AEDM Day 18

Recently I've been working with sheer fabrics, but this morning I put together this landscape, inspired by some rich colored remnants I came across in a box while cleaning my studio. The sky fabric is hand dyed, but I can't remember where I got it. That's unusual for me, since I usually remember where most of my fabrics came from - even those I acquired 30 years ago!! I love my collection of materials and each one pretty much brings back some kind of memory. I do recall the deep purple nearest the sky was part of a blouse I wore, which became stained. The front fabric was purchased recently and I folded it over a piece of thin batting to balance the textured selvages of the other fabrics.

I'm happy with how this piece is coming along. My instinct is to add some trees, but then again, maybe the movement in the sky colors supplies it with enough detail.

What do you think?

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!

AEDM Day 16

A wee sketch for today...

Hope your day has been a good one!

AEDM Day 15

A wisp of a landscape...

made from my stash of sheer fabrics.

Have a wonderful day!

AEDM Day 14

Today I found another unfinished piece and decided to complete it. This is an embroidery I had started when I was designing my present blog banner.

First off, I determined the size I wanted and printed the words onto some white cotton, freezer paper -backed cotton. I quickly discovered that my current printer does not have an adjustment for paper thickness and I jammed it a couple of times before getting this done. I then drew my kitties with a purple, disappearing ink pen.  

I'm not that experienced with hand embroidery, although I did it as a little girl and really love the look of it. Instead of using an embroidery hoop, I fused the piece of white cotton onto some thin white flannel, for stability and so that the stitch ends wouldn't show through. (I pretty much make up my own rules when I do things!) I began embroidering and abandoned it at this point.

Today I finished embroidering everything but the whiskers. I used pastels, this box of which I've had since high school, and a pointy Q-tip to blend the color.

The final step was to add the whiskers. I love the texture of the embroidery, and the softness of the pastels. Now I can add this to my collection of Angus and Rosie art! They are very inspiring subjects!!

Have a Wonderful Day!!

AEDM Day 12 - Weekly Word

     H is for...

Happy!

I'm so happy that it's a beautiful fall day and that I'll soon be going out to visit my sister, and I'm also happy to be a part of AEDM! 

This picture is the final version of the piece I started the other day:

                            

                                

As you can see, I've added leaves, stems and other elements, changed the vase fabric and put in what, I hope, looks like a little glass bird. I feel so good to have finished it - although I may tweak it a little bit more!!

Here's wishing you a wonderful weekend! 

AEDM Day 10

I have no new artwork to show today, so I thought I'd share a bit of my day instead.

It was a rainy day, but outside my porch this tree looked beautiful against the gray sky!

If you've ever read Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way, you know the value of an artist's date - time spent refilling your store of ideas and inspiration. It could be a walk in the woods, a visit through blogland, or a day like the one I had today. Along with a group of like-minded friends, I went on a fabric shopping trip to two great fabric stores. Our first stop was Fabric Place Basement in Natick, MA. Fabric Place had once been a favorite of New England sewing enthusiasts, and we were heart broken when all of its locations closed several years ago. Now the owner has opened this new store, and we are thrilled!

There were lots of goodies to look through. I bought some beautiful cotton fabrics that said "landscape" to me and some color saturated sheers which will be ideal for flowers.

Our next stop, Sewfisticated Fabrics in Framingham, Massachusetts, was another treasure trove in which  I found even more gorgeous sheer prints.

Being surrounded by a wealth of colors and textures is definitely stimulating to the imagination, and I can't wait to start creating some new work with my newfound materials! I'll show you my finds later!

See you tomorrow!

AEDM Day 9

Yesterday I posted a fabric picture of a vase of flowers I had done, and Gwen, of Foxglove Hill, asked me to explain how I did it! So I decided to do a little tutorial of sorts.

I started out with a vase template, some sheer and semi-sheer printed fabrics, sharp scissors and a 4"x6" piece of background fabric ( in this case white ) which I fused onto a piece of watercolor paper and then deckle-edge cut the paper around the fabric. For this project I used Wonder-Under fusible web by Pellon to back all fabrics.

I held the vase template, under the semi-sheer fabric, up to the light to select the best placement, then traced it on the back and cut it out.

                                        

I freely cut into the sheer printed fabric, making organic leaf and petal shapes. I like to call these 'fantasy flowers'!

Here are the shapes I cut out.

I decided to slim down the vase a bit and started pressing petals and leaves, which had been backed with fusible web, in place lightly with a dry iron. I love using sheer fabrics because, when one shape is laid over the other, beautiful shadows are created. I found a different piece of sheer printed fabric with some darker greens and cut stems out of that.

This is as far as I got today, and it took one hour and ten minutes. I'm planning to add more details and I'll post the finished piece tomorrow!

Hope everyone is enjoying a great day!