the details. I wanted to carry through the stitching around each fig so the ones on the canvas are "stitched" around with pen and ink.)

Now...onto the third in the series!!!  Here's hoping I remember the photos this time!

Back now - Hopefully!!

Yep dark days....survived to tell about it. THEN I get sick....yes....AGAIN!!  But now I'm back for what I hope is a good long time!!!

Time has not be totally wasted however. I've started on a new project that I am quite pleased with.  I was inspired by a couple of techniques a friend shared with me.  I modified them a bit, combined them and found that I really like the results.  The origianl idea is to use this technique for my individual manhole cover projects but I wanted to try it out first to see if it would turn out like I envisioned.  So, I had a series of little quiltlets that I had done for a class. Why not try it out with those and see what happened???

So here is my Fig Study series as I begin to complete them with these techniques. I was so excited and having so much fun that I didn't take photos of each step (drat!!) on the first one but I'm trying to do that on the second one. I do have one confession.....it was difficult making that first brush stroke with the paint onto the fabric!  But I'm glad I did!

First is the branch with little figs growing on it. It startes with the original quiltlet.

Fig - Branch (quiltlet)



Then I stitched it to the canvas (didn't get this photo).  Next I mixed acrylic paints to get the color I wanted and then painted the canvas.  Also extended the branch and the tip of the leaf. (I did later adjust the color on the leaf tip....looks much better later on.)

Fig - Branch (stitched on painted canvas)

Next I painted with acrylics to add an additional branch and leaves.  All branches and leaves wrap around the canvas on the sides as well.

Fig - Branch (completed)

One last step.  I added shading with pen and ink on the fabric as well as the painted leaves and branches. Just making little dots with the pen and ink. Here are a few detailed photos.

Fig - Branch (details of pen and ink shading)



So, that's what I've been up to lately. I just stitched the next quiltlet onto canvas and when that one is completed I'll post the photos of the steps on that one.