Felt and Fabric Applique

Lately I've been creating for the art gallery but I've decided to take a break from that and create something for myself.  Eight months ago I started a felt applique project because I was inspired by something I saw on the internet. This is a picture of the beginning stages: 

To read my first post on this project and to see photos of my inspiration piece please go to:
 http://kimagination1.blogspot.com/search/label/Felt
I love the way this piece is coming along (since I rediscovered it) but how do I hang it?  This piece only measures 8 1/2" X 11" so what I decided to do was to buy a huge piece of felt, sew this to that, extend the design and mount it onto canvas.  It isn't complete yet but here's a sneek peek at how it's going:

This has inspired me to try fabric applique but still using felt as my background.  I like bright colors so my first idea was to do an underwater theme with bright coral and fish. I knew I was going to create the coral out of felt then I wanted to find fish fabric.  I've never appliqued before but I remember watching my mom create a beautiful wall hanging when we went to England in 2000.  (What a great idea for a future post huh mom?)  It seemed easy enough but time consuming because it was very tedius.  I love hand stitching now so I've checked out a few books at the library and bought a few online on applique and I get the general idea but I'm not one to follow a pattern so here is a sneek peek at underwater felt piece:

The embroidery floss in the coral is metalic green and really pops but the picture doesn't do it justice.  This piece isn't finished yet because I haven't added any beads yet but I have beautiful blue ones to add to the water (and little black eyes for the fish, etc.)

If I finish them by next Thursday they may be in our new gallery show starting Friday and I stress the word maybe.

My Magical Chair

When I pick up a paint brush I tend to go for the bright colors in my "paint box".  I consider myself a quiet person but when it comes to design I'm bold and very colorful.  I've always wanted to paint a very whimsical chair with bright colors but never have because my utilitarian side of me kept saying "What would you do with it?", "It doesn't go with anything in your house!"  Now since I have studio space at Olde Towne Art I can create the most bold, bright and off the wall things and display them there. 

So my hunt for the perfect chair began!

I looked at new chairs, unfinished wood chairs and used chairs... then I found it... my magical chair!  It is a child size chair with arms and I fell in love with it.  I found it at a thrift store right up the road and when I got home I was so excited to start painting I forgot to take a "before" picture.  So imagine this chair without the white primer:

A few days later (after it was well primed) I started the "coloring":

Again I was so excited to paint this that I didn't take too many "before" pictures but here was the end result:

And a view from the back:

Close up detail:

My Magical Chair is now for sale at the art gallery (Olde Towne Art) in Portsmouth,  VA.

Just a quick look at our new show

Wow has it been a busy week around here!  My kids were out for spring break last week so hopefully tomorrow my life will get back to normal (and I'll get out a bunch of posts that have been stored in my head!)

A week ago (April 6th) we had a new show opening at Olde Towne Art and I've been meaning to post these pictures but spring break got in the way.  My last post was about these new fabric bowls I've been making and I'm happy to say that I have three in the new show: (and yes everything is for sale!)

For a long time now I've wanted to paint a whimsical chair but other ideas seemed to keep crowding that one out.  I finally did it and this is displayed in the front window as well:

(There will be an entire post on the process by which I painted this chair next week).

And finally, the last thing I made for the show was a quilt I named A Kaleidoscope of Candy.   The alternate name was going to be A Modern Twist on an Old Pattern simply because if you are a quilter you know this to be the log cabin design but traditionally they were made from more muted colors.  It is lap quilt size and if you are the lucky person who buys it it is totally machine washable and dryer safe.

Please be sure to stop in if you're in the Portsmouth area and check out all 23 local artists.  We each have our own style and some of us do custom orders.

I have put my paint brush down and I've cranked up the ol' sewing machine again

Since I have started making these fabric bowls (see previous post) I have reawakened my love of fabric.  And combine that with the next gallery show at Olde Towne Art and I decided to finish one of my quilts that I started years ago.  The new show, which will start April 6th, will be called New Works.  I am almost finished my quilt for that show plus I will be displaying/selling my fabric bowls.  I am almost finished a third bowl which will be my biggest one.  In an upcoming post I will be sure to give you all dimensions so you can get a feel for my big one.

Here is a sneak peek at my quilt.  The working title for now is A New Twist On An Old Pattern.

Fabric Bowls!

A few weeks ago my mom and I went to a quilt convention and although I'm not into quilting at the moment I am always inspired by fabric.  One can never have too much fabric!  There were so many booths that had products and tips on how to alter fabric.  I consider myself a mixed media artist so altering fabric is right up my alley.

As my mom and I were wandering the aisles we came upon these fabulous fabric bowls.  I fell in love!  They had one on display that wasn't finished so one could see the process by which it was made.  My mom and I picked it apart and I knew I could make one.

The pattern is by The Sweet Tea Girls and I bought it but altered it quite a bit because the instructions they gave just didn't work for my sewing machine.  For example they suggested to use clothesline (100% cotton)... I broke a needle.  So I ended up using piping cord.  Also I was to cut the strips 2 1/2", I ended up using 2" strips instead.

The first step was to pick out your fabric...

The second step, after cutting your strips, was to encase the cording with your fabric.

Ande now the fun really begins!  You start your coil and zigzag each coil together.  This was the most fun for me because that's when you see your bowl take shape and you can make it any size or shape you like. 

The thing I liked best about these bowls were the beads that were sewn into the sides.  For that you just leave a hole and go back later and hand stitch your beads (or anything else you want) into your bowl. 

I ended up marking my holes with small safety pins so I could judge where I wanted the next hole to go while doing my zig zag stitch.  You can see one of my safety pins in the bottom left hand side:

 
When I finished my first one I couldn't wait to start another one.  So here is almost completed bowl #2:

And hopefully before my boys get home from school today I'll have strips cut for bowl #3.  But I'm not giving any hints as to the color yet you'll just have to wait and see.

Making Acrylic Paint 3-D...

and I'm not talking about using gel medium to make it "stand up". 

So here was my idea, gently mix different colors of acrylic paint on parchment paper then let dry for a few days.  For my first endeavor I decided to mix purple, lavender, pearl white and a gold tone color.

I decided that eventually they would become flowers so next I had to paint a canvas for them.  I didn't want to do the traditional green glass and blue sky so I pulled from these colors and made the sky beige and the grass purple (and tilted it sideways for fun).

I forgot to take pictures of the next step so bare with me. 
After a few days of letting my paint covered parchment paper dry completely I pealed the paint off.  In some spaces where the paint was a thinner layer it broke off but that was ok because I was going to rip it apart anyway.

Next came the fun part.  I balled up these pieces of dried acrylic paint and then glued them onto the canvas.  After I was pleased with the placement of these I noticed that I still had a big piece of dried acrylic paint leftover.  I decided to glue this towards the bottom and make it look like a vase.  Finally I painted the leaves and stems.  I had to spray a clear coat onto the flowers because when the paint started to get stiff it flaked very easy.

 When I took it to my studio space at Olde Towne Art my colleagues loved it!  Within 2 weeks it was sold (glad I took pictures!)  For our March show I decided to make another one but larger.  Same concept, more flowers and more 3-D.  This time I started by painting the canvas then picking the colors for the flowers.  The black vases may look like toilet paper rolls but they are actually bigger.

Don't these swirls look fun?

After I pealed them up from the parchment paper I made them into flowers, glued them down then painted the stems.

At first I was going to have the blue flowers in one vase, orange in the second and pink in the third but after I had it set up that way there seemed to be sort of a disconnect so I added colors from the other two to make it look a little bit more cohesive.  Here is a side view so you can see the three-dimensional effect:

And a close up shot:

It was well received last night at the opening of our new show but now I need more ideas of things I could turn these into because I'm sick of flowers now.

Nail Art

Not finger nail art but "hammer and nails" kind of art.

A few years ago while visiting my mother-in-law in Illinois, and visiting an antique mall that I go to every time we drive out there, I came across this:

Nails hammered into wood then painted.  What a contrast, the harsh ruggedness of a nail but then dainty little flowers painted on the top of each nail head.  Here is a side view:

 I loved it but I had already spent too much so I passed it up.  I logged the idea into my head though... painting on nails, how unique.  When we traveled back to Illinois this past Thanksgiving I made my way to this same antique mall.  I had completely forgotten about this treasure and I also forgot about recreating it when I got home.  But guess what?!  It was still there... waiting for me.  When my mother-in-law asked me what I wanted for Christmas I said "THIS!"

A few weeks ago I began recreating this idea.  My first thought was to do an undersea theme and paint each of the nail heads fish:

I use roofing nails as they have the biggest surface space plus I found that they come in 3 different lengths, awesome, that way I could stagger them and make more of an impact.  So I bought all three sizes, took them home and started hammering away!  (After hammering I primed the nails so the paint wouldn't chip off.)

I think I have made 8 total but my favorite one (and the smallest) is my abstract black and white one:

I have also done an owl, ladybugs on leaves, and a few flowers.  I hung them yesterday in my studio space at Olde Towne Art

I have so much more to talk about but I'm trying to stay to one thought per entry.  As a teaser my mom and I went to a quilt convention last weekend where I got a lot of new ideas! I love quilts but some booths were geared more towards us mixed media artists... what else could we do with fabric? Stay tuned because I have dug into my fabric stash and I'm creating something awesome!

Revisiting another hobby

Watercolors!

There are a few "staple" art things I do like sewing, quilting, photography and painting.  For example, I may not have turned my sewing machine in in over a year but it's like an old friend... when you get back together you pick up right where you left off.  I have this relationship with watercolors too.  I guess that's why I consider myself a Jill-of-all-trades but master of none.

In the right hand column where I have listed What I Blog About you can find all of my entries for watercolors.  I was going to post some pictures then I realized that I already had in previous posts.

I started a new painting over Thanksgiving while we were at my mother-in-law's house (in Illinois) but never finished it because by the time we got home I was onto something else.  A few weeks ago I decided to finish this painting so I pulled it out and began working on the details.

His name is Oscar the Red Panda and he lives at the Virginia Zoo here in Norfolk, VA.  I love going to this zoo because of him and if my kids aren't with me I watch him for hours.  I am fascinated by this little guy!  And as you can imagine I've taken tons of pictures of him.  He is my inspiration for my latest watercolor. It measures 11" X 14"