Art Every Day, Wednesday, March 7, 2013

Good Morning,

I made this piece last week before leaving on this trip and here in the hotel room in Baton Rouge it looks so different as a photograph.  As you can see, I just wanted to quilt. I started with a warm, multi-colored fabric that I placed on top of a cool blue green, dye painted batting.  Then I stitched it all in a darker blue green. 

This piece really shows how thread effects the surface of fabric.  As I said above, it's all stitched with the same thread, but depending on the stitch design and the build up of that thread, it looks different, not just stylization wise,  but different depending upon how much thread is built up in one area.  Notice how much more noticeable the areas stitched with the circles/lines and circle/sand dollars and paisleys are.  These stitch designs require lots of over-stitching on the same line to form the design and as that thread builds up the stitch line becomes heavier and heavier and therefore more noticeable.

Now, I'm off to teach embellishment techniques to a group of southern ladies.  I'm quite excited to get to play with a new group.  Not that I don't love my home group, but I do like to shake it up a bit.

Till tomorrow,

Heather

 

Art Every Day, Tuesday March 6, 2013

Good Morning from Tyler Texas (where we stayed the night on our way to Baton Rouge)

Here is today's piece.  It was made on Saturday.  I used some more of my hand stamped fabrics, some dyed beads and cheesecloth.  The quilting on this one is very simple; black in the major lines of the background and top stitching along the edges of the orange and sold black front piece.  I really just wanted the fabrics to be the thing.  

The depth and movement is yummy.  I really like both of the stamped designs and how the small circles work against the wavy, cross hatch of the black and taupe.  I assembled the top stack of beads with glue and layering then twisted some cheesecloth into strands and stitched it with a zig zag stitch to hold it together then tied the round beads to it.  I really love how they lay against the bright black and hold their own against the busier fabrics.

Well, I'm back on the road,

Till tomorrow,

Heather 

 

Art Every Day, Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Good Morning, Very Early Morning,

Here is today's new piece.  I made it on Sunday.  I used a piece of stitched Shibori Indigo that I made last year.  It is laid on top of a stark white which in turn is laid on top of a blue dye painted batting.  I used some of the excess indigo for the two strips along the bottom.

Though you can barely see it, I stitched the Shibori circle in the blue using a matching thread.  It is stitched in the negative space inside the circle as well as the blue negative space which allows the white to really pop of of the surface.  The white background is stitched with an 1/8th inch micro stipple to quiet it down and make it sit behind the blue which is not what white wants to do.  I choose two rather decorative stitch styles for the blue bars to bring them to the forefront as much as I could.  

I really like the chilly calm of this piece and it was nice to finally use some of my indigo, albeit a tiny piece!  Well, now I'm off to bed then an early rise and off I go to Baton Rouge.

Till tomorrow,

Heather  

 

Art Every Day, Monday, March 4, 2013

Good Morning,

Here is today's new piece.  It couldn't be more different from yesterday's work! 

I had started a much larger piece using some of these components but it just wasn't working for me, so, I pulled them off of the larger background and reworked them into this much smaller piece. It's verging on being over crowded, but I kind of like all the centralized activity.  Because the colors in the focal points are so similar to the colors in the background, it sort of mellows the focal points a bit and homogenizes them into the negative space. Everything is quilted very simply with top stitching in the focal points and not to small stippling in the background so as not to compete with the foreground.  I really enjoy looking at this colorway.  It is at once gentle and energetic.

I leave tomorrow for a week long trip to Baton Rouge to teach at the Gulf States Quilting Seminar so, after lots of self talk/discussion, I realized that it would be impossible for me to make art each day as I drive and teach in a different city.  However, I want/must have a piece for every day this year, not just for this blog but because I want to use them for an art installation and a book.  So, to that end, I have pre-made the pieces for the next 7 days.  I will continue to call them art every day, but I will add a note with the date they were actually done.  I hope this decision doesn't disappoint any one too badly.

Till tomorrow,

Heather

 

Art Every Day, Sunday, March 3, 2013

Good Morning,

Here is today's new piece.  It makes me think of celebrations.  I began the piece by laying a piece of black fabric down at an angle on top of the yellow, dye painted batting.  Then I added the stamped black and white piece on top at a different angle.  Then I cut bits of dyed rayon ribbon and inserted one end under the stamped piece.  

I stitched the stamped piece in yellow, which you can barely see then stitched the ribbons down with a mutli colored thread along the edges.  The black was stitched with straight edged swirls that fit inside each shape and the yellow batting is finished with a wavy line around the perimeter.   I added the three bone beads once all of the stitching was done. I think they look like candy.

I like how the black looks like it was reverse appliqued behind the yellow batting, the ribbons sit in the mid ground and the black and white print just pops off the surface.  It's just a fun little piece.

Hope you have a fabulous Sunday,

Till tomorrow,

Heather

 

Art Every Day, Saturday, March 2, 2013

Good Morning,

Here is today's new piece.  Yesterday I got to teach the second half of a batik painting class and my students enjoyed themselves and their new work so much that I decided that I needed to dig out some of my old batiks and use them in some of my daily art.  So, that's what got this piece started.

I chose to work with a fat quarter that had lots of free form swirls, squares and wavy lines.  I cut out a portion of it then cut that portion into long pieces along some of the white resist lines.  Then I toppped the violet batting with the slightly toned blue green.  On top of that, I set down the portions of the batik with some space between them for quilting.  

One of the things that is so fun about batik is that the resist lines are natural stitching lines, so I just followed them with white thread, knowing that I was going to add some decorative stitch in the negative space just to see how it would effect the positive space in the batik. I chose a blue green thread that was just slightly darker than the fabric and stitched designs that I knew would draw attention, but not too much.  I really like the way that the negative space with all it's decorative stitching is still being able to push the batik designs forward.  I think that is happening mostly because the background is toned and the white of the batik is so bright.

Till tomorrow,

Heather

 

Art Every Day, Friday, March 1, 2013

Wow! Two months and 60 pieces of art down and today's piece might have been the most fun so far.  

This piece began with a piece of white fabric thrown down on some black batting and curvy line stitching with a multicolored, bright hued thread.  After the stitching was done I added the solid black strip which I topped with the five squares that were stamped with black ink.  After I top stitched those down I added the circular bone beads.  

This piece was just so fun to do.  It's crisp, busy, but no nonsense. I really like the mixed messages that it puts out depth wise. At first glance the black and white squares on top of the black look like they are in front of everything, but look long enough and they start to meld back into the stripy white background.  Very cool.

Today is one of those days that I'm just so happy that I'm an artist.

Till tomorrow,

Heather