Goodies and Sketchbook Designs

Posted on May 31, 2015 by ruthlane under fibers, gifts, sketch book

I recently posted about Karen Straight from Big Sky Fiber Arts over on the Felting and Fiber Studio site. We do “Meet the Supplier” posts as we find suppliers that have great stuff for fiber artists and felt makers. Karen just happens to live in the same area as I do and she brought me a lovely surprise.

And I was surprised. I had not expected any kind of gift at all. So it was great fun to open it up and see what goodies Karen had given me.

Thank you so much Karen – I can’t wait to try out the wool and ramie. Now to just find a little bit of time to play.

I have been doing a little bit of work in my sketchbook. These are black and white designs based on sketches or photos.

It is fun to crop an image in different ways – you see different ideas for design this way. What have you been working on?

Mixed Media Iris Re-Do

Posted on May 22, 2015 by ruthlane under mixed media

The last time you saw the iris mixed media painting it looked like this:

I was really unhappy with it and just put it away for a while. But I decided to just cover it with gesso and start over.

Then I repainted it. There is still lots of texture.

You can see more of the texture in this shot.

And here’s a little closer view of the iris. I used acrylic paints and oil pastels. I may add a few more details but it is close to being finished and I am much happier with it.

Gail Harker Teaching in Montana

Posted on May 15, 2015 by ruthlane under class

Gail Harker will be coming to Kalispell, Montana to teach a Level 1 Experimental Hand Stitch course June 24-28.

If you are closer to Montana then you are to La Conner, Washington, then it’s a wonderful opportunity to take one of Gail’s courses. I have no affiliation except that I have taken many of her courses and I always learn so much as she is an excellent teacher. I will be assisting Gail with this course and we’d love to have you. Just give Gail’s center a call to register.

Layering Synthetic Fabric

Posted on May 8, 2015 by ruthlane under free motion machine stitching

We had our local art group meeting today. I forgot to take any photos while we were there but I did get a few photos of my piece. I didn’t finish it while I was there. I brought it home and stitched it at home. And I still have some “burning” left to do. That’s why you use synthetics, so they’ll melt.

You start with a base of acrylic felt, then add small pieces of synthetic fabric in layers. Then you cover with tulle and stitch it all together.

All the stitching was done with free motion embroidery on the sewing machine. The next step is to take a soldering iron and burn out the holes in between the stitching. You can see examples of the technique by Susan Lenz here. She is well known for this technique. Hers are certainly a lot more intricate than mine will be. I’ll show you the finished piece once I get through burning the holes.

Mexican Inspiration in my Sketchbook

Posted on May 1, 2015 by ruthlane under sketch book

I did take my art supplies and sketchbook with me to Mexico. Since we did a lot of relaxing on the beach, I had time to add some inspiration from my trip.

This zentangle page was done on the airplane ride down.

The tropical flowers were abundant around our condo.

This isn’t necessarily a flower but I saw a lot of these colors.

These little mushroom like structures were all over the beaches. We sat under one of these nearly every day.

I had screen printed this page quite a while ago but I added the deeper green and the “coconuts” one day on the beach. I saw lots of palm trees as well.