the beginnings of another art quilt

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I seem to be on a roll lately....this is the second art quilt i have started lately and theres another brewing trying to get out and see the day light..or should i say the rain?!

Currently i would have to say art wise my loves are my portfolio oil pastels, my Caran d'ache neocolor ii and my tsunieko inks...if i am not drawing and coloring on fabric with one i am using another one on watercolor paper.

So yesterday I was watching sunrises on HDTV Theater...and they showed the Emperor's Garden in Japan ...lovely iris....and i drew this sketch from them. I was not thrilled with the placement of the iris and even glued one on ....I really like using odd numbers in art work...and it had an even number but i DID like the leaves ...the way they undulated and swayed across the sketch.

before i added water

But i thought that black background was a mistake...didnt do much for the iris...it was the same intensity that they were so they all blended together to mush...

This afternoon i got a large piece of masonite out of the garage and taped a piece of white kona cotton to it to start the iris....I got out the Portfolio Oil Pastels and i started to draw the iris and leaves...this piece is pretty big...about 36x48"...but i wasnt sure what color the background should be...

before i added water

I had to go leave to visit with a friend and on the way home i saw the bright yellow background which of course since yellow is the complimentary color of purple was the PERFECT color for the background of these blue violet iris...

Came home and colored in the leaves and added that yellow and it really started singing to me...then i added a little rust and some peach to it....and the water....i love what the water does to it...swirling the colors...making little puddles of lovely stuff to look at...and salt...to make some dots of color...

Its still wet but i am really liking this one so far...cant wait to put it on the long arm and quilt it...WAIT its wet no long arm till tomorrow...and i think i may add some shiva paintstiks to it...BUT SOON...and now to get on with the birthing of the other quilt...fabric is all ironed and ready to go....so is the sketch...white egrets....

More about that art quilt

this is what it looks like now...added a moon/sun...and i like it....some other things that i have tried to add follow....I drew them separately so i could lay them on top of the trees to see if i liked them before i drew them on the trees....none of them have suited me so far....


My Portfolio oil pastels...$10.49 at Staples in the architect supplies....i drew a small cardinal to sit on the branch....this is it before i hit it with water

Dont you love it now that it is wet...its small maybe 4x5"
...the other Margaret said it was TOO big so i made two more smaller ones...here are all three of them together...the biggest one is 4x5" one

So then i made ALOT of strips of rubbings of all kinds of things...I think they look like buildings so they may end up in a city scape one day....or not:>


I made strips of rubbings of various things around the house...the left is a trash can expanded metal...the two on the right...one is the brown holey paper below and the other is a rubbing sheet for Oil pastels...Here they are wet

The brown paper I rubbed
L-R
I rubbed the tv remote control buttons twice, next my cellphone and the house phone buttons, the top a plastic container, and my laptop table...fav is the top of the plastic box...but dont these look like buildings?

Here they are released with water! ....these all look like the leaning tower of Pisa....

These were for fun...a mountain landscape which i LOVE
6x8"

If rubbing every textural object in the house was not enough...leaves...well how could i NOT....
My tuscan landscape...
made with a rubbing sheet and pin oak leaves...no water oak leaves for the trees...FUN!! really like the fields....this is small..maybe 5" square

The water oak leaves

Hmm you cant pile the leaves up and rub them...makes a MESS!!!

well wonder what i will think of to do next with these??? and how to finish the big one...think it needs a border of some kind or other...and then how to quilt it? Decisions, Decisions, Decisions!

Starting an art quilt

I have been busy painting and drawing this week...on whatever would hold still long enough...some of it was fabric SOOO I have a good beginning for an art quilt and another for a fun quilt....


First I drew some of the trees with a sepia pitt pen...the thin one in the four pack. OH I drew this on white Kona cotton which i am hoping is pdf but since this will never be washed i am not too worried about it!!

Then I colored it with portofolio oil pastels...if you dont have any...rush to the nearest staples and grab a pack for $10.49...while i do worry how light fast they are they do give alot of fun for the money...especially when compared to Neocolor ii which i also love but are far more pricey!



So here is the brush i load with water to release the oil pastels...yes unlike most of these they melt and bleed when you add water to the mix!

Then i let the water and oils do thier thing....they run and sort of halo....and the longer you let it sit the more they run.

Then i went in with the light blue oil pastel and scribbled it onto the fabric...lightly in some spots more heavily in others....next i added that water and let it go...well not quite...i scrubbed the blue so that i did not get alot of streaky lines and was sure that it covered all the fabric....


I like where this is going so far...its sitting taped on a piece of white masonite in front of the fireplace waiting for me to hear what it wants me to do to it...so far i am thinking
of doing some rubbins or stamping or stenciling maybe scribbling writing on it...addding some more collage stuff...just having fun..OH bytw its about two feet square.

Playing with my Portfolio oil pastels

Fall river sketch..really like this one!

so i was reading Quilting Arts magazine last nite....and read Susie Monday's great article on printing with watercolor mediums...and i didnt have a screen and i couldnt find the contact paper BUT i did find the portfolio oil pastels and i have plenty of fabric and water to release the color....

so I did ten of them last nite... these are all small 4x6 ...and i will be selling them at my show which opens tomorrow for $29 each without a frame...if you see one you are desperate for....

A fabulous high heel shoe

Cats having fun with the Christmas tree-they need their eyes enhanced and more color to separate them from the tree

Another fabulous even higher heel....RED...what every girl needs!

Her eyes need more work-have you ever tried to make eyes with the blunt end of a large stick..thats what doing these small things with the portfolios is like...oops looks like she has the mumps on the right side...better fix that one!!my neighbors lab Polly...also Bellas BFF i didnt like the background so i changed it...now that i have taken a picture of it I do like it...too late!! so heres the way it looked this morning...course i added some more to it...so another picture soon! I wish i had left the splotches of red...oh well...i have more fabric:> and theres too much white on PollyOf course Bella had to have a rocket ship too....she has to keep up with Polly...so you are wondering whats with the cakes...answer I DONT know...i was meditating and they came to me as a good idea?! I really like the way this one turned out...kinda Manetish?! this one went back to the drawing board for more work...its kind of plain now that its dry...i like this cake much better....and i love the kind of swirls of serendipitous color where the water moved the color around-I was going to bead these and sew them but i think i am going to leave this one alone...

So did i like this technique with the Portfolios? Yes its alot of fun...they cover the fabric well and quite quickly......and the water makes the color flow which is also fun...i like the unexpected surprise factor...the only draw back...not enough colors...wonder if Michaels has Caran d'ache neocolors...they have ALOT more colors...and i have a gift certificate!