Design Exercises

I'm off to Pacific International Quilt Show in Santa Clara for 3 days. I thought I would leave you with a fun design exercise to try. Last month, Jeanne Surber, shared this exercise with our Fibervision group. It's an exercise that I find very useful and have been doing for years.Cut a hole out of an index card, I have 4 different sizes that I use. Move it over a magazine page, fabric, etc. until you see a composition that you like. Jeanne traces the design, but I have a hard time seeing the details through the tracing paper, so I just draw what I see.Turn each one around to see if a different orientation looks better. Choose a composition that you like and develop in whatever way suites your style.
Sorry about the photo quality, I'm in a rush . . . I need to get ready for our road trip. Yeah!

Coming Together

The idea for my Art From Scrap challenge piece "Coming Together" began with the quilting samples shown here. I had them stacked up and wondered what I was going to do with them. Do I put them in a drawer and look at them every couple of years. No, that's a waste. Why not paint the samples? I dug out my textile paints and a roller and had at it. Then, I added oil stick on top . The quilted texture showed up nicely, lots of depth. I cut the shapes and added the strings and sewed it all down. Here it is, in all of it's lime green glory.

Here's a detail shot where you can see the layers of color and the stitching line. Little by little, it was "Coming Together.

All of the entries will be on exhibit at Art From Scrap through July 19th. There will be a silent auction with the proceeds going towards children's art classes.

I went to see A Tear in the Fabric exhibit at Cal Poly. My friend, Jeanne Surber's "Size Prison" piece is in this powerful show. Definitely worth the drive!