A Winner!

Doreen K, shoot me an email with your address. You are a winner!!

Joanna

A Winner!

Doreen K, shoot me an email with your address. You are a winner!!

Joanna

Romance Comics

As some of you may know, I'm a big fan of romance comic imagery. My preference is the 50's and in particular the artwork of Matt Baker. I wrote an article for the RaggedCafe that I would like you all to check out. Let me know what you think?


This is my current work in process. I'm really happy with the outcome and as I have decided to do a series of studies of comic women images (when I can fit it in!). The background is hand dyed fabric and the image of the girl is done with inks and pastels on fabric. Then, where ever you see black, this is thread painted with black thread. I might do a little tweaking to the background. I need to think it over. I thought about stitching in the background but since this is a smaller piece..I'm not sure. It will also be scaled down a bit upon completion. She has a friendliness about her...like she's inviting you into her world...don't you think?


Matt Baker's women have an immortal beauty. And, he knew how to set a scene with so many details! He was just gifted in his ability to capture movement. He had a bad heart and died at the age of 37. He made such a contribution in such a short period of time. I was lucky enough to stumble onto some of his images that are considered public domain. I know this will take some time to do a series and I am not sure in which direction I will go but I really like how this one in particular turned out. The defined lines are just perfect for thread painting. And, the comic images make a great source of inspiration to work in fiber.

I would like to know what you all think of the article? Also, I would love to hear if any of you already knew of Matt Baker or were a reader of some his comics...or even own some romance comics in general?

And, here are some links to some illustrators/comic artists that are interesting to visit:



Process Recess

Guyshield


Sara's Sketches

Misch

A general blog on 50's 40's imagery, really interesting to look back on some of these ads

Today's Inspiration's

Fabric Dyeing and Giveaway!

I am also in an exchange with CalendarGirls with Lynda. She is so gifted at working with sheers and really does amazing things with her experiments. Thank you Lynda! Just love it! She also gave me an extra freebie PC. How lucky am I?

I bought some chino dye and worked with adding some fuschia, peach, and golden yellow's to the mix. I think my favorite combination would be chino with a little bit of fuschia and peach added to the mix. As you can see a couple of them aren't really skin tones but they look nice in the mix. Overall, I am happy with the results.

I've also been working on a great little side project I hope to share this weekend. I'm really happy with how it is turning out and I've decided I may also enter it in the miniature category in the local quilt show.

















So, now for a give-a-way! I made a lot of skin tones in my experiments. Would you like some? This last picture is what I'll give to the lucky winner. Leave a comment and say you'd like to be entered and I'll draw a name.

Michelle's Gift

I won a gift on Michelle's blog. She sent me this lovely little bottle cap pendant and a pair of purple and green socks. One of my favorite color combinations. Thank you Michelle!

I know I have been awful quite lately. I haven't had much of a chance to be creative. I'm working on completing the Laurel Burch tile trade I'm in at SurfaceDesign. And, I wrote an article for Ragged Cloth Cafe, such a great website. So, stay tuned for this and add it to your favorites!

Fairy Shoes

In Stitch magazine, they had a pattern for making little fairy shoes. So, how could I resist? I've also seen some really lovely little shoes on Val's blog as well. They are really fun to make and it makes you think about the little fairy that would occupy them. This is a winter forest fairy. It's really difficult to take a good picture of these little shoes. They are so much better in person. They are made from silk paper and embellished with beads, yarn, and stitching. These little shoes will make their way to Debbie for a swap we are both in. Wouldn't it be neat to make a whole fairy outfit?


**Also, thank you to everyone who responded about my dyeing issue. I received a couple of great ideas. Thank you!

And, I hope to post a really great little package I received from Michelle in my next post.

Dyeing skin colors/flesh tones

Anyone out there have any good recipes they'd like to share on skin tones. I'm wanting to use procion dyes. I'd also really appreciate a picture of your results if you have any.

I found a link here. I'm wondering if anyone has much success in this area.

Photoshop

I am such a novice at photoshop but over the last few days I have been trying to learn a thing or two. These are my first attempts at changing an image into a cartoon. I know I'll get better at time. My line drawing could use a lot of work. So, please excuse the edges not being smooth on the line drawing version. This will take some work in But, I really wanted to first understand how you can do it and then practice on the techniques of coloring and line. I did my line drawing before coloring...I really should have done this after so I do have some weird lines but this is just practice.

I'm telling you photoshop can be so complicated!!! I have learned so much though about photoshop. It really is quite an amazing software package.


Stay tuned for the next step....bubble letters.



Original Image




















Image with cartoon and line drawing






















Image just cartoon