Welcome to the next to the last stop on the inStitches Blog Tour. I hope you've taken the time to stop by each blog and get to know the artists involved in this project a little better. If you are just joining the fun, feel free to go back to each blog, many of which are hosting giveaways - so leave comments on each blog to enter. Here too! I'll tell you in just a bit what I'm giving away.
So - the idea behind my little spot in the in Stitches eMagazine was to show a bit of what goes on in my design process. Sometimes I have a plan. Sometimes not. The half-done Zebra in the top middle there is mine. She had a plan, one that didn't work out as well as I'd hoped so the plan changed. No big deal. You can watch the video to see what happened there. You can purchase your downloadable copy here. http://www.interweavestore.com/Quilting/eMags.html Believe me - it is totally cool to see and hear the authors work!This kind of thing happens to my plans all the time. Right now I'm working on a piece, pushing right up to the deadline as per usual. It didn't have so much of a plan as a vague idea, a general direction to head in for a few steps, then see I wait to see what ideas pop up next. Things were going well but I found the piece rather boring and flat. I'm a big fan of texture and things just felt rather uninteresting to me.
Paint is often my "go-to" solution so I decided to add some shadow/highlights to the large ammonite.
I didn't want brush strokes - more of a wet wash feel so I took a brush and thoroughly wetted the quilt in the areas I wanted the paint to smoosh around in. Yes, smoosh is a technical term.
All went well for a while. The hour was getting later and I wasn't paying close attention as I kept slopping on more and more wet paint. I didn't notice some leakage and wicking happening along some of the edges until it was too late. ACK!!! I did what I could. Sopped up water, used a blow drier to stop more wicking on the inside of the big ammonite while using more water to try to sponge up the leaks. It didn't work well.
No point in getting more stressed - so I put it to bed. Sleep usually helps. It looked a bit better in the morning and I think I've found the solution I'll follow through. I considered smooshing a lot more of the paint all over the quilt to make it look like the rest of the fabric is that way too. Instead I'm going to unpick a bunch of quilting and I think extending the purple edges will work. More careful painting will happen tomorrow - in daylight and with a fresh eye. Life is too short to stress too much about mistakes. If the piece is juried into the show - so be it. If not, I just enter it into the next show on my list. Check back in a couple of days and I'll show you a picture of the completed project.
You might be interested in a series of essays I wrote on showing your work. They include, essays on the jury process, rejection, choosing venues, organizing your entries, and packing to ship your work.
Now for the goodies! I'd love to share a copy of my book, Art + Quilt: design principles and creativity exercises with one lucky winner that leaves a comment here on my blog. Tell me what you do when you make a "mistake." Do you expect perfection of yourself and are you devastated when you don't live up to the critic in your head? (been there - done that - not fun!) I'd especially love to hear about creative ways you've used mistakes to your advantage. Leave a comment by this Friday the 11th (with some way to get in touch with you!!!!) and I'll ship you a copy of the book on the 17th. (I'm teaching in Montana until then!)And here is the list of all the posts on the tour - go back and try to win other goodies!
Sunday (Feb 27): Pokey launches the tour!: http://www.quiltingdaily.com
Sunday (Feb 27): Pokey launches the tour!: http://www.quiltingdaily.com
Monday (Feb 28): Jane Davila: http://janedavila.blogspot.com
Tuesday: Lynn Krawczyk( March 1): http://www.fibraartysta.
Wednesday: Jackie Cardy(March 2): http://dogdaisychains.
Thursday: Deb Bates (March 3): http://stitchtress.wordpress.
Friday: Deborah Boschert (March 4): http://deborahsjournal.
Saturday: Michelle Allen (March 5): http://allendesigns.typepad.
Sunday: Liz Kettle (March 6): http://textileevolution.com/?
Monday: Lyric Kinard (March 7): http://lyrickinard.blogspot.
Tuesday (March 8): A surprise guest on Lindsey’s blog will be the final stop of this tour http://www.quiltingdaily.com