On Target

A girl can only have so many quilts. But what to do when you love to make them? Over the years, I have made quilts for my sister and sister-in-laws. This one belongs to Chris. I like to choose the colors they like and this is all about Chris. She is fun and funny, has a great sense of humor, sees the light side, is generous with all. She's also a great puzzler and the geometric design of these blocks fits her Sudoku and other gamesmanship loves. This quilt pattern is named Bouillabaisse. I call it On Target.

It's scrappy which might lead one to believe that it should be simple, an anything goes type of quilt. Not so. Making the strip sets required thought and then forming the blocks required color wheel considerations. And finally combining the large blocks to spread the color required a sense of the overall quilt top. The layout was more tedious than it seems.

But that is the fun for me.

Friends with Benefits

A number of years ago, 10 women decided to make pin wheel quilts with polk-a-dot fabrics. The group gathered with everyone bringing their stash of dots. Ten unique dots were selected for each participant. We were to make 10 pinwheels from each fabric with the same ecru background. On sharing day, each gal handed off a packet of 10 pinwheels to the other gals in the group. We each then had 100 dotted pinwheels. Mine sat on the shelf for a few years until the time was right. That was 2013.

I played with the squares until I found something I liked. This is the result.

I rather like it and aptly named it Friends with Benefits.

Toys: Kuler by Adobe

Have you seen this? It's Adobe's color wheel. You can manipulate the rays in the circle to change the colors in the bars beneath. On the left you can choose between Analogous - Monochromatic - Triad - Complementary - Compound - Shades - or a Custom view. It is very addictive to just play with color.

Find it here and try for yourself.
https://kuler.adobe.com/create/color-wheel/

Imagine how you can use this in art for choosing colors. Here is one of my favs from this mornings go at it.

There is also an App you can download for your I-phone. It has a really cool feature in that it uses the phone camera and adjusts the colors in the bars based on what it seen through the lens. Oh technology...I gotta love you.

Locally Grown: the FUM Fiber Art show

This show opens at a luncheon where the quilts will be introduce by their makers. The story of the quilt, that is, it's inspiration, it's intent, it's techniques, will be presented. It is the 11th annual quilt show in this venue. Many have been inspired by a book. In this case, Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is the jumping off point.

Here is your invitation to attend.

My quilt is fourth from the left. I will show it to you after the show opens.

What's Next: March

The exhibit at the Architectural heritage Center continued in March with new work. I chose to continue the Wind Turbine theme but use a different technique.

This work was created in Photoshop with images that I have taken.They were combined in many ways. The background was created using many layers of color and PS tools, blended until it captured the mood I was trying to create. The work was separated in part and printed by Spoonflower.

I reassembled these, quilted them and then used chalks to highlight areas as needed.
It is a process that I really enjoy and have other works that I will share on this blog in later posts.

All Together in One Place

The exhibit: What Comes Next?

Five artists, each with differing styles, presented new work in this exhibit at the Architectural Heritage Center in Portland, OR during the month of February.

This is a view of my work hanging in the gallery. The gallery is housed in the oldest building in Portland. It has been renovated to preserve the feel of the original building. It was a lovely setting.

This exhibit will be changed out in March and new work by these same artists will be hung. My work continues the turbine theme but has been done digitally. Come back for a visit to see what that means.

Breaking Dawn

This is the fifth in the series:

Once again, turbines posed against the sky but morning approaching. I love blues and oranges juxtaposed together. It is probably my favorite color combination. I added hand stitching to this piece in the panel just right of center. The stitch resembles the turbine form and is layered in varying colors of blues and rusts.

Breaking Dawn

 

Awakened too early

It still feels like night.

Standing silhouetted

against the approaching light.