Happy New Year

2008 was a fast moving year, full of joys and sorrows, gifts and loss. I am not sorry to see it go.

I have great hope for 2009. Hope for this country, for my family and loved ones, for us all.

A good friend and I shared lunch today and talked of how as we are aging, we are not as willing to accept people or situations that are unpleasant to us anymore. We hold our tongues more and let others make their own choices. We are learning to just be still and find some inner peace.

Here's hoping that 2009 brings to all of us more creativity, love, and peace.

Blessings

Well, Christmas is almost here and I have been busy shopping and in my spare moments, making more journals. My plan for the new year is not only to make more journals but to actually keep a journal as well. I do have a journal that I write in sporadically, but I plan on keeping an art journal to store my ideas and sketches.

This year has brought me many blessing, and one is my friend Lynda. She not only shared a lot of her art with me, but shared techniques, ideas, day trips, and laughter. Her ideas spurred me on in many directions and for that I am grateful.
I think we have all been blessed this year with so many wonderful publications from artists like Kelly Rae Roberts and Susan Tuttle, among others, who have shared so much of themselves and their processes. And most of all, I am so grateful that there are so many artists who share their insights, art and so much of themselves in their blogs.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Artist Board

In my last post, I asked if you like artist board or canvas. I shared that I have fallen hard for artisit board. Here is the most recent piece that I have done with artisit board. Since taking this photo, the piece has changed a bit, but that's another great thing about this product, it is very forgiving. I have a lot of cloth canvases around my studio, and I have decided to use it as a mounting board for quilt pieces, instead of the base for my art.

With the artist board, it was easier to add embellishments and to stamp. The photo doesn't show very well, but the skirt is gathered in tulle, and the dress is partially painted and part magazine pieces. So much easier to be creative with the board.

Artist Board or Stretched Canvas

Over the past month, I have been painting on a hard substrate as opposed to stretched canvas, and I must say I love the hard surface. Our local Michael's has been renovated and is now more of a scrapbooking store than the usual Michael's. The new store has more true art supplies (Golden products in various sizes, large supply of paint brushes and papers) as well as the new artist boards by Ampersand.
I find these cradled boards so great because painting and collaging on the hard surface is so much easier. Have you tried it using wood, or a hard surface as opposed to a stretched canvas?
I keep going back with my coupon to purchase more....I'm hooked! lol

Happy Thanksgiving!

My first watercolor painting, and a poll

As promised, I am sharing my first watercolor painting done in Michelle Browns online water color class. It is a fun class and I just love her British accent. If you can't tell, I am painting poppies.

I also added a poll to the on the right about your favorite art medium. Fabric has been my favorite for a long time, but acrylic painting is taking a very close second.

To blog or not to blog

I have been thinking over the past month that blogging though fun, is not giving me the outlet I had hoped to meet and share ideas. I see that people do check in here from time to time, but never leave a comment or suggestion. Am I thalking to myself?

Cleaning and Organizing

As I mentioned last month, I took a part time job at a local fabric store. Although it is a national chain, since I am a fabric snob (quilt store fabric only), there is no chance of me doing major damage to my tiny check with fabrics from the store. It also is a small store and has no true art supplies, so I am home free on that count too. But being in the store and having to do a bit of housekeeping most shifts, I have come away with the organizing bug. I even straightened up that messy desk I showed you last time.

Any how, after spending a few days doing water color (I'll tell you about that later) I decided to start cleaning up part of my stash. I know that when packing, rolling garments give more room, so I decided to roll the larger pieces of fabric (I know this is nothing new) and it has made a big difference. It is given me more room, and I have a better idea of what I have. See what i mean...

Before and after. I'm still working on it and have another book case to finish and then a large cabinet (big job).

The first picture was poorly shot, but you can see what a mess it was. I would have to take all of the pieces out to find what I was looking for and to audition fabrics. I'll still need to pull things out, but it will be easier to put them back and see them.

Tomorrow I will post pictures of the poppies I am painting in Michelle Brown's online water color class, so stop back by.

Is this why I can't get anything done?

I was busy last night and this morning posting new items to my Etsy shop and couldn't find a clear spot on my desk (table) not only to take a few pictures but even respond to emails. Can you imagine such a mess?? Sigh...I'll worry about this mess tomorrow! lol
Back to making more colorful items..

Here are a few of the items I added to Etsy today...great little holiday gifts. They are such fun to make, and a great way to use up scrap fabric left over from other projects.

Summer remembered

Today is a cold, windy, cloudy day here in Maryland. This picture reminds me of the warmer days of summer.











This afternoon was good for napping and then working on a painting that has been causing me grief for the past week. I can't seem to get her facial features right. I am happy with the background, but I have re-painted her face three times. Most of the trouble is with her eyes. Think I need to practice eyes before I start on my next one.












I used a technique from Kelly Rae Roberts book 'Taking Flight' to lay down the color for her face , using oil paintsticks. I really loved the result and will use that technique again on my next piece.

Fall has arrived!

I have been really busy since my last post. I had been feeling a bit isolated, here at home all day working on art, quilting, or reading. Having worked for so many years, and being around people all day, although I was loving the creative time, after a year and a half, I was in need of some human contact. Impulsively, I decided to take a part time job. at a chain fabric store, thinking it would be fun and perhaps spark some creative ideas.

My first week was harder than I ever imagined, and I worked way more hours than I planned. Needless to say, I was exhausted, but I must admit I met some interesting people. I haven't quit yet, (much to the amusement of my husband and friends) so we'll see what happens.

I took the past weekend off to take four classes taught by Zana Clark. The classes were fabulous. Since I am hooked on painting, I wanted to learn other techniques. Zana loves color as I do, and we learned how to use her color washes on paper and silk. Here are my projects from three of her classes. I didn't care for the result of the fourth project, so I am going to try it again with some of my fabric stash and see how it turns out.

I love the color and techniques. I plan to make more boards, some to fram and some to use as basis for fabric art.

Art and Soul Hampton 2009

While waiting for the 3:00 (EST) Art and Soul registration time, i decided to update my little brag book on quilts I have made in the past. I have many of them stored and backed up in Photoshop, but I decided to share a few of the older ones on this site. All of my traditional quilts are made from patterns found at the local quilt stores or in magazines. At the time and still, I have been mesmerized with batiks, and any other colorful fabrics I can find, so all of my quilts are full of color. I have always and still have a problem getting some of points to match when making traditional quilts, so I decided to venture into art quilting, where the quilting police will not come searching me out with the scornful eye. lol Hope you enjoy the happy colors....

Speaking of Hampton Art and Soul 2009, I have decided to only go for the weekend this year, and I so hope I can get into Lisa Kaus and Katy Kendrick's classes. Wish me luck!!

New Art

It's been a while, and I have been busy. I'm getting ready for the cocooning of the fall and winter, by getting back to quilting. It is so much easier to quilt than to search for my muse in making art. Quilting is very relaxing and making art can be rather stressful . Stressful in that I am often not very satisfied with the outcome. I'm sure it is the age old thing of self doubt, and I have it in spades when making art.

I've spent the last few weeks re-reading art magazines and reorganizing my studio. The studio still needs work, but here are a few photos of what I have done so far...

As you can see, I still need to work on this part of my fabric stash. This is the fabric I use most often, (batiks, designer, and other artsy fabrics found here and there).

I decided to separated my fabric from my art supplies, so I feel more focused on either art or quilting. The photo of my sewing room shows about a half of the room, and the table I use for art is only a part of that room. My husband has been wonderful in letting me have most of the basement for my art/quilting endeavors.

I have done a little art....

The affirmation art is inspired by Kelly Rae Roberts, and the Gridlock piece is inspired by an article in Somerset Studio by Lisa Kaus.

Fabric Art Journals

I've been working on art journals the past few weeks, along with making a quilt. Working on the journals has been fun. I placed a few on my Etsy site today, so take a look. Here is one I will be putting up soon. Since falling in love with painting, I am trying more techniques, so this one is painted muslin fused to fabric, as well has hand painted and collaged art work inside the book. I also added a piece of art transfer.

Heart Bouquet

While watering one of our hanging baskets I noticed that the Verbena had formed a sweet shape. Pretty neat huh.....

I've been painting again

I've been working on journals for the past week, and decided to take a break and do some painting. Here is one of the paintings started yesterday. I wanted to add a few things into the painting so I have options when printing on fabric. Think I may a part of the print in a wall hanging. Such fun, and I think my drawing is getting a bit better. lol

Small Journals

I have loads of fabric (some I have hand painted, but the majority I have purchased). Painting and stamping on muslin is a lot of fun, but then what do I do with it? A few days ago, I decided to make journal covers with the hand painted fabrics. That is great fun. Then I remembered that I have loads of batiks and other very colorful fabric which would work as well and would be faster. So I spent the day yesterday going through loads of stuff and making journal covers. I made quite a few of them since they are rather small. I plan to add the requisite beads and fibers to the binding once I have filed the inside with journal pages.

Fun times in PA

My friend Lynda and I spent the day yesterday in a small town in Pennsylvania searching for vintage items and cool things to use in our art. Aside from it being hot and me having my own personal summer, we had a great time. Hope the personal summer passes soon. UGH!

Of course we could not leave PA without stopping in Lancaster to shop at the outlets. I usually go to Lancaster for the great fabric deals, but this time we shopped for fashion goodies. What a fun way to spend the day with a great friend. We laughed a lot!

I have been working on a lot of things, but one new thing I am trying is fabric books. They are somewhat inspired by the styling of DJ Pettitt, but with my own slant. Here are a few pages...

New Work

Today I worked on a painted collage canvas. What fun. I used some of my stash of decorative papers and collaged them onto the canvas, then stamped and painted onto the papers after drawing the figure of a woman. Although I have tried this technique before, this time the colors are stanping shows more. I am still working on the skin coloration, since we women of color are so different, it is fun trying to make the images look natural.

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Lynda and I worked on fusing fabrics using tar gel. Since this technique is messy and a bit smelly when you iron the items together, this is not one of my favorite techniques. I must admit I like the look of the finished product. I think I will print this out on fabric to use in some other way.

Quilted Painting

Okay here is my first quilted painting. As mentioned in a previous post, the drawing for the quilt was done by DJ Pettitt. I traced it onto muslin, painted it with Golden acrylics mixed with acrylic medium.

Painting on muslin has inspired me to try other surfaces. I painted this piece on canvas.

New Paintings

These painting were done on muslin and painted with Golden and other acrylic paints. I drew the house paintings, and the picture of the woman was drawn from a sketch by DJ Pettit, I painted it. I am in the process of using the paintings in quilted wall hangings which I will be posting soon. Not very good at drawing yet, but it is a lot of fun and a definite stress reducer.

New Art

My girlfriend and I have been getting together on weekends to create. She has shared a lot of techniques with me and I have shared a few as well. She (Lynda) can be credited with my new found love of painting. She shared some of her techniques as well as many that she learned from classes with DJ Pettitt and Misty Mawn. Here is her piece... Isn't it beautiful!! Here is one that I did this week on canvas using some of the techniques she shared.I am so hoping to be able to take a class from DJ Pettitt or Misty Mawn in the future, to experience their processes first hand. Well, back to painting.

My new love

My girlfriend and I have been meeting on weekends to make art. It's been sort of an art drought since Art and Soul, so we decided to work together on weekends and share art ideas and techniques. Our first weekend, we worked on soldered pieces and last weekend, we worked on fabric painting. Although I have a good size fabric stash and acrylic paints, I never took the plunge into painting from a blank canvas. My initial piece was done from a tracing, but then I decided to draw some faces of my own. I had a bit of trouble with my facial coloring, but I must say, I had a ball. Here is one of my painted pieces and a sketch of another.

Today we are going to work on more painting and translucent transfers. Stay tuned.

New work and more from Art and Soul

I had a lot of fun yesterday trying out some techniques I read about in Cloth Paper Scissors magazine. I applied tissue paper to a piece of felt with Misty Fuse. Then I used my sewing machine to make the flowers and doodles. Then I painted the piece with Golden fluid acrylics. What fun. Today I plan to try this technique using ready to dye fabric. I know these techniques may not be new to you guys, but new to me.

Next I tried another technique from Cloth Paper Scissors using fluid acrylics on watercolor paper. I built up several layers of paint for dimension, then collaged on background paper and images. I want to try this again with lighter acrylics, not crazy about the dark colors.

Lastly, these are pictures of the journal I made in Traci Bautista's class. Sort of messy process, but the pages were fun to make using paints, stencils, pens, and everyday objects.

More Art from Art and Soul

This is my precious little house that I made in Sally Jean Alexander's class. I have since made another larger one that I will post later. It was a lot of fun to make (I still need to work on my soldering), I plan to make a tiny neighborhood before the summer is over. I also made another small quilt from the techniques I learned from Beryl Taylor's class.

Hey, its been a while!

I just realized that I have not posted since February. A lot has happened since then. I went to Art and Soul in Hampton Virginia this year. Went with one of my art buddies and we had a ball. I took classes from Albie Smith, Sally Jean Alexander, Diana Trout, Beryl Taylor and Traci Bautista. I learned a lot of new techniques and met some really fun and intersting people. Can't wait until next year!. Here are some phtos of some of the things I made.

I made these mini quilts in the two Beryl Taylor classes I took. She is so wonderful and we were treated to some of her wonderful art pieces.

I made this book in Albie Smiths' class. We had a lot of fun and got really messy making the pages from paper paste and gesso paints.

I still need to take pictures of the little glass house I made in Sally Jeans class, so stay tuned.