Tuesday, May 31, 2005

the third piece ready to sandwich and quilt...has been fused and printed Posted by Hello
part of a larger piece with shadows in the bottom!!! ready to sandwich and quilt Posted by Hello
words gell transferred Posted by Hello
pictures printed on fabric added Posted by Hello
white washing added to the piece Posted by Hello
the underpainting for fences Posted by Hello

still working away....

It has been a long time since I've been back but it's only because I have been really busy.

Ready to quilt my fences piece...I am showing some of the steps in doing this so you can see the many layers...don't have a new piece yet but will post it when it is quilting.

Also have been playing with my new dyed fabrics...took some quick pictures, which aren't very good, just to give you an idea...they are both ready to sandwich and then quilt.

Got the cutest grandson here with me for the week...we'll see just how much work I can actually get done!

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Dyeing...

The last time I did a major dyeing it was before a quilt show and I did about 200 yards of fabric to sell. I did a lot of colors in various shades and combinations that other people like. This time I did a big batch of fairly clear colors along with compliments...on the same pieces of fabric. It has been so fun to fondle the colors as I have been ironing these pieces.

I have a front load washing machine that uses very little water. I have found that I can dump all the dried dyed pieces of fabric in a cold water rinse and then wash in hot water if I do it in a top loader that will hold a lot of water. Not so in the front loader. So I have gone over to my daughter's house to do my washing. It sure is a lot better than hand rinsing all that fabric!! Even my very deeps have come out beautifully that way. Got very deeps, mediums and lights so I am all set.

Right now though I am working on my fences collage quilt. Thinking about circles which are in the fences and incorporating them. Maybe in a day or two I will have something to show.

And also, ruminating around in the back of my mind is the issue of shape...I want to work out a shape I really want to experiment with. I've used circles, cut out circles, squares, triangles, rectangles, etc so I am contemplating some other shape. Oh well, it's good exercise while I work on this painting/collage/quilt.
Dyed fabrtics waiting to be ironed! Posted by Hello

Sunday, May 22, 2005

Dyeing....

This past week has really been the sandwich week!!! Gotta love em all!!

Took Dad out to the doctor and errands on Thursday, babysat Jacob on Friday and the earlier part of the week I was working hard to finish my Mama quilt which is done!!! Now to the photographer...whom I should have called today but forgot!

Also on Thursday there was a big thanks offering get together of other churches at my church. The gal in charge from my church asked me to be there because they would be showing off the altar frontal and my creation series. Glad I was there...although late from my Dad and the doctor and the booze store and the grocery story...I may have a nice commission coming my way to do a chasuble, stole,veil, burse cover and hanging for another church. That would be fun and a nice piece of money! Well, don't have the commission yet...we'll see if anything comes of it.

Printed out pictures of the rusted fence so that I can start on the fence quilt. Guess it's going to be rust and green since that's the color in the photos!! Looking forward to working on it.

However, for the past two days I have been busy dyeing fabric. Tons of new stuff (really not tons...just about 20 yards or so) working flat and pouring the dye on...I had melamine covered board which is used for cheap bath rooms and had it cut into pieces 48 x 28 and then I can do half a yard the flop it down on the grass to dry and on to another one. With my new tables from the butcher I can do five at a time which is really neat. Went over to my daughter's to use her washing machine...I have a front loader which doesn't work well for washing dyed fabrics...not enough water and the synthapol bubbles up to much and comes out of the machine so I get purple bubbles everywhere...at least in to the pan under the washer!

So I've been fondling my new fabric, laying out pictures and having a good ole time. Maybe tomorrow I can get the fences started!! Yeah!! Mama's done!!! Yeah!!!

Sunday, May 15, 2005

Artist's Date Revisited

Well, after I got home on Tuesday, I downloaded my pictures, sent some to my blog and then started going through them and doing some tweaking. The next day I started printing some out...the large central oak was printed on canvas. The oak tree trunk was printed on white pima cotton for the detail. Then I started painting the canvas and playing around with it. Then worked on several shots of the branches and cropped and played with those and then did gel transfers. Then continued to paint off and on for a couple of days. I really felt alive during the process!

And then...I started to assemble the new quilt and to start the quilting. Boy was it fun!! Got it finished on Saturday!

Velda Newman came to our guild this weekend. Love her and haven't seen her since Art Quilt Tahoe. She will be there again this year for two sessions...that is, if they get filled.

Saturday was the last, LAST, LAST, day that I have any responsibilities to my quilt guild. For the past five years I have been president, quilt show chair and program chair. And now, I think, I have done enough there. No more board (bored) meetings, no more squabbling (although we really are pretty good) and no more responsibilities during the meeting. I can just sit back and enjoy.

It's funny when I share my work...I have a group of people who really like it but the majority are traditional or new quilters and they just aren't interested. However, everyone sees the work from quite a distance away since it is shown on the stage. No one ever comes up to see my work up close...and there is so much detail in it. I guess that is just the way it goes. I do get a lot more support when I go to my chapter SAQA meetings...there they are supportive and interesting is how and why I do things.

This new piece is very different from what I have been doing. It has been fun to experiment with it. I have wanted to incorporate photos in my work and this time just stuck with the oak tree and think it works ok...not sure, since it really is different from what I usually do. But then, that's the idea, isn't it?

So, my quote for the day is again from Twyla Tharp, The Creative Habit, and she says:

"The most productive artists I know have a plan in mind when they get down to work. They know what they want to accomplish, how to do it, and what to do if the process falls off track.

But there's a fine line between good planning and overplanning. You never want the planning to inhibit the natural evolution of your work."
California Oak Posted by Hello
California Oak detail Posted by Hello

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

New work and quote for the day

I am painting away on a piece of cotton canvas. I spent the morning tweaking my pictures and now I'm working on California Oak which is painted, will have photos printed on cotton and canvas, and will have gel transfers. I am waiting for the first layer to dry...the problem with incorporating paint! So I thought I would give you a good quote for the day. Oh yeah, and then marks and other stuff. Of course, all finished with stitching and batting and all that stuff that make it a "quilt".

Again from Kate R. Quinlan in the book Inspiring Creativity:

Planning to create, yearning for it, dreaming of it, collecting the materials for it--these are the preparations to create. At some point , you must take the risk, listen to your intuition, get your hands dirty, make a mess, and create something.

So, what are you doing at the computer?

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

and mail boxes on the rural lane Posted by Hello
I love this brick work on the house, the white picket fence and the roses tumbling everywhere Posted by Hello
California poppy up close and personal Posted by Hello
fencing that will end up as a new element in the next quilt Posted by Hello
California Oak branches in the sky Posted by Hello
my favorite color...orange Posted by Hello
California Oak Posted by Hello

The Perfect Day--The Artist's Date

Pull up a chair, this is going to be long but it was so perfect.

As you remember, I have been trying to figure out my work...not really excited about what I have been doing recently. I've been looking at a lot of other people's are work and then fell in to the "I'll never be as good as..." trap. Got out of that but still didn't know where I was going.

I keep two journals. One is a large sketch book in which I put pictures of art work that I really like. I usually only have one on a page if they are larger (cut out of my art magazines and other sources) or maybe two. I leave lots of room because I like to analyze just why I like the piece, what it is that brought me in to it. I have been drawn to Ann Baldwin's work...she does mixed media work and includes encaustics which I really enjoy for the depth that it gives to work, along with the softened look. Anyway, I popped back on to her website last night and she has just recently posted some brand new work. She too has been going through changes with her work so is now offering something very different. She is incorporating inkjet images that she prints on canvas. And then of course, there is painting and all sorts of other things like found objects, etc.

So I downloaded some pictures so I could study them some more and put them in my book and started noting the processes she had gone through. Made notes about the composition, which elements were repeated, the texture, the contrast, etc. Then I looked at my work and noted the same and then looked at what she had done that I hadn't. Walla...I know where I am now going!

I have been taking photos that I want to use in my work for some time now. I just haven't been happy with anything I have tried when I want to incorporate them. Ann Baldwin has given me the way! So I have learned something from her but will do it my way.

This morning the sun was finally shining and I decided that I needed an Artist's Date very badly...too long since I had been out on one. Thought about going to the financial district in San Francisco, or going barn hunting in the central valley and then decided I wanted to photograph the California oaks and then headed to Fairfield and then inland. Not sure where I was going but just headed further away from the population and cars. Stopped at a small cafe where a lot of cars were parked (good clue that the food might be good!) and had a great spinach salad with grilled tri-tip with crumbled bleu cheese and a maple vinergerette. Just perfect! Told the waitress I didn't know where I was or where I was going and asked her about the best place to see the oaks. She gave me great directions, I gave her a great tip, and off in the car I went.

At this point I am in the hills and the roads are winding around. But that's fine because I was just poking along. Anytime a car came up from behind, I just pulled over and let them pass. That way I could travel just how I wanted to.

Which meant that I stopped frequently for pictures. And I got some great ones. Of oak trees that will begin a new quilt tomorrow, and metal stuff, and poppies, and mail boxes and cattle shutes, and hills and clouds and incredibly blue sky. All of my tension evaporated. I can't believe how absolutely wonderful I felt out in the sun shine, stopped, turning back and not apologizing to anyone at all for not knowing what I was doing. If something caught me eye, I stopped.

I am revitalized, recharged, redirected and ready to go! So my computer and fabric have a lot of work to start on tomorrow...or maybe tonight I will start to play with the 88 pictures I took today!

Monday, May 09, 2005

New Look

Got an email from Gerrie today telling me that my site was difficult to navigate. So instead of working on art I have been fussing with this and I think I even got the Artful Quilters web ring thingy up right with the picture! Let me know if you have any problems getting around this.

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Hanging in the vertical...I like it this way much better. Posted by Hello

Change of Mind

I just got back from from regional SAQA group (which is absolutely wonderful!!!) (because they say nice things about my work!! LOL) but I took the hot pink piece and the other one and spoke with my mentor. We tried looking at it different ways and decided that it looks much better as a verticle piece. Then it doesn't feel top heavy which is what I realized was bothering me about it. It is so good to get some feedback from people. I've considered some of the comments received and since I frequently have some sort of shape added, I decided that this time I really didn't want to.

So how do you like this hanging the other way?

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Going Again

Yesterday I was feeling sorry for myself, had a bible lesson to finish before the class, had spent the day running my father around and doing his bills, had spent the day before babysitting...truly a sandwich...I'll have tuna please!

So I called my favorite priest, Fr. Rob, to sound off at him about how pitiful I was...should be grateful, etc, etc...he said that I needed to take care of myself and that my art was my work so I needed to get back into the studio and work and let everything take care on it's own time...even gave me permission to not finish my studying for that night.

Went in to the studio and worked for a couple of hours and felt much better! Now that's my kind of priest! The only thing bothering me at this point was my neck which had a huge knot in it from tension that I just couldn't get rid of.

Went to the bible class and then went over to a friend's house to drop off some batting for her. When I arrived, her massage therapist was just about to leave after giving her a massage. I asked her if she would do a little upper back and neck work on me and within five minutes I was out of the chair and out of my clothes and on the table for a full body massage. Did that ever feel good! The knot is gone. Now, I really like the way God works in my life!!

So I have finished two things this week and have posted them both for you, along with detail shows. The hot pink one is silk and the other is a painted piece which I then stitched forever on. The silk piece has numerous pin tucks in it and has been cut and reassembled and sewn some more and then has satin stitching for good measure.

Let me know what you think...like the colors of the red/green one? How about the design...I'm not really sure if I am happy with this...

I do like the painted piece...it was lots of fun to do.
detail Posted by Hello
untitled painted piece Posted by Hello
detail of silk piece Posted by Hello
silk piece un named Posted by Hello