Thursday, January 14, 2016

How Do You Switch From Sketch To Fabric?

     Is there a favorite way you switch from sketch to fabric? I vary in my ways. This time, I painted my sketch here first. Then I painted a set a fabrics. I put plastic over my cutting table and set out all of my paints, fabric medium, sponge brushes, dishes for mixing, tub for putting the painted fabrics, bowl for water, and put the three cats out of the studio so they wouldn't get paint on their paws because some of the paints might be toxic. I forgot something so I quickly went to get it and left the door open a crack and came back to find this.
Opus snuck in to help
After I locked him out again, I painted my background fabric. But when it dried, it was way too blue and too saturated of a blue. I loved the color, but it wasn't the color I wanted for this piece. So I decided I could either save it for the back side or for another art quilt. I painted another large piece of fabric, and it came out a little more green than I had planned, but I decided to go with it. Then I painted the other pieces. All came out as planned except that I couldn't get the large rectangular rust piece dark enough. I'm going to repaint that one.  Here are the painted fabrics.
Painted fabrics lined up
The one on the left came out lighter than intended but looked alright when first pinned up on the design wall on top of the background fabric. I even painted some whited eyelet cotton fabric thinking that might come in handy since this quilt is about wildflowers. In the layout above, I included a piece of fabric I rusted a few years ago.
     Next, I cut the fabrics as per the sketch and pinned them onto the background on the design wall and made some changes. This is what I have so far. The girl and window are digitally printed. 
in-process
     It's a little boring, but it's on its way. A main part of the design is a group of wildflowers that I want to put in the bottom right. I had thought I would machine stitch outlines of them there, but I need some good photos of some flowers to get the outlines from. I know I can always find copyright free photos online, but I prefer to use my own photos so today, I visited a wildlife refuge looking for some wildflowers to photograph and I got a nice surprise.
     I wanted to place a piece of white paper behind each plant I found for each photo so that I could isolate the lines of each plant. Then I could sketch it later from the photo and from the sketch do a stitching onto the quilt. Here's how I set up the first photo.
taking photo of wildflower
     But what I noticed was not the plant, but how great the shadow was! So for all the photos I took, I set up photos of shadows of plants.  This next one is one in particular that I love.

plant shadow
I took that photo and played with it later using the App Snapseed and got the next photo that I may use for something, maybe on this quilt somehow.
photo from App
I took about ten photos that I think I can get good outlines from so I'll play more with those tomorrow. The fabrics need more oomph, too.
     As I was deciding how to do the wildflowers I came up with all sorts of ideas. Some were very interesting and elaborate. But then, I realized I should stick to the processes that I find fun and that I'm good at so I abandoned most of the other ideas. The answer to the original question then, for me, this time, is to get the fabrics ready first, layout the design, then figure out how to add texture and alter colors to make it more interesting. All fun for me. Opus (and Andy and Rosie) are glad the painting is done so that they can be back in the studio to play with me. I'm linking this to Off The Wall Friday where you can find other art quilt blogs. Please make comments on their posts so that the artists know you stopped by. Thanks for visiting.

28 comments:

  1. Very interesting to watch your process, last blog and this one. You're certainly off to a great start.
    BTW I loved your Christmas card!

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    1. Thanks. It's kind of scary to show so much of a process in case the final product doesn't work out. But sharing on the blog helps push me and challenges me to keep going.

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  2. Genius, Regina. I love you idea of photographing shadows for your art inspired stitching.

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    1. Sometimes, you just notice things you didn't expect. It's such a joyous thing when it happens.

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  3. Of course, I love the photo of Opus. How I wish I still had cats! I really enjoyed reading your process. You are so talented and have developed to such an extent that you create everything! The shadow photos of the flowers particularly appeal to me. Hope they find a way into your art quilt.

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    1. You are so kind with your comments! I'm playing with the shadows of the flowers with the Art Studio App on a layer on top of a photo of the layout of my quilt to see how best to use them. Whether as just stitch outlines or to stitch the outlines and then fill them in with color, too.

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  4. I LOVE the idea of the shadows of wildflowers. I think it has all kinds of possibilities.

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    1. I know. I kept thinking of possible things to do with the shadows. I let myself play for a bit, but I had to get back to the task at hand, too. I've sketched shadows before as they changed in the wind... that was a fun and interesting exercise. It produced wonderful results, too.

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  5. I love what happened with the flower photography and the layout so far looks great.

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    1. Thanks, Maggi. I like the basic layout, but it needs fine tuning. I've already changed some parts of it to generate more interest.

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  6. The shadows ... yes! I saw it instantly in your first set-up. Thank you for this insight.

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    1. The shadows are interesting because they change the proportions and angles, too.

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  7. Love shadows....very cool.... And ....a cat in a bin? Just what every studio needs!!!!

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    1. Cats can't seem to resist staying out of boxes, can they? I can't believe how fast he got in there.

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    2. I laughed when I saw he not only got in the studio, but positioned himself so neatly!

      Opus...Bloom County?

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    3. Yes, we named him after Opus from Bloom County. Did you see the the cartoon from this Sunday? I laughed so hard out loud I attracted attention from strangers around me!

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  8. Hi Regina. I really like to hear about your process. The idea of taking pictures of the shadow is wonderful. I will be adding that to my bag of tricks. Thanks! Looking forward to seeing the rest of the process and the finished piece.

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    1. I love to hear about other artists' processes, too. I've learned so much from others.

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  9. very funny, especially the look on Opus' face! He obviously thinks he deserves the best... Thanks for sharing your productivity ideas. I too am a morning person, but I waste time working the puzzles in the newspaper and then check facebook and blogs and by that time, my 2 hour productivity window is gone. I will work on that.

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    1. He always has a funny look. That's why I've let him in the studio. He makes me melt. Glad to share ideas.

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  10. I love the shadows of the flowers, what a great way to get a good line outline. I will be trying that. Looks good so far. anticipating.....

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    1. you need to be open to unexpected details or you will miss out on such opportunities. I wonder how many times other things like this have happened to me that I didn't notice because I was focused on one task.

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  11. love this post. I want to hear more about process. The cat picture is priceless. LeeAnna

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    1. Right now I'm interchanging pieces of fabrics of different hues of rusts for the large rectangular piece. I think the one in the photo is too light.

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  12. It's interesting to read about your process and see how you are tackling this piece - thanks for taking the time to put it all down. I like your painted fabrics a lot - lovely shades.

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    1. Thanks, Kaja. It helps me to use a color wheel to choose colors.

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  13. Very interesting reading, thanks for sharing. Me too, I love the shadows!

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    1. I'm looking forward to finding ways to use the shadows on the fabric.

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