Back to Basics

I finished my colour mixing chart....it is quite intriguing to watch how the colours blend and transform.  In creating this chart, I mixed only 2 colours at a time. Every colour on my palette is represented here, I can easily see how each reacts when mixed with each and every other one on my current pallet.

I now have a reference that will help me tremendously the next time I paint.  I can quickly see what colour "blend" will help get me headed in the right direction.

When I sketch, I often work from my photos, but yesterday was a lovely day to sit outside and work from real life. My white Trillium are at the "turning pink" stage, with the edges becoming very ruffled.  I plucked a bloom and began sketching.
Something I have a bad habit of doing, is sketching very small.....it then becomes rather difficult to  capture details.

 I tried again, this time with my one and only red Trillium,

working toward making much better use of the page

Learning by Doing

I am a hands on kind of person, definitely the "learn by doing" sort.  I find this to be the best learning method for me personally. It allows me to experiment, explore and discover for myself what works, and what doesn't. I like to dive right in.
I decided to try a doing a self portrait and while it is not quite right, I DID learn several things that I will be able to use in future projects

 

When I began quilting, I came to it with a good skill set (as a dressmaker/designer, my sewing skills and eye for detail were well honed) but as for my newest interest?......well I think that I may need to spend some time learning a few basics.
I thought it might be a good idea to create a colour mixing chart....not only to help with learning colour mixing, but also to know what  can be achieved with the actual colours I have on my palette.  I can find lots of info on colour mixing but I need to know how the supplies I have on hand will perform.

By creating the chart, I can get a feel for mixing colours and will then have a great reference as I move forward.

btw.....I have decided that I will not start a new/different blog, I will continue to keep it all here, I simply made a slight change to my banner, thanks everyone for your input  :-)

It looked okay......but.....

As I indicated in my previous post, I have turned my interest to learning Pen & Ink and Watercolour techniques.
So.....what about this title? Well, I will explain.....and show you. I wanted to try using a masking fluid to block out my main image so that I could easily create an interesting background. I had this bottle of masking fluid (Frisket)...it has been sitting on my shelf for a very long time.......it looked okay,  but evidently, it was not.

I first inked my subject, then brushed a layer of masking fluid across the areas I wanted to be left without paint.  The fluid went on nice and even.....acted exactly as I expected.

It was only after I painted the background that I discovered that I had a problem.

Instead of coming off easily, the Frisket was extremely difficult to remove, the more I tried, the "gooey-er" it became and if that wasn't bad enough, it was also lifting the ink.  ah ....but I had already spent a good deal of time on this, so, I was not giving up just yet.

I found the solution was to use my hair dryer, by warming that (now blackened) goo, I finally got it all off. 

BUT now my inked image had lost much of its ink and was being lost under the watercolour, so I went over it with fresh ink afterward. 

 You know the saying......Learn by your mistakes?  Okay, so, lesson learned, I later found out that apparently masking fluid only has a shelf life of about 1 year..... my bottle was nearly a decade old.

while I was at the art supply store (purchasing a new bottle of masking fluid), I decided to treat myself to some tubes of watercolour as well as a fresh new palette.

I placed colour in each of the wells of my new palette and then created a guide for myself. This guide will act as a quick reference for the not only the colour, but also the name and number for each....( I think I will include the brand and maybe date purchased as well)

In this detail photo, you can see that the concentrated dry paint in the wells look substantially different from the actual colour they produce.

I am currently trying to decide if I should start a new blog dedicated to my newest interest, or simply continue posting here.

A Different Direction

This post is not about quilting.....but rather about, not quilting.  Lately I have not had any desire to make anything with textiles, it seems that I have perhaps become a bit bored. I am not currently working on any pieces, I have no plans to enter any challenges or competitions....I simply seemed to have lost interest.

So, I have decided to learn something new. I have always been able to draw (sort of) but never explored much beyond plain pencil or a black marker.  I am intrigued by drawings where the medium is Pen & Ink with watercolour, I love the illustrative nature of it. I enrolled in this excellent online class through Craftsy, purchased a dip pen, nibs, black waterproof ink, proper paper, a pan of watercolour cakes and dove in.

I debated sharing my early work, but what the heck.....I am well aware that there are problems with each of them...BUT..... at the same time, I do believe that there is something successful happening with each piece as well......I realize that I am still rather heavy handed with the watercolour washes and really, REALLY need to work on that....practice....practice....practice

I am working from my own photos and thoroughly enjoying the process, here is a look at what I have done so far.

ink only

after the addition of watercolour

ink drawing

after the washes were added

forgot to scan the ink only version of this before adding the washes

inked

the finished drawing/painting

Whole Cloth Quilt

A few months ago, I showed this quilt as I was in the process of designing and creating it. Below is the finished, painted, whole cloth piece.

you can revisit that post to see how it evolved here

Last article for CQA

In May of 2011, I eagerly took on the role of "Artist in Residence" for the Canadian Quilters' Association. I has been a terrific experience, but, as the saying goes.....all good things must come to an end. I have decided to move on.

Rather than another pattern/project or design, I wanted to have my last article reflect what I thought my role truly was....to encourage and perhaps inspire others to experiment, play, create, learn and most importantly, enjoy the process.

The Spring issue containing my final article is out. In it, I talk about building one's own "technique" library. I began by drawing simple outline of a feather, gave examples of how one might modify it to meet the needs of the technique they plan to use and then showed examples of ways that one simple image could be used in many, many different ways

simple outline

modified for applique

modified for stencil and several other techniques

Here is a look of some of what I created using that one image (each technique used, is listed below the photo

 discharge paste & a stencil

hand applique

liberated style piecing

stencil & dye sticks

white batting on top of cotton, layered under tulle and stitched

raw edge fused applique

outline stitched with black thread, paint added to create the colour

batik

sunprinted and trapunto

wool applique

dryer sheet cut and fused with stitching for detail

by doing this exercise, I now have a reference, I have notes about what I liked, disliked or might want to do differently next time. It gave me the opportunity to play with a variety of quilting ideas and the next time I have the impulse to try something new....I can just grab my feather image and get to work.

Top Down Knitting

Like just about every quilter, I enjoy a variety of needle arts, and like everyone, I am better at some things than others. I like to knit but don't consider myself really very strong in that area. While I can keep my stitches fairly consistent, I tend to knit a lot and rip out even more because I am rarely happy with the fit. When you begin a sweater at the bottom and work your way up....you get what you get.

Recently I came across "Top Down Knitting" with this method, you start at the neckline and work your way down. The best part about this is, that you can place your work onto a waste yarn and try it on as you go. So far I am really liking this.

Just as in my quilting, I do like to challenge myself. This pattern has cabling....these are my first cables .....I have discovered that they are much easier than they look!

Since taking that photo, I have gotten to an area where I will just be knitting until I get to a certain length, keeping the cable stitch pattern correct. So...instead of having the whole (7 page) pattern with me. I created a little "laminated" chart that I can mark each round with a whiteboard marker to keep my place. Once I have completed the full chart I can wipe it clean to start all over.

I simply printed the chart, glue stuck it down to an index card and then used packing tape to laminate it.

Edit:  The pattern I am using, is an Amanda Lilley Design, which I purchased it through Craftsy.... you can find it her patten here

Showing off

My designs, that is.
A friend embroidered them for me. If you are a regular visitor, you know that 6 of my doodles  have been digitized into embroidery designs and are currently built into 2 Janome sewing machines. I blogged about that excitement several times already....you can find those posts here.

Each design was stitched in gleaming white thread on black cotton, I pieced them into a simple wall hanging so that I can now proudly display them

I had great fun quilting the background.

 

Embellished Wool Applique

Do you recall this little quilt?

At the time that I showed it, I don't think I explained that it was a sample for a workshop I was asked to conduct. I don't generally accept invitations to lecture or teach but this was for my former guild, so I just could not turn them down.

The workshop was held on Saturday, it was well attended and well received. The ladies arrived prepared and ready to enjoy the day. They brought their supplies, were eager to jump right in. I really did not have to do all that much...I demonstrated a few stitches, gave suggestions for the variety of ways they could be used and they did the rest.

I was SO incredibly impressed with what I was seeing emerging as the day went on. Each and every one did a fantastic job, their imaginations were humming and you could see it in the fabulous pieces that were being created.....they were not simply "copying" the sample, they were each going in their own unique direction, adding beads, using wonderful, unexpected colour and stitch combinations....it was just so cool to observe.

you can see another post about the day from one of the gals who attended here .... Thanks Gail!!!

Working with wool on cotton is a fun way to play with design. When most people hear the word "Embellish", glitz and bling likely come to mind, but that is not what we were doing, We were building layers of texture, just doodling with stitches to enhance the basic design. This technique could be done with any design....for those who love the look of applique but perhaps don't want to do all the prep work to turn under raw edges, this is perfect. Cut the shapes, whip stitch in place and you are ready to add the magic, one stitch at a time.

While I was able to coax mostly everyone in for a group photo, I regret not getting close up photos of each of the pieces in progress...it was amazing to see how different each looked, even though all started with the same basic design, and fabric selections. Thank you for a wonderful day ladies..... I can hardly wait to see the end results.

More Dye Experiments

I am becoming a little obsessed with dyeing threads, it is so easy and yet so rewarding. A few of you have asked if I will post a tutorial....yes, I will do a post showing the supplies and process I use... Please note that there are currently lots and lots of great tutorials to be found online.  I hope to put one together in the very near future, showing how I go about it.

This latest batch consists of 6 strand embroidery floss, some strange cotton skeins that I found, along with some lovely #20 mercerized cotton (it is the finest I have found so far)

Here is a look at where I placed the colour on this skein of 6 strand embroidery floss (it started out white)

here is another skein....before it was wrapped and after...this is that #20 cotton

here you can see the whole batch. I wanted to see what would happen with dye that had been mixed (water only) not activated, but sitting for a week......I was very happy to see that it still worked brilliantly. I also used some plain old Rit dye......it worked well too. Some of these skeins started out white, some off-white, and others were already a soft colour of some sort that I simply "punched" up