Heartfelt Giveaway Results!

machine stitching, Setacolor paint, fused fabric

Snow is falling again today, and the kitties are huddling together for warmth!

It seems like another blizzard like last weekend's, but we are told we'll get less than 6" of snow!

Today my husband (my random number generator!) drew names for the heart giveaway.

And the winners are...

I'll decide which heart to send you, so it will be a surprise!

If you see your name, please email me your address [ judyeh(at)comcast(dot)net ]

and I'll send your heart out this week!!

Thank you to everyone for your lovely comments this month!

Have a wonderful day!

Fabric flowers and Cards

Monday I did some fabric painting and this morning I started playing around with the flowery shapes.

I want to make a field of flowers with a few blooms standing out in the foreground.

I started cutting into one piece of painted fabric, using the second piece as a background.

I'll be overpainting the background piece and using thread to define the main flowers.

Just a fun, springy piece which I hope to finish later today!

Also, I was thrilled to receive some beautiful cards which I had ordered from my blogging friend, Libby Fife. Libby is a painter whose work I have followed for several years. She paints local scenes from Calaveras County, CA, where she lives, and she writes about these scenes here. I purchased 10 cards - these are my favorites, but I love all of Libby's paintings! 

Hope your week is going well! Thanks for visiting!

Painting on Fabric and a Tag

Today I did one of my favorite things - painting on fabric. I set up in my laundry room with a sheet of plastic over my washer and dryer, took out my Setacolor fabric paints and got to work.

My first effort was a familiar one for me - landscape colors on a commercial fabric.

Completely brainless, just the wonderful feeling of spreading the paint.

The next piece was done with an eye to later cutting up and reassembling. Just working wet paint into damp fabric, trying different things.

And finally, some sponge stamping and a little textural effect with a stencil brush.

I really want to do another layer over this when I've heat set it.

Throughout the entire process, Rosie watched, fascinated.

Her favorite part was watching me wash up my brushes and containers!

 Don't worry, she didn't drink the soap suds!

On a different subject, I was tagged this weekend by Lorinda at Everyday Endeavors.
I don't usually do tags or blog awards, but I love Lorinda and her desire to learn new things. She is always coming up with new art projects and taking courses. She is also very funny and does beautiful work.


Here are some questions I've been asked to answer:


1. What's your favourite medium for creating?
    I love working with fabric, paper and embellishments.
2. What is your favourite accessory? 
    Scarves, definitely!
3. Books or movies? Or?
    My husband and I love going to the movies and we go often! I love to get lost in a film.
4. Is creating your day job or your night job?
    Creating is my passion and my fun! I do a little tutoring part-time.
5. Glass half empty or half full?
    Half full! I'm very blessed.
6. What's your favourite time of day?
    I'm a night owl!
7. What's your favourite form of exercise and/or physical expression?
    I'm doing a Pilates mat class right now.
8. What kind of music inspires you?
    I like Jazz. Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong were wonderful together.
9. What's your favourite month of the year?
    October
10. What's your favorite quote?
    'Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.' 
     Pablo Picasso

11. If you could spend a free month anywhere in the world, where would it be and what would 
      you do? 

     I would go back to Tuscany for an fiber art course and vacation!


I told Lorinda that I won't be tagging anyone else, but if you visit her blog you will find many links to other artists who have been tagged.

I hope that you have had a very good start to your week.

Thanks for coming by!

A Package of Possibilities

This week I received a package in the mail from C&T Publishing. 

Of course, a certain someone had to investigate!

For some time now, I've been painting cotton fabric with textile paint.

But I'm anxious to watch my new instructional DVD by Mickey Lawler, 

learn some new techniques and hopefully have some results to share soon.

I also purchased a canvas book for an online course I'll be starting May 1,

and two arched board books which I'm eager to use for some collage.

Lots of possibilities in one package!

The Joy of Painting

Thank you, friends, for all of your kind comments on my last post. I'm going to have surgery this coming week to remove my salivary gland, and that should take care of my poor sore mouth!! But I really appreciated your helpful, concerned and sometimes funny comments!

Today I decided to do something soothing and creative. I've been going through my fabrics, concentrating on commercial prints which I feel can add some texture to the landscapes I now have in progress.

I have many batiks like this which are very beautiful. I like to take pieces of these fabrics and overpaint them with Setacolor transparent paints, giving them new blended colors, yet retaining the markings of the original design. When I painted this fabric, I came out with this result:

Of course, the way I cut up fabrics, any tiny corner could be valuable to my latest project.

This over-painted piece holds many treasures:

I find just the right section to use by cutting a window from a piece of paper to make a view finder.

I have a few pieces drying on my porch table, out of the reach of certain furry creatures!

Some have salt to disperse the paints and the colors always dry lighter than they look right after painting.

So, it will be fun to see how they look in the morning!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

AEDM-Day 5-Painting Day

Today I decided to work on some fabric painting and I spread out in my 'laboratory' (on top of my washing machine!). I've been painting some black and white print fabric with moss colored Setacolor fabric paint. Since it's transparent, the design comes through and I've been experimenting with different brush strokes.

Once the fabric is dry, the paint can be heat set and becomes permanent, so there's a choice to blend paints right on the fabric by spritzing with water, or heat setting the first layer and then overpainting with a second color. Since I know I'll be cutting up the fabric for applique, I usually try a few techniques on the same piece of fabric.

I also worked a bit on this piece of cotton fabric which I had previously designed with a paint masking gel (I can't find the tube to tell you the brand) and a fine Sharpie (waterproof) pen. The gel parts I'll paint over with acrylic paint, let it dry for 2 days, then wash the fabric to remove the gel. The Sharpie designs I'm painting in with my fabric paints, which I will then heat set.

This is all absolutely playful experimenting for me, and I love it!!

Carmelina

I finally finished this fabric picture, and I named the lady Carmelina, after my paternal grandmother who came over to this country from Italy in the early 1900's. It is made almost entirely from fabric painted with transparent Setacolor paints, then stitched by machine.
This picture was part of my display at the Holiday Stroll put on by my hometown today. Despite the blustery weather and a bit of rain, there was a good turnout and it was wonderful to see local artists coming together to show their work. There were performing artists, dancers and terrific band groups from our local high school. Businesses along the main street gave out hot cider and treats for passersby. A group of artists displayed work in a temporary gallery, a space lent to us by a generous landlord with an unrented store. We painted the walls, which were then hung with beautiful paintings and quilts.
My fabric pieces were hung in the window of a restaurant attached to a wonderful salon and spa, and other artists were likewise represented in other shop windows.
A great day, and I hope it will become an annual event!

Here is the 5th card in the Advent series by my friend Janice. Beautiful!

AED Day 6 - Apple Picking!

Today, on day 6 of the Art Every Day challenge, I finished up this little lady carrying fresh picked apples from the orchard! I'm thinking she looks like a Mary Jane - what do you think?

She is cut from commercial fabrics fused onto muslin and appliqued with a machine satin stitch.

The muslin background was then painted with fabric paints and the details sketched in with a machine straight stitch. I then went back and added a bit more shading with colored pencils.

I also wanted to show some beautiful handmade gifts (the best kind, I think) given to me as a belated birthday gift by my friend Karen.

                                      

The pillow is filled with lavender and smells heavenly!

The towel to the right is neatly trimmed with lovely birch tree fabric.

And the pretty bag in front is filled with balsam needles from the trees on Karen's property in Vermont!

Am I a fortunate lady or what!!

Thank you so much, Karen!

Creative Again!

I'm just pulling some of my painted fabric flowers out to make a new picture! Creativity has been on the back burner lately but I'm getting revved up again!

New finished works coming soon!

Springtime Meadow

I finished this piece today, an applique landscape, using all hand painted fabrics. Instead of my usual zig-zag stitch around each element, I used heavyweight brown top stitch thread in a straight stitch as an outline. There is also a bit of hand embroidery in the flowers among the rocks in the lower portion. 

This piece was a pleasure to make. I love trees, beautiful skies and landscapes in general, and it was fun to use fabrics I had painted myself!

 

What I Love About Blogging

I've been blogging for nearly two and a half years, and not a day goes by that I'm not grateful for this arty outlet!

Not being a very technical person, I have my daughter Kate to thank for setting me up with a blog and teaching me all the ins and outs of using the Blogger toolbar.

I've met some wonderful artists from around the world, made some good friends and found an online 'community' through this medium.

I think blogging has boosted my creativity quite a bit, since I feel compelled to 'show up' with new work on a regular basis. And the comments from other artists and readers are a wonderful reassurance that I am doing decent work.

So, here's to blogging!

This simple little fabric painting was an experiment using gel glue as a resist (the white outlines), letting it dry and then painting with acrylic paint. When the paint dried I washed the glue out with warm soapy water, ironed the piece and embellished with permanent markers. I had heard of this technique through my friend Andrea, who is a fabric artist, surface designer and quilter.

Fabric Painting Again

I did some more fabric painting this morning. I have to say, it is therapeutic! I seem to be doing the landscape thing over and over, but it's so enjoyable and I'm anxious to cut these up, add trees and stitching and embellishments... 

I get so lost in painting I have to use a timer to remind myself that I have other things that need doing! At least I had a load of laundry going in the washer as I painted on top of it!!!

Multitasking anyone?

Fabric Painting

A little sneak peek at what I've been up to!

Monday I had fun painting fabric on top of my washing machine

(my painting studio!).

Easy to clean up, and the light is good.

I guess you could say I'm in landscape mode!

Hope to have some finished results to show in the near future!!

A Splash of Color

This is the first in a series of fabric pictures I'm working on, using the fabric I hand painted a few weeks ago. This floral is fused, machine appliqued and stitched, and hand beaded. 

I love the colors that can be obtained from Setacolor transparent fabric paint. In this piece, I loosely painted flowers and leaves on white cotton, heat set the fabric, then cut out blossoms and arranged them in the painted vase. 

Maybe I was inspired by thoughts of the colorful flowers that will soon be blooming in our gardens!

Sneak Peek

The fabric I painted recently has been calling out to me!

I have begun cutting out blossoms and should have a nice 

bouquet ready to display soon!

Background? Stitching? Composition?

All still to be decided!

Fabric Painting

This morning, while my laundry was drying, I set up shop on top of the washing machine and did some fabric painting. With protective plastic in place and my Setacolor fabric paints at the ready, I got lost in painting for about two hours.

I've been wanting to do a vase of flowers in applique, so I let the paint flow in loose flowery shapes. I didn't worry too much about definition, since I knew I would cut them out later and define the shapes with stitching.

I tried two approaches, first painting on fabric which I had previously painted and heat set. This gave me richer colors since these are transparent paints which get deeper with each layer of paint. I did this also with a prepainted green fabric to achieve leaves in richer greens.

The second approach was to paint on white fabric with clear colors to achieve a bright, springy look. I love how fresh the colors are!

I can't tell you how relaxing it is for me to paint fabric, especially when I don't have any time constraints. I plan to use these fabrics in some applique pictures in the next few days.

More Painted Fabrics!

Here are more fabrics from my burst of energy last week! One thing I found out about myself is that I definitely gravitate toward certain colors, especially greens, oranges and reds. These are the colors I reach for over and over again!

On these fabrics I used sponging, stamping and layering, as well as dry brush strokes here and there. Although I found stamping with paint a bit tedious, the whole painting process was very freeing and something I want to do more of.

Fabric Painting

Last week I spent parts of several days painting fabric with Setacolor paint. On some fabrics I experimented  with foam stamps to create patterns. On others I just enjoyed painting and blending color right on the wet fabric. And I also played with painting with different colors, then sprinkling the wet fabric with coarse salt to draw the colors into patterns. I came up with a nice pile of small pieces of original fabrics which I plan to work into some abstract appliques.

Something new for me - very enjoyable!!

I actually find it very interesting to use commercial fabrics in my work, but I think a bit of hand painted fabric will add an extra special touch. We'll see...!