Saturday, August 22, 2015

Journal Quilts 2015 no 3

The finished journal is above.  As you see, I do not bother about binding my squares.  For me, there are a bout experimenting and playing, and not about whether or not I can make a binding.  They have, in the past and will in the future form an important reference for me.

So, here's what I did
I started with a piece of batting and some furnishing fabric
Some green chiffon
A piece of felt, and a piece of painted baby wipe.  Now, in the beginning, these were circles which I had cut with my die cutter ages ago, but I decided I liked leaves better.  I spent a bit of time thinking about the backing fabric and whether i should now change it.
I took a piece of scrap fabric and used a black marker to turn the circles into leaves.   Hmm, that gave me an idea.
 I used some free motion embroidery scribble to do the same on my journal.
As you can see, as usual, I got quite involved and forgot to take photos!  but above all the free motion is finished and the extra bits are added.
And here it is done, with a lot of hand running stitch added.
I have another one waiting in the wings as well!


Happy creating!

Sunday, August 16, 2015

Journal Quilts 2015 no 2

This isn't really no 2 but no 3, because no 2 is still in process, Ah, well.
I had seen an article about needle felting stitching into a background and decided to have
a go.
I started with a piece of batting with some fibres felted into it.
I started doing some stitching into it with wool.
And here it is after a long time needlefelting by machine and three broken needles!
The difference is only very slight.  Perhaps I should have left the french knots until after, so as not to break my needles, and then the petals might have felted in a bit better.
So this Journal quilt was a bit of a failure, but of course I learned a few things and that is what it is all about!



Happy Creating!

Saturday, August 8, 2015

A long time between stops

It has, indeed, been a very long time between posts.  For many reasons. I have been busy on Instagram and facebook with a few challenge groups, but also, we have been renovating and for months, my studio has been packed away!  But my textile work has been languishing, although i have been doing a lot of hand work.
So, to infuse a bit of interest for me i have begun making journal quilts again.  Hopefully playing in this way will get me back on track!
I now keep my journal quilts in a book, so they are easy to look up and refer to
The quilts are 5" (five inches) square
 They are just about playing with materials and tecchniques.
And here is my first new one!

This one  made from a base of gold organza needlefelted onto some batting, then I have added some scraps of sheers, organza, chiffon and netting and stitched around them free motion.  I also added a piece of dyed batting which i attached with free motion pebbles.  I felt that the focus needed to be floral, so i added a free motion sketch of some basic flowers.  I finally finished off with some beads and running stitch.
Considering how long it is since i sat at my machine, I am pleased with this one.  Let's hope that it is the first of many, hopefully weeky journal quilts!

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Layered Gelli Printing

I have been doing a few courses and posting in facebook groups lately, and a few people in the gelatin printing enthusiasts group asked how i did my layered prints.  For those who are familiar with this, my video below will tell you nothing new, but if you are new to gelli printing, the video might be of some help.  Unfortunately, my voice over is a bit soft, so if you are watching, turn your volume up.  I will try to be a bit more outspoken  if and when I do another one.
For those of you who just want eye candy, here are the prints I did
And a few other prints I did at another time


I have been posting the leaf prints in a challenge group, 100 Artworks challenge, also on Facebook, but I embellish them first.
Here is an embellished one.
And now, my imperfect video




Happy Creating!

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

painting the feminine

I have been busy with lots of stitching, none of which is finished, and my painting challenges.  I have also started a course with Connie Solera of Dirty Footprints Studio called Painting the feminine.
I am really enjoying the course and I felt the need to share my process with my first (official) page
I picked up an oil pastel and just played and these shapes came up. They could be babies, or women, or even leaves and seeds.  I wasn't sure yet.
I left them for a while and eventually, I started adding paint, and got lost, so no photos.
This is where I got to.  I started colouring the little areas and shapes in the middle, but they felt wrong, so...
I painted over it.  I  tried straight orange and yellow, but they were too transparent,so I added some white to them and added more, making a sort of stucco texture.
I still felt I needed something to connect the two figures
I had an idea of some spirals, but I wasn't sure, so I put a page protector opened up over the top and  tried it out with posca markers.  I liked that, but I added some dots as well.
Finally, I added more dots around each figure and the eyes.  I call this connectedness and for me it is about how the feminine connects us in our hearts.

Whilst I was working on this, which took a while and a lot of reflection, I also started painting over an old canvas, which was covered in flowers and a vase.
The same shape in another incarnation.  I was actually using up all the leftover paint on my palette and was not happy with the colours, but they have given me the form I wanted, so this is a work in process and we will see how it changes over the week!

Happy creating!

Monday, April 27, 2015

Ships that pass in the night

I have been thinking long and hard about my blog and have been unable to dismiss it, even though i have been using instagram regularly as well as a few facebook groups, but finally i realised that sometimes, a post is necessary. 
I have several streams of work going at present
One hundred faces on facebook and instagram, where the challenge is to do 100 faces in the hopes of improving and fiinding a style.
 
One hundred artworks challenge on facebook and instagram, which is about concentrating on something long enough to make 100 pieces, again in hopes of improving, finding style, and also digging deeper into the topic.  For this one, I am doing layered gelli prints with the theme of leaves which i sometimes embellish and also periodically print on fabric, particularly when i am happy with a set and these i stitch and embellish.
One hundred day project on instagram, which i am behind in by about four or five days (but i don't think it really matters if life gets in the way) there are an huge number of participants on instagram, doing a variety of somethings, from a photo, to an inchie, to a thumbnail, lots of things.  I am, in an effort to improve my digital drawing skills, doing a quick digital sketch each day

And working on finishing the pieces i started in my workshops at AQC on the 15-19th with two tutors 
Ro bruhn

And caroline  sharkey

As well as all the other usual suspects, art journaling, stitching, etc.  

Soon i am going to start posting my WIP finishes weekly. I need to get lots finished for an exhibition later this year.  I'm calling it 52 finishes.  We will see!

Saturday, February 28, 2015

Almost over

The february 2015 29 faces challenge is almost finished and for once, I am actually going to complete the challenge!
Here is the first of my next seven faces.  This one is based on a venus painting by Titian, which you can see here.  The reason I am showing it first is that It became a focus of study this week, and all the faces were based on it.
This one was done freehand with oil pastels, just cheap ones.  even though it looks nothing like the original, I was quite pleased with most of it.
This one was done with depia, black and white charcoal and a little bit of gesso.  A skinnier version :-)
Next I did two five minute sketches, which I used as templates.
I free motion stitched them onto two fabric collages.  These are the backs
On the front of the simple line one, I painted one a little.
The more complicated one I left as is.
I still have three more painted versions of this face which are partly finished and will post in a day or three.
These are two quick faces I did with jane davenport's stencils in a tiny weeny tiffany advertisement book that came with a vogue magazine.
This last one is only half a face, but I like it.  I think it counts!

Happy creating!

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Another week of faces

I have not gotten much done EXCEPT faces this week for a few reasons, firstly a sick DH, who thinks anything that goes wrong is the end of the world (sigh). and secondly our first hot spell this year, though why it has waited until half way through Feb is a mystery to me.
so, beyond a bit more embroidery this morning
I am actually quite surprised at how much I got done!
So, without further ado, faces 11 to 18 (I am actually a day ahead!).  The first seven are exercises from Pam Carriker's new book
this last one is awful and looks like a nasty little pixie!  They are exercises on faces at different angles and it is clear to me I need lots more work.  I also did a little more work on expressions, but it is not fit for consumption.  I am amazed at how difficult angles and expressions are, but of course a likeness is infinitely harder and I know, because my last face this week is my own and, frankly, parts of it look like me, but not the whole. 
I suppose more practice is in order, but I suppose that is why I am doing the challenge in the first place!  To Practice!