Workshop Coming Up

 I will be speaking at The Wearable Art Connection on Saturday August 20 at the Pasadena Museum  470 W Walnut Street,  Pasadena 10 am to 1:30 pm and then doing a workshop on the 21st at New Moon Textiles  9am to 4f pm.  It will be the last chance to take a workshop from me for awhile (or ever), as I will be moving to Boulder City NV in September.  I really am moving, even though I've thought I was for the last 3 years.  It will really happen this time (at least I think it will).

I'd love to have you join me for the lecture or the class.  You will learn at least 10 ways to embellish and use threads of all kinds in your work.

This is crazy patch done with bobbin work on the machine.

I Haven't Forgotten

I haven't forgotten how to post to my blog.  I've just been off playing.  I went to Hawaii with kids and grandkids and came home with a sore throat which later became "sick in bed for 5 days."  You can't spend two weeks with grandkids and not catch something vile.

So now I'm feeling better and back to business.  I had to send some entries off to SPIN for their show this fall and as I was going through things I came across this silk painting I had done several months ago.  It was from a photo I'd taken while in Cuba and now I really like it.  Why do things look better a few months (or years) after you have given up on them and put them away?

 Another silk painting done last Spring, but revisited and now I love it.  Surely I can do something more with the techniques I tried in this one.

 I have been using silk painting as the base and then free motion machine embroidery over the painting just in little touches.  Notice the fine lines drawing of leaves in the background, that is free motion stitching with varigated thread.  The challenge was keeping the fabric to stay flat after I took it out of the embroidery hoop.  I tried several kinds of stabilizer and have finally found the system that works.  

You can see the embroidery in the painting on these details.

I'm loving this technique.  All I need is more time to dedicate to it's possibilities.
By the way I will be the speaker and workshop presenter for WAC on August 20 and 21.  I'll be doing a trunk show on Sat the 20th and embellishing techniques workshop on Sunday 21.  Come and join me.
I will post more about it in a few days.

Back at it

I have been in Nevada for the past two weeks checking out how it will be to live with my daughters family.  The answer?  Great!  I have been contemplating the move for a few years now and things just weren't quite ready.  Now I think I am, but there are still many things to do before I really go.  Like clean out the garage.

So let's talk about what I have been doing these last few weeks.

 Do you remember that I used this image as a demonstration in the last session of class?  Well I made it into a quilted pillow and I really like it now.  I extended the design by quilting beyond the circle and it worked out really nice.

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 Here is the next thing I've been doing.  I had painted these leaves on silk, so then I thought,  "What if I add a little free motion machine embroidery to parts of the painting.  I knew I would need stabelizer so I went shopping for something that I thought would work.  It didn't!  See all the wrinkles after I took it out of the hoop and then washed away the stabilizer it was very pulled and crinkly and no amount of ironing helped.

 next plan.

 Then I used an iron on knit stabilizer and a layer of wash away "Sulky"  It was better, but still not as good as I wanted.  IN the detail below you can see the wrinkles are fewer and not as bad as before.

 On to the next try.  This time I used another brand of fusible very soft knit stabilizer  by "Floriania" recommended by Alex Anderson for "tricky fabrics like silk"  Then I added another layer of a firm tearaway and I had the best results so far.

 Very little wrinkling after tearing away and such.  I also tried pre-shrinking the stabilizer before I applied it.  So far This is the third try and it is getting better.  This time I also used some background stitching of leaves to give it a bit of dimension.  I  used a variegated thread so It would kind of give variety to the stitching.  I went back and added stitching to the one before.  But found that adding the stitching first was the best way.   That was a no-brainer.

 Here in the details you can see the stitching and the embroidery.  I'm excited about the concept of the silk painting and the free motion embroidery for accent.

 I will be framing these as wall art so am hoping to get even a better result when finished.

 This time I have two layers of stabilizer and it is smooth,   I will let you know if this works after I do the free motion embroidery and remove the stabilizer.

Detail of the painting and the drawn background leaves without any stitching.  By the way I painted the background silk before I put on the gutta lines, so there are fewer gutta lines showing in the finished pieces.  You can see the effect better a few photos back.
I'm having fun.  I hope you are creating and enjoying it also.  Let me know what you are doing and any comments about what I am doing also.

What have I done lately?

The theroy was that without the class to get ready for I would have more time to do my own art.  Well, the reality is without the class I was doing nothing!  That is until I realized I had a challenge for Surface Art Association to get done before the April meeting.  The title of the challenge is "Branching Out"

That is pretty broad so I decided to do something I almost never do and that is an art quilt of political commentary.  That is my way of "Branching Out"

 This is a more detail view

This is the wider view of the unfinished quilt.  It is silk painting and photos printed on fabric and appliquéd onto the silk.  The title is "Crisis"  and it is about the situation in the world and the refugee problem that we are facing with something like 16 million displaced persons.  I will finish the quilting and binding today I hope.

Some paintings

I went to Santa Barbara for two weeks of painting the week after my last Claremont Class.  It was supposed to make the fact that I had "retired " that much less painful.  It gave me something else to think about and that was good.  This week we will see how I deal without the class to prepare for.

Before I went to SB I was to decide what my series would be about.  Since I had been on many trips the last two or three years and seem many different oceans of the world I wanted to paint "The Feeling and Impressions of the different oceans."  I enjoyed the workshop and learned a lot, but was not sure I was successful in my series quest.  I will keep working on some of the paintings to see if I can refine them a bit.

 I had taken photographs, but the instructor asked me to put the photos away and just paint from the memories and feelings I had ov the various places.  This was the Pacific Ocean at La Jolla, CA

 The Pacific Ocean along the Oregon Coast

 Pacific  Coast of Costa Rica

 Caribbean in the British Virgin Islands

 Hawaii along the coast of Kauai

 When I went to Cuba because we were Americans we could not do the things tourists could do one of which was get in the water.  This is "Don't Go Near the Water"  It looks inviting, but stay away!

 Looking down off the boat in the Caribbean.  Belize

 Atlantic waves off the Carolina's

 Pacific swells in the Northwest

The family at the beach in Laguna.  I'm under the umbrella.

Sorry for being away so long.

What a great day.  So many friends together to visit with and enjoy seeing what they have been working on.  It was like a "love fest", and so heart warming to hear them say that I had had an impact on so many lives.  It is very humbling to think that over the past 20 years of teaching so many wonderful, talented people have passed through my class and so many have stayed in my life.

 Amelia made this cake with fondant representing all the aspects of my life.  Yes, I was all teary eyed over it.  Thank you so much.

 We had a "Show and Tell" and so many wonderful things were shown.  It was amazing how many different things we have done over the years and then what people did with the skills they had.  I'm not taking credit for anything more than introducing a technique.  You were the ones whoa then did something with it.  I have only posted a few photos, but it is a sampling if you weren't there.

I can't say enough about how wonderful it was to get together.  I will be leaving so many memories, but will be making new friends and having new adventures before long.  I don't plan to really move before September, and am keeping my house here for awhile to go back and forth since I'll still have 4 children in the area.  Who knows how this will all turn out?

Good Week

I did a Workshop in San Diego this past weekend.  It was really fun.

 I was staying in La Jolla with one of the members of the Silk Painters Guild and we took a morning walk before class.  WOW!  It was so beautiful and it smelled so good.  What a way to start the day.

 These are some of the results of the first day when we did microwave dyeing.  This piece was done on a string and pulled up into a bundle, but when she unwrapped it the center had too much white, so I had her re-wrap just the center and wet and tie the rest of the fabric into plastic bags and re dye the piece.  She did like a giant Kumo Knot in the center.  Then when she made her jacket the next day it was glorious.

 This was done with bubbles of chiffon wrapped with rubber bands, but the colors were so beautiful.  It is hard to see because the chiffon is see thru.  Just take my word it was great!

Another string and scrunched for resist. It had better penetration and was awesome.  She also dyed a pair of white silk jersey pants to go with it, but we felt it was too much pattern so she now has the start of 2 outfits, both of which are beautiful.
Then my battery died.  That is what happens when you forget to charge things.

Wednesday in class we will work on the silk paintings started last week.  Since it is the last class we will clean out the closet and I hope you will take some of the things home.  3 or 4 microwave ovens, felt pads, patterns, pots, bowls, and stuff.  I'm going to miss going to class, but who knows what the next phase of my life will bring?

The Fun continues

We have ice dyed and then removed a bit of color.  Below is the result Melanie got from soy wax resist, ice dyeing and then using some discharge paste to take of a bit of color.

 We had a visit from Jo and she shared a wall art piece she did by painting on canvas, cutting it up and putting it back together with a few other fabrics.  Love the vibrance of the piece.

 Another of Jo's pieces.

  This silk scarf was ice dyed and then discharged with Discharge Paste.  I  love the antique look that came about.   Below is an example of "Two for One"  Annie as ice dyeing a roll of silk ribbon and put some fabric in the bottom to catch the dye drips.  She got this lovely purple and blue fabric to make a blouse.

Next Wednesday we will move onto silk painting with Seta-Silk and Dyna-Flo.  If you have silk painting supplies bring them.  Ex.  Gutta bottle, paints, brushes, square or rectangle frame and pins.I found a bunch of silk left over from a class I taught in Houston a few years ago and will bring the silk for you to practice on.  If you don't have stretcher bars I have extra.

Love that "ICE DYEING"

 These are some of the results of the soy wax resist and ice dyeing.  WOW!  I love the techniques the ladies got.

 These three were not soy wax and ice, but we still were very impressed with the results that Annie got with some burnout chiffon and a Mandaly folded design.

   these are ice dyed fabrics.

 Audrey made ups three of her dyed fabrics.  They look great when they become quick jackets.

 Two new (to me anyway ) products which were purchased at the "Road to California" quilt show.
I was in  Hawaii so I missed it.

 It is always so great to see a finished project.  This beautiful scarf was started in the silk painting class a semester ago and Kristina brought it in to share.  It feels so good to finish.

 More ice dye and soy wax resist.  Love the colors.

Janet brought in a silk painted scarf she had finished.  This scarf had the background painted first, by doing that you lose the outside gutta lines.  I'm working on a shirt I painted using the technique.  Hope to have it finished soon so I can share.
Wednesday we will be using the screens, stencils and such to continue discharging and also using them for applying thickened dye.  I will bring thickener and dye and some patterns if you want to also try the thickened dye for direct painting.  Bring some white cotton you have pre-soaked in soda ash.  I gave out packages of Soda Ash so don't forget to pre- prepare your fabrics so the dyes will set.  Also bring some thin plastic to cover the painted or printed surfaces so they can stay moist to set.