More Seagulls

Since playing with painting the first seagull, I have been been working on tweaking it.  It has been a learning process which I have enjoyed most and hope to employ what i have learned in the future.  The actual painting of the bird was pretty straight forward.  However, painting the water was not so easy.  Do you know how many You Tube videos are available on painting the ocean?  A ton, and a lot of them are very informative and well done.  After watching a number of the videos, I sat down and attempted to paint the water, and attempted again, over and over again.  I finally came up with a something that I will let be for the time being.  

Since I had such a good time painting the birds, I decided to try another piece.  This piece embodies the birds from two pictures which I merged together to make a group shot.   Again, the birds were fun to do, I struggled somewhat with the rocks, and the water was done over numerous times.  I will be adding more texture to the rocks, although they really were worn very smooth by the ocean waves.  I am looking forward to doing some thread painting, quilting, and moving on to some more birds.

 

Seagull

I have played a little bit with painting some pieces for future quilts.  Last spring and the spring before, on our way north for the summer, we stayed at Avilla Beach, just above Pismo Beach.  On our walks, I would frequently snap pictures of the seagulls.  I have wanted to use my photos to do a quilt, but had not gotten any farther than composing them in my mind.  Since my creative muse has reappeared in the last week, I have been looking at some of my photos.  I decided it was time to try to combine some of thos seagull pictures to make a fiber art piece.  I spent a day last week playing with the pictures and decided to attempt to draw a pattern using some of them. 

I thought that for once I would start small and just attempt one bird to see how I might do it.  So today, after spending 30 minutes searching for my patterns, I began with a single seagull.  I traced it onto fabric which had been treated with Scotch Guard.  I then searched for another 15 minutes for my Inktense Pencils, but to no avail!  I then had to use my Inktense blocks, a brush, and some floating medium to begin the painting process.  For a first attempt, I am happy with what I have come up with!  I still need to add the water behind the bird, do that pesky eye, do some threadpainting, then layer it, quilt it, and finish the edges.

First Frost, FFC 85

I have been on hiatus this summer visiting with my children and grandchildren.  Not much time for playing with my creative endeavors, but plenty of time for making wonderful memories.  We left Washington right after Labor Day, landed in Bend and Oregon for a couple of weeks, and are now taking a leisurely trip south for our winter home.

Gerry, my husband, was wondering if it was time to get rid of the sewing machine and art supplies, but alas, they will remain with us at least for the time being.  I was busy this week working on a challenge for the Fast Friday Fabric Challenge.  It is my first completion in a number of months, but it is done.

I took a piece of fabric which I had created using the Gelli Plate, which is fast becoming one of my favorite texture tools.  I achieved the desired effect by doing numerous layers using stamps, stencils, brushes, etc. on black cotton with metallic paints.  Love the ethereal look on this piece.  I also like the ghosting imprint of the trees on the right, along with the bird image in the tree.  Sometimes serendipity takes over and things turn out better than you expect!  I decided to step outside my comfort zone and mount it on black stretched canvas, adding metallic leaves, jewelry findings, and some decorative trim. 

First Frost Challenge 85

 

Here is the finished product and I am very happy with the way it turned out.  I think that I will continue to play and do more pieces in this manner.

2013 CV Project

I finally received all of the pieces to my project a week ago.  I had been working on the roosters which will go on the bottom of the piece and had also created the dirt for the area below the wagon.   I had also been busy reconstructing the piece on the far left.  Here is the picture of all of the wagon pieces hanging together.

The pieces from left to right were done by Kathy Adams, Joanne Baethe, Dona Ford, and Susan Massini/Louise Page.  Overall, I am quite satisfied with the results, although I now have a lot of fine tuning to do such as darkening the very light wheel in front, resizing the front wheel on the far right piece, adding more detail to the wagon, playing with some of the colors, etc.  After all of that is done, I can proceed to the quilting. 

Here is a picture of the dirt piece which will attach to the bottom of the wagon.  It will be irregularly cut and the roosters will be located close to the wagon and then come down into the dirt, smallest to largest for perspective.  I am thinking that there is a lot of work to do yet, but I know that it will be well worth the effort.

The top rooster was done by Kathy Adams, the next one down on the right by Joanne Baethe, and the other two I made.  I have one more which will go on the piece done by Dona Ford.  I will add some rocks, grasses, etc. and do some simple quilting on this, as i want to maintain as much of the texture as I can. 

Portrait Playing

I have been working hard on one section of the rooster quilt and making good progress, albeit, not without some do overs!  I decided to take a break from it yesterday and go play with my friend Carolyn.  She had already made a pattern and gathered fabric to do a portrait of her daughter and son-in-law at their traditional Indian ceremony.

I told Carolyn that I would spend a day playing with her on this project.  I must admit, I have only done a couple of portrait quilts, but I have done a lot of research and looking at what other fiber artists have done.  When I got to Carolyns' she had a table full of fabric, fibers and what ever else she had gathered ready to go.  We played, laughed, and learned together!  It took us about five hours, but when I left, Carolyn had the beginnings of her quilt.  Below is the original photograph and the face/head of Kristen, Carolyns' daughter.  This makes me want to do some portraits of my grandchildren again!  Thanks for letting me play Carolyn!

Deke

I have been working hard today creating my last chicken.  He told me that his name was to be Deke.  Deke was created from another photo of a rooster which I took in the Spring of 2012.  I began with a base of 809 Pellon, added fabric, and then began creating the individual feather sections.  I need to complete the tail section, feet and head and he will be good to go!  I have used felting, silk hankies, fishing Dub, real feathers, netting, snippets, mono- printed fabric and velvet to create him to this point. Another positive experience.




The original photo

The beginning of Deke
 

Amos

I began working on one of the roosters for my piece this week.  While at Pismo Beach in April I made an aquaintance with a beautiful Polish Chicken named Amos.  Some one had dropped him off at the produce stand and he has become a treasured pet there.  I thought he had a lot of attitude and deserved to be featured in a quilt for posterity.

Here is the picture of Amos which I worked from along with a few pictures of the progress which I am making on him.  Needless to say, I will probably be making a few adjustments to him and still need to add his feet and a few more feather sections.



I have taken some creative licensce with Amos because I wanted him to be more colorful.  I will be moving, adjusting, and adding bits when I put him on the final piece. 

I used some of my monoprinted fabric on the rust/gold feather pieces.  The netting like feathers have bits of different yarns thread painted between orange netting.

Amos' topnotch came from a barette bought at Joanns'.  I will be shading his beak and working on his waddle?

Amos with his posse!

Play Days

Had a wonderful time with Joanne & Kathy exchanging ideas and techniques.  We played with Gelli Plates and did some monoprinting.  We had some wonderful successes.  It is addictive and I have actually used a couple of the pieces I did in some of my fiber art.  Here are a couple of pictures of what we were able to create.  I will definitely be playing with the Gelli Plate again in the near future!

 

 

Collective Vision 2013 Exchange

It has been a busy few weeks since my last post.  We have landed in Spokane and are staying at out daughters home.  Having lots of fun with our granddaughter and enjoying being set for a while.



I got together with our two members of our Collective Visions Group to exchange our completed pattern pieces and have some play time together.  The following are the pictures of the pieces which will be put together by the originator of the pattern.




This is my piece which comes from a picture I took of an old wagon.  The roosters are also some which I photographed last year.  This piece is going to have some revisions on the two pieces on the right and the large red rooster.  I will be making and adding a section to the bottom of the piece along with two other roosters.  Lots of work to do!
 



This is Dona Fords' piece which was made from a picture which she took of an old homestead on the Sprague River in Klamath County, OR.  My piece is to the far left with the large yellow pine on the left.  It was the first piece I tackled and although it was a lot of work, I am very happy with the way it turned out.  I think that this piece is going to be a winner when it is finished.

 

These are the Jelly Fish for Susan Massinis' piece.  After seeing the others, I am going to be redoing my jelly fish, it needs to be more transparent.  Love what the others have done!  Susan will be doing the background for these which will be the blue behind two of the jelly fish.
 

This is Joanne Baeths' piece.  Love the color and texture of the aspens.  Mine is the fourth from the left.  Joanne will be mixing up the bush textures.  I know that it will be beautiful when she gets it finished!

This piece belongs to Kathy Adams.  Don't you love her dog?  Lots of roving & stitching, pretty realistic.  My piece is second from the left.  I have since taken off the cow in back which resembled a bear and redone the face of the heifer and sent it on to Kathy.  I was not happy with the finished product and wanted to give it another go.  I was happier with the last face which I did.

I'm Back! Collective Vision Pieces for 2013

After a short hiatus of two years (that's a joke) I am going to try this again.  A lot has happened in the last two years and a lot has stayed the same.  I am still on the road in our motor home with my husband Gerry, and yes, we are still enjoying it very much!  I have also continued down the path with my fiber art, adding lots of new techniques and tools to my repertoire. I have my very creative times and my not so creative times, but it is still one of my passions.

I am posting some pictures of my most recent endeavors.  These are pictures of the pieces done for the Collective Visions group which I belong to.  We are into our ninth year and going strong.  The members who have remained for the last four years are Kathy  Adams, Joanne Baeth, Dona Ford, Susan Massini and myself.  We seem to be a good mix and able to work together well.  I know that I love to spend time with them experimenting on techniques and bouncing ideas off of each other! 

Each of these pieces is only one out of five pieces for the complete project, which means that there are five completed pieces of art at the end of the process.  We exchange pattern pieces in the fall, complete them over the winter, and then return them to the originator of the piece in the spring.  The parameters for each piece is set by the originator of that piece and can be whatever they so desire.  That being said, here are my the pieces for the 2013 CV's:




All Of My Pieces On My Display Board!



Dona Ford's Piece/Old Homestead
Sprague River Highway
 



Joanne Baeth's Aspens
 



Kathy Adam's Piece/Cattle In
The Field

Susan Massini's Piece/ Jelly Fish