For Your Inspiration: Old Things

Recently I had the opportunity to spend an hour browsing an antique store.

It's been years since I had the time to do so. 

I was out of town for a child's audition and didn't feel like doing the work I brought with me. 

What wonder and discovery.

Wow. They truly don't make toys like they used to.

 Can you imagine how beautiful this once was (and still is!?)

I love utilitarian objects that are works of art. A bucket of beauty.

Butter molds and miniatures. Surely made by hand. The time that went in to the making.....

 

Am I the only one who's heart literally races when I see cabinets with tons of little drawers?

I'm serious here - if any of you attend flea markets or estate sales - could you please be my personal shopper? I couldn't afford any of the price tags here.

How could I not fall in love with this. I am, after all, still a quilter.

The Sketchbook Challenge: Highly Prized

I've been thinking about the Sketchbook Challenge theme all month.

It only took a few minutes to know what I consider to be very valuable.

TIME

The first bit glued into my sketchbook? My usual schedule. It looks like that through next June. Five kids and a part time career will do that to you. Time is flying by and I often feel I'm missing it. My oldest daughter just applied for college. I'm feeling a little ... something. Excited? Yes. Apprehensive? Just a tiny bit - she's prepared. Bushwhacked? When did she grow up!?!

I've thought of images I wanted to incorporate. I've thought of amazing and wonderful outcomes.

I've also avoided actually doing anything until the last possible moment. It's a fear thing. Yup - me. The lady who preaches non-stop that "it's all about DOING the work and we can't let fear get in the way." Here I am in front of everybody - thinking everybody is expecting some fantastic outcome and feeling inadequate.

So. TIME for me to take my own words to heart and just DO it. Forget about expectations. 

1- The calendar gets glued in. Painted over with a bit of gesso. Oops. Now I remember that ink-jet prints smear when wet. Ah well, so be it. Find a couple of my favorite pics.

2- Let the gesso layer dry then paint a little bit of a color wash over that. I'm using Prochemical's Profab Textile Paints - because I have a LOT of them on hand. They're an acrylic and work fine.

3- Play around with photoshop and a few of the images that speak to my feelings. Print them out, cut them out, glue them in. I used a PVA glue this time. I think I might like gel medium better. We'll see.

4- Add a little more of a blue wash over the hands to blend it into the background.

5- More acrylic in a transparent blue and an opaque white - swirls in with a brush - like time swirling all around me and away.

6- Hunt through my stack of screen for the perfect image. Ah - there it is. This time I used it like a stencil, first with the white opaque paint, then a navy transparent. It was a pain having the wire binding loops right in the way. I'm seriously thinking of working with loose sheets then binding them as shown in Jane Davie's  tutorial. When I find some time.

I am addicted to thermofax screen printing. I have a machine and run a service, making ready made or custom screens. It allows me to feed my insatiable hunger for making new images in my own work. This particular screen came from a photo sent by Alexandria (one of my on-line students from QuiltUniversity.com) of one of her antique pocketwatches.  

This is what my work surface looks like when I've got projects going on. Stuff left from the last class I taught. Samples shoved out of the way. Kids forms for school events to be filled out. The usual. No - I'm not an artist who thinks clutter is great - it drives me nuts. I work best when I can clean everything up and start fresh with room to work and breath. No TIME for cleaning up right now.

8- Last step - I started in with pencil, moved up to a Sukura Pigma Pen and then decided a sharpie would glide over the bumpy acrylics on the page. 

My baby has wings. She's ready to fly.

I'd love your feedback.

Do you have any ideas that could help me?

I want to learn how to savor each moment, live in the present. I still have to keep most of my schedule - I'm already very good at saying no to more stuff. The things I do I love. But time still flies away.

Oh, and don't forget to head over to  the Sketchbook Challenge today to see who won this months giveaways. February's theme will go up tomorrow. Can't wait!

Saturday morning faces

So last night my daughter was sitting there being her beautiful self and she agreed to let me draw her. We were both tired. 

I got frustrated. I know I shouldn't - it's just learning process and I know I have a long way to go. I should go and reread the first chapter of my own book eh? "Don't compare yourself... permission to be imperfect ... time to learn... " yada yada yada.

Left: last night, from life.      Right: this morning, from a photo.

So I know I'm going to get there eventually but I wanted to make on good drawing NOW. Well - bedtime and then draw in the morning. She let me take a picture. I photoshopped it to up the contrast and turned it black and white. Then I traced the back of the picture a bit, placed it on the paper and traced the outlines again to transfer the pencil to the paper. If I wasn't doing it in my sketchbook I would have just used a light table. Yes I consider all these things crutches. Cheating - sort of. I want to be able to draw what I'm seeing without them. But for this morning - who cares? I got the outlines in the right place and filled in the shadows from there. I gotta say. It's satisfying to see the results.

Faces on Friday

 Very quick sketches while she's reading

 At a guild meeting

 The middle one is getting closer

So - the last one up there - how do you draw THIS!?!?

And a little eye candy for you and me just for staying with me this long.

 I ignored other deadlines and played with polymer clay - these might become new buttons for my coat. 

Every once in a while I need to reward myself with something completely non-pressure-dealine.

What things do you do that are "completely different"just for a break?

New Article in Quilting Arts Magazine

I love it when the mailbox opens up to goodies like this one! The newest issue of Quilting Arts magazine is as lovely as ever. It includes an article by little 'ol me.

Enjoy!

For Your Inspiration: seen in Tucson

The sign on the front said "art gallery."

I wish I'd had time to go in.

Teaching: Sarasota Friendship Knot Quilt Guild

Roberta was my chief schlepper!

If you've got to travel somewhere in the cold winter month of January - Florida is the place to go.  The Friendship Knot Quilter's Guild is a fabulous group of ladies and it was a pleasure to spend time with them last week!

We had a blast (and exhausted ourselves!) learning a bajillion different surface design techniques in Surface Design Sampler Platter. We laughed and worked through carving stamps, thermofax screen printing, photo transfer, stenciling, and even beading!

Roberta Miller's Book Cover

Pam Zeck's Book cover

Pat Haas with her absolutely FANTASTIC piece!!

A few of the class ladies strut their stuff at guild meeting.
Pam Zeck, ?, Carol Masulonis, Roberta Miller, and Kim Sherrod.

Catherine Eberly showed off fabric she printed during my
on-line screen printing course at Quilt University.com.

And the food was not only fabulicious - it was pretty and just a bit dangerous!
Seafood stew in a flaming peacock.