Going Green ATC Trade

I am actually early on my next trade. It isn't due until March 1st but Hubby's birthday is next weekend and the weekend after, I have to go on a girl scout camping trip. So this was it for me to get them done. I am really excited how they turned out but my photography is not so great.




The background is a paper towel I used to soak up excess dye during my summer experimentation with daughter and friend. I thought the colors were cool so I kept them. They were perfect for this challenge. I stamped a fern type pattern on each with a hand cut stamp. Then machine quilted around to accent them. I added some left over angelina fibers and some green netting I had on hand from a lime bag. They make great grasses! I sewed over them with some thread to make blades of grass. I added some sequins and beads for a little extra something and then finished the edges. I am really happy with these and have 3 left over!

Comfort

The Fiberarts Group I belong to had a challenge. Every two months, we will get a new theme to work with. Our first was Comfort and what it means to you. I am late getting my entry in as I am getting over a nasty sinus infection and the in-laws have swooped in for an impromptu visit. Was supposed to be two weeks but is going to be 4. I love them to pieces but the little time I have to work on art has been whittled down to near extinct. Oh well.

So my entry was born out of a small snow storm that we had. There is something very peaceful about the world blanketed with snow. (Not the 30 inches in DC mind you) but a few inches that makes you stay home and hang out with your family.

I used some fabric from a previous experiment. I drew the background with Neocolors watercolor crayons and then added water to blend. When dry, I used various rubber stamps of trees and leaves and grasses to create the treeline. I placed the stamp underneath and rubbed using the same water color crayons. I misted them with water to let them bleed and blend a little and then quickly ironed the fabric (from behind) to heat set and stop them from disappearing all together. I thread painted the trees and grasses. I also added angelina fibers to create the snow in the foreground. The tree in the middle was beaded with some metallic beads to add some texture.

I still feel it needs something in the lower right hand corner. I wanted to add some tall grasses but my hubby thinks it looks great the way it is. What do you think?

ATC Challenge - Red

I was invited to join a small Artist Trading Group and we just finished our first trade. The challenge was the color red. Originally I was thinking Valentine's Day but that was so obvious. But then I ran across some Chinese envelopes I had in a drawer and the inspiration took hold. This year, Chinese New Year lands on Valentine's Day! So I created ATC's based on the year of the Metal Tiger which is this year's animal.

First I used a red fabric background and stamped a chinese character in dark blue. Then stamped some other oriental motifs in cold and a darker red. I then used a puffy paint to paint individual tigers on each card. When dry, I used a heat gun to puff them up and then painted them copper using H20 watercolor paints. When that dried, I added in details and stripes with a dye pen. The pen with the H20 paint trashed two of my black pens. Apparently they don't play nice together. So note to self, don't do that again. I sewed a Chinese coin onto each and finished the edges with a satin stitch in black.

I made 8 so that I could pick the best of the bunch for my trade which included only 5 people. So I have 3 left but need to do some adjustments to the faces.

Rust Dyed Challenge entry

Well I finished it finally!!! I had some technical difficulties and kept putting it off to the side while I figured out how to fix it.




Here is a closeup of the face.

Not sure I posted this in a previous post but here is a quick explanation of this piece. The face is my father's. I used a photo my BIL John Armentrout took of him (he gave me permission to use!) My father was diagnosed with hepatic cancer right around the time hawks entered my life. I first had a visit in my back yard - he landed on my trampoline! The next day I found out he had cancer. From then on, they started to show up all time. On the day of his death, I was driving down the tollway to see him and they were everywhere on my entire drive down to my parents house. Since then I have always associated the hawks with my rather. So I titled this piece - They Came To Take Him Home.






The fabric was rust dyed and then the birds were sketched in with pentel fabric crayons. I painted the background in blue using setacolor mixed with aloe gel to thin it. I thread painted the birds and face. I didn't use a stiffer backing behind the face as I wanted to create the wrinkles without having to stitch every last one in. The result was great but puckered and didn't lay flat. I painted the background again using shiva paintstiks in blue and white to blend in a little more. Then I used a trapunto technique to fill out the face more and stabilized the back of his head. There are still some puckers but overall I am thrilled with the final result.

Stamps and such

I am trying to get back into a creative groove. School starting up for the kids has thrown my schedule into the twilight zone! So we are finally settling back into a new routine and I am trying to carve out some time for myself. Soccer was canceled on Saturday which gave me time to play catch up on projects! Yeah!

So I went to work on an idea I have had rolling around in my brain for a while. My inspiration was the fields of natural prairie grasses that grow so plentiful here in the midwest. I took pictures last fall (good thing as this fall has had nothing but rain!) I bought some fabric from my good friend Katherine Sands.


Well about a year ago I bought it! Anyway, I carved some stamps this weekend and played with them in my sketchbook to get my ideas down for the composition.




Not there yet but thought I would post and get some feedback.


This has a graduated background of blues and then I stamped the grasses in three colors. I added the other stamps and realized that I could do this as a piece near water and add reflections! Another avenue I hadn't considered.



This one was a simplified version of the different grasses. But I had sketched it in with colored pencils a while ago since I hadn't done the stamps yet.



This one was created like the first but on a previously painted background in my sketchbook. The colors are blending into the background so I need to add more darks. But this was just for ideas and working out everything.

The large stamp was of a teasel weed. Didn't realize it was an invasive plant until I was at a rest stop in Illinois and saw it posted on the wall! Yikes. I first noticed them last year and thought we were getting a cool thistle with some great flowers. All it did was turn brown.

It's Official!

My piece for Houston was juried into the IQA show but did not win any awards. But it was my first shot ever at entering a piece into a major show and it made it!! So exciting. Tanya Brown was kind enough to snap some pics of my piece as I was unable to attend! Thanks Tanya!!

Ugly Duckling into a Swan

Recently I visited a blog where the owner was showing all of her beautiful hand dyed fabric. (I have lost the envelope with her name on it and will post as soon as I figure out who sent this to me!) She also had some not so great. She called them ugly. So she decided to offer the "ugly fabric" in a giveaway if you left a comment. Well I won one of the pieces. Personally I did not think it was bad. I have made worse!



A couple weeks ago, I found it in my stash while looking for something else. I immediately thought of grasses and water and knew I had some great fabric I could destroy to make this piece sing.






I added in the reflections with some dye pens. Now I need to quilt in the water and reflections. I am really excited about the progress. Just wanted to give a look see of something I am working on. It has been a while since I have posted since life has been crazy.

Update: Katy Quilts is where I won the fabric!