Weekly Pattern Wednesday- 2

I'm here with another pattern today.  I created the pattern on top of a watercolor background that I painted earlier this year.  I used Twinkling H2O's, which are my favorite watercolors.  I love the rich colors and the shimmer, which the camera doesn't capture. While I was working on this page, I kept getting ideas for stamps that I want to carve too.  These patterns can be used in many ways.  I'm loving this challenge each week and all the ideas that are coming up.  If you want to see what the other artists are doing go here.   

Have a great week.
Janelle

Abstract Painting

A recent Lifebook lesson, by Jenny Doh, was on abstract painting. We were trying to get out of our heads and just paint what we felt.  It is a fun way to paint without planning first and just letting the painting happen.  I painted these three pages.

I really love abstract painting and want to practice more.  These paintings are just playing around with mark making on a small scale.  I want to try some large paintings too.  It is harder to get something that I love with this style of painting.  I guess I'll just have to paint more.  Now that my youngest is done with school for the summer and my other boys are almost done, it hopefully will be easier.  I won't have to follow a strict schedule.  I can let them play and I can paint.  I'll let you know how that goes.

Have a great week.
Janelle

Weekly Pattern Wednesday

Lynn Krawczyk invited people to play along and create a pattern every Wednesday and to share them.  Here is the invitation if you would like to play along too.

Here is the first pattern that I created.  It is just a little warm up. Practicing making patterns is a good way to increase my personal symbol library.  Hopefully practicing these patterns will help me to stretch and improve my other art work.

You can go here to see the other patterns created for the first week.

Janelle

The Beginning of a Quilt

I have been working on the sunflower quilt that I started in April. I have finished painting the quilt top and am ready to move onto thread sketching. I plan to thread sketch and then add the batting and some hand stitching and other embellishments. Finally I will quilt it and get it finished.

It is nice to work on this project little by little rather than having to rush.  Spring is such a busy time with all kinds of events for my kids and gardening to do too.  My oldest daughter became a nationally certified EMT this spring.  I am proud of all she has accomplished as well as the rest of my sweet kids too. It is a great time to be a mom and an artist.  I am enjoying my time as both.

Here is the painted top.  Adding thread and embellishments will bring it to life and make it a lot less flat.       

My daughter took pictures of me while I was working on it, so I thought that I would share one.

I had some leftover fabric paint that didn't want to be wasted.  I started adding surface design to these two small piece of fabric. I'll keep adding to them when I have leftover paint or feel inspired. 

Have a great weekend,
Janelle

Silk Painting

It has been really busy here the last two weeks.  Last week I spent two days in a silk painting workshop with Nancy McKay.  It was a wonderful experience and I learned a lot about silk painting.  I would recommend that anyone who has an interest take a class with Nancy.

This week my oldest daughter came home from her university for a few days and my youngest celebrated his birthday.  Around all this activity my family was dealing with colds and tummy bugs too.  All in all I have had two great weeks and hope to continue on with a lovely spring season.

We used crepe de chine 12mm that had been treated with sizing to better control the flow of the dyes.  We used H. Dupont Dyes which bond to the silk fiber when they are steam set.  The colors are beautiful and easy to use.  Here is one place that you can buy these dyes:  http://www.dharmatrading.com/dyes/dupont-silk-dyes-french-silk-dyes.html

This first piece was the practice piece that I did to get used to the process and how the dyes would work. 

In this workshop we drew our sketch onto the silk and then painted it.   This girl is the first one that I painted.  I love making whimsy style girls.  Now I want to stitch on top of her to add texture and depth and to modify areas that I don't like.  I love how the stitching really adds to a textile piece. 

I also want to add stitching to this sunflower. 

We dyed a silk scarf in class as well and steam set the dye in the microwave.  This was a shibori style that was wrapped and tied with a string to create a resist.  I love these colors and the process. I could happily make many more of these scarfs.    

Textiles add so much to our daily lives.  I love manipulating fabric to create beautiful items and make the environment even more beautiful.  I hope that you too appreciate the beauty of textiles.  Have a wonderful end to the week.
Janelle