Weekly Report 2014 - 10/24

Blue print for poison dart frog appliqué
and masking pieces.

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

The hurdle I had to leap over this week was how to cut out and paint the poison dart frog that I will be appliquéing to the background of tropical leaves in Night Vision. Painting free hand terrifies me. I had tried to mark the black vinyl with a thin white chalk marking pencil and it left no discernible mark. So, I opted to mask (cover up) those sections I wanted to leave au naturel and apply the paint to the unmasked areas. I didn't take pictures of the process, but I will outline my method for you.

1) Using a pencil create a line drawing of the frog on tracing paper
2) Outline the interior splotches of color
3) Once satisfied with the drawing use a black permanent marker to go over the frog's outline and a different color permanent marker to go over the blotches. 

The poison dart frog is painted.

4) Using a copier enlarge the drawing in reverse to the scale that you want your drawing.
5) Trace the enlarged drawing onto freezer paper with the shiny side down.
6) Iron the freezer paper to the backside of the frog fabric. I used a pressing cloth since I was working with vinyl that was backed with felt.
7) Cut out the frog following the outline on the freezer paper
8) Remove the freezer paper. 

Current favorite position for the poison
dart frog perching on a leaf.

9) Cut apart the sections to be masked from the sections to be revealed. Hint. I did this one section at a time so I could remember how to reassemble them.
9) Using a Zig 2 Way Glue pen  apply glue to the paper side of the masking segments. Wait for the glue to dry clear. This allows the segment to be moved or removed just like a Post It note.
10) Stick the masking segments to the right side of the frog fabric with the paper and glue side down.
11. Paint the unmasked areas with So Soft Opaque Fabric Paint. I used five layers of paint to get the depth of color I wanted. I let the paint dry between applications. So Soft does NOT have to be heat set to be permanent. 

Pumpkin Patch is my own design.

It has been a very busy week from strategizing how to paint the poison dart frog to preparing for a solo exhibition in December and a group exhibition in January. I did stay true to my commitment of creating art three days a week. Here is how the art portion of the week went:

1) Night Vision - (Due January 1, 2015)

a) Prepare the quilt sandwich - the backing and batting are cut
b) Continue testing paints - Done!
d) Paint the poison dart frog - Started.

2) Free motion quilting practice. - Done!

I was inspired to try my hand at designing a free motion quilting motif using pumpkins. The trick is to get from one pumpkin to the next. I solved that with loops and leaves. 

3) LifeBook 2014 - Do the assignments. - Done!

Many of the LifeBook assignments focus on acknowledging the negative in life and then obscuring it with the positive of art. This lesson by Christy Tomlinson, who suffers from fibromyalgia, was no exception. I modified it a bit to suit my own aesthetic.  

I'm not completely satisfied with the poison dart frog yet. I want to add some white lines and dots just to help the frog pop a bit more off the leaves. Next week will have me focusing on pondering. Does the white work? Is the frog positioned correctly? It will be a different busy. Of course I will continue to work on keeping up with my free motion quilting skills and learning mixed media. 

1) Night Vision - (Due January 1, 2015)

a) Finish painting the poison dart frog
b) Appliqué the frog to the quilt top
c) Prepare the quilt sandwich
d) Start quilting

2) Free motion quilting practice.

3) LifeBook 2014 - Do the assignments. 


I am now linking up to two blogs on Fridays. The first is Nina Marie's Off the Wall Fridays and the second is Free Motion Mavericks.