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!

 

Well....it's been a while!

Life went off the rails big time.  Getting back to earth now.  This is the second piece in the series of three that I did earlier this summer.  The one previously posted was the first one - the girl in the canoe.  This is the second.  It is all done in commercial batiks.  The subject is our granddaughter. This is from one of my favorite photos of her as she is looking up at the sky with the sun shining on her face. Since her favorite color is purple....there is a lot of purple used in her portrait.  Just finished the binding today.

Now onto the next one after a slight (oh at least I HOPE it will be slight) break.

It's been a full month!

So much to do with Wil here! A LOT of shopping.........eating out.......bread and cheese for dinner......etc.

But yesterday I got to work on a piece. It's not completed yet but here is the beginning.  Right now it is just on the backing.  Next comes the quilting! This subject was chosen because I so loved our wilderness camping trips to the BWCA.  She is traveling toward the distant shore with the sun setting just behind the island. To the right are sheer cliffs. And all is peaceful on a calm lake.

Fun Making Journal Pages

Spent some time making some pages on which to do some art journaling.  It was a new-to-me technique.  Part of it I liked....other parts of the technique - not so much.  But the results?????  Well,  I'm very happy with that!

This is one of the new techniques on a gesso-ed watercolor paper. This page I actually cut up to use for ATCs.  It is even more beautiful in segments!

This one is procion dyes on a gesso-ed watercolor paper with salt added to to the wet page

This is a plain piece of watercolor paper with procion dyes. Sand was sprinkled onto the wet page. ho hum.

Personal Journal Page

Found this wonderful picture of fossilized ferns and weathered stones and it inspired this journal page.  I'm fascinated with old things....the older and more worn the better.  I have TONS of photos of falling down buildings and old doors and windows...just to name a few.  I think I love them because each of them has a story to tell.  I try to listen and tell that story from my own perspective. 

FOSSIL - a journal page



Some Journal Pages

Took some play time today to work on some journal pages. And no.....my studio is not clean/organized yet....and the prospects are looking pretty bleak.  No sooner do I get a space cleared off and I find some fun thing to do which messes it all up again.  Maybe now that I have at least a path to all the important places in my studio I should call it done!

One of the groups I play in had a list of prompts for this week.  Three of them fell into place almost right away.....Night/Day, Song, Lyrics.  The main sheet music is of the song Night and Day.  The background goes from Midnight Blue to Sky Mist. The songs titles on the left side have to do with NIGHT....We're Tenting Tonight, It Came Upon the Midnight Clear and Silent Night.  On the right side are all the song titles that have to do with DAY....Morning Comes Early, O Happy Day and Some Day.  Most of the music is from a lot of very old music I got from my mother-in-laws piano bench. Then I chose to journal in the spaces of the Night and Day sheet music.

 
This one started out because I wanted to try out the Peeling Paint technique (oh and do I ever love it!!). I liked the time-worn aspect of it. And I happened to have stamped watches in the background of it. So, as I'm scurrying around trying to get so many things done before a friend comes to visit, and so many other things that seem to have looming deadlines, I decided Time Flies was an appropriate title and theme for this page. 

Fig Number Four

Here is the photo of number 4 in the Fig Study series.  The title is Dried Figs. I finished it this far some weeks ago. Not sure exactly where it is going but I know it needs something else.  Just haven't been inspired by it as yet.  Some ideas but they didn't look like I wanted.  But, in the meantime, here is Dried Figs. The background of the quiltlet is a handdyed piece. The figs are done in painted and melted Tyvek. The finished piece is 12" X 24".

Dried Figs - the quiltlet

Dried Figs - quiltlet detail

Dried Figs on canvas



The fifth and final in the series is just about completed.  Then on to the next project!!