My Art Quilt Layout

After making our fabric designs and practicing stitching, now we had to put together our own art quilts. We had to make sure our piece was balanced and colors blended well together. Here are two designs I came up with. We are using wonder under to adhere the pieces and also stitching some areas together.

Free Motion Stitching

For this Week in our Fiber Class it was time to get out the sewing Machine. We practiced something called Free Motion Stitching. You use a special foot (see Below) that allows you to glide over your fabric without rotating the material. You have to disengage the teeth under the foot so it doesnt grab and move the fabric you are stitching. Here are some different shapes we practiced. We also stitched over a piece of fiber yarn. It was fun to do once I got the hang of it.
We used a sandwich to practice our stitches on. There was two pieces of muslin with a layer of batting. We used very thin batting made of wool. Not the cheap polyfil type. To hold the layers together we used a spray adhesive from a can. Our teacher, Jo , prefers to use safety pins.
We had a sub teacher today that was awesome, Susan. Her quilts she showed us were beautiful. Next week we start piecing our own art quilt together.

Batik on Fabric

In our next class we created fabric using the batik dyeing. We used two kinds of wax. Soy wax can be washed out but beeswax must be ironed out of the fabric between newspapers. Hopefully I can use some of my finished fabrics in my art quilt. Jo showed us how to do the dye baths to get such vibrant color. Next week we practice free motion stitching.

We used brushes and tools to apply the wax before we dyed. You could make thin or thick lines -even shapes. Then we put our fabrics in the dye baths. Wherever the wax was painted or applied, the fabric stayed white. The wax acted as a resist.

Marbling in my Fiber art class

Im taking another class at the Denver Art League. This time I signed up for a Fiber art quilt collage. Today we did marbling with some fabric pieces. We used acrylic paint with a pipette dropper. I couldnt believe how vivid the colors were. Our class is very small only four peeps!.

We tried various types of fabrics to see the effects. I even used felt. We will use one or two designs in our final piece. This will give us some inspiration. Our homework this week was to look for some design ideas. We will be doing some other techniques next week.

This is the pan before we pulled a design on the fabric. It was so Much fun!

Color Theory Class- Monochromatic color mixing

For this assignment, we had to create a drawing on small size paper (5 x 8) four times and then paint them four different ways. I chose to draw from a photograph I took in Seattle of calders sculpture with the seattle needle peeking through.

One painting used all 12 values of the color and the other paintings used only half the values.

See if you can guess which painting was the darker shades, which was the lightest tints and which painting used the values in the middle. We discussed how each painting gave a different mood and which painting we liked the best.

Making a Book Club Journal

This was a journal I made for my mom's bday. It was covered with paper that I silkscreened onto heavy art paper. The stitch I used was a coptic binding. I photocopied pages that had lines for authors name, book, and comments. My mom belongs to several book clubs and I have one and it is handy to remember all the books Ive read.

Below is the inside spread that I used stickers to spell Book club record.

Values Charts and More Color

This was our next project in my color theory class. The scan did not come out too dark but we had to take a few colors and mix white with them to get the tints. Jane had a technique she taught us that you started with the dark color first and added the white to it. This was different than I teach mixing colors. Next we mixed all our colors on the mixing paper side by side at once and then added or took away some of the mixed colors until we had 9 that were distinctively different. Sometimes the colors I mixed jumped too far to the darker color and I had to remix with more white. The second black chart was better the second time.

My Color Chart

This was our first assignment in my Color Theory Class. This took lots of time to mix each color with each other. I used 23 different colors and listed them along the top and the side. We had to mix them equally (or try to) and paint the result in the square in the middle. It was interesting all the different colors you can get from 23 colors. There were many different shades of green and brown and orange. I am still not finished . I cropped it to look full. We are supposed to complete it by the end of the class.

My Color Theory class at the Denver Student Art League

Tues night Kim and I started our new art class taught by Janie Jones. The first night we didnt get to use our paints (above) We had to bring only primaries which included cool and warm colors of each one.
The entire class was lecture and I learned alot I didnt know about color and how you choose colors in your painting. Here are some tips that I remembered:
Color is very emotional, Yellow and red are used for fast food signs and ads. Red makes you hungry and yellow makes you leave, sit down restaurants use blue and green in their decor for relaxing and staying there to eat.

Colors are perceived differently depending on what other colors are around them. So a color can be bright, intense, dull if compared to something that is less.

Dark colors are hard to tell what they look like, by adding white to it, you can see the color clearly.

There are different color harmonies you can use in your painting . i.e. analagous, complementary,triads. A good way to decide what colors to use in your painting is to start with a limited few colors to give the backbone for your color, then add other colors . Use a limited pallette gives unity to your painting.

Complementary colors give contrast and more intense color. This is excited by the eye.

Adding Black to a color can make it dead looking. There are different types of blacks like mars black, ivory black and lamp black. They all look different so experiment.

When you add white, you dull the color.

We learned that on the back of the pain tubes a code tells if your color is transparent, opaque, semi-transparent.
We were given an assignment to make a giant color chart from mat board. This should be helpful when mixing colors.

Notecards from my Collage

I Wanted to make some thank yous for all my great Volunteer parents in my art class. I found a collage page in my altered book and scanned it. Then I cropped it to 4 x 6 and put 4 copies on a page. Then I printed them onto watercolor paper. I mounted them on cardstock and even got to use my new stamper on the back. Im giving them out tomorrow during field day. Thank you Volunteers!!!!

Art Journal Techniques

I Have been spending some time trying our some new art materials and techniques in my art journal I made. This page uses reinkers to make bold colors that really cover. They come in little squirt bottles and I used a credit card to spread the color. One drawback is the length of time they take to dry if you get too much on the paper. The only place I could find to buy them was on Joann fabrics and they have lots of brands and frequently go on sale. I also used some collage and outlining with my new Copic markers. (They write on everything)
This page used reinkers as well and some collaging. I havent started actually journaling (writing) much on the pages yet. I have been learning these techniques through an online tutorial by Millanade. Here is the link to her great resource: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX6CnqgK_e4&feature=related
This page incorporated a tree and images and a gel transfer pic (on the right side) Didnt come out so well. I then drew over the background with my marker and painted with the diluted reinker with a brush. Below I used watercolor paint and outlined with my marker. There is so much to do with color and paint.

Moore in the Gardens

I attended an educators day at the Denver Botanic Gardens featuring a guided tour of the new Moore Sculpture Exhibit.

This sculpture is entitled Oval with Points. Moore got his inspiration from an elephants skull. The negative space is so interesting in this one.

The Hill Arches is Moores most Abstract work. This was covered in acid to get the green look. There is an orb in the center.




The Knife Edge is two sculpture pieces like a ravine. This has an organic theme.

Altered Art Baroque Collage

This was a painting I started in Lynne Perella's class "Go Baroque" at Artfest. We started with a photocopy of a person and collaged it onto a gessoed background. We started with a type of paper called roisin paper. It was very large two feet by 4 feet. Then we used Portfolio oil pastels to color the background and the body and face of our subject. We also added acrylic paint and strips of patterned paper to give the baroque feel. We chose some black and white copies of architecture to include in the painting. THis was so much fun to do. I would like to do a smaller one next using some of the same techniques. The hair was composed of paper napkin roses. Real ribbon for the neck.Lynne was a great teacher and helped each student the whole day.

Back from Artfest

We had a great time in Port Townsend, WA at our second time to Artfest. Here we are with our teacher Karen Michel in the woodblock collage class. There was alot of hammering going on. This was a fun class, we learned how to give a patina to the wood with ink.







One night they had journaling by the beach get together. There was a bonfire with hotdogs and s'mores and beverages one night. Here are some gals working on their journals.













Everything was so green in Seattle. I was such a welcome to spring. The drive from Seattle (about 3 hours including ferry ride) was beautiful, full of flowers, trees and everything growing from all the humidity there.










We spent a day at Seattle- here is pike market with all the seafood lined up. We also had some chowder, mussels, clams and dungeness crabs. We dont get that in Denver.








Here is the Olympic Sculpture park in Seattle. This is one of Calders sculpture.

Trades ready for Artfest

I finally finished my trades to take on Tuesday!! I started with a watercolor painting and shrunk it down to attach to my charms. The charms are the Artfest logo printed on some hand made marbling paper I made this year. These are my first charms. I think wire and jewelry making are not my thing. Im also bringing a few atc cards and a piece of encaustic collage to sell at the artfest table. Only 4 more days....

Remembering Artfest

The Countdown is on until we leave for Artfest. Here is a Colored Pencil drawing I did of a beach scene from last time we attended (3 years ago) This photo was taken at sunset with beautiful pinks, peaches and blues. I shrunk this down to small size to attach to my charms I will be trading next week. I am excited to take some collage and sculpture classes.

Visiting Embrace Exhibit at Denver Art Museum

Last Saturday was a free day at the DAM so I decided to check out the exhibit I will be taking my 8th graders to later this month. This was entirely held in the new Contemporary building and they really took advantage of all the varied space and angles the architecture supports.
Each artist was given a corner or wall to create on. Most all the art was made when they got there. There is an exhibit with time lapse video and pictures to show the step by step processes.

This is a room downstairs by the gift shop. The artist Matthies wanted to emphasize different words immigrants felt throughout the world. This is really a hands on exhibit with cushions to lie on and sculpture to touch.
This was an exhibit I deemed inappropriate for my 8th graders entitled Dying Christ is rushed to the hospital by Shishkin. This includes a whole room to appreciate. The drop cloths used while painting are still in place.
This hanging sculpture by McEnroe was really interesting. They have cell phone codes you can play for each exhibit. (Unfortuneatly the reception is not good in the rooms) This was entitled Bathers. He used pantyhose filled with sand. Then he coated them with polyresin and drained out the sand after it was hard. I love the shapes and the shadows created in the exhibit. This is found on the fourth floor.

I couldnt find out alot of info on the exhibits as I would of liked to. I tried all the cell phone numbers but I would of liked some printed material as well. I would highly recommend this
exhibit as its something different containing all the installations. You can walk through as be a part of. There were many new exhibits on the fourth floor I hadnt seen last time I went. This is the last month to see this. So hurry over.

Art Journal in Progress

My New Art Journal is ready for Artfest. I just need to fill with some completed pages. I used the Coptic binding method with watercolor paper. The cover is done on pastel paper Canson Mi-Teintes with gold acrylic paint (paste paper technique) covered over bookboard. The size is 9x12 and nice and light to travel with.

There is a night at Artfest when everyone brings their journals and create at night. There is even a bonfire. Im hoping for nice weather again.

Coptic Postcard Book

This was a practice project for my Art Journal I will be making to take to Artfest. I looked all over to find the perfect size journal with the heavyweight paper . I wanted something a little larger than a page and would lie flat. I decided to make my own out of watercolor paper and a Paste paper cover. (I will post when I finish) Anyway I thought it was best to practice first so I saw this great idea for a postcard book using the stitch I wanted to sew. This was from a great book called How to Make Books by Smith: http://tinyurl.com/yjsl5zd

This book was really quick and fun to do. Besides the directions in this book, I used a you tube video to help me as well. I glued two postcards together for the front and 2 for the back. Then created 6 signatures with 4 spreads. I would use a darker waxed linen thread to show up better on my journal. You use a kettle stitch to make the neat line down the spine. I had to take out the last signature because you sew the back cover and the last signature together so it ripped a bit. All the more reason to practice. If you have been wanting to sew a book , this is pretty easy. I have done about 3 or 4 different classes to try bookmaking. I find it relaxing and fun.

Fat Book Pages Finished!

I am getting so excited to be attending Artfest this year near Seattle Washington with 3 friends. One of the fun things to do is to make pages to be included in the Artfest Fatbook. Each person makes one page and duplicates for how many people participating (53 this year) We mail them off to the hostess who binds the book with one page from each Artist. What a great remembrance of the trip! Anyway our theme this year was FairyTales. I chose the three little pigs and did a collage of this scene. Here is a picture of my finished fatbook from 2007. This was the last year I could attend the event. I can only go when my school has spring break since it starts on a wednesday.