No Fear

No Fear is my submission for the Group of Eight's quarterly challenge...Street Art

The textured bricks are made with left over quilt batting. Using gel medium and paints left a beautiful textured effect.

 

It's my opinion on freedom of speech. Where has it gone & why can't we say what we feel without the possibility of reprisal. Words can cut so we need to be mindful but that doesn't mean we shouldn't speak our mind & be given common respect that it's our opinion & not everyone need to agree with it.

The essence of Street Art is the freedom of expression...of course this is just my opinion.

Shopping for MORE...

This past week was a beading break. I was in the studio & pricking my fingers endlessly until the air was blue...that's enough...time to clean up & just stop pricking my damn finger. I read articles from magazines that had been sitting in the book pile and I just enjoyed my time researching new products on-line. When I go through books & magazines I mark pages with tabs for future reference. I make notes in a little book I carry with me & when I have some time I go through the tabs & do in-depth research into the products & how they're used.Then it's all about shopping. Where can I buy some of these products... So that's what I've been doing...Shopping for future art paraphernalia. Hopefully I'll be able to show something I've done using TerraSkin paper or my new Ampersand Claybords...not today but hopefully soon.

Once again I used canvas that had been sealed with gesso. I then added molding paste using a stencil for texture. Painted with metallic paint & then I added another used, painted & melted dryer sheet. I really am addicted to dryer sheets and as much as I use them...the pile just never seems to go down. Every week I have another batch to add to the stack.

 

Mixed Media Journal Cover

This is a journal cover that's in the works. It takes quite a lot of time to dry from the raw canvas stage. As soon as it's cured, I'll stitch the bottom & insert the journal. I'm leaving the edges frayed because I really like the grunge look.

 

Monochromatic Challenge

The last challenge submission for the GOE Group was Monochromatic. I had no idea what I wanted to do and all I was thinking about was spring and purchasing seeds for our property. I was also consumed with bees...and learning all I could for our new apiary. All I could come up with was a flower...monochromatic was devastatingly hard for someone who loves colour. It was extremely hard to take a picture of the finished piece because it's 3D and the beads reflect from every angle.

I have details of the progress but it's way too many pictures.

I started out using flexi firm purchased from my local Fabricland.  Then I stitched stainless steel 20 gauge wire to the underside of all the petals. I gesso'd both sides, added cheese cloth & painted it with a gel matte medium & jacquard textile paint. Then I spread some molding paste over everything in a very random...scratchy motion. These are the brighter portions in the pictures because after you apply molding paste, those parts don't absorb the paint in the same way. After the molding paste was dry, I then applied paint & hand stitched for some added texture. Then I decided to add some encaustic wax over the whole top side of the petals. Once I did this the hand stitching actually changed colour & the embroidery was less visible. I wasn't really expecting that but I was reading a book called Hot Textiles...and that's what she did and I loved the effect. My pictures don't get as close as her professional pictures in the book so you really can't get a feel for that.

All the petals were stitched together and then nailed to a back board. I then worked on the center beading, adding sequins and stuffing in a donut shape so that the very center is actually recessed a bit for an added 3D element.

 Posting has become a very difficult task lately. Not only does one have to find time...but one has to find time where the computer is not in use. In my house this is becoming quite the task. Is it too hard to ask for a dedicated computer that has some speed to it. Is this growing world of computers one would assume that we could have fast service but I'm finding that it's getting slower & slower...and this "cloud" is bogging everything down. lol. I've been working on this posting in my spare minutes for days....crazy...In my next life, I will have a computer that works fast and I'll have all kinds of time for my studio.

If you want to see more pictures of the process...

Art Cloth Gift Boxes

 

 

 

These gift boxes were made using a pattern that was in a Quilting Arts issue. I can't remember which one as it was at least a year ago. I've made them in the past but this time I decided that I would make them with my art cloth technique...that's developed throughout my posts. It's was also a technique from QA. It's nothing like the original article but I've come to really love it and consider my rendition as my own. The technique that is, not the pattern.

I start off with canvas that I paint with gesso on both sides. This stops the canvas from fraying on the edges. I then lay cheese cloth over the canvas & adhere with either watered down PVA or a gel medium. Both work well. Then I add some added texture with molding paste and once dry,  I paint with a metalic and use my oil pastels for enhancing the raised portions. Then the whole thing is covered with a gloss gel medium. The resulting cloth is actually very leather like. It's very pliable, yet sturdy. I've really come to love it. I actually didn't have to stitch anything on these little boxes.

 

 

Art Cloth ATC

This is another try at the Quilting Arts Magazine article on Art Cloth. The Surface Design Tribe had an open studio where we could work on whatever we wanted and see what everyone else was working on at the same time. I made a couple of pieces of art cloth but I must admit that once again...I was not happy with the results. So I brought my pieces home and stacked them with the others until I decide if I'm painting the whole damn thing a solid colour again. It's been a very busy few weeks for me and I haven't completed anything to post except a surface design block...that I forgot to take pictures of. So last night it's crunch time and I need an ATC (Artist Trading Card) for the Group of Eight exchange tonight. So I was rummaging through my stack with my little ATC frame and I really liked this little section of the cloth. So I cut it up, stitched the edges, covered it in Dorland's encaustic wax and added the pen nib. Appleman...my husband...would be proud.

 So this once again started with the article...piece number 4...and once again it looks nothing like the picture offered in the article....which is extremely frustrating to me. I started with canvas that I randomly painted blue & a brownish mix. Then I added the Japanese newspaper that I picked up in Hong Kong...so maybe it's Chinese...not sure. Then I added the stressed cheese cloth and painted the whole piece with watered down white glue. I added molding paste and painted it with a bronze Lumiere paint. Added a little bit of rusted orange Lumiere and put it aside because it looked like crap. I just love the texture but I just can't seem to get the colouring the way I want it. I like this little section and the pen nib added better interest than beads in this case...at least I thought so. So I guess I'm destined to try art cloth #5...I'll keep you posted. Oh and I should mention that one of the GOE (Group of Eight) members told me to keep a little rubbing alcohol in my studio to take some of the extra paint away...I still don't have the alcohol but I will definitely give it a try when I have some...just a thought.

Frankensteined

Well, I've been working for a week and getting nowhere. It started with an article from the Quilting Arts Magazine, February/March 2012 issue. The article is called Surfaces for Stitch in which this wonderful lady named Pauline Verrinder  gives directions on how to make art cloth from Gesso, cheesecloth & newspaper. I just loved this article and what she made was fabulous. The Group of Eight's (GOE), challenge for next quarter is to do something with an article in a newspaper. So naturally I though I had something that I could produce and be done my challenge way before the due date. Ha ha...that's not happening. I'm a very nervous person and always want to put my best effort on everything that I do and I was discussing this with the group and telling them how I really stress over the challenges. The group was very supportive and told me to just have fun and that I could make something as small as an ATC for submission. So I really thought I had this one in the bag. I started out so bloody positive but all I got was positively frustrated. I followed the directions but I guess I'm just not very intuitive when it comes to paints because you wouldn't believe how many layers I added to try and get the right combination. Then when all I got was a friggin mess...I'd paint over it with a solid colour in frustration. I couldn't get the layers to stay down like the article was describing. As soon as it dried the layers seemed loose...so out came the glue, more gesso or even molding paste was added. I ended up with nothing like the article. After my first try with nothing that resulted in anything like art cloth,  I asked my husband to read the article and see if I'm missing anything. He read the article and had a few suggestions. So on Friday night I came home again ready to adorn the apron and dig in again. I worked for over 3 hours and the next morning I went up to the studio and painted the whole dam thing metallic blue and started over. This article is going to do some traveling with me so that I can get some expert advice from my fibre friends. Maybe I'll have more to show but for now take a look at the below pictures. They are not in sequence so I've numbered them in the caption of where I started and what I ended up with.

This was my third piece that my husband says needs to be called "Frankenstein something" because of the stitching. The newspaper article is not recognizable at all. It was suduko puzzles and that's why they have numbers painted on the pieces.

This is a detailed shot. I think I'm going to frame this one anyways because it's growing on me a little. Maybe I just want to salvage something of my week.

This was my first try. Up close I really love the texture that I got...but it's nothing like the article. I wish I could show the article but I don't want to get in trouble with the copyright police.

This is the second one I did after my husband read the article and gave me his suggestions. We you can see some of the newspaper article in this one...but it just doesn't do anything for me at all. I even had the Golden glass bead medium out on this one. Up close you can see the beads and how they give it a little glitz. Again nothing like the original article from QA. You can see why I needed some help on it right. I was loosing sleep...and everything works in theory.