Do You Have a Favorite Visual Effect in Artworks?

      When you visit an art gallery or museum or exhibition do you notice that certain types of art attract your attention more than others? Do you try to take time to find out why you like them so much? Over the years, as I’ve explored art, I've realized that one of the things that appeals to me is subtlety. I do like bright, bold colors, also, but find that what impresses me most are details that suggest rather than state loudly. So naturally, as my work has evolved, I found that I often use varying levels of values of the same hue to create subtle contrasts which has led me create a look of transparency.   
     When I dye fabric using fiber reactive dye, I often dye several pieces at the same time using different dilutions of the same dye mixture. I manipulate the fabrics the same way so that they will have the same type of patterns on them. To get the effect of transparency, I place two of the fabrics, one light in value and one darker, side by side. I look for similar markings on them that will line up with each other to make it look like one piece of fabric is partly transparent and overlapping the other.  Or I print an image across them to connect them, visually. Below is a close look at the bottom section of Letting Go where I placed three different values from the same dye mixture.

Letting Go (detail at bottom)

     

Letting Go

     Sometimes, even different patterns will work. For example, In my piece, Emerging, I put a dark gray rectangle on top of a medium gray background. The background was created by printing a shibori-type pattern with thickened dyes. The dark gray piece was dyed using low water immersion and scrunching the fabric. I had not originally intended to use these two fabric together, but when I placed them together on the design wall to check values, I could see several places where, if I cut them correctly, I could match up patterns to look like one flowed into the other. To me, it looks like a semi-transparent darker rectangle is sitting on top of the background, letting the background peek through. In reality, they are both cotton broadcloth (opaque).

Emerging (Detail)

     I can also get that effect with two fabrics of different hues. If part of their edges line up with a similar marking on both sides, it will suggest that it one piece is overlaying the other. For example, placing the gray fabric next to the blue fabric looks like one is laying on top of the other because the darker markings on both line up. To do that, I had larger pieces of both fabrics and moved them around next to each to find a place where the patterns matched. Then I cut the fabric pieces using those portions of them.

Little Transformation 22

     That same sense of layering can be accomplished with paint. I use transparent paints which can allow some of the background to show through. On the lower portion of Emerging, I printed the embroidery image with a dark paint. Above it, I used a much lighter value of paint, matching up the markings on the thermofax screen as I printed. So again, it looks like a semitransparent piece is laying on top of the background and that the background is the layer with the printed embroidery instead of the darker top rectangle on which it actually is painted. 

Emerging

Another way to aid in transparency is to alter thread color. I add to the transparency effect by varying color and value in the threads I chose to use to finish the artwork. In the Transformation series, I stitched a running stitch along the outer edges and changed the color of the thread to match each fabric. On Taking Root, for example, I switched the thread color from light green to darker green, to very light gray to darker gray.

Taking Root

Taking Root
Detail of edge

I want to give a shout out to some artists who have helped me learn about transparency. One of them is Christine Barnes. I've learned a lot about how to get the transparency effect by reading her newsletters. Another source for me was the book Color and Composition for the Creative Quilter by Katie Pasquini Masopust and Brett Barker.

     I find that I’m at the point in my artistic practice where I actually try to plan on having these effects in my works. I enjoy the challenge of doing it and it is one of things that has helped me to define my style. One of my favorite things to do when admiring art is to take the time to analyze specifically what I like best about it. It allows me not only to appreciate the piece, but also to be inspired to incorporate it in my own art in my own way. 
     Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope to hear from you in the comments. 

What Do You Do To Keep Inspired?

     Do you ever feel like you need to search for inspiration? I have many things I do to keep inspired. I take notice of the things around me when I'm out and about, I read art books, I browse Pinterest images, I meet with artist friends, and I take the occasional class or workshop. If you have been reading my blog, then you know that I am presently enrolled in Jane Dunnewold's Art Cloth Mastery Program. As part of this, I've attended 4 weeks of classes in her studio in San Antonio studio and done lots of work at home. The latest session for me with her was last week. I've learned numerous new techniques there as well as doing color studies in paint and dye and honing composition skills.

at my work station applying soy wax paste to silk

     As part of the composition skills, I've gotten better at knowing how to layer images. She has been so generous in showing us her processes in creating beautiful pieces.

Jane showing us her process in creating part of her latest series

     The first day each session always involves each of us putting up our latest works for discussion. I do have a design wall at home, but not big enough to put up all of my latest at once. This was the first time I got to see all of mine from this class together.

What I've created so far in the class

     The theme for them has to do with changes and cycles. I'm hoping to have a total of 12 by the time I'm finished with this series. Not sure I can do it, but that's the plan.

detail of one showing stitching

detail of another one showing stitching

This session, one of the new techniques I learned and loved was lamination. She has a book that illustrates this process, but it was so useful to see it demonstrated in person and see numerous examples of it on finished works and on samples. I was so inspired by it that I can't wait to use it in my works and on clothes.

One of my lamination experiments

Another one of my lamination experiments

Spending every day for a week with students who are like-minded and also on the same journey is inspiration, too. Now that I'm home again, I have to settle down and get to work...lots of work. Our last session is in February and ends in an exhibit of our work. So, for now, my well is happily full. I'm linking this to Off The Wall Friday where you can find other art quilt blogs. Please make comments on the artists' posts so that they know you stopped by. Thanks for visiting.

Do You Work Large or Do You Work Small?

     Do you have a favorite size range in creating art? I usually make pieces that are about 30 x 24 inches. I like the portrait format most. But the pieces I'm creating for my Art Cloth Mastery class are not like that. They are much larger and either more narrow in width compared to the height than I used to do and some are close to being square. None are the usual size or shape I've worked with in the past.
     And while I'm waiting for dye baths to batch or circulating ideas in my head, I've been working on a daily practice of making small fabric collages. Each is about 6 x 4 inches and felt backed. I'm using up pieces of cloth on which I had leftover from the larger artworks. Doing this has given me a better handle on composing better and faster. Also, they've given me the opportunity to audition what stitching I might want to include on the larger ones. Here are six of them. Some have stitching and some don't yet. I'm considering all of them works in progress.

Collage 1

Collage 2

Collage 3

Collage 4

Collage 5

Collage 6

     And while I was doing this, I decided to do the same thing for my auction piece for SAQA. It's 12x12 inches. This one is faced and is Ecofelt-backed with an aluminum slat with holes for hanging.

Across Time

     The leaf in each one is metaphor for change of all types. I dyed all the fabrics and printed on them with thermofax screens and stamps using fabric paints. The pieces are fused with Misty Fuse and then I hand-stitched. This auction piece will be available for purchase in the SAQA online auction  which begins September 15. The money earned goes to SAQA.
     So now, I find myself working large and small. Large to create the major works and small for practice and more immediate satisfaction. I'm finding both to be fulfilling in different ways. I'm linking this to Off The Wall Friday where you can find other art quilt blogs. Please make comments on the artists' posts so that they know you stopped by. Thanks for visiting.
          

Do You Have An Art Skill That You Shy Away From?

Is there an art activity that you feel that you just aren't good at? I always feel like I balk when it comes to making collages. I may start with an idea or start with a good color palette, but when it's finished, it never looks like a good composition. And when I look at other artists' collages, they always look so together. I study theirs vs mine to try to learn, but still haven't mastered the tricks.
My summer camp creative assignment this week was "Paint the News". Basically to take the newspaper and paint over it, then cut it up, and make a collage. When I saw that the basic assignment was to make a collage, I had two thoughts: One was "Oh no. I'm not good at this." The other thought was. "Oh good. I can try again. And at least there are directions for a starting point."
So I decided to use my favorite colors of blue greens. I painted over a newspaper page, a cut up some pages from a magazine. I really disliked my first attempt and threw it away. The next day, I decided to try again.

attempt #2

I liked this one better, but it still wasn't good enough, so I threw it away, also and I decided that wouldn't participate in this week's activity. The collages that the other artists were sharing online were very impressive, and I was too embarrassed by my attempts to share mine.
Then, one of the artists wrote by hers that she "let the chaos happen." That phrase really hit home with me. So I took my last attempt out of the trash and cut it up and rearranged it.

Balance The News

My response was to counteract the news of violence, stories of bigotry, and people ignoring facts. So I painted over the words on the paper almost completely. For symbolism, I added pages from a crossword puzzle book that could be filled in with more upbeat words. I used cool colors wishing everyone would just calm down and step back to think before they speak and act. And I incorporated one of my favorite themes.
Maybe I am getting the hang of collage. Let the chaos happen. I like that. I'm linking this to Off The Wall Friday where you can find other art quilt blogs. Please make comments on the artists' posts so that they know you stopped by. Thanks for visiting.

Will You Settle For a Design You Aren't Thrilled With?

     Since I wasn't thrilled with my first attempt at a wildflower quilt, and it was going to be displayed in City Hall, I knew I had to make another one pronto. Luckily, as I was packing some previously made quilts to take with me for show and tell, another inspiration struck. I was choosing to take this small quilt called Continuity with me that I liked a lot and I thought its design would do well for a wildflower quilt.
      So I got out my gelatin plate (a store bought Gelli plate) and I mixed up paints in similar colors to the ones on Continuity and I monoprinted some fabrics on cotton muslin. I wanted to use hexagon shapes in the background, so to create those, this is how I did it using two toilet paper rolls, duct tape, and some wire:
1.) I measured one-inch intervals on the wire strip and bent it at one-inch intervals until I had six sides. (I used a printed hexagon as a template to get the angle correct.)
2.) I cut up the side of one of the toilet paper rolls lengthwise.
3.) I cut up a one-inch length on the other toilet paper roll and taped it into the other roll to make it larger.
4.) I wrapped the six-sided wire strip around one end of the newly formed toilet paper roll and bent the end of the roll into a hexagon, wrapping duct tape securely around the wire so that it would hold its hexagon shape. And voila, I had a hexagon stamp.

my sturdy hexagon stamp

     Then, after I spread the paint on the Gelli plate with the brayer, I gently pressed the hexagon onto the plate here and there before I put the fabric on top. 

     And here are some of my fabrics after printing.

This collage was made with the App Pic Collage

     I cut the fabrics into various sized rectangles and sewed them together, put them onto batting, thread sketched one of my wildflower shadow silhouettes,  hand sewed on various sheers, stamped other design elements, did some embroidery, added a pillowcase backing, and then machine sewed onto the flower again. And here is Continuity II.

Continuity II

I'm very happy with this one. It measures 20 inches x 29.5  Here is the artist statement for it:

Wildflowers are a sight to see when they are in masses in fields and on the sides of the road. But they are in peril for several reasons. One of those is the disappearance of the honeybee. The flower and the bee depend upon each other. Will the flowers and the bees continue or will the cycle be broken and these shapes remain only in our imaginations?

As for my "failed" wildflower quilt. I think it needs more contrast in some areas and I'll work on it more some other time after I let it sit awhile. But I think it's important for me to post my not so good attempts here as well as the successes so that beginners can see that it's ok and normal for not all art to work out. It makes me feel less insecure when I see some expert artists post some of their "failed' attempts, too and when they discuss what went wrong.

     In my last post I told you that I had big news. I've been accepted into Jane Dunnewold's three year Art Cloth Mastery Class in San Antonio. It involves me going out there to her studio five times during the three years and working in between sessions at home. The first session begins Sunday, March 6. She sent pre-assignments and I've been busy working on them for weeks. I've read poetry. I read Molly Bang's Picture This which was amazing. I've read many books on design and composition, but this one was exceptional. Also on the reading list was a book about Notan in which I learned a lot from doing the exercises in the book. I read Drawn To Stitch, which I had to review for the class. I had to prepare texture studies, collect color samples, and collect imagery for symbols I might want to work on for the three years. Needless to say, I'm very excited about it. I'm at a point in my artistic endeavors where I need a push and advice from someone with a lot of experience and I've admired her words and work for a long time so I'm jumping in.

     I'm linking this late to Off The Wall Friday where you can find other art quilt blogs. Please make comments on there posts so that they know you stopped by. Thanks for visiting.

     

How Can You Tell When A Design Isn't Quite Right?

     Have you ever finished a piece but then looked at it and thought something wasn't working? I finished my wildflower piece and was sort of happy with it. It came out as I intended it. I hung it on the design wall for a few days and showed it to my art group. I didn't ask for a critique so I didn't get any. But something was bothering me about it.
     So there are a few tricks I knew to do. One is to take a photo and look at the photo on a small scale. That way you just see the shapes, colors, and values. When I did that, I could still tell that something was off, but I couldn't pinpoint it. The next thing, was to look at it upside down. When I did that, I immediately saw what was annoying me. My ammonite fossil was both too small and it was facing in the wrong direction.
     Luckily, it was an easy and quick fix. I cut another fossil from prepainted fabric I had and free motion sewed it right on top of the old one. I ripped out the old seeds, which I didn't like anyway for two reasons. I didn't like the shapes I chose and I didn't like how they ended up on top of one of the rectangle shapes of fabric. Now with the fossil facing the other direction, they were in open space and I could redo the shapes better. Then I added another chain of embroidery to connect to the fossil and all was good.

old version

The Seed Bearer

     So now I declare it finished. I'm still not crazy about it. There are parts of it I like but still I'm bothered about something. Enough time spent here so I'm moving on to other projects now. Maybe someday, I'll see what I'm missing. I'm in the mood to go monoprint some fabrics. Poor cats will be locked out of the studio for a bit. I've got some big news next post. 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 they know you stopped by. Thanks for visiting.

How Would You Finish Off A Crazy UFO?

     Do you have any wild UFO's laying around? Most of do. I never know what to do with the really crazy ones. Usually I cut them up into smaller pieces and rework those. Awhile back I threw an art party at home and posted about it here. Each of my friends took home a "finished" piece. Mine is still laying in the UFO pile. One of the participants, Mary McBride, was given one by another so she took home two. She actually added on to them and created finished artworks from them. Go Mary!
Here's the starting piece of one of them.

starting piece 1

She went with the cat theme and went to town.

Finished!

starting piece 2

after rotating it, Finished!

She made this one for a friend who loves art with Madonnas. Mary is a fantastic collage artist. (This last photo isn't great because I took it in a cafe and the lighting was terrible and I had to take it with my iPad from above it as it sat on the table.) I guess I'll have to take another look at mine and see if I come up with any collage ideas based on what's on the background or a possible recipient. Maybe I'll just have to go really crazy for once.

Does Life Ever Settle Down?

     Is it a good thing if life settles down? I'm not sure that it is. Then, it might get too boring. I've neglected my blog lately because I got called back to my home town suddenly for not such a good thing that I won't go into here. Life got interrupted (or maybe I should say plans got interrupted).  But in the process, old relationships got refreshed and renewed and old places got revisited. So, in the end, the trip was a blessing.
     When I got back home, I had a birthday. My husband usually never knows what to get me for gifts so I started a wish list on Amazon to make it easier for him. I started the list a long time ago and forgot about it so when I unwrapped the gifts, I was genuinely surprised. He got my this travel sized water color kit which is perfect for my Tuesdays when I get together with friends in the coffee shop or parks to sketch and paint. It is also perfect for on airplanes. Koi Watercolors and Brush

Watercolor set with Opus playing with brush

The brush unscrews to fill with water so that you don't need to carry water with you. And the plastic palette can be attached to the top, bottom, left, or right side. Pretty Cool!

The box 

And then, for inspiration, he also gave me this wonderful book written by Martha Sielman. Masters: Art Quilts Volume 1 (I already have Volume 2).

Wonderful book

     Once home, I met with my group ArtsEtc and showed them the small quilt I had begun but didn't know how to finish. The group consensus was that the figure of the girl wasn't showing up enough and to fix that I needed to mask the dark blue rectangle a little. Also, I needed to add some more blue to the right and frame it in blue. Here it is, with the changes. I put a white sheer on top of the blue rectangle, sewed on blue edges, and added a small blue rectangle to the right. I also painted the girl to make her darker. Then I added batting and made a pillowcase finish. Now I need to do some hand quilting to finish it off.

before

The Puppeteer

So the ups and downs of life keep us on our toes. The downs tend to dampen the creative spirit and make us wonder why but by wondering and questioning I think it leads us to new pathways and discoveries and new adventures. It's a good thing to not settle down... at least not for 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 they know you stopped by. Thanks for visiting.

How Do You Start A Series?

     Have you ever decided to start a series of art quilts or other types of art media? I so much enjoyed making my last composition and was pleased with the result (even though I haven't yet finished it), that I've decided to try a series based on the images in it. Rather than just get going making one piece after another with those images, I decided to think about why I liked the composition so much.

The Puppeteer

     One of the reasons is that the images had deeper meaning to me. The fossil ammonite symbolizes several things. It stands for cycles, antiquity, and messages, just to name a few. And the image of the girl (besides being my dear niece) symbolizes one who is on a journey to discover, to make change, and to become changed. So I decided to focus first on the words and a good way to start my series would be to make a mind map of the words. Choose a word that is central to the theme and then start free associating words that branch off of that main word. Once I did that on a scrap piece of paper, I had the idea to make it more artistic to make it more inspiring to me.
     I got out my sketchbook and drew out a fossil ammonite in the center with a gel pen and wrote the main word with an Inktense pencil on top of it. Then I wrote out the other words in other colors with Inktense pencils. After I had that part finished, I decided to add the other image to the sketchbook page of my niece and add words that pertained to her and noticed that there is some overlap between ideas of the two images. As time goes on, I'll probably add more words and images.

mind map

     The plan is that the mind map will help me design my series and spark ideas to provide deeper meaning to each art quilt that I make in the series.
I'm linking this to Off The Wall Friday where you can find other art quilt blogs. Please make comments on their posts to let the artists know you stopped by. Thanks for visiting.

Have You Ever Surprised Yourself With A Composition?

     Have you ever just gone into the studio to play with something quick and ended up with a composition that you liked so much that you might use it start a series? Well, I made a sketch the other day of a fossil and decided to make a small fabric interpretation of it. The first thing to do was to choose a background for it. As I learned in my recent class that I blogged about here, the fossil needed to rest on something. I decided to choose the shape in a shape background. So I got out some fabrics and cut out some rectangles and placed them on top of some dyed cheesecloth.

fabrics on cheesecloth on top of white crinoline

Then I thought it might need more, so I tried this combination.

Another possibility

I decided I didn't like the piece that was separated from the others. Then I hand stitched the pieces of fabric onto the cheesecloth and crinoline. Next,  I sketched my fossil onto the back with pencil and free-motion sewed it with black thread from the back.

Interpretation of fossil sketch on fabric 12x12

     After looking at it for awhile, I felt something needed to be added. So I turned it over and was going to add a bird to it on the orange-red rectangle so that the bird was looking downward towards the fossil. But, I had a photo of my two nieces from when they were toddlers sitting on a rock that I was going to do a series on in fabric and I got the idea instead to do this.

The Puppeteer

I removed part of the rectangle and put one of my nieces on top. She was playing with sticks so I got the idea to make it look like she is manipulating the fossil. The piece is still in process. I like all the raw edges. I'm not sure how I want to finish it. But how it evolved was fun and very intuitive. I can see making a larger quilt with this theme and then some other ones building off of this idea. I'm linking this to Off The Wall Friday where you can find other art quilt blogs. Please make comments on their posts to let them know you stopped by. Thanks for visiting.

Do You Need An Idea For An Art Party?

     Do you sometimes run out of ideas for group activities? I wanted to have an art party at my house and this idea popped into my head. 

Everyone will started with an identical piece of fabric  10 x 10 with the same line or a mark on it. (That I provided.) 

cotton with felt underneath and line drawn with a marker

I put a box in the center of the table with threads and other objects in it. The other guests brought things to contribute to the box.

These are the directions I sent out ahead of time:

1.) Each person changes one thing on their piece of fabric by taking something from the box and adding to their fabric.

2.) They pass their fabric to the person on their right.

3.) Each person changes one thing on their piece of fabric by taking something from the box and adding to their fabric. Or by adding something of their own accord that they brought.

4.) They pass their fabric to the person on their right.

5.) Each person changes one thing on their piece of fabric by taking something from the box and adding to their fabric. Or by adding something of their own accord.

On it goes until we declare it finished. Each takes one home.

Sometime in there, we'll break for lunch.

What to bring:

Items to put into the box that would be good to add to the fabrics to make for fun compositions.

Items to not add to the box that you might want to use for yourself on the fabrics.

Scissors, sewing needles.

Things I had in the box: buttons, found objects, fabric scraps, Inktense pencils, markers. Off to the side I had a container of water for the Inktense pencils, a paintbrush, and a huge container of embroidery floss.

There were 6 of us and we spent about 10 minutes on each step. Sometimes I forgot to look at the clock and we spent longer. By the time the cloths came back around to the original person, we were hungry so we called it finished. It was interesting that some people rotated them as as they went around. At the end we put them in a bag and randomly chose one from the bag to take home. Then we enjoyed a nice lunch. Here are the results.

Sample 1

Sample 2

Sample 3

Sample 4

Sample 5

Sample 6

     Now I have no idea which side is up on any of them except for Sample 2 with the bird and cat. I think all of them are pretty impressive especially since we worked quickly. One of the members already took hers home and did more work on it and is sewing a fabric edge around the four sides and is planning to hang it. We liked it so much that we may propose to do it with our art group ArtsEtc., also.
     I even dressed up my Xian warrior for the event.

in the entrance hallway

     So if you need another group activity, this is one that can be done in a little over an hour if everything is set up ahead of time. It worked well for a group of six.  I think it could work for up to nine people. If you have more than that, you might want to split up into smaller groups. I'm linking this to Off The Wall Friday where you can find more art quilt blogs. Please make comments on the artists' posts so that they know you stopped by. Thanks for visiting.