Finished with Red and Blue Horses

I've been having a frustrating time with my sewing machine! It kept breaking so many needles that I went to the service center. And, yep, you guessed it, it was fine once it was there. But, of course, I left the plug-in cord to the sewing machine there...so now I'll be back there again tomorrow. I am not to happy with the edging because my machine was giving me such a hassel. But, I'm happy with the postcard itself.

Horses Added

I'm really enjoying painting these PC's. It does take a lot more time to do than creating a fiber PC, but I am learning about color schemes and composition. I've added the horses...now I am afraid to stitch on it!! But, I will also do some stitching next.

WIP Wednesday

I've decided to try my hand at another Franz Marc. I really love his use of color. I've painted the background..now I'll add the horses in fabric and then stitch.
I'm working on two at the same time. I'm happy so far with the background

A couple of more ideas

Tomorrow..hopefully I'll be able to begin on my "Art Masters" PC's. I've got a couple more that I think would make great PC's.





















Also, Isabella put my two projects I did on her website. I'm thrilled she like them. I'd like to do some more things with her scarf scraps.


And, our group MistyFuse project is featured on the QA website Woo Hoo!

Exploring Artists

I signed up for a swap on SurfaceDesign where we recreate the masters of art in PC form. This is so exciting for me because I just love studying art history. I was inspired to create the trade by looking at Cynthia's blog...amazing!

Now, I don't know which ones to do! There are some that I can see would be really difficult so I am not sure it would turn out.

Here are a few of my ideas, I would love to explore.

Artemisia Gentileschi.

I had the honor of seeing this piece at the DIA in Detroit. She was a really interesting lady. She was one of the first fresco painters in Italy when women were not really allowed to paint. Her style is amazing she also was one of the forerunners in doing light to dark contrasts to add depth. Also, she had an interesting story in her life, she was raped by a fellow fresco painter and it was the first recorded rape trial in Italy. She was so tormented by this that she has several paintings in which she portrays heroines as getting revenge against a man. It is said that this is a self portrait of her as "Judith". Judith cuts off the head of Holofernes.




Also, I would love to explore the Expressionists...here are a couple of my favorites





Kirchner...





























Macke...





















Marc...


I had the pleasure to see Fighting Forms in Munich once. I just love the fractional elements and color in his compositions.







So, now where to begin??

Journal Cover Completed

I finished my journal cover ...finally! I added the chain stitch to the surrounding picture because I was inspired by TAST.

Old Romance Comics

I just love those old cheesy romance comics from the 50s to the 70s. I bought some off of ebay. Some of them were in pretty bad shape, so they made the perfect experiment model. We are studying paper and fabric on FAF, so this is my contribution.
I still have some other great "one sceners" to experiment with. So, we will see what else these may appear on. I used TLS on the paper and here is the result...


I'm a thinkin a nice journal would be good for the next project.

Charms and Tahoe

Tomorrow, I will turn this postcard into my quilt guild show. It's one of my favorites so I hope it gets a ribbon at the quilt show. But, I am not certain if they will end up doing ribbons.
























Here are more charms! Remember my disastrous attempt at the Gauguin...well I think they make pretty darn good charms haha. That is the great thing about charms...you can use your mistakes to make great things.

Also, are some charms from my "elements" series. So, once again, I would like to offer the first person to respond their choice of a charm, just leave your email. Also, for those who are in my trade group on SurfaceDesign if you have a preference of which series you would like ...my first with the foil and satin stitching, my Gauguin series, or my elements series, let me know.

Memory Monday

Today, a bunch of us in FAF are showing an old photograph or the oldest photograph we have in our possession. It's really interesting to look at these old photos. This is the oldest photo that I have. It is of my great grandfather and great aunt. I am thinking around the time of the depression. My great grandfather has one of these old pipes in his mouth and patches on his pants. It shows how in those days everything was made useful until it really wore out. My great grandfather worked in a coal mine in England. Also, the way the little girl with her headscarf is looking up at my great grandfather and how they hold each other's hands really is special. She reminds me of the little match girl. The photo really speaks of a different time. Also, it's interesting to see similarities in appearances. I can see my father's eyes and eyebrows.

Color Combinations

I've spent the last couple of days dying fabrics for my new venture. It's been a while since I have dyed and this year I really wanted to spend time experimenting with color combinations.

So, I am going to play with purple, orange and green. I really love bold colors. I dyed some cottons and silks. I love working with silk but the draw back is that you can't really apply anything to it like pastels or paint to add depth...it is what it is.

Check out my two cleaning cloths...I figure these could make something interesting as well.

Also, I just bought a new iron...I wish I would have got this iron along time a go! It's great I don't need to apply pressure and the steam is just perfect. Ahhh happiness!
My next thing is do get going on some sketches. I've got some good ideas and hopefully they will work out nice. I'd like to also at some point go back to Color Composition For The Creative Quilter and do some exercises out of there.

A Must Have

I just got the Quilt Visions book in the mail today. And..I LOVE IT!!! I bought their other book from 2 years ago and have been eagerly awaiting this one.

I say this to all who are not familar with this publication...this really is a must have for art quilters. These quilts they portray really are true art and it even includes a CD for close up action.


I am so inspired by the quilts in here. If anyone else has bought this book, I am curious which quilts they are most inspired by.

WIP Wednesday

I decided I didn't like the direction the Gauguin piece was taking so...I cut it up. I plan to use it in fabric charms and I made a small wall piece out of it.

Also, I am working on a journal cover. I used an Isabella Whitworth silk scarf scrap. She dyes and creates her own scarfs. Stay tuned for the finished results...

Greenpeace

Hello faithful blog readers...

In case you are not already aware, there is going to be an Earth Day auction of fiber art. It is going to be great fun! But, we need your talent to get it going. We need to get some great fiber art by March 10th. We have some great artists already signed on but need more. There will be paper and fiber art from wall art to PC's. It will be so interesting to see what goes to auction. The auction will be on ebay with the proceeds going directly to Greenpeace.

We were considering a few environmental organizations and decided upon Greenpeace because of their impact to the environment. They help to save rainforests and animals, as well as bring a voice to global warming and the habitats that are destroyed as a result of this.

We have a blog set up to showcase the artists and their contributions at...


EarthDayAuction
http://2007earthdayauction.blogspot.com/

If any of you are interested, please email me at jvanrit@yahoo.com.

Also, we have some great contributions from Misty Fuse and a Joggles gift certificate that Sue so kindly added to the mix to donate as raffle prizes to participants!

Thank you

Joanna

In addition...

I wanted to also mention I got my Scrubble! I won this from Terri...and I am with Diane...it's too good to use!

Progress

I have been in process on quite a few ideas. I know many of you fellow bloggers have set goals for yourself in the new year. My goals are simply:

1. To get a better handle on color composition
2. Focus on improving my drawing skills
3. And to study art work from past and present masters and learn from them. I want to do a study on Kirchner and also Jennifer Bartlett.

My first study is Gauguin. I was using some of the concepts from "The Day of The Gods". I love the organic shapes in the water and contrasting hues.


The worst part about starting new things is investing time and not being satisfied. I was working on this small piece. I like the idea of organic forms and I will play with this some more on another project. I am happy with some things but I don't like the direction it's taking. I was playing with thread painting in it and I don't like the mix of colors. So, I am thinking of cutting it after I practice some more on it. I wanted to get a "Gauguin feel" to it, but I am not satisfied...stay tuned to see if it comes back in cut up in little postcards. I am happy with the backdrop water. I really like the hues of blue and black together and will use this idea again.


Also, I bought a Carla Sonheim original wood painting for my daughter. It's really lovely and it was such a great deal! Check out her etsy shop, she is having one original a day at discount prices.


Lastly, here are some charms I've made. And, if you have persevered and read through my ranting, I shall grant the first person to respond to me one of these little charms. All you have to do is say..."I want one" in a comment and include your email address and then I'll get your mail address from you.