Abstract Painting and a New Baby

Posted on by under painting

My little art group tried out a new technique for abstract painting. It’s based on using words that are opposites.

You keep adding different elements according to the words and their opposites, such as hard and soft or straight and jagged. Then you can add further elements such as collage and work with pens or pencils.

Here they are after adding some collage elements. The one on the bottom right was done separately and I covered the page with a wash of watercolor first. It’s the only one I have worked on with a black marker. I am definitely not very comfortable with the process but these are to loosen you up and not create a “masterpiece”. I can say I definitely created no masterpieces.

And now I’d like you to meet my new fur baby, Edgar. We adopted him from a shelter. He’s supposed to be a year old but I would guess 3-4 months younger. He’s supposed to be a Corgi mix and weighs 25 pounds. Compared to our Yorkies, he’s a bruiser. Here he is with a stuffed tractor which he tore to shreds in about 10 minutes. I then got him an “indestructible” toy that lasted half an hour. Fierce puppy.

Edgar at the studio door looking at me and saying “When are you going to come and play with me?” We’ve had him for a week and he’s settling in well.

I am going to be doing less blog posts on this blog for a while. I’m taking a partial blogging sabbatical. I will still be blogging once a week over on The Felting and Fiber Studio blog. I’ll pop in here occasionally perhaps to give you Edgar updates.

I hope you are all staying safe and thanks for reading.

Two More White Samples

Posted on by under hand stitching, Level 3 Stitch, machine stitching

I hope you aren’t getting tired of seeing white samples. Perhaps it’s to make up for all those color samples that happened before.

This one is trapunto. I used wool to stuff with and I can see the change in color of the “white” wool through the silk that is on top. It’s not a big deal but you can see the edges where the wool didn’t fill the stitched shape completely.

This one is shadow quilting. I used a heavy interfacing to cut out the bark shapes and then back stitched around them.

Have a great weekend!

More White Samples

Posted on by under free motion machine stitching, hand stitching, Level 3 Stitch

I didn’t get a lot done this week due to home circumstances but here are a few more white samples.

This one is a melted polyester on felt. It is always interesting to see how the polyester melts, I used a heat gun on this one.

Here is my first ever attempt at smocking. This is a lattice smocking, I found a Youtube video to follow and it’s a fairly simple process but lots of prep work. It kind of reminded me of doing shibori stitching for dyeing or felt.

This is an example of English style hand quilting. I used one of my stamp designs that I created in Level 3 Art and Design for the pattern. This one has a light tan thread. The instructions were to use a light weight thread in a tone darker than the background. I didn’t have an off white light weight thread so the tan was the closest I had. I think I would have preferred an off white thread.

This last one used a design from a historical study. It is an example of Italian corded quilting It’s stitched on the sewing machine and then the channels were filled with wool yarn. It was an interesting technique.

I haven’t done a lot of these more traditional techniques such as smocking and various forms of quilting. I have a few more to try and then I have to get back to putting my color samples together. I am waiting for some supplies from Dick Blick for the color samples so hopefully, that will arrive soon.

Have a good weekend.

Presentation of Color Samples

Posted on by under Color, hand stitching, Level 3 Stitch

I have shown you loads of color samples that I created for my Level 3 Stitch class. Many people wanted to know what I would do with them. Part of our homework has been to figure out how to present the color samples, either in groups or one by itself. Here are a few methods that I finished in the last couple of weeks.

Here’s the front of one that has five studies combined by hand stitching the edges together.

Here’s the back. I had to add backing fabric to one of the color studies. I plan on adding a strip of black felt to the back running down the center but I don’t have a long enough piece. Black felt is on order!

And here it is rolled up. I’m not sure if it will have a way to tie or a closure. I haven’t decided on that yet.

The next couple set of samples needed a method that would combine the smaller pieces that had been stretched around foam core. So I cut pieces of black foam core and used a strip of black cotton fabric between the foam core and the back of the stitched sample. These were glued together. Now they can sit up on a table or be hung on a wall.

This set is presented the same way on the black foam core. It has been an interesting process figuring out which color studies will work together and then how to make all the different samples go together.

These color studies were actually created to go together. They are all machine stitched and have the same backing. So it was easier to figure out how to connect them. I used a knotted insertion stitch to connect the “pages”. It took me a while as I always forget how to do these stitches and it takes some practice to get the right tension and do the stitch correctly.

But I persevered and now the pages can be folded to make a book.

Or displayed in a concertina fashion. I’m still working on the rest of the color studies a little at a time. Keeping busy!

Thanks for stopping by!

White on White Samples

Posted on by under hand stitching, Level 3 Stitch, machine stitching, surface design

Last week I “went” to class for Level 3 Stitch. We had class online. It was an interesting experience. Not quite the same as real class but we are able to move forward and continue class so it was good. It was really great to get feedback on the applique pieces and we’re starting to think about what our “big” project will be. We also looked at white on white and how that affects design. So now, you guessed it, white on white samples.

It’s interesting to see all the different “whites” in fabric. Something may look white but then you put it up to something that is a much brighter and whiter white and it is a totally different color.

White felt is definitely not the same as white cotton fabric. It’s interesting to see the different textures that sewing on different types of fabric creates.

And even paper is game.

Lighter fabrics are easy to manipulate with stitching.

I have been searching through my stash to find what I have in white.

Quilting in white definitely shows the shadows of the stitching.

I borrowed this idea from one of my classmates color samples. This stitch and slash technique is really good with different colors of fabric as it really achieves some interesting color mixing. I thought I would see what it did with different white fabrics. It gives a really nice texture. It kind of reminds me of stone carvings.

And this last one is using the cut off partially sewn edges from the piece above. This could definitely give some interesting textures.

Have you ever stitched white on white samples? I’d love to see them if you have! Hope you are all staying safe out there in this big, weird world.