Week in Review 2016 - 03/18

Tip, Thoughts and Techniques:

Sunrise Abstraction

Each Friday as I prepare to sit down and write my post various ideas for how to begin, what to focus on, or points to make drift through my stream of conscientiousness. Eventually I have a plan. 99% of the time when I settle in front of the computer with the ideas still swirling in my head what come out has little to do with what I thought I would write about. So, is the case for today.

I had thought I would write about the natural arch of making a piece of art; how I go from "you're a genius, Gwyned" to "not so bad" and then where I was yesterday with Sunrise Abstraction, "this has been a waste of my time. why do I even bother?" What I discovered, as I prepared the photos is I do know why I bother and Sunrise Abstraction isn't as horrendous as it had first seemed. 

Feeling the Love is my free motion quilting practice
this week. The pattern comes from Whirls 'n Swirls.

How did I get out of my funk? Two ways. One, I journal first thing in the morning. This is a great way to catch the muse's whisperings. I found myself brainstorming various ways I might quilt Sunrise Abstraction. This gave me a fresh start. In other words it brought me back to place of "genius" so I could feel excited about the piece again. Two, Just because one piece isn't coming together doesn't mean I have made zero advancement in my art. I'm very pleased by how something as simple as stamping my dye painted fabric brought new depth and light to the piece.

This is the right side of the swamp fabric that I created
by painting PFD Kona cotton. The dye does seep
to the back, but not as saturated as on the front.

Seems I have managed to stay OPEN (this year's word) once again. I have stayed open to seeing Sunrise Abstraction in a new way. I have stayed open to trying a new surface design technique (more later) and to modifying a fabric I had already created. Not a bad week after all.

Here is the work that I managed last week:

1)  Finish Reflection #2  - Create and attach the label either when needed or when I have a second label to print at the same time. - Still on hold

2) Work on Sunrise Abstraction - Done! 


I continued to working on piecing, adding a few more strips to the water, creating the sky and then assembling the three sections (sky, sunrise, and water) together. 

3) Free motion quilting practice - Done!

I chose another Whirls 'n Swirls design to practice with. I've decided to call it Feeling the Love. I am not sure what Tracy calls it. I'm so pleased that Tracy has decided to come up with another year of free motion quiltings motifs to practice with. She has her own twist on FMQ with barbs, hooks and ways to maneuver around the canvas that I am ever so slowly beginning to grasp and make part of my muscle memory.
4 Do some surface design work - Done!

If it looks as if the fabric is in reverse now, that is
because it is. I opted to stamp the backside. I liked
the way there were several thin streaks where the dye
didn't permeate and also the navy blue was ever
so slightly less harsh juxtaposed against the yellow.
By stamping the navy with a mid-value green that
has a glimmer of a tint to it, the result is a more of a
realistic landscape. My husband, who photographed
the piece last night declared it "eerie." 

What a difference layering of surface designs can make. I learned this in 2014 when I spent the year doing all of LifeBook 2014's mixed media assignments. Now I am applying what I learned to do on watercolor paper to fabric. 

I knew the value differential on my swamp fabric was too much of a leap. So, when I was selecting a fabric to try out my new moldable foam stamps on I grabbed the swamp fabric. I selected a pea, leaning towards chartreuse green acrylic paint, mixed it with textile medium and started stamping. I noticed several things. One, the stamps were not flat, they were convex after being molded, so getting a clear image wasn't working. Two, the paint was transparent, so the navy blue and paint created a secondary color except where there were paint globules. Even though the effect I achieved wasn't what I expected, I really, really liked how it came out. I've named the piece Bayou and am thinking it will make an excellent small (12" x 12") whole cloth quilt. I might even wrap it around stretcher bars since the fabric is close to 15" x 15".

5) Beware of when I find myself shutting down and find a way to stay open - Done!

The trick will be to maintain my forward momentum as I approach next week's work which is likely to be:

1)  Finish Reflection #2  - Create and attach the label either when needed or when I have a second label to print at the same time.

2) Work on Sunrise Abstraction

3) Free motion quilting practice

4 Do some surface design work

5) Beware of when I find myself shutting down and find a way to stay open

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.

Quilting Along With Leah Day - Week 26

Remember Tree Roots from Week 24? Well it has undergone a metamorphosis.

Tree Roots Transformed

Rather than Quilting Along with Leah this week we are Painting Along with Leah. I have been painting, dying, stamping and inking fabric for over fifteen years. It is something I try, but am never seduced into focusing on for more than a day or two at a time. A friend once said if she were meant to sew her own clothes than why were there so many department stores? I feel the same way about taking the time to develop and use my surface design skills. Why bother when there are so many wonderful commercial fabrics out there? Of course the answer is for the precise reason Leah opted to paint a portion of her current goddess quilt - to enhance and improve the work in a way that stitching and piecing can not.

Close Up of Tree Roots after Painting

I am a sucker for shimmer, so Leah's recommendation of using Jacquard Lumiere paints called to me. No surprise, despite my extensive collection of stencil paints, Seta Color paints, Shiva Paint Stix, fabric pens and dyes I didn't own any Jacquard Lumiere paints. I ordered and received a starter kit of paints. This way I would have 8 colors to play with.

What I quickly discovered is that the color in bottle is not what the color looks like on the fabric. I only had one green to choose from. I played with adding yellow to it. I tried adding blue. Nothing got the color I was looking for. If this had been a formal piece versus a practice piece I would have started with gold and added a hint of green in order to achieve a higher contrast with the background fabric. The paints did glide on quite nicely and stayed put versus bleeding into the fabric.

Fabric is White Muslin That Has Been Hand Painted
With Heliographic Paints and then Enhanced
With Free Form Leaves Painted with Jacquard Lumiere Paints

I had extra paint left after completing the Tree Roots project. I added some black Neopaque paint to the green Lumiere paint. I was hoping for a deep leaf green but got a dark olive bronze shade instead. Rather than use a stencil as I did with Tree Roots, I simply free hand painted a series of falling leaves onto a fabric I had hand painted with heliographic paints years ago.

Close Up of Free Form Leaves

The hand of the fabric where the Jacquard paint has been applied is pretty stiff. It is not so stiff that the fabric can't be folded or rolled. I do wonder if I would be able to stitch through it. That will be the next test.