Trip looming

I have been absent for the last few days and at the moment my studio is all upside down.  I am preparing to go to the Australasian Quilt convention next week and trying to find all the things I have to take with me.
It has been a few years since I have been away from home for more than a night or two and I had forgotten how complicated it all is!  And of course there is a lot of things I need to do to before I attend the two workshops I am doing as well.

I have lists

and more lists

I have a pile of fabric (which is all cotton and that is sometimes hard to find in my home lol) and now have to choose the threads to take as I can't take all of it!

I have a pile of photos, from which I have to choose some likely culprits and then make enalrged line diagrams.

I also have a ton of homework to do in my two courses.  This is a sample thread painting (which will probably not be finished until I return, now) for the working in a series class.
So things are already a bit of a turmoil, and add to that we have been without a washing machine for a month and after picking one up yesterday, I have done six loads of washing today - and I'm not finished, but there is no hanging space left until it all dries.
tomorrow is  our local quilt group get together and I haven't even thought about what to take!

I feel a deep need for some ART!

Happy Creating!

digital drawing day green and growing

This weeks's theme for digital drawing day from Terry grant is 'green and growing' (I am a day ahead in Aus, the post over there will not be up until tomorrow).
I have been working on some green and growing things in my landscapes for my 'Working in a series' class with Elizabeth Barton, and I have been using the graphics tablet to play with my designs.
Here is a value study of a design I am currently working on.

This is obviously not green!  even though the subject matter is,  but I can tell you a grey scale sketch is very useful especially with picking colours.

Here it is with the colour added.  It is a scene a few minutes walk from my house.  The photo I used was quite blurry, but since I know the scene so well, it worked ok.
As usual, I used the pastel tool in Artrage, but I used lots of layers to get colours to lie on top  of each other.
I am finding more and more that it is easier to draw these sketches for my fibre work digitally.  It is more forgiving and you don't have the limitations of the real thing eg pastel.  Also, all you need is computer paper, not thick watercolour paper and sketchbooks! (Although I do love playing in them still)
This one is going to be heavily stitched, so the scribbly mark making is like a practice of free machine stitching and thread painting, which is always a good thing.


Happy Creating!