Magnolia II ~~ art quilt finish

When I posted my finish on Tuesday, I knew that I was close to posting about this painting as well. It was complete, but drying seems to take forever. Then there are those photos that intimidate me so. But I'm persistent, if nothing else, and have something to share. 

Several people have asked me how I create these since it's an odd way to paint. So here's the short version. Start with a subject that can be isolated easily, so it almost has to be a physical object. Create a background using fabric (scraps work nicely). I think of it as making a quilt top. 

After loading the quilt sandwich onto the longarm, I plan and prep the painting area with gesso. Because you aren't painting the entire panel, plan carefully. I pencil in and quilt the outline of the subject. 

Now we're ready to move on to painting. I alternate between painting and quilting. I've discovered that one informs the other, and I tend to work improvisationally.  

An example of that improvisational work is this bud in the upper right corner. I decided to include it as I was painting the large magnolia and wanted it to be a secondary element, almost not noticeable. While I was working on it, I realized that the green stem receded into the background, so I repainted it in lighter browns that contrast more with the greens, yellows and browns of the background. 

And just like that, weeks later there's a painting ready for framing. Richard is wonderful about making frames, so as soon as trim and measure the work, he builds a frame--to 1/16 of an inch. (As if I'm going to manage that math!) Once a work is framed, I clean the painting by removing threads and touch up the paint as needed. How's that for a "quick" explanation? 

Magnolia I ~~ art quilt finish

I love combining quilting and painting--remember the cotton paintings? There's another here. It's a time-consuming joy that I don't think I'd have been able to appreciate back when I was working. Oddly, I started painting not long before retirement, so everything just sort of fell into place. Well, I've moved on from cotton to magnolias. 

This is my first attempt. I see so many flaws, but I've decided to let them go. If I move on, I can take the lessons with me to the next painting. 

While they are glaring in real life, they don't look so hideous in a photo. Getting depth was a struggle, but making the petals look cupped and curled...it feels impossible. But I'm determined!

And then there are the leaves to contend with. I need to work on those. But there's something I did that I love and that was to add ghost leaves in the background. I might do things a little differently later, but this idea really works for me.

There's another coming. I like it even more than this first. But I took an informal poll on Facebook and the two are about even in preference, so maybe I should show this one a little more love. What are you thinking of this one? What constructive criticism can you offer? I want to improve and knowing what to work on makes that job a bit easier.

Another Cotton on Green ~~ Finished

On Friday I told you about the most recent cotton painting I created. What I didn't tell you is that I had loaded two canvases and worked on them side-by-side. Sister paintings, if you will. 

They have many similarities, but one is not their sizes. This one is 15 X 18. Another difference is this little blossom on the upper left side of the canvas. It just found its way there with no argument from me. I just sew without thinking when I work on these. Sometimes some interesting things happen. 

Cotton bloom - Google images

I decided that this serendipitous occurrence was something to take advantage of. So the blossom became a cotton blossom out of season. I quilted around it in the same way that I quilted around the cotton bolls, and let it take care of business. It may not be a cotton blossom, but it's not far off. 


There are the right number of petals and it is white. Which, by the way, means it has not been self-pollinated because, once they are, they turn pink becoming a deeper pink as time goes by. 

In the next stage the flower dies and falls off leaving the green boll where the cotton grows. It is enclosed in green bracts which dry up and split open as the boll gets larger. Once the boll is fully mature, it will eventually fall off the stem. The seeds are in the fluffy cotton boll and are supposed to find their way to the ground, but most end up at the gin. But that's another post.

This cotton painting, then, has all the stages of the life-cycle of a cotton plant. Now that's serendipitous! 

Cotton on Green ~~ Finished?

I've worked on this piece and another one for several days. I had built the canvases quite some time ago and set them aside. At the time I had another, more pressing project. Oddly, I can't think of what that was. 

Nevertheless, I discovered the stack of canvas pieces and decided to load them on the long-arm before something else jumped in front of me. I have a few more canvases in the stack, but I want to see what the green background looks like. 

I've been working on this series of cotton paintings and have eight or ten pieces. I haven't really named any of them, but I think I'll just number them. Luckily, I've written about them and can look up the order. 

With this piece I was going for a cleaner, less is more, feeling. I'm not sure it's working. I keep thinking there's something missing. If you realize it, please let me know. I will definitely rework it. Otherwise, my plan is to show it to my artist friend and ask her opinion. She will be absolutely honest with me! And I believe strongly in the power of constructive criticism and learning from others.

Oh, I have to give credit to my sweet husband for building the frames! We've created a pretty good system: I sew the canvas in no particular size--just whatever works for me for the moment--then choose one when I'm ready to paint. Once the painting is complete and dry, I decide on the dimensions and ask for a frame. This one is 16" square. He builds it, I mount the painting, and voila! we have a painted quilt. Isn't he the best?!

Here's another picture so you can help me with a comment. I really want to figure out what I'm missing. Plus, some of the other painted quilts in this series.

You can find the posts for these paintings here: upper left blue, upper right neutral, lower left neutral, lower right blue.

Sunday Quilt Inspiration: QuiltCon #4

Another set of photos from QuiltCon.  Since I took so many, I may never get to post them all.  I just hope that I remember which ones I've posted already and don't repost them. :-) 

 I'm sorry, even though I've cropped these photos down, the cropped version doesn't load.  I have no idea how to fix this problem.  Strangely enough, some of the cropped pictures do load.  I uploaded about ten pictures at one time.  Every one had been cropped.  Weird.

See, here's a cropped photo.  But then the next few are not cropped.  It's a little frustrating, especially since I spent time cropping and enhancing them.

 

 There should NOT be a light showing in any picture!  Now there's something else to figure out!

This zig zag quilt is one of two quilts that Angela Waters from Cut to Pieces had in the show.  She wrote about the judges comments and her feelings as a result on her blog.  You should go by for a visit when you get the chance.  She brings up some interesting points and, I have to admit that since I read that post, I've been thinking about my own comments on students' works.

I hope you enjoyed the show.  Many of the quilts in today's post are winners.  Not that I want to open the worm can on winners, judges and worthiness.  At least not today. 

Later I'll share my own judges' comments, but first I have to work up the nerve to open and read the letter.  I didn't realize that they were in the box with the returned quilt until I read the post on Cut to Pieces.  I'll get to that, I promise.

Happy Quilting,
Mary

New Look

I have no idea what brought this on.  I guess it had something to do with a blog I read recently on which the writer explains how to create a really cool blog header with photos.  I tried her method but ran into two issues: 1) I do not have the right software and, though it's free, I'm iffy about downloading stuff, then 2) trying to do something as cool on Picasa 3, I got stuck.  

Actually, it's a good sort of stuckness (isn't that a word?).  I was stuck building a collage.

In Picasa you just drop pictures onto the work space and then arrange them as you want.  

Easy Peasy!  

Fun, fun!  

Stuck!  It's hard to stop once you start.  So there I was, playing and having fun finding some pics of my quilts and then....I had an idea.  Apply the collage to my blog.  Yes indeed!  I'm all about having fun, being creative, and (here's the kicker) actually using what you've created.

Three days later and I'm still not happy with the looks of things.  I want this blog to be a new awesome, you know?  



Not the ordinary, everybody is saying it awesome.  Not just the everyday kinda cool, but really, truly, honestly, AWESOME COOL.  (only not that loud)

So, after building a collage, figuring out what Blogger is willing to let me do (there wasn't much) and fighting for days to do some little something, such as change the font size (that was insanely slow), find the tabs bar on the "Simple" design (it's on the bottom), put all the writing in the same color (never did get that accomplished).   [whew, that sentence frag is too long, I'm starting over]  So, doing all that, it occurred to me that I have lots of quilts.  I wonder how many..... 

So I stopped playing on Blogger and went to the studio to count.  There are lots, you know, a whole lot.  

That's for another post, however.  For now I'd like some feedback, so please take a moment to leave a message and type a word or two about the new look of the blog.  I'd love to get other perspectives, and don't fret over whether I'll be hurt if you don't like it.  I'm a big chick!  I can take it....honesty only, please!