A Miniature Experiment

Earlier this week, I found some wonderful fabric in my stash that I used as leaves-against-sky in this miniature:

"Home Sweet Home" (c) 2013

It's fabric I won several years ago now when "3 Creative Studios" (Sue Bleiweiss. Terri Stegmiller and Vicki Welsh) were in operation.  It was a fabric/embellishment pack, hand-dyed -- I think -- by Terri -- and up till recently, I hadn't done much with it.  Waiting for the right projects to come along, eh?

Today, I used some more of this fabric for another piece, but something quite different.  I had this photo I wanted to translate into a miniature:

I thought about how it would look if I could just place the branches and berries (Mountain Ash, also known as Rowan) against that "leafy sky" fabric.  I began by tracing the outlines of branches, leaves and berries onto plain paper, and copying this out onto water-soluble paper (Paper Solvy by Sulky):

Then I free-motion stitched over my drawing, using threads that would tone in -- green for the leaves, red-orange for the berries, green-brown for the branches.  When finished, I trimmed away the excess paper:

I trimmed the excess batting and backing, and washed the piece gently in cool water (per the manufacturer's instructions.)  I discovered it was tough to get the last of the paper residue out of the areas where the stitching was tiniest.  I used a soft face brush to gently work at these areas, with only partial success.  I decided to go with it anyway:

I ironed the piece, front and back, and then went back into it with fabric paint, water colour pencil (dark brown) and Tsukineko ink to highlight the berries, branches and leaves.

Matted for framing, I call this one "Bounty":

"Bounty" (c) 2013

You knew I'd find a home for that red mat, didn't you?  ;-)

While waiting for the piece to dry, I finished this one:

"Bovine Bliss" (c) 2013

All in all, this makes 5 new pieces finished, and one almost there -- hand stitching started yesterday and should be finished later today.  This meets my goal for pieces to take to show the owner of Different Strokes Gallery (Olds, Alberta) on Wednesday...and clears the way for me to get some knitting done between now and then.

Once I get back from Calgary, it'll be time to finish my piece for the 15 x 15 "Time" challenge, and to make even more miniatures for "Culture Days" at the gallery in Stettler at month end.

Something tells me that September is going to disappear as quickly as did August...

Now whats on (or off) your design wall today?  I'm hoping I can still link up with Nina Marie and the gang for Off the Wall Friday... Grab a cuppa and let's go see who's there!

What I've been up to

I've been enjoying my outdoor 'studio' so much of late, that it's been tough to sit here and post! However, I have been busy, and have posted some new photos to prove it!

First, because what I do out there has to be handwork, I took up a black and white piece that I began when I was the 'gofer' for Pamela Allen in her design/composition class at Quilt Canada in May. I call it "My Back Yard", and like it so much that I'm going to add it to the collection in my "Nature" series, even if the style is quite different.

Second, I've come up with an idea for the SAQA Exhibit, "Beyond Comfort" , wherein I'll be using recycled materials that I have on hand, but haven't really used -- except in classes about the subject. Yesterday, with rain threatening in the afternoon (it arrived early evening, actually), I got busy with some sun printing, using guidelines from 3 Creative Studios TOM (Technique of the Month) for July. I created 2 good pieces (and 2 disasters, ,which I'll recycle!), one of which I think I'm going to use for "Circle Play". If in the end it's not accepted in the show, I've decided to submit it to "This is a Quilt", SAQA's 2011-20121 Travelling Trunk Show.

What else has happened?

Well...in mid-September our province celebrates the arts with Alberta Arts Days. The village of Alix, which is about 10 minutes from here by car, is joining in by holding 3 art demos at their public library -- and Beth, the librarian there, asked me on Tuesday if I would be one of the artists this year! She was looking for something "different" (they've had several painters in the past) and realized that I would fill the bill, because textiles is an unfamiliar art medium to many folks. I get an hour to play -- and now have to decide what to do! It's not a 'make and take', just a demo, but I want to spark interest and not get too complicated at the same time...

And... I've begun my participation in The Sketchbook Project 2011. My sketchbook arrived on Monday, and I have managed to create the intro page and to paint 2 other pages in prep for my next entry. I decided to allow them to select my journal's theme;

they gave me "In Flight" -- ! Thus...I am contemplating birds, bees, butterflies...

.