Wow, Millar!

This was gifted to my daughter. I named it Wow, Millar! I am so proud of her. She loves the color green and Hawaii. This says both to me.

 Scrap quilts look, well scrappy, but successful ones require a lot of thought. At first blush this looks like a simple sewing of vertical columns. (Is that redundant?) But in reality, it's a case of "design it horizontally but sew it vertically."

I did not want the quilt to look stripey. By that I mean, one color of the same value placed all the way across the same row. I preferred a blending of the colors and values throughout the quilt to achieve movement. In this case, the darks drew my eye and so they were placed across the body of the quilt. I cut a lot of parts and then built 6-8 rows, sewed and then repeated.

It was a good exercise and fun too!
She loves it.

A.Maiz.Ing

This is my newest work. It began with a photo I took in Stowe, Vermont a few years ago. I was walking along a path by the river and looked up to see corn silhouetted against a bright blue sky. The image percolated for a few years until I determined how to present it in fiber.

Each of the visible layers is actually many manipulated layers. The backgrounds were constructed. The colors and textures were built. The maize contrasted, masked and saturated. Finally each of the parts was printed and the entire piece was assembled and quilted. I really like this process.

Blue Suede Quilt

The A4 challenge theme for this bi-monthly was "an Elvis Presley song". I immediately thought of Blue Suede Shoes and knew I was on to something. I have some Cherrywood fabric which I think looks sueded and wanted to use it. I chose a gradation of blues.

Often my work seems linear to me: squares, lines graphic boldness that is angular. I challenged my self to create a more organic flowing structure with this design. I loosely designed a starting point in photoshop and then free cut the sections and parts.

Blue and orange, on the rusty side, are one of my favorite color combinations. Doesn't this just sing.

Blue Suede Quilt

Push Me, Pull Me!

I participate in a group called The A4 Art Challenge Group. Every other month we work to a group theme. The first was The Race is On. My work depict the push and pull of each of us. Aren’t we all pulled in many directions? Family, friends, our choices, obligations, opportunities? My image reflects that race. Arrows in all directions.

I used commercial fabrics but chose to add dots to the background tone on tone fabric via Photoshop and my home printer.

Intention

I love this video. It's short and sweet and very compelling. Perhaps short and sweet makes for compelling. Whatever! Watch it. You will return again and again.

In the Extreme

My last post invited you to attend the MIX Exhibition. Our challenge this year was to complete 3 pieces "in the extreme". Color, Shape distortion and material in the extreme specifically. Several member chose a single theme while others varied this. Each piece was to measure 18" square.

I often find I tell a story with my quilts and these were no exception. Where play golf when in the desert does a really bad job of pruning trees. Due to occasional wind storms they need to keep them low. So, they just top off all the limbs causing them to grow right angle joints. I fondly refer to these as the elbow trees.

In January, the trees were strutting their stuff with gorgeous pink flowers but nary a leaf. I decided they had to be girlies and my She Art series began. To date I have finished three and they were the entries to the MIX Exhibition.

First : She Gives New Meaning to Going Green
This tree begins with distortion due to wind and leans. It seemed the perfect coupling to explore distortion with dye. The shibori technique happens through pole wrapping cloth and then over dyeing. The fine angled lines shibori produces seemed the perfect detail for the fine branching of  tree. Hand embroidery completes the piece.

Next: She Put Her Freak On
This is color in extreme study: acid green and shades of grey. I chose a commercial fabric that resembles a hand dye for the tree. Sort of psychedelic. The arms of this tree make her seem as if she is raising the roof, rocking it. I added tree "bling" to her limbs 'cuz she is going out.

And last for now: She Has a Night on the Town and Nothing to Wear
I chose the color red for "painting the town red" but the tree is made from cloth that resembles a paper bag. I created some patterns in Photoshop and ran portions of the tree branches through my computer (extreme material). She is still a plain jane. Ifinished with some hand embroidery in the center section behind the tree.

More to come...

MIX Extreme Studies

MIX is my small quilt group. Our challenge for this year was to work in an 18 inch square format and study the concept of material, form and color "in the extreme".  Several members chose a single theme for exploration  but in the end, each artist was allowed the freedom to apply the parameters in any way they wished. This produced 21 unique pieces which are hanging in the Community Hall of the First United Methodist Church in Portland Oregon.

If you live near by, stop and get a closer look It will be worth your while.