Van Gogh Inspired "Poodle in Sunflowers"

"Poodle in Sunflowers" 12" X 12"

This is my latest STAT quilt interpreting a famous artist's style in fabric with an emphasis on texture.

I am part of Alida's Art with Fabric blog hop. Please visit the others after you've seen mine!



this is my reference photo for Van Gogh's sunflowers. I research my chosen artist and try to decide something to reference. Spirals, bold use of primary color, strong lines and his words were my inspiration.I also have tried to include a poodle in each of these 17 quilts! Just for fun. Just so they reference ME!

I start with a 12" piece of peltex. I wanted to keep it simple and bold, but textured so I first put a cotton background, then added a sheer with glittering spirals on top

to form the background to my composition. I brought the overlay to the back, encasing the cotton, and basted it as I knew I didn't want a binding this time.

I chose fonts and printed three quotes as well as an image of Milo to print onto the printable fabric and cut out

The fabric is pre-mounted for the printer and coated to make it permanent once heat set.

the white fabric was too white, so I dabbed these paints onto the quotes using a sea sponge.




An easy way to soften the look and continue the color palette
Then I start cutting and placing fabric with pins

Quick, free form cutting and layering. Overlap some dark fabric for shadows, take away so many flowers from Milo's mouth.

Go to machine with it held in place with a few pins and start stitching. Some buttonhole, some spirals, some free motion, some echo quilting with straight lines.

stitched in curls on the poodle

Quickly as if I am painting brushstrokes. I know the thread color and weight will add dimension. I want to mimic brushstrokes. The photo fabric is dense to sew through. The sheer is sparkly with glitter that must be contained or will migrate into the machine.

The applique is held on with stitching only, no fusible, allowing it to curl and fray a bit, which I like.

 Immediate, approachable, momentary like a chalk painting on a sidewalk.I think it gives texture and energy to the piece. I could plan, and make a mock up, draw out lines to follow and follow them carefully but what fun is that? It's not my artistic desire to be so careful, it's my goal to enjoy the trip. Careening into the grave with a martini glass in one hand and a sewing machine in the other!

Note the crystals ironed on around the flowers to add a highlight. I might have hand beaded if I'd had more time.

The back holds one more quote, and shows the stitching. I used black bobbin to look more sketch like.

The sunflower print was short so I added a strip of yellow that I wrote the quilt's info onto.






Before quilting, I pressed under the backing edges all the way around and placed it over the edges already turned to the back. This allowed me to keep glitter from migrating to the machine.

A quick hand stitch and edges are finished off.

I think van Gogh would have laughed, and liked this tribute to him. He loved nature, was awed by what he saw, and sought like I do, to capture a bit of it in his art! 


Hope you had fun, please visit the other artists on this blog hop, finding the complete schedule at
 Art with Fabric blog hop
http://www.quiltfabrication.com/
http://www.myquiltinfatuation.com/

"Poodle at Daybreak"

"Poodle at Daybreak"  12" X 12"

Poodle at Daybreak

 This is the picture before I added shadows with purple tulle.





I realized after taking this picture of the original artwork by Maxfield Parrish next to mine inspired by him, that I needed darker shadowing.

 I was invited by Alida at http://tweloquilting.blogspot.com/  to make an art quilt inspired by a well known artist. I chose Parrish and found this critique:
Few can imitate his actual technique, however. Parrish would painstakingly build up his luminescent colors in layer after layer of transparent glazes. Unlike the old masters who originated this technique, Parrish used a blue and white underpainting, rather then the traditional grissaile or terra verde. If you ever get to see his originals, you wll be struck by the jewel-like quality of his colors, almost like looking through stained glass. Parrish, in fact, collaborated with the famous glass artist Louis Comfort Tiffany on glass mosaic mural called The Dream Garden, which can be seen in the Curtis Center near Independence Hall here in Philadelphia
from http://linesandcolors.com/2007/01/24/maxfield-parrish/
 

This is how my piece started.
I cut my precious personally made hand dye for the background. Whew!

Laid out rough cuts of fabric to become the rocks and poodle.
Gathered sheers to layer on for golden highlights and shadows.






 

Previously, I made a series of 13 quilts inspired by famous artists for a group project called STAT. There is a label on the sidebar that will take you to those posts and show you those quilts.  (Sometime this week I will show you the last one I made based on Georgia O'Keefe)
All of my STAT quilts have a focus on texture of fabric in art so I continued the series with "Poodle at Daybreak" making it in the same size 12" square and with an emphasis on texture. 

I only wish you could see it in person. There are three-d rocks, metallic threads done with free motion, appliqued sheers in layers.

Note the sheers in the sky, the use of prisma color pencil to create a bright yellow glow around the poodle.
And the binding. Done with these hard to handle metallic, ravelly, damasks.

I used the back of the fabric, to give a silver and gold frame to the piece.

It's always a big decision, to bind or not. This seemed to need a frame and I gave it quite a narrow binding frame.






 Most of my STAT quilts have a poodle in them, as a common thread. Cole my standard poodle is my muse, and ever sweet and interesting. I used his image in each art quilt, and enjoyed working in series to explore another artist's style while entertaining myself. He posts here on Wednesdays, and he's quite a character.

I hope you enjoyed seeing this. Please look at my other STAT quilts at your leisure starting HERE!

The week long party of everyone's art quilts can be seen here:   http://tweloquilting.blogspot.com/

view one of my previous ones my Klimt   HERE

Thanks for coming! Please leave a comment or email me. 
 

Working on a new challenge

Yummy Silks! I have gathered silks along with cottons for years, so when I decided to use silk in my latest STAT challenge, I went shopping in my stash! What's better than that?
These are textured, some hand dyed, shiny and glistening, the dupioni changes color depending on the angle you see.

STAT is a group studying well known painter's styles and interpreting them in fabric, with an emphasis on textures. They must be 12 inches square.
This time we are focused on Lois Mailou Jones  http://www.loismailoujones.com/

I decided to use silks and attempt an abstract. More about the decision making on the final reveal, but for now...
I plan to cut the silk into different size rectangles and squares, layer them on stabilizer and hand stitch through with thick threads...

like these. I decided on some hand dyed perle cottons though instead of these.
And stencil some repetitive designs with these plus paint

And I added a rough cut poodle romping, looking back over his shoulder as he runs...

Right now the silk is pressed onto the stabilizer ready for some kind of hand stitches.
Then stencil, then onto peltex for machine quilting and binding.

I am not so comfortable with abstract work. The process was lots of fun though and if it doesn't pan out, it's still bright and shiny and could be made into something, right?
But it will work out... this is where trust and my vision come into play. Trust...

Challenge continues, green leaves

My challenge quilt, "Reaching" is still being quilted.
I thought I would share a couple pics today for the RSC2015 party. The color for May is green.

When I decided to interpret my original poem for this challenge, I sketched out my design

 I sit the sketch in front of me on the design table. The design changes as I work but this helps me focus.
I tried a couple faces til I got the one that had the right feel (see that post  CLICK HERE)

The background sky is a snow dye experiment. Small pieces that had to be sewn together. At the time I thought they were a failure because they were so washed out in intensity. Luckily I never throw anything away, as I now see the value in subtle color. I love how this has such organic color and goes background because of the faded feel of it.
As Michelangelo said "I am still learning"

As so often happens when I start a story quilt, I start with my scrap bin.

The browns formed the tree.( Shameless plug  I teach a class in using scraps in a free form way)
I found a few green scraps to become leaves, and love that the print is of leaves.

Small pieces that have such impact on the whole.
(click on images to see details)



The following picture shows green and brown scraps made into hexagons and hand pieced.
Originally I planned for this piece to go into the area between the sky and the border, next to the root.
I needed something to piece into the space so I could add the border. I used what I thought was just a scrap and not very pretty, but I planned to cover most of it up.

 

After it was pieced in, I LOVED it. The large scale, the reddish brown the olive green, the surprise of rose and pink added so much to the piece!
Surprise!
So I was no longer content to cover it all up. That's when I hit on the idea of moving the hexie section up.
This is exactly why one needs a design wall. When I put the partially quilted piece up last night, and tried the hexie section in different spots, becoming agitated as Mr Color got home and was enjoying the evening on the porch with "Picasso Poodle" without me.
Suddenly I saw the whole thing differently and was able to quilt this in before stopping for the night.

Working out a challenge part two Text

I am working on a challenge piece for my guild. The challenge is to interpret a book, story, or poem.

I do a lot of thinking on walks, and one day I composed the poem...

Each day I must overcome my pain issues to be creative. I am not alone in that, many people must overcome obstacles to their creativity daily. It's an obstacle not a brick wall. We each decide how to best cope with them and making art can transport me.
I chose the  font "papyrus", centered the text and printed the poem onto June Tailor Colorfast prepared sheets.

 It went from stark white to what you see above by way of these...

Sea sponge and Seta shimmer paints in gold, bronze and black.
It is transformed from ordinary to mystical looking in my opinion, perfect for the feel of this quilt.
I am using my own snow dyed fabrics as the large sky background, to give the feel of sun dappled forests.
Note the little hexies going in at the forest floor.

I fussed all day yesterday with proportion, shadow, and size of fabric cuts. It is due Monday night.


I will share more later but for now, here is a shot of the side border...

I bought this fabric, which is intensely more vibrant than this picture reveals from a dyer at the Houston Quilt show. It was expensive to me, $20 a yard. I bought a yard and have not allowed myself to use it yet.

Special fabrics need a special use.

I do need to use them however, not just keep them.

It was hard to cut into it, but I did. I'm glad I did.
There is such color and movement here, and it gives me joy to see it.

The quilt will be better for using it. The quilt is so personal, I think it will become one left up all year.

Of course I feel that way about most of my quilts since so many of them tell my story.


The fabric I will add along the trunk is from a Renaissance vest I made for Mr. color. This is the last of the remnants. I'll miss it. I've used it as a binding, as shadows, and now a trunk. Certain fabrics are just special!

Like my style? There are lots more posts like this one under the labels at the side ==>
Thank you for visiting!  LeeAnna

Little Blue Teapot

six inch block

 This is the last day of the month for  RSC2015 at so scrappy blog.
The color this month was blue, and I've been so busy quilting and putting together sections on my Winter quilt Silent Snowmen, that I nearly forgot.
But
I didn't! This is my little blue paper pieced teapot from Sew Precise software. From the scrap bin.

I plan to do another using the bright dots and wee little teapots fabric hanging next to this one on the wall.

Also plan to do a few cups in blue.

I'm behind so I wanted to link up to the party. I'll have to show you the teacups later.

Sewing is so much fun.

LeeAnna

Making Monet

  My Artist Study project this time is Claude Monet.

I pulled these fabrics from my stash. I firmly believe you should buy fabric when you see if, if you think you'll need it sometime in your life. I would never have found these nowadays as they are almost vintage yet PERFECT for this project.

The project is a 12 inch square quilt inspired by the artist, with an emphasis on texture.
The first photo is the quilt during the thread work decision-making process.
I thought I would share how I decide on threads...

 These are four of my thread cases, arranged by type as that's how I work and think. For this project I wanted metallic, rayons, and  mylar threads to glisten on the surface. I pull the case with that type of thread...

I use these hot wheels cases that open on two sides, and hold many spools of thread. I pulled the metallic container and colors I wanted. I pull more spools than I'll use, and pool the threads on a top, to see how they'll look.

This pile is some of the textural and 3-D items to be used. This time as I approached the challenge, I decided to focus on content, and do a water lily style quilt. I wanted a bridge. After considering how to do the bridge in a way to showcase textures, I decided to make it with trims.
I dug through my trims box, and found this ribbon in a great color mix of brown, gold and purple with a metallic gold thread shot thru. It's see thru and mashed up a bit. I love that.
Then I looked at the holder, and lo and behold! The title of the collection of trims is Bridges.
HA! Isn't that fun!?!
What didn't quite work out were the felted lilies. I thought I would take this roving, and felt in a few colorful threads into lily shapes to add to the piece. Well, they felted beautifully but repelled the added threads. And the colors went very muted and organic, but too blendy for this piece. 

No worries! I'll save them with the rest of the stuff in my studio for another project. I found some weird knitting yarn to use for the lilies instead... it's a furry black wound into a bobble bright yarn. I separated them, and used the colorful bobbles mushed together and it looks subtle but terrific. You'll see tomorrow.

I love words, so I always google quotes by the artists, and actually loved, yep loved, Claude Monet's words.
I printed them onto this fabric prepared for printing. I have some concerns as it says dry clean only. I know I will never wash these stat quilts but what if they get damp and the words smear? I plan to put a quote on the back of the quilt this time, using the blank area as my label. I'll just have to keep 'em dry.

I plan to show you the finished quilt tomorrow and discuss how I approach making a story quilt. I'll have lots of close up pics of the adornments and stitching.
Feels good to finish something doesn't it?

Look here for the finished quilt   CLICK RIGHT HERE FOR MONET

 For more STAT quilts look under (This Label)

I got the blues

 The Rainbow Scrap challenge at superscrappy has chosen baby blues as the color of the month.
I was visiting my friend Angela at (click here) where she did a fun block tutorial.
 I don't want to take a thing from her fab tutorial but this is my process in sort of following her directions.

Disclaimer, I never said I was good at directions.

First open the box of blue scrap strips and stand back! KaPow!
I sorted thru and found sets of light blues in about 12 inch lengths, and sets of med. blues same length.
See the top picture ^

I sewed the sets kind of keeping straight-ish lines.
To keep them fun I mixed widths and prints.
 
After trimming those sets to 12 inches square, I placed them Right Sides Together (RST)  with one set horizontal and one set vertical and then

 sewed around the outside edge quarter in. seam allowance. 

I recommend pinning along these outside edges as there is waaay too much stretch for my comfort and you don't want it all wonky at this stage. Next step is 

Trim diagonally with your long ruler and rotary cutter. Both ways. 

When you gently open the pieces you'll see some magic. 

Warning, these new squares are full of bias and really unstable and need TLC. Possibly spray starch

This is where I got a little confused. I looked at Angela's example and went to the design wall with the pressed squares and tried this...

 That's not nice like hers.
 Maybe it's my color choice of all blues. Then I tried different combinations like this

And some other more exciting combinations. I am going to keep those to myself for a bit...

Then I called in the big guns, DH. I showed him Angela's tute, and said come see the "dog's dinner" I made of it. He chuckled and said, well that's not like hers. (uh,  I know)
In his excellent ability to see pattern, he said "the outsides aren't right"




 I looked again and said, oh! The outsides should all point away from the center!  Voila!

 Now it looks good, see??

I really like it! It would be great with all the RSC colors too! This year's RSC has come to a close but there's next year or just doing it in all the colors I want and putting them together. The only thing is, how will the blocks look next to each other? Will  I like the secondary pattern that develops? 

Things I learned today:

1. You can make a lot of projects from a stuffed scrap bin and it still won't close at the end of the day

2. Use spray starch as lots of scrap strips aren't cut on the straight grain

3. Be willing to veer from a pattern/directions if you want

4. You could discover a whole new pattern while veering

5. Call in the husband for a new perspective when stuck

6. Whether it works or not, you are still sewing, and enjoying fabrics. Check out the scissors that I didn't even notice while choosing strips. I was going for medium tone and was happily surprised to see a line of bees show up in the exact center and a pair of scissors!
 LeeAnna