Series: I'm ready to have fun

Around here there are red dirt roads that wind into the countryside off the main highway. They seem lonely, but they lead somewhere. Maybe they are even more purposeful than the paved ways. I love them..

Lately I've been on a dusty, lonesome path of my own -- setting myself a clear goal, then following instead another way. I think I've arrived at my destination -- a series more compelling than the one I'd originally proposed. 

Surprise! I don't like to follow rules. If I have them, I tend to be slavish, which in art is self-defeating. Of necessity, a series imposes rules. That's why I've decided not to make a formal quilt series, even though several months back I convinced myself it would propel my artistic development. (You must have once promised yourself to do something "good" for you.) 

As you know, instead of quilting I've been painting in our shed

 and falling in love with Artists as I read their biographies: Agnes Martin, Picasso, Cy Twombly. They make me feel impossibly uncertain. You might call that an accidental series of flower paintings and another series of inspirational readings. But it's not what I intended. It's what I love. 

On the way to making a series of art quilts I've discovered I like to work intuitively. I want to make a mess.  I want layers, and I love moody. Words too.

So I'm promising to take myself lightly. To make drawings with thread and then paint them. To see where this goes.

Flower series 3: Artists who mix paint and stitch

Talk about inspiration!  Paint and stitch go together many ways.

Artists who mix paint and stitch:

Maya Schonenberger

Sati Zech

Shelley Brenner Baird

Betty Busby

Cas Holmes

Barbara Takenaga

Katie Pasquini Masopust

Flower series 2: Painting orchids

Wild Orchids
16" x 12"
Paint on cotton, quilted

Detail, Wild Orchids

How I made it:

1. Sketchbook drawing. Inspired by orchid in my window. I drew the flowers and leaves onto white Kona cotton then painted them, thought it too boring, so painted black lines and shapes freehand. (11' x 14")
2. Drew it onto white Kona cotton. Black fabric marker. (11" x 16")
3. Painted with fabric paints. They seeped through. Wondered if Gesso would make fabric less absorbent.
4. Painted over white and green areas with acrylic paints. 
5. Layered over thin white felt.
6. Free-motion quilted along drawing lines. Black thread. You can't really see the quilting, but it adds depth. Decided not to use rayon thread. Too shiny.  
7. Tried adding machine quilting detail to an orchid. Didn't like it -- not subtle. ed Ripped it out.
8. Sew a couple of rows of stitching around edges, using straight stitch. Black thread.
9. Attached to Timtex painted black around the edges.  Timex is about 1" bigger than orchids. Mystifuse
10. Add a piece of muslin over the back. Before attaching, put Fray-check on the edges of the muslin and attach a rod pocket and a label.  Mistyfuse adhesive.

Azaleas

Azaleas

21 1/2" x 21 1/2"

Cotton, tulle, flowers, silk, gilt

stitch, paint

Azaleas detail

Center of large flower is an azalea blossom from our garden

Azaleas process

I started with some azalea drawings I made in my big sketchbook. I enlarged this one (on the right),  traced it, and made a model from buckram, and cut the flower from an old silk shirt.  Eventually this flower was abandoned!

Azaleas process

3 strips of cotton at ratio 1.6:1: 1.6

Paint, print, stencil with acrylics

Testing paint colors and fabric for flowers

Playing with color and placement of flowers

Testing color for backing

You can see a light purple at the top and right edge. Didn't like it!

Attaching Mistyfuse to back of fabric. Flaws are because I removed the ironing cloth 

before cotton was cool

Azaleas process

Backing is Timtex, a stiff support that shows about 1/2" on each side. 

Cut Timtex the same size as completed art. The dark purple Kona cotton is 2” more, so it can wrap around the Timtex and leave a 1" "border" on the back. I added a piece of muslin over this. Before attaching, I put Fray-check on the edges and attached a rod pocket and a label. For adhesive on the back, I used Mistyfuse. 

Wings

Wings
24" x 36"

I spent most of May and June making this quilt for the Quilters Unlimited challenge. It was supposed to show a dream or fantasy on a starry night. I limited the palette to colors inspired by Fred Tomaselli. Normally I go for brights on black, but I like the way these muted colors show up.

I was going to leave the body a silhouette, but she cried for a face and more. I called Patrice for advice, and she told me to "just draw a face." After studying and sketching, I did create a face, which I put onto the fabric with transfer paper, then embroidered it by machine and by hand, and added shading with tulle.  She doesn't have a perfect face, but then who does?

Her body was bare, except for quilting, so I remembered a poem that I wrote some time ago. It's about one of Noah's daughters, who had wings and ... I guess winged women have haunted me for a while. The poem was too long for her body, so I shortened it. I don't expect anyone to read it, but I loved writing it on her. It's like tattooing my poem on my own body.

To see this and lots of gorgeous quilts go to the Quilters Unlimited show; it opens Sept. 11 at the Museum of Florida History, 500 S. Bronough St., Tallahassee. 

Florida in Fabric II

"I can't believe how powerful it is to actually be here and experience the texture and fabric," a visitor told me at the Florida in Fabric II exhibit at the Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne. She's right.  Photos don't properly convey fiber art. But, until you get to the show itself, here are photos from the opening and also the gallery talk by juror Martha Sielman. When the artist was present, Martha turned the mike over to her to explain her own work. The show runs through August 23. 

Carla Funk, left, Director of University Museums at FIT,  with Martha Sielman, juror of the exhibit
and Executive Director of Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc. (SAQA)

La Via a la Florida: Las Flores Bellisimas by Marsha Walper of Tallahassee

Regina Dunn of DeLand, with Beach Walk

Susan Rienzo of Vero Beach, with Sunshine State of Mind

Ellen Lindner of Melbourne discusses The Last Few Dates

Martha Sielman with Sometimes This Place Bugs Me by Marlyn Foell of Satellite Beach

Linda Geiger of Cocoa Beach with Homage to Cutoffs and Hawaiian Print Shirts

Martha Sielman with Star Over Tallahassee by Vonda Frenes of Palm Bay

Album of Florida Lights by Mary Jo Kuhn of Jacksonville

Martha Sielman describing the postcard charm of Golden Apples of the Sun  by  Sandra Donabed of Jupiter

Ellen Haines of Jacksonville with Fire

Martha Sielman with Sweet Florida Blue by Lisa-Marie Sanders of Cocoa Beach

Martha Sielman with Orange Topiary by Margo Huckabay Hicks of Palm Bay

Martha Sielman with a piece from Oil Stains,
an accompanying show that is quilter Eleanor McCain 's response
to the BP Gulf oil spill

Bits of color

I'm in that neverland of fever and the edge of grief. My mother died and then I got a terrible cold. They are hardly equivalent, but combined serve as a reason for me to do very little. It's perfect for cutting out 1" squares of cotton and gluing them to index cards, as directed by Elizabeth Barton in her book Inspired to Design. She says the more you actually handle color the better you become at using it in your quilts. I know she's right, but ... actually doing it feels less than effective. Which is perfect for now. So above you see my green family, bright and dull, along with a monochromatic selection of four greens. Aha! red is next, and ...