Art Every Day, Friday August 30, 2013,

Good Afternoon, or is it evening all ready?,
Here is today's new piece.  It started with the hand painted Batik flower like shape.  I grabbed it along with the yummy watermelon colored background and the bright yellow orange strip along with some bright white then ripped and layered everything up. I cut the flower as a square and the white in a square the exact same size. 
I stitched in all of the white lines of the flower with white thread then stitched around the perimeter of the flower with orange thread then I cut the excess fabric from around the flower as close to the stitch line as possible then cut the white fabric beneath it just a tiny bit larger so the at would act as an outline for the flower.  Then I stitched concentric squares and rectangle in the orange and top stitched the white along the inner edges.  I finished the piece off with the addition of feathers in the negative space to add some visual interest there.
The piece is sunny and modern and it makes me smile.
Till tomorrow,
Heather

 

Art Every Day, Thursday, August 29 ,

Good Evening,

Here is today's new piece.  I walked in the door of the studio this morning and just wanted to make a tree. So, I grabbed some of this weird, loosely woven cotton to use for the trunk and a bunch of threads that came out of the washing machine from dyeing for all of the greenery on the tree.  

I topped a piece of violet batting with some blue hand dye.  Next I set the large square of the woven brown fabric on top of the blue so that the frayed bottom edge could act like weird roots then I quilted the trunk and some simple branches along with some finer stems.  I added a bit of quilting in the blue background then spread out a bunch of the fibers to form the boughs of the tree and stitched them down with loose, loop d'loops. 

It's kind of fun and kind of weird at the same time.  I like the design, but not the color way.

Till tomorrow,

Heather

 

Another Make up Piece; for 8.19.13,

Good Evening again,

For this piece, I really just wanted to use the silk that I had dye painted with thickened dyes.  I just love the color way of soft red tones with golden yellow and dull black.  It's yummy.  So, I put it in the background on top of a piece of soft, pale red, dyed bamboo felt.  I added the bold, yet somewhat dull, black and white print which I in turn topped with another bit of dye painted fabric. 

I quilted the background in light, dull tone of red using swirls and undulating lines.  Then I stitched in white in the white areas of the block print.  I stitched the printed grid in yellow in the central square then stitched on that fabulous bone bead.

I really, really like this piece, mostly because of the fabrics and colors, but I think the quilting is doing a great job too.

Till tomorrow,

Heather

 

Art Every Day, Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Good Evening,

Here is today's new piece.   It began with the stamped black and white swirly design.  I ripped it into a square and laid it down on a dark, dark gray hand dye which I set on top of a piece of light red violet piece of dyed bamboo felt.  I inserted the strip of red violet under the swirly piece to add some interest.  

I quilted the heck out of the background with rows of circles separated by sections with lines moving in alternating directions.  The quilting looks great, wish you could see it better.  Then I stitched some tiny zigzags in the red violet strip, quilted inside the swirls with white then stitched down the red violet swirl and then the white swirl inside it.  The swirls were a bit large and started to overwhelm the black and white print so I added a small swirl in red violet inside the print.

The piece is sooo much better in person and I really like it.

Give me a moment and I'll be right back with another make up piece.

Till then,

Heather

 

Making up for Missed Every Day Art, August 20, 2013

Good Afternoon Again,

Here is a make up piece that I made from left over fabrics from the laptop bag I made on Sunday.  I had started with some fabrics that I had painted with thickened dyes and built the rest of the fabric grouping around them.  The painted fabric was mostly dull reds and yellows with dark gray/black.

I ripped up the fabrics into smallish squares, rectangles and strips.  Then I topped some red dye painted batting with Misty Fuse.  I positioned all of the ripped fabrics bits then ironed them in place (If this technique looks familiar it's one of Lauren Vlcek's called Deconstructed Crazy Quilting from our Embellishment book).  I quilted all the bits down using horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines of curvy stitch in a tone of red and a tone of yellow.

After the quilting was complete I added a bit of our hand dyed Venise lace which adds a bit to the crazy quilt look of the piece.  I love this little guy just as much as I love my laptop bag, the color combo is so bold and sexy yet a bit understated because of the dominance of tones. There's so much depth and motion.  It's yummy.

Till tomorrow,

Heather

P.S.  here's a photo of the lap top bag.

 

Art Every Day, Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Good Afternoon,

Here is today's new piece.  It began with a piece of striped indigo cotton which I laid on top of some orange dye painted batting.  Then I took some more of that swirly dye painted batik that I did a few years back and put some Misty Fusee on the back of it and cut out some swirls.  I positioned the swirls then ironed them in place. 

The quilting is very simple.  I stitched along the hard blue lines in the background which are about 1/2" - 3/4" apart.  Then I stitched inside the white part of each swirl. Next, I couched rattail around the edges of the circles.

I like the direct complement of the orange/red orange with blue green. It's both peaceful and energetic. I like how the white in the swirls echos the white in the indigo fabric and how they both make me think of light shining on water.

I'll be right back with another piece that I made to catch up with,

Heather

Art Every Day,  Monday, August 26, 2013

Good Evening,
Here is today's new piece. I simply wanted to play with more swirls.  This time I did it with rattail and ribbons rather than twisted strips of ripped fabric.
I started with a deep blue green hand dyed cotton on top of some green dye painted batting.  Then I jumped in with violet rattail and stitched down the largest of the swirls with three rows of rattail and one of twisted rayon ribbon.  Then I added the two small twisted rayon ribbon swirls.  After those were on, I realized that I should have stitched all of the background first, so I quickly stitched all of it with a small stipple in dark blue green. Next I stitched down about half of the the rick rack.  Then, I added a few more rattail swirls followed by the rest of the rick rack followed by the last few rattail swirls.
I really like all the layering and the multiple layers of depth along with the cool, cool colors. Plus, it's always fun to go a little overboard with embellishments.
Till tomorrow,
Heather 

 

Art Every Day, Sunday, August 25, 2013

Here is today's new piece.  I had a blast doing it.  It began with a layer of bright yellow silk gauze layered on top of a piece of  silk noil that is dyed in tints of red, red violet and red orange.  I stitched the two layers to some batting with a pale blue thread in a wavy cross hatch.  

Then, I started stitching the swirls in a bright turquoise.  There is some very heavy thread painting in the largest swirl.  I love laying on all that thread.  It's a lot of fun to do and the curly, swirly design is a visual feast.  After all of the quilting was done I went through the piece cutting away sections of the grid here and there to reveal some of the silk noil from below.  

It was a good day.

Till tomorrow,

Heather

mo

 

Yesterday's Art, for Saturday, August 24, 2013

Here is a piece that I made mostly yesterday.  I added the two swirls this morning because it was too damned boring.  The piece began with the blue green fabric that I  mono printed using the bottom of a

plastic beaker with a hexagon shape.  I layered it on top of a dark red orange which is on top of a greener, blue green batting. I laid the orange strip down just below the diagonal half way mark and stitched it down with the darker red orange thread in a jillion little circles.  The hexagon fabric was stitched in matching thread along the edge of each hexagon. I twisted up a strip of the darker red orange fabric and top stitched it down the orange bar of fabric in a gentle curve.
As I said, I added the two dark red orange swirls this morning and they are adding a lot of much needed interest.  It's strange, but this one looks a lot better in person, in fact I really like it in person, but not so  much in this photo. I really like the direct complement, it's bold yet well managed with it's lack of pure hues.
I'll be right back,
Heather

 

 Art Every Day, One for August 20, 2013,

Here is the third one I did today in an effort to get caught back up.  I wanted to play with twisted strips of fabric but without using them as swirls.  My friend I.V. made a colograph plate last week with a sun that looked a bit like this one.  Mine however is a bit more abstract than hers.  I got the inspiration from the background fabric.  It had this great portion in the upper corner that was orange which I thought would be a great place to start a quarter sun. So I ripped some golden fabric and jumped in.  

After I stitched down the sun and it's rays I did some echo quilting between the rays and that's about it.  I like the piece, but I'm not all that pleased with the positioning of the rays or something, it just doesn't turn me on the way I thought it might.  I miss the swirls.

Well that's all I've got in me today.  I'll try to do some more catching up tomorrow.

Heather

 

 

Art Every Day,  For August 21, 2013

Good Afternoon Again,

Here's one for yesterday.  It began with a weird fabric that I dyed a couple of years ago that is the direct complement of a pale tone of red violet with a darker tone of yellow green.  I laid it on top of violet painted batting.  The I added a discharged piece of darker, purer red violet that I discharged and over dyed mint green.  Then I topped that fabric with a strip of violet silk noil.  I had a good time stitching it all with various straight stitching along with a few curves thrown in.   Boy was it boring!

So I woke it up with that wonderful swirl of bright yellow green.  I offset it so that it feel off of the edge for even more interest and I really like it.  It has a sort of industrial feel and it's bold like a bull's eye.  I also like the depth that it has.  Not only did the bright yellow green pop off the surface, it pushed everything else back really well.

I've got one more done, so I'll be back in a sec.......

Heather

 

 

Art Every Day, August 22, 2013,

Good Afternoon,

Well it's been almost a week since I've done a daily piece.  I've been a bit overwhelmed and in a funky mood and haven't felt even the slightest bit creative as shown here.  I'm still in a funk but I'm trying to push through it.  I really like this one until I saw it photographed.  Now the dimensional brown part looks like a horses mouth, or worse.  Use your imagination.

Nuf said,

Later,

Heather

 

 Art Every Day, Friday, August 16, 2013

Good Evening,

Tonight I'm channeling my inner Motherwell.  Or maybe it's Clyfford Still.  Either way, I've been day dreaming for the past few weeks about doing some very abstract pieces using bold contrasting stitch and bunches of bunched up fabrics.  

I really like this piece and wish it was about 10 feet tall.  It's only at times like this when I wish I had a long arm, not to handle the size per se, but so that I could move a really big piece really fast and achieve the gestural stitch outs that a 10 foot piece would require. But this one will suffice for now.

It's got great energy and looks good in just about any direction - I like it with the white on the bottom as well as I like it this way. What surprises me the most is where the red violet cheesecloth sits.  It looks like it is higher or closer to us than the black, but it's tucked into the black with black up around its edges.  What's weirder than that is that is looks like it is above the white too.  The white has a good deal of quilting in it to push it back some, but I quilted the hell out of the red violet.  It fact it has the heaviest quilting of all.  In person, the red violet is sitting behind the black gauze, but not in this photo. Weird.

Now I've got to get all of my new classes up on my website, so,

Till tomorrow,

Heather

 

Art Sometimes, Thursday, August 15, 2013

Good Evening,

It's been a hell of a week.  Is it over yet?  Here is the piece I made yesterday but could not load up because my internet was down.  Now, after too many hours on the phone arguing with internet and phone companies, I have internet again and I'm loading it up today.  Sometimes, today at least, I wish I lived a quieter, simpler life.

This piece began with the flower. There is a long story behind it, but lets just say that it's mine, from a long time ago.  I had just the one so I wanted to highlight it.  I find it very interesting that in sea of black, white and red, this little stylized Hibiscus bloom can still manage to bring the feeling of the islands to this small piece.

And that is all I've got to say about that,

Till tomorrow,

Heather

 

 

Art Every Day, Tuesday, August 13, 2013,

Good Evening,

Here is today's new piece and she's a doozey!  It began with a piece of fine wale corduroy that I painted with thickened dyes using a roller for the pink areas and a piece of decorative metal as a stencil with black dye in the remaining areas.  There are some bits of yellow dye floating around in there too.

So, I ripped the corduroy into a large rectangle and laid it down on some pink dyed bamboo felt.  I topped the corduroy with a strip of yellow cotton and placed a square of hot pink jacquard cotton on top of it.  I quilted the pink areas of the corduroy with close set wavy lines in a matching thread color then I stitched in the white grid of the black stenciled areas.  I top stitched the yellow and hot pink down in black then couched on ripped, twisted strips of a black hand dyed cotton to form the central spiral and the black frame.  Lastly, I glued on the six circular, yellow bone beads. 

The piece ended up much bolder than I thought it would, very graphic too.  I think that the balance would be better if I added just a bit of yellow next to the two horizontal corners of the hot pink square. I think I'll do that in the morning.  Now it's off to bed.

Till tomorrow,

Heather

 

Art Every Day, Monday, August 12, 2013

Good Morning,

Here is today's new piece.  It began with a dark gray dye painted batting which I topped with some black linen, some red embroidered cotton, a bit of a hand painted piece of fabric and some blue silk noil.  I cut a bunch of flowers out of the embroidered cotton and set them aside.

I stitched the red down with a smallish stipple then added wavy horizontal lines in the painted piece.  I  switched to a blue thread and stitched the blue squares down with concentric squares.  Then I stippled the black and laid out the flowers which I stitched down with small circles in their middles.

I love the play of the delicate flowers against the bold color way and the highly graphic hand painted fabric.  It was my intent to see how that contradiction would work and I quite like it. 

Till tomorrow,

Heather

 

Art Almost Every Day, Yesterday's Piece, Sunday, August 11, 2013

Good Morning,

Here I am, a day late and a dollar short.... sometimes it's just the story of my life.

I taught a rather large class yesterday at the end of a very tough week and my  hands just hurt too much yesterday evening to even think about doing a piece.  Excuses, excuses!

So this morning I made two, and here is the first.  It began with light pink dyed Bamboo felt which I topped with some dark pink cotton, some wide strips of hand painted fabrics set vertically and some pieced yellow green and white strips set horizontally.

I quilted the background with a stipple in a matching thread color then top stitched around the painted strips and stitched up the middle of the hot pink swirls.  Then I switched to a blue thread and stitched around the perimeter of the yellow green/white pieced units and added short wavy lines along one edge of the yellow green segments.  Finally, I added the bold black swirl using a rather heavy black linen.  

I really like the interaction of the painted fabric with the striped fabric and the background color.  The complementary combination is just so joyous.  I thought that adding the black swirl would spice the whole thing up just enough to make it sing, but alas, the fabric I chose is just so thick and heavy that not only would it not twist up smoothly, it is also doing it's best to overwhelm the entirety of the piece.  Had I used a regular cotton for the black swirl I believe that it would be highlighting the swirls in the painted fabric rather than squashing them.

Now, on to today's entry.......

Heather

Art Every Day, Saturday, August 10, 2013

Good Evening,
Here is today's new piece. As my good friend I.V. said when she saw it this afternoon, it's low contrast.  I've had these toned reds with gray fabrics for quite some time and I think I used them once before really early in the year.  I think they are very interesting, but not really pretty so it's a challenge to use them. They have a hard time playing with others so I figured out how to use them alone.
I layered up two of them in the background, one cotton and one silk noil then I topped them with a piece of jute.  I topped the jute with some silk gauze then twisted up a strip of the cotton and free motion couched it down into the swirl.
I cut away the excess silk gauze so that it just filled the swirl and a scant 1/8" or so hung out around the perimeter.  Next, I fought with my machine as I stitched the off set circles in the darker red area then stitched interlocking squares and rectangles in the lighter red area.
I like the smokey look to the whole thing especially the dark gray gauze inside the swirl.  Though I've played with these swirls a lot, this is the first time I filled one with a different fabric from the background.
The piece has a nice, simple balance with it's one focal point and the quilting is adding some lovely visual texture to an otherwise too staid background.  I think the fringe along the bottom edge of the jute is adding just the right bit of tension to keep the piece from being too simple.
Till tomorrow,
Heather

 

Art Every Day, Friday, August 9, 2013,

Good Afternoon,

I tried hard to get this done in time for a Good Morning salutation, but I got side tracked at the studio! I wanted to do something hyper-modern so I chose a black & white & red color way.  I began with white fabric on a gray/black batting.  Then I put some Misty Fuse on the back of a black/dark gray hand dye and cut it into some very fine, 1/8" wide strips.  I positioned the strips in the lines you see above then ironed and stitched them down.  I then stitched all of the white background with straightish lines about 1/8" apart.  The lines move in different directions in each section, varying from horizontal to vertical to diagonal.  Then I stitched the small red circles, the red zig-zags then finished with the large red circles which are heavily thread painted.

The piece did exactly what I expected to do - made me happy!  Sometimes I really enjoy a fine, tight design filled with angles and lines then softened to a certain degree with some circles.  The graphic appeal of this is what I was hoping for.  It's been a long while since I worked in black & white.

Till tomorrow,

Heather

 

Art Every Day, Thursday, Aug 8, 2013

Good Evening,

Here is today's new piece.  I taught the first part of an introductory free motion class this afternoon and it got me jonesing to do some myself.  I mentioned the other day that I didn't have any stuff at home to make my dailies with so while straightening up at the studio Tuesday I selected a bunch of scraps from my bunch of "uglies" (I pretty much get the stuff from the dye pot that is damaged, ugly, or unsaleable for what ever reason) and took them home with me to bone up my supply there.  My little stash included several pieces of fabrics with stamped designs along with a bunch of left over blocks that I made when putting together a free style pieced quilt a while back.  So, you'll be seeing some of those leftovers over the next few weeks.  I've been really busy at the studio during the day, so like yesterday, I made this piece at home.

Now, on with the critique.  I began with the three leaf stamps and ripped them so that there was as little background showing as possible.  I ripped three pieces of contrasting fabrics to lay beneath the stamped blocks then ripped a piece of background fabric.  I layered the green background on top of green batting then "scattered" the darker blue and violet rectangles then placed the stamped blocks on top of those, sort of kattywampus. 

 The leaf prints are stitched along their outline and down the center vein then the blocks are outlined and so are the blocks behind them.  All of this was done with a medium blue green tone of thread (remember that tones go well with a mix of colors).  Then, I went a little overboard on the quilting in the green negative space.  I repeated the two motifs that are contained within the leaves; squiggly lines and swirls.  I like the quilting, but even though it's done in a thread color that is just a bit darker than the fabric, it's so decorative that it begins to overwhelm the quietude of the drifting leaves as it pulls the background into the mid ground.   I knew this was going to happen, but I wanted to quilt it decoratively anyway.  I wanted to serve myself with the pleasure of free motioning more than I wanted to serve this little quilt!

Till tomorrow,

Heather  

 

Art Every Day, Wednesday, August,  7, 2013

Good Evening,

Here is today's new piece and I'm in love.  I began with the left over pieces of the the yellow green and white striped fabric that I had pieced for a free style quilt I made last year.  I added the deep violet and bright orange along with the hand painted swirly fabric and layered it all up on some violet dye painted batting.  

After I was pleased with the placement of all of the fabrics I started quilting.  I stitched the hell out of both the violet and orange with alternating straight and wavy lines that are about 1/8th inch apart.  Then I stitched the yellow green/white with a light yellow thread around the perimeter then in the lower and upper pieced sections I stitched close set vertical lines in the white segments and in the middle section I stitched close set vertical lines in the yellow green.

The swirly fabric was stitched around the swirls using the same light yellow thread then I stitched the big swirl in orange thread.  I love what the stitching in the alternate segments of the striped fabric does.  When stitched, the white recedes behind the yellow green and when the  yellow green is stitched it recedes behind the white. But either way, the pieced strips are both physically and visually in front of all the other fabrics. Because I stitched part of the orange swirl on top of the pieced yellow green/white section, it comes forward the most.  If I had stitched it only in the violet I have a feeling it would be sitting back with the strip of orange fabric.

Anyway, it was a blast to work with the stitched swirl again.  It's been a long while.  I really enjoy working with so much energy too!

Till tomorrow,

Heather

 

Art Every Day, Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Good Evening,

Here is today's new piece and it was a joy to make.... both times around.  I made the swirl fabric quite some time ago.  It is a batik made using Elmer's gel glue as a resist and  Dyenaflow paints.  I love swirls and circles both.  The movement of the swirl, the fullness of a circle.  They're both so female. 

Anyway, I chose a pink and orange hand dyed for the background and set it on orange dye painted batting.  I ironed some Misty Fuse to the back of the swirly Batik then cut out the large and small sections.  After playing with the positing for a bit I ironed everything in place.

The quilting is rather straight forward; white thread in the white portions of the swirls and a 1/4" grid in the negative space.  I chose to stitch the grid with straight lines rather than wavy, which would have been easier, so that I could practice straight line free motion quilting.  It ain't perfect, but it's not too bad. 

I like the depth that the swirls have.  In addition to the variation of sizes, this happened because of the way that I painted them.  They're sort of wonky with narrower sides and closer/farther apart lines and most of them are oblong rather than actual circles so that make them look as though they are bending.  I also like how the white pulls them to the forefront.  Because they are basically the same colors as the background, they could have easily gotten lost.  This was a good, creative day.  Wait till you see the project that I just finished.  Look for it in tomorrow's email and on Facebook.

Till then,

Heather

 

Art Every Day, Monday, August 5, 2013

Here is today's new piece.  Monday is my day off from the gallery/studio.  I spent most of today working on a new piece of art work at the studio, one that I saw in a dream.  It was great to be creative all day long and alone in my gallery/studio space, but it left very little umph for my daily piece.  Plus, I did this at home where I have very, very few supplies (must get my little home studio organized and stocked!). So, I had to throw this together with what ever was the least hairy (Levon, my old man cat, likes to sleep in my basket of fabric).  Sounds like I'm making excuses...... and I am.

Anyway, I began by layering a piece of hand dye with stitched circles on it on top of dye painted batting.  Then I ripped a rectangle of light violet linen and laid it in the upper left hand corner.  Then I ripped some strips (nothing new here) from a selection of cool colors of fabric.  

I went in and quilted over the stitched circles and stitched down the light violet rectangle.  Then, I twisted up the strips of fabric and couched them down in an overlapping grid - that's right, no circles! I couldn't think of anything to do with what I had on hand but I couldn't make one more twisted circle either! I do like the way I wove these strips in and out of each other and I like the play of the grid against the circles in the fabric.  It's just not that interesting (yet again).  I think I'm just in a funk as far as these daily's go.  Hopefully I'll get re-excited soon,

Till then,

Heather

 

Art Every Day, Sunday, August 4, 2013

 .

Good Evening,

Here is today's new piece.  In the fabulous book Art & Fear there is the statement that there is nothing we do that is more honest than the art that we make; when we hold back, it holds back, when we're lazy it shows, when we commit it comes on like gangbusters [paraphrased]. As you can see, I was feeling a bit lazy this morning.  Didn't feel the commitment.  Didn't have it in me to try anything really new or explore and it shows.

What I did do, was to layer a piece of hand dyed silk noil that I had discharged with this sort of Japanese chrysanthemum design on top of a hand painted blue green cotton.  I quilted the noil to show off the flower design, but the thread matches so well that you can't really see the stitching.  So then I stitched the hell out of the blue green background, about every 1/16- 1/8 inch.  Then I ripped a strip of pineapple silk in the red violet/orange family and a strip of what  I thought was a different blue green.  I manipulated those and tacked them down.  

I wasn't too impressed so I tried adding a variety of embellishments, but none of them agreed with the piece so I just gave up and here it is.  It's not ugly.  It's not unbalanced.  It just lacks anything of great interest.  It's hasn't got anything going for it that makes you want to stay with it for longer than 5 seconds.  It just can't stand up to the five second rule!

Oh well, tomorrow is another day,

Until then,

Heather

Art Every Day, Saturday, Aug 3, 2013

Good Evening,

Here is today's new piece.  It began with a piece of blue, dye painted fabric that I had stamped the previous day while showing some fabric stamping basics to a couple of new students in an embellishment class (you rock Donna & Francine!) 

I layered the square of stamped fabric (which I had stamped with the bottom of a beaker my friend Linda Gray gave me from her Aunt Alice) on top of a square of hand dyed pineapple silk and a long strip of dyed silk noil in blue green/violet.  These went on top of some dyed cotton velveteen which was on top of some violet dye painted batting.

I really had a blast quilting this little baby.  I began by outlining the three shapes in the middle. I didn't add any more quilting inside the shapes, but heavily quilted the blue in the background around them by stitching between the stamped lines.  Then, I heavily (about every 1/8")  quilted the long, narrow triangles of pineapple silk that are surrounding the blue center.  I added heavy stitching in the blue green/violet silk too then stitched with a contrasting thread with "flourishes" in the velveteen background.  As my new friend Ketty would say, "I love it".

The piece has great movement and wonderful contrasts in line and graphic style which keeps the simple, cool colorway from being too peaceful.

Well, that's all till tomorrow,

Heather

 

 

 

Art Almost Every Day, Friday, Aug 2, 2013 (Entered on Aug 3)

 So, yesterday got away from me.  Today I did two pieces to make up for yesterday.  Here is the first.  I've got a new computer which I'm using for the first time today and I'm amazed at how difficult it is getting used to the much smaller key board!

I started this piece with a piece of blue, dye painted fabric that had a fine lined, offset, violet grid painted on it.  I laid it on top of a piece of violet dye painted batting and added a strip of dark violet jute to the top.  Then, not having a clue of what I was going to do next, I grabbed some dyed trims and ripped a few strips of fabric from some pineapple silk and silk noil.

I began the quilting by stitching down a vertical and horizontal strip of rick rack.  Then I added some thin Rattail then I added a few strips of twisted fabric.  The I repeated the process again all the while trying to place the trims and fabric strips along the sides of the printed lines rather than on top of them.  Next, I stitched on top of the printed lines then I changed thread color to match the blue background and stitched a concentric geometric shaped swirl in every other or so background section.  

I like the pieces hard lines and edges and architectural feel. The cool color way softens the effect somewhat which I think makes it more enjoyable to look at.

Well, I need to get today's uploaded so, 

See ya in a minute,

Heather

 

Art Every Day, Thursday, August 1, 2013

Good Afternoon,

Here is today's new piece.  It began with a piece of fabric that I hand painted.  The fabric started out white then I dipped it into Dyenaflow, wrung it out and laid it wrinkled to dry.  Ironed it then printed it with Lumiere's Citron color using a colograph printing plate I made from plexiglass and rubber bands then I painted a second layer using a stamp carved with three circles using Halo Violet Gold Lumiere.

The painted fabric is sitting on top of an intensely bright yellow green hand dye which is sitting atop some blue batting.  

I then ripped some 1/2" wide strips of violet pineapple silk and twisted them up and couched them on to five of the circles through out the middle section.  Then I quilted the rest of the circles with outlines and inlines and that is all of the quilting that I did other than top stitching the outer edge of the dark blue and adding the wavy line inside of the yellow green.

I like the simplicity of the piece and that I managed to use the very attractive fabric without having to cut it up too small.  The couched circles are just enough to raise the surface and add some visual interest. Well, now I'm off to the Springs to teach a series class.

Till tomorrow,

Heather