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Archive for the ‘Surface Design Techniques’ Category

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Playing Catch-up, Again

Monday, May 21st, 2012

It was a dark and stormy day in Portland — a good day to make progress cleaning up my messy office. I decided to break up the process and not do it all in one day. This afternoon, I got back to work in the studio, to catch up on my green 3 x 3s. I am finding green to be a bit boring!

 

I also washed and ironed the paste resist pieces that I did on our STASH retreat. They were not totally successful because I used Dynaflow paints – to watery and Lumiere – metallic is a problem. I also had the added problem of paint leaking in the bag that I brought my supplies in so their were globs of sulphur green Dynaflow paint on all of my fabric.

Here are some phots:

The second piece was the most successful. It was an off-white background to start.

 

Posted in 3 x 3, Surface Design Techniques | 1 Comment »

Home Again

Friday, May 18th, 2012

What  beautiful scenery and weather awaited us in the high desert of Oregon. I loved seeing the beautiful aspens, once again. This time of year, the leaves are small and green, but still rustle in the wind.

Shortly after we arrived on Wednesday, Terry got us started mixing up flour paste to spread on fabric. And then the mark making commenced.

Here is Suzy making marks on her fabrics with a skewer. And below, is Terry.

 

Reva brought a piece of fabric that had marks from a previous surface design project.

Here is one of my pieces.

Here is that piece after it dried and started crackling.

The next day, we painted the dried and crackled pieces.

I still have to remove the paste and extra paint from my pieces. I will report on that later.

Do you know why Sisters, Oregon is called Sisters? A trio of mountains is the reason – known as the Sisters.

There are only two in this photo. I am really tired. I’ll be back tomorrow. G’ Night.

Posted in painting fabric, Quilting Friends, Surface Design Techniques, Travels | Comments Off on Home Again

Recharged

Sunday, March 4th, 2012

We are home, feeling a bit tired, but rejuvenated. It is nice to get away with Mr C for some good food and art, and I get to indulge in some of my favorite activities.

This morning we stopped in for the member’s show. I was blown away with the luscious work on view at the Ballar Art Center. The center is the home of several artist’s studios. The work was hung along the hallways so it was difficult to get long shots. I love the many surface design processes that were represented so I have closeups of some of the work. The shot above is amazing — of course, I am highly influenced by that color. You need to click on it to see it better.

Layers of gorgeous printing.

Manipulation of polyester organza to create little pods.

Nuno felting detail.

I ran into Sally Sellers from Vancouver at the symposium. She is so much fun to be with. This is her piece in the show.

Peggy O’Heron is the SDA rep for Washington and had the vision for this event. This is her gorgeous piece.

This is a detail of a piece that shows how a simple design and use of colors can give great impact.

One of the members who felts, Leah Adams, opened her studio for us to visit. Here is some eye candy from her work:

This is a backgammon set – so cool.

Nuno felting in progress.

Here is today’s 3 X 3.

And I rephotographed 2 and 3.

We picked up Scooter from the K9 resort. He is a bit under the weather. I hope it is just exhaustion from running rampant all week-end with the other dogs.

Posted in 3 x 3, Surface Design Association, Surface Design Techniques | 3 Comments »

In Seattle for Some Fiber Fun

Saturday, March 3rd, 2012

I have stitched on a couple of yellow 3 x3’s. I will need to rephotograph these in better light when I get home.

We made it to Seattle, yesterday, after dropping Scooter off at the canine camp. We had a great time yesterday. We are staying in the University District and can walk to restaurants and shopping. The SDA conference was at a Unitarian Church that was close by.

Yesterday, we drove downtown to see the Gauguin exhibit. I enjoyed it so much. I like seeing a body of work from a famous artist and then reading the signage to discover how their work evolved. Gauguin was very influenced by the work of other artists and it was not until his later years that he was freed to find his own voice.

Today’s conference was jam packed with good stuff and great surface design work. The conference started off with a panel discussion of surface design then, now and the future.

Barbara Smith, on the left, was moderator. The panel was Marci Rae McDade, new Surface Design Journal editor, Lou Cabeen, Professor of fiber and art at Univ. of Washington and Jane Dunnewold, new president of the SDA board of directors. The conversation amongst the panel was excellent.

I attended 3 break out sessions. One on felting, one on Awakening the Creative Spirit and one by Jane Dunnewold on exploring your visual language. All were different and inspiring. Stefano Catalani, director of the Bellevue Art Museum gave the key note address. He is Italian and a charmer. I always love hearing him speak.

Tomorrow morning, we will go to the reception for the member’s show and then head home.

One of the special things at the symposium was the selection of surface design swatches donated my members. Here is some eye-candy.

Nuno felt

Shibori

An assortment of goodies.

Indigo shibori

Printed swatch

More shibori

Another fun nuno felted piece

This piece was knitted, felted and shibori dyed.

We were all gifted with some nice gifts in a burlap goody bag. I am so impressed with how well this symposium was organized and presented. Congrats to the Washington State SDA group.

I am tuckered out. Time for bed. Ta!

 

Posted in 3 x 3, Surface Design Association, Surface Design Techniques, Travels | 1 Comment »

Some Color

Monday, June 20th, 2011


I received a package of glorious color today from The Wool Peddler. These are wooly cupcakes in delicious color ways.

This is silk Sari Ribbon which I will use in felting.

A gorgeous pound of hand-dyed high quality roving that are ends and leftovers at a great price.

I love these silk fibers – can’t wait to use them in felting.

This is pulled silk fiber, made by pulling the fibers from remnants.

I knew I could not survive the virus unscathed. I now have sinusitis which is causing severe vertigo when I awaken in the morning. After a saline rinse and sitting quietly for a couple of hours, I can sort of resume normal activity. My Dr. is out of town until Wednesday, so I am biding my time trying to cope with another setback.

We had a nice family meal last evening for Father’s Day. It was fun to see M & M and get caught up on their plans for the summer. I gave some books and sketch books to use this summer.

I got down to the studio this afternoon and actually made a thermofax screen and printed some images. I had fun last Friday with Photoshop and a couple of photos I took 3 years ago. I turned them into black and white sketches.

That is Mark and Jayme in the photo above. I did a test print on muslin and then printed on two different organzas.

This is a white organza with a woven leaf print.

This is a dark gray organza. The print on muslin was much clearer.

I received a lovely message from Jane Dunnewold this afternoon, telling me how much she liked my piece that I did for the SDA Member’s show at the conference. She thought it was one of the top ten pieces. I really needed that boost. In case you have forgotten, you can see it here.

Mr C came down with the crappy virus this week-end, but today, he was back at work, dismantling our old deck.

Posted in 12X12 challenge, House and home stuff, screenprinting, Surface Design Association, Surface Design Techniques, thermofax | 7 Comments »

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