Before Quilting and After

 

Here is a full image (above) of the design once all the composition is finished.  The next thing to do - quilting (below).  I do all my quilting at my domestic sewing machine a Juki 98Q that is a workhorse.  It drives fast and has a bit of extra room between the needle and base so I can make those wide swings and swirls and spirals!

Filling in with Screen Printed Turbines

 The large wind turbines are fused applique, but the smaller ones are screen printed and hand painted.  These needed to be added before quilting.

Earth Stories - Putting it Together

Here is a photo of the work in progress.  The big wind turbines are fused in place and I am auditioning this hand printed black fabric for the base.   Again, perhaps this will not be a collage, but rather, a whole cloth section that will be seamed to the top. 

Screen Printing ProCon.org Commentary

 It may seem obvious that white was the correct color to use for printing the text on this piece, but that was not the case at the time, from my perspective.  I was out of silver, and black seemed to dark, so it had to be white - it was just a process of elimination.  I hoped the different fonts and sizes of the text, etc. would result in a sort of cloud-like appearance from a distance that would take on a new meaning as the viewer would come closer.

 I contemplated cutting the fabric up and collaging it, but I thought I could make that decision later, if necessary (like - if I ruined some section of the whole cloth or something like that, hey - it happens).

 This last picture is the entire piece after the printing is complete.  I cannot express how very relieved I was to see this on my design wall at this point.  I really hoped I could proceed without ruining this big piece of fabric that I felt was very effective as it was without being cut up into a collage.....

Block Printing on Gray

 The next step for the gray sky would be the block printing.  I would be using hand carved printing blocks that I thought represented a windy or stormy atmosphere.....I planned to use silver Jacquard Lumiere, but alas, when I went to my shelves - I had just a small quantity of silver on hand.  This product is not available in stores in Billings, Montana and I did not have time to order from Dharma or anyone else!  It seemed like I might be able to stretch the silver if I mixed in some blue and purple and so that is what I did.  This probably was not really a bad thing, after all.  But I did use up every last drop of silver, blue and purple metallic that I had in my studio!  The printing took an entire day, as the fabric was so large and I had to keep sliding it around on the worktable to get the thing done....

Oh, my, but it did get printed.  Whew!

Year of Abstract Art Exercises # 9 Black and White

Exercise 9 - working in black and white.  Rough brushstrokes were called for.  Instructions to begin with a black underpainting and continue with white and gray.

Year of Study Abstract Art - Exercise 8

This is the second exercise on the use of pure color.  Using only black and white, mixing the colors.  It began with a black underpainting. 

Flinging Paint in a Rain Shower

 Most often, the fabrics I use in my art are carefully hand painted in a watercolor style, blending and controlling things to some extent.  By the time I had decided to try a grayed color palette for my Earth Stories piece, I was down to just one month from the deadline!  I had been working a full year on my other (sunset color scheme) idea.  I was waiting for the rain to stop falling so I could paint a large swatch of whole cloth outdoors on the flat driveway.  Alas, it rained for days and days.  Flat on the driveway was just not going to cut it.  Desperate, I cut a 3 yard piece of 60" wide white broadcloth and mixed up some gray, grayed purple and grayed blue Setacolor Pebeo transparent paints.  In a brief lull between rain showers, I hung the fabric on my clothesline and started pouring and brushing the paint on the fabric.  This is not my usual style at all, and there was a bit more running and dripping than I planned on, but I really did not have time to do it again. 

This last picture is a photo of the whole piece - all 100 x 60" of it!  I had no idea whether or not this was a waste of my time or not.  Lacking time or proper weather to try again, I moved ahead with the project, with a plan to try using this piece of fabric as a whole cloth foundation for what would come next......

Earth Stories, A Change of Plans

 As the deadline for Earth Stories approached and my piece on the wall was not pleasing me, I went to visit my parents in Central Montana.  Montana skies are usually sunny, but this time - there were clouds.  I was thinking deeply about my piece for Earth Stories as I drove through Judith Gap and I started thinking about changing my color scheme.  I knew it would be very challenging to start from scratch, but I was starting to think it was worth a try.

Stymed by Sunset and Wind Turbines

Here is the giant collage on my design wall.  It barely fit and it was blindingly bright.  The deadline was just 6 weeks away and there was still quilting to be done.  I found myself unhappy with the design.  I found myself unhappy with the whole thing.  I was really having a hard time getting through this piece......

72" Hand Painted Turbines

 As I moved forward and was getting near the deadline, I painted black wind turbines on the giant sunset collage.  I thought this would be the easiest way to do it.

Fossil Fabric for Earth Stories

 I hand printed black cotton with gold ink and fossil Thermofax screens.  I did several yards of this, too - planning to cut it up and collage it onto the bottom section of my Earth Stories Quilt.  Remember - this piece is to be 72" square, finished.  I needed a lot of this fabric, too.  I love the graphic and striking contrast between the black and metallic gold!

A Year of Abstract Painting Exercises - Mixing With a Palette Knife

More color blending.  This time - dropping three primary colors on the page and spreading with a knife......

A Year of Abstract Painting Exercises - Color Blending

I have finished all the exercises exploring shape and have moved on to COLOR.  The instruction for this exercise is to apply large splashes of color - using two primary colors next to each other, and to experiment with blending them.  

Earth Stories 72" Sunset Collage

 I spent many days hand painting fabrics to look like sunsets. I had 10 yards or more for the project.  I ironed fusible web onto the back of the best ones, and collaged them into a 75" wide fabric collage - all fused to a single fabric so I could work with it.  Then, I began screenprinting with gold paint using my grandmother's recipes (below).

Third Trial Wind Turbines

 This was my third attempt at working through design and construction questions for my Earth Stories piece.  Again, I learned a lot with this piece and then I set it aside.  Recently, it was juried into the Annual Art Auction for Yellowstone Art Museum!  The auction ends on March 7, 2015!  This piece measures 25 x 31".

Second Trial Piece Complete - Turbines at Sunset

 Here is my second trial piece for Wind Turbines at Sunset (with fossils in the ground).  I am exploring ways of presenting the conflict between fossil fuels and alternative energy sources.  I am trying to decide whether or not to include solar and hydroelectric energy in my concept.  Lots of things to think about. 

I am less than thrilled with this piece, but I learned a lot doing it and have more ideas about what to try next.  This piece measures 19 x 19"

Wind Turbines Sunset - Beginning

 I have decided perhaps a scene of wind turbines against a sunset might be a more interesting image (than the blue sky I did on my first trial piece), so I have decided to create a smaller piece to try out my ideas and process.  Above, a hand painted sunset fabric has been block printed with a setting sun and the ground.  Below, I have added some swirling prints to the sky.  I am already unhappy with the color transition in the sky - not as gradual as I hoped.

 

I felt like the block printing on the ground was a bit too strong / graphic / abstract  - I planned to overprint it with fossil screen printing and also - I wanted to balance the darker purple in the sky, so I just painted it in solid with the leftover purple from the sky. Not such a great start, here, but I will persevere. 

First Trial Piece for Earth Stories

 Here are some images of the first piece I created as I began working through my ideas for my Earth Stories piece.  The final piece would have to be 72" square!  This one is only 11 x 14".

 I thought I might be using text for some of the printing, so I used what I had on hand - some Thermofax screens of my own journal plus some other language text pieces I have - I think this may be Arabic or Hindu and possibly also some Native American written language samples.  This piece is not being made with any idea that it will ever leave my studio.  I am just working through my ideas here......

Painting Spontaneous Shapes - Year of Abstract Painting Exercises

 As I mentioned last week, the guide book, Painting Abstracts by Rolina van Vliet offers suggestions for further study.  The first one I did - I worked from dark to light.  This time, I did the reverse, building the colors on the paper from light to dark.  I used iridescent paints on the underpainting (above), then added darker colors over the top (below) . 

 I was not so thrilled with the result, so I went back in again with lighter colors (iridescent) mixing in with the darker colors of paint.

 It seems a lot more spontaneous with that final reflective layer of paint added.  A final image below: