It's a Good, Good Feeling!

.....when you're done and it's turned out pretty fine! Over the past couple years I've been galumping through a series that I've called Burrard, named after an abandoned shipyard in North Vancouver. There are some terrific old warehouses, big cranes and old decaying stuff there and I took lots of photos that I'm interpreting into art.

Perhaps you remember my blog post about the background/sky that I had pieced and painted? Then some dye on my print table came through? Yikes, it was a scary time....but the subtle colouring (after a good washing and over painting) lends a bit of character to the piece. Least, that's what I'm telling myself. Oh, and then I realized I'd styled the rafters at the wrong angles, luckily it wasn't too late! If you'd like to read back to that blog post, it's here: http://susanpm.blogspot.ca/2017/02/getting-there-getting-there.html

Now The Warehouse is done, except for the paper work (the measuring, the description, the inventory and putting into my archive listings) and I'm happy.

The Warehouse 37" x 47"

The Warehouse - detail

The Warehouse - detail

I'm heading back to my photo files to see what else inspires me for the next piece. I tend to finish (or close to) one piece before starting another - too many years of UFO's! How about you?

Mark Making and more...

As soon as you put pen to paper or paint to cloth, you have started a journey of Mark Making. The term can be used to describe the different lines, patterns, and textures we create in an artwork. So anything from a dot to a scrawl or a pattern is a mark. It is the component of mark making that become art making, when the marks take on meaning, shape or a design, then they evolve into significantly more.
I began thinking a little more deeply about Mark Making (capitals added for emphasis) when I took a workshop with Dorothy Caldwell titled Human Marks. We spent five days focused on how we can make marks on paper and fabric and the variety of tools we can use to create them. It was an inspiring workshop, I had wanted to take a workshop with Dorothy for many years. Here are some pictures from the workshop:

I've been printing and stamping with black paint and ink onto white fabrics and using the fabrics in some of my recent work.

And here is part of a piece where I used some of the fabrics. I like to incorporate them as brighteners and visual breaks amongst the coloured fabrics.

Today my grand daughter came into my studio and watched as I used some markers onto fabric. She was quite interested and asked if she could do some Mark Making too!

She and I had a lot of fun playing with the markers, and I'm excited to use some of the fabrics we made in my art work!
Here's the markers I like to use:

I'll share some more Mark Making ideas with you soon!

Series Update and Self Critique Ideas

Its been a whirlwind week or so and I thought you'd be interested in seeing what I've been working on in my Series....
First, I finished #4, all quilted and bound! I named it Appia (because it reminded me of old marble) andmanaged to enter it in the Sooke Fine Arts Show http://sookefinearts.com/  one of the best shows on Vancouver Island. In fact, I entered three pieces, the max allowed...keep your fingers crossed for me, please!

I'm part way through quilting #3, and I'm planning on entering it in another show here on the Island, and I'll be early for the deadline, big cheer!
The first two of the series will probably be cut up, but I've not decided yet.....I'll keep you posted.
I thought it might be useful to tell you about my self critique guidelines and perhaps you might like to use them for your work.

Guidelines for Self Critique:

• always begin with the positive comments. We are too quick to point out flaws in our work!
• make at least three positive comments about the piece. 
• don't say "I like...." Begin with a phrase such as "what works well", this gives you a certain detachment and doesnt involve emotions.
• refer to Elements of Design and use those in your critique (more info here: http://www.johnlovett.com/test.htm)
• only after you have done the above, then discuss what doesnt work well, be objective.
• write down your self critique, this is very important! Otherwise you could go on and on....one point of the exercise is to be short and concise.
• you may find it easier to photograph your piece(s) and work from the photos. Plus it gives you the opportunity to crop and rotate.
• make the changes in your work that your self critique suggests and then revisit it.

Here's a couple of sites that might help you further:

•  http://mulloy.pbworks.com/w/page/16576267/Self%20Critique%20Form
•  http://www.commarts.com/columns/designing-self-critique
• http://faso.com/fineartviews/26347/learn-to-critique-your-own-artwork

I hope this information is helpful, stay tuned for more....from my Studio!

Screen Print with Success!

Screen Print with Success is open for registration! Join in this fun class and learn several ways to create image, texture and colour on fabric. These techniques show that screen printing is not difficult or expensive.Students will learn to make simple, basic screens that will meet all their needs and the appropriate paints and tools to use.

We will begin with freezer paper stencils and other masks, then move on to using soy wax on the screens with thickened dyes. Fabric dyes provide wonderful transparency, allowing you to build layers of colours without changing the hand of the fabric. Other screen printing techniques will be demonstrated including Thermofax screens, using gel mediums for foil and special effects.

Time will be spent on showing how the printed fabrics can be used in quilts, clothing and mixed media. Workshop fee will include one small Thermofax screen of student’s choice, mailed at the beginning of the workshop.

Does this sound like a fit for you? Well, hurry on over to: http://susanpm.com/online-workshops/ and sign up, registration is limited so don't delay! We'll see you in class!

Studio Tour Coming Up!

I've been working hard getting more work ready for the tour, I hope you will be able to join up and see all the wonderful work from so many talented artists! I'll post more pictures of my work through the week.
Here's some information, if you would like it as a PDF, with all the addresses, just leave a comment or email me!
Don't forget, its next weekend, Nov. 30th and Dec. 1st, 12 noon-4:30. I'll have the apple cider warmed up for you!

New Work - a little smaller this time!

I've been preparing for three shows this summer, the Sooke Fine Arts Show, the Bowker Creek Brush Up, and a Surface Design show at the Metchosin Art Gallery.....whew!
I've had fun making some small pieces with fabric and stitch to offer at a lower price point. I love the matting, they look so clean and neat! I think they're fun. You can buy some if you can't make it to any of my shows: http://fabricimagery.com/category/art/

Here they are:

Lessons My Quilts Have Taught Me

It's a good feeling to finish a quilt! I often tell my students that every project and every quilt teaches us something. It can be a lesson about colour, design, piecing or an unexpected surprise.

A couple weeks ago I finished Wild Thing. 

 This quilt started out as plain white fabric, I used a combination of PFD cotton and Essex Cloth,  cotton and linen blend. I used thickened dye to paint circles onto the cloth, then batched and washed it. The next step was to apply soy wax to areas where  I wanted to preserve the colours and then painted a variety of colours of medium/pale strength dyes.

After washing and ironing, I cut the fabric into squares and then cut the squares in half and reassembled the rectangles on my design wall. The piecing and sandwiching was straightforward.

 I chose to quilt with a variety of weights of thread from a heavy 12 cotton down to light 60 rayon. I ordered another 12 spools above the 20 I had chosen from my collection because I wanted to follow the colour changes across the surface, matching the thread colour to the cloth. Therein lies the lesson!  

 When you create colours on cloth, then add more colours to blend and mix and create more, there are endless variations in values, tints and tones. When I look closely at a particular place on the quilt and start to think about the colours I see it can be challenging to narrow my choice of thread colour.

When I look at a blue, I need to decide if it leans towards a red-blue, a green-blue, does it have a tinge of orange or purple? How and where does it change on the surface? that can determine my thread choices and how often I have to change the spools.

I began by quilting the areas where it was simpler to choose the thread colours, dropping the feed dogs and using a top stitch needle. I followed the lines where the colours changed and worked across the entire quilt. Once the easier areas were quilted, I moved onto more challenging colour areas, sometimes a variegated thread would be useful but I often found the changes occurred where I didn't want them. It was often better to switch the thread to another, closer colour.  

 I am very pleased with the results, I learned so much about colour, how colours can be changed, looking closer at the base hues of what makes any particular colour. Maybe I also learned that one can never have too many threads.... I may have to go shopping!

What lessons have your quilts taught you?

Who is ROY G BIV and why does he need to be on my quilt??

Without ROY you would have a white or black quilt, that's why!

ROY G BIV is an acronym for:
Red OrangeYellow Green Blue Indigo and Violet

For many quilters, colour can be the most challenging decisions in making a quilt. We have chosen the blocks, know what size we want, and are ready to hit the quilt shop, but where do we begin?
Take heart..... and look around you. You wear clothes that work well together, you decorate your home and enjoy what you have? Trust your instincts and use these easy tips:

• Pick a colour and use a bit of its complement. Choose blue and add a touch of yellow, purple with some orange. Don't like orange? Then move towards a peach, rust or salmon.

• Pick up some samples or booklets at your local paint store. See how colours are grouped together. Cut up the samples and rearrange them, try different groupings. Talk about what you like and dislike.

• Try a colour study. Find a picture you like and make a study of ALL the colours you can identify in the picture. See if you can determine the relative quantities of each. Here's an example:

Here's another example:

I've tried to put the colours in approximate proportion to one another and found there was more brown/taupe/grey than I had seen in the picture.

Here another study I made from the same photograph, but this time I played with the colour proportions. I reduced the quantity of pinks and greatly increased the greens. I used papers that I had painted.

Tomorrow I'll do a colour study of one of my art quilts and we can look at colour, and value....another critical element of design.