Monday, August 31, 2009

Prelude Reception

Saturday evening was the Opening reception of the Prelude show at Coconino Center for the Arts. This is a 'sampler' of artwork submitted by artists who are participating in this year's Open Studios, a two day show September 19-20. I am participating for the first time this year. I got there early so I could take some pictures, and I'm including a few here:
This is a beautiful jacket made with hand-dyed and embellished fabric by Sharon Richards.
Tammy Kelly is a local fiber artist who makes beautiful art quilts.
Marrianna Dougherty makes really beautiful one-of-a-kind purses and decorative boxes.

I'm sorry to say I did not make note of the artist who created this beautiful piece, but it is truly a work of art.
I decided to submit my 'Freeform' and I can honestly say that nothing else looked even remotely like it!
There were a great many more beautiful items on display, and if you are in the area between now and September 20, be sure to make time to visit the Coconino Center for the Arts, 2300 N Fort Valley Road in Flagstaff. I will be showing my art quilts and tie-dye at 2127 S Tombaugh Way Sept. 19-20, and would love to have you stop by!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Gradation dye party



Well, it wasn't exactly a 'party', but my bud Wendy and I got together again today to do some more gradation dyeing for a quilt she plans to make. Actually, today I was mostly observing... Wendy did lots of homework over the past week and had two sets of instructions she wanted to try out. Here she is mixing some dye for the project:
You can see more about her experiments here. She's getting really good stuff! Brought a bunch of 'show and tell' from her previous experiments, and went home with a load of fabric that came out very nice! I think we're hooked...

Prickly Pear Cactus - final

After several months of trying to find time to finish this project, I think it's done! There is one flaw that I'm not sure I can live with, but I'm going to let it rest for a little while before I decide.

Here it is:

I made one change to what I had envisioned... I squared the edges instead of leaving the top part freeform. I think I will wait awhile before doing another one with as much handwork... I like how it came out, but really found it hard to find a lot of time to devote to the beading and hand stitching!

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Freeform Quilt done!

I just finished my freeform art quilt... don't have the hanger right yet, but I couldn't wait to see how it would look hanging:
I did change the piece I originally had in mind for the upper left corner, and think it balances the piece better. Then I flip-flopped over whether to hang it this way or flip it 180 degrees... this way finally won. I used pre-dyed cotton crinkle cloth to bind it, and a commercially dyed fabric for the backing. I still need to add the label. All in all, I'm pleased with how this turned out... I was able to use some of my dyed fabric, AND I successfully created a piece that isn't square or rectangle. Next? Hmmmm.... maybe three dimensional? Why not!

Monday, August 10, 2009

Birth of a new obsession

Inspired by posts I saw on Deb Lacativa's blog, I finally spent a little time playing with sharpies and alcohol. I didn't have too many colors to work with, so today I stopped at the local CVS drug store, and found a pack of Bic permanent markers with 12 colors... woo-hoo! Here are my first experiments:
On this first one, I tried (starting from the lower left and going clockwise) Sharpies, some other felt tip pens (forgot the brand), the Bic pens, Sharpie neons, and some Sharpie highlighters. First I drew the designs, then I painted alcohol over them.
On this one, I used the Bic pens and started out misting the alcohol over it... it didn't bleed very much, so I went over the design with alcohol and a paint brush.
This is Bic pens and painted on alcohol.
So far, I'm just doodling... no pretermined design or layout in mind. The first set of experiments was done on cotton muslin, undyed. The next two were on a cloth that had some (very little) dye. I also want to try this on a t-shirt to see how it holds up... may have to sacrifice one of my undyed shirts for experimenting on! I can see where this might take over my life... something about the intensity of color and organic designs just sucks me in! Thanks again, Deb!