Anticipation

I've been offline for a couple of days due to the copying of all the files from the old computer to the new computer that Santa brought me! And I'm also trying to get used to the new operating system along with the newest version of Photoshop (another cool gift!). So there's been a slight learning curve involved in all of this new technology. And I'm a slow learner...

While I'm learning my way around Photoshop CS4 I thought I'd make a little New Year's piece. I call this Anticipation because I am looking forward to all of the great things I envision with the unleashing of 2010. I hope to really grow in my art, my journaling and my writing. I have some personal goals that I want to achieve in the coming year and plan to examine those more closely in my art journals.

So here's to the New Year: may it be all you hope for it to be!

Heart Whispers

Here is the latest art quiltlet I made. I sketched the girl onto muslin and then cut fabric for her hoodie and roughly sewed it on. The hearts are beaded with glass beads. I painted the background with a bronze metallic paint mixed with fabric medium. I painted the sun, her face and hair using Neocolor II crayons mixed with water. I left the threads hanging from her jacket because I like the uneven, loose feel of the stitches.

I was inspired by the fashion sketches of Kat MacLeod. She is an awesome artist and I love the loose style of her fashion sketches. I'm using her sketches as "models" while I try my hand at sketching in this style. I have a few other little fabric pieces in the works right now. I want to experiment more with this type of look.

I've really missed working with fabrics and my sewing machine. These little pieces are fun and there's no pressure to get the stitches just right; they are intentionally haphazard and uneven. I like that. I've got tons of threads, yarns, fibers, etc. that I'm playing with in another piece that I hope to post soon. The beading is what takes the longest. I'm no expert at it. I just pick beads I like and sew them on however they will fit. That works just fine for me. ;)

On another front: I finally received my Moleskine notebook for the Fiction Project from Art House Coop. Yay!! Here is what I was sent:

You can click on the photo to read more about the project. I have to fill this notebook with a story and accompanying artwork. The majority of the book needs to be the story since they are emphasizing the fiction aspect of the project. We are given a loose guideline for our story and I love what they gave me. My theme is "A Million Little..." . So many possibilities for that!

So I'll be mulling that around in the back of my mind while I set about creating my little story. This book will be mailed back to them and sent to a library along with the other entries they receive. There they will be housed in a permanent installation that people can check out and read while they are in the library. Very cool! I have another Moleskine that I'll be using to make a duplicate of this book. That way I'll have one to keep. Obviously we won't get these back if they are to be housed in the library. The Art House Coop has a great site and there are always little projects to sign up for. Check them out if you get a chance.

That's it for today. Everyone have a safe and happy holiday!

HeART Quilt: Part Two

After having the base of the art quilt ready, I set about embellishing it. I spent the evening last night beading this as I watched football with hubby. After all the beading was complete, I sewed the quiltlet to a piece of black felt. I love the way this turned out. You can click on the photo to get a better view.

I have another one started and will be doing the beading on that one tonight. I've incorporated one of my sketches in this one. I painted the face of the girl and the muslin background with acrylic paint that I mixed with fabric medium. It really helped to keep the hand of the fabric soft and pliable. This is all a new area of exploration for me and I'm enjoying the experimentation. I hope to have something to show in the next couple of days.

The Shiva Paintstiks are a dream to work with. So soft and buttery! After 24 hours they are ready to heat set and then you can paint over them or do whatever you like. I've printed out a few of my newest sketches and transferred them to muslin. Now I'm working on designs for their little quiltlets.

That's it for today. Back to work on the quiltlets. I am beading the squares for my wall hanging in between breaks I take from the art quilts. Hope to have those ready to assemble this week.

HeART Quilt

I've had quite a busy last couple of weeks. After battling the flu some more and getting rid of that, I managed to pull a muscle in my back. Ugh! Hopefully all of that is behind me now and I can get back to making art!

Lately I've been itching to play with my fabric stash. This is the base of a little art quilt I'm working on. It's just a 5" x 7" piece of muslin sewn to a felt backing. I sprayed the muslin with Adirondack Inks and then rubbed a Shiva paintstik over some rubber stamps that I held under the fabric. After heat setting the paintstiks, I stitched over the heart outlines with gold metallic thread. This isn't finished yet. I still want to add a few beads and maybe some words. I'm still thinking about it.

I have a series of these little quilts started. All of them will have at least one heart in the design. The next one incorporates one of my latest sketches. It's curing right now. The paintstiks have to sit for at least 24 hours before you can heat set them. Hope to have something to post in a few days.

We made it through the annual Christmas party for hubby's students. That was Thursday evening and also the day that I pulled the muscle in my back. Everything went fine. Here is a view of our Christmas tree right before everyone arrived. This is taken from the 2nd floor loft area:

Here's the view from the 1st floor landing:

And here it is on the ground floor:

I think it went pretty well. We had a good turnout and everyone seemed to like the ornaments I made them. Now that all the hoopla is over for another year I can get back to work in my studio. Yay! Stay tuned...there are some interesting experiments going on behind the scenes.

Watercolor Warhol

There was this awesome Photoshop tutorial using watercolor effects posted at Digital Whisper and I had to sit down and try it. Unfortunately it took me a very long time to get it to work. It's still not quite right but at least it's close. I used my favorite photo of Andy Warhol and paired that with one of his quotes. I'm still going to tinker with the last few steps until I'm happy with it.

I have yet to receive the Moleskine notebook from Art House Co-op for the fiction project I've signed up for. The site says to allow 2 to 3 weeks for shipping. I hate to wait on anything; I am not a patient person. *sigh* I've been playing with a few ideas for this project and hope to be able to start on it soon!

I've also been playing with making journals. I've made a few more using Teesha Moore's method and just started a couple of other journals using hardback book covers and watercolor paper. I did finally receive some hot press watercolor paper and I love working with it; definitely worth the wait. My image transfer experiments are working much better with this paper. So I hope to have something to show very soon.

And I'm still battling this cold/flu thing that won't go away. One day I have no energy and ache all over and the next I think I'm getting better. Then I'll get feverish and congested. This has been going on for about three weeks. Yuk! Hope to get this thing beaten SOON!

OK, off to work on the journals while I still have some energy.