Painted Threads

I made this little quilt for an exhibit that friends were putting together for the Dallas Quilt Show earlier this month. Some how in the midst of everything I forgot to post about it.

I started this little whole cloth quilt by drawing my design on paper and placing it under white cotton fabric and tracing it lightly with pencil onto the fabric. I traced the outline of the birds and butterfly onto freezer paper with a sharpie then cut them out and ironed them to the fabric to create a resist.


With a wide flat brush, I painted a wash of blue paint partially mixed with white paint over the fabric so that I would get streaks of light and dark blue. This would be very difficult to do if I was trying to paint around the birds and butterfly.


Because there is blue in the color green I knew that I could paint the stems of the plants over the blue background with out a problem.


Painting the orange on the birds would have been a problem because blue under the orange would have created a dull muddy orange instead of the bright clear orange on the birds breasts.

While I have been buried in a pile of paper work this week, I received a wonderful distraction, a big box filled with books from Lark Publishing for my prize from the "Quilt it" contest. This is great there are several books in here that have been on my wish list for some time, so I look forward to a little time to peruse those lovely colorful pages.

In the mean time I am preparing kits, writing an article, modifying supply lists and preparing for my trip to New Zealand. I am so excited to be going on my first teaching adventure abroad! I will be teaching two workshops in Auckland for the quilt guild the last weekend of April and then traveling to Palmerston North for their Tote and Gloat Quilt Symposium the first weekend in May to lecture and teach. I wish I had a travel companion to explore the country side between these two locations, it looks extraordinary. I would love to drive and stop where ever I want to see things but I am afraid to drive on the opposite side of the road with no one to remind me to keep the car where it belongs. Maybe I will get brave...

While in Wisconsin at the retreat last week, Frieda, Laura and I ran out at the end of the presentation on day one for an art fix. We managed to get to the Racine Museum of Art one hour before closing and had just enough time to take a quick spin through the building and see everything.

I loved these little ceramic birds by Annette Corcoran.

I was really drawn to the colors and oil painted kitchy travel images in this wooden "Highway Quilt" by Lisa Krivacka.

I really liked these whimsical garden themed objects. The metal can of peas sculpture is by Roberta Williamson and the cool thorny tools made from anodized aluminum are by Laura Marth.

I have only seen Diane Itter's work in books so it was really wonderful to see one up close. 

the Premier Mixed-Media Retreat in 2010, August 25-29, Rosemont, Ilinois

This fall Cloth Paper Scissors will host an event that will celebrate artistic expression through Mixed-Media unlike any other. CREATE with Cloth Paper Scissors is a new Retreat that will bring together inspiring artist instructors and enthusiastic participant artists of all levels for an exciting weekend of workshops, special contests & prizes, shopping opportunities, and the first ever Mixed Media Mixer. The Retreat will take place August 25 through 29, 2010, at the Rosemont Hotel just outside bustling Chicago.




• Learn interesting techniques &; make creative projects in Workshops taught by renowned mixed-media artists
 
• Shop for supplies and unique finished artworks at the Exciting Vendor Night
 
• Meet the Cloth Paper Scissors team, Instructors and new friends at the 1st ever CREATE Mixed-Media Mixer
 
• Participate in Artist challenges to win great prizes
 
• Celebrate Art at the CREATE with Cloth Paper Scissors Retreat

Check out the website for details and sign up for updates. 

Alisa Burke interviewed Alma Stoller, who often paints portraits of women with a tranquil moodiness, combining stitching and paper elements, translating everyday objects into artful images.

Then Alma interviewed Alisa, who paints with a lively floral graffiti style, Alisa's world is an open canvas ready to be transformed.

I cooked St. Patrick's day dinner on friday night, seems appropriate for Chicago, since the city has been celebrating all weekend as well. I have been making this dinner every year since this recipe was first published in Sunset magazine back in 1994. The majority of my favorite recipes have come from Sunset. I am so glad I found a link to the article here, so I don't have to write it all out. This is an absolute favorite in our house and it smells heavenly while it is cooking.


What makes this so incredibly good is the addition of lots of extra seasonings, malt vinegar and Guiness stout, mmm......


You can't skip the colcannon, basically mashed potatoes with sauted cabbage and green onions

Yummy soda bread loaded with raisins, currants and caraway. I love this meal, we eat the leftovers for breakfast with eggs for days.

I am finally catching up with enough things to sit down and make a blog post about the fabulous Artist Marketing Retreat with Alyson Stanfield.

Alyson brought lots of books and CD's with her wonderful marketing materials to help guide you and inspire you to get moving with putting yourself out there as a working artist. We had two full days of presentations filled with valuable information.


Our fearless leader Laura Wasilowski makes announcements while Alyson sets up her presentation.


The lovely Frieda Anderson and Anne Lullie (below)


We had a nice turn out of 50 attendees from several midwest states, many from PAQA and several photographers, weavers and jewelry artists.

The retreat was held at the Sienna Center in Racine, Wisconsin on lake Michigan. Unfortunately it rained most of the time we were there, but the weather cleared just before we left and I had to take a walk out to see the lake.


This a view looking back at the Sienna Center with a labyrinth planted in the grass, if I wasn't in such a rush to get back to Chicago and my kids with all the afternoon traffic ahead of me, I would have loved to take some time to walk it.



Now I have to get started on making my Irish dinner of Corned beef and cabbage, I have a knitting group meeting next wednesday, so I am celebrating early. I have a friend from Austin staying with me over the weekend to share the meal with us this year.

To create the stitched graphic line drawing of the 3 of swords, I drew the line art in Adobe Illustrator and printed it out using the tiling option in the print dialog box on 12 sheets of paper. I taped the papers together into one large image and then traced the image onto tracing paper with a sharpie. I pinned the tracing paper in place on the quilt and stitched with a straight stitch over the lines to transfer the design. After tearing away the paper, I used satin stitch "to draw" the bold black lines onto the quilt.

See you thursday...

Blurb is having a special for the next couple weeks on free shipping when you order blurb books by March 22.

USD $ promo code: WESHIP
GBP £ promo code: WESHIP2
EUR € promo code: WESHIP3

There are many self published books being made on Blurb by artists these days. Here's a few:

Painted Threads, mixed media textile art
by Judy Coates Perez
The first half of the book is a collection of images of my art quilts with corresponding artist statements and the second half is mixed media textile work combining paper, fabric, paint, metal and stitching.

BIRDWATCHING a metal clay adventure
Vickie Hallmark compiles a themed set of her mixed-media art jewelry, hand-formed from metal clay and glass. Images and descriptions of silver and bronze jewelry, accented with gemstones, enamel and hand-painted glass, all feature bird images original to the artist. The high resolution photographs alternate with famous bird-themed quotations.

Copper On, Copper Off an electroforming adventure
Based on her popular on-line tutorial, Vickie Hallmark presents an authoritative manual for copper electroforming onto glass beads. Topics covered include theory, equipment, design, and operation, as well as troubleshooting and sources. Illustrated with dozens of one-of-a-kind electroformed lampwork beads, including her signature carved copper encasements.

Wild at the Edges: Inspiration from a Creative Life
By Virginia A. Spiegel
"Wild at the Edges" is woven from the intertwined threads of writing, photography, adventuring, and making art. "I share my inspiration and influences as well as what’s beautiful and significant in my creative life."



art. stitch. life. works 2006-2009
By Kelli Nina Perkins
"I decided that it would be nice to have a compendium of the last few years' worth of artwork at a glance, so I knocked together a 194 page book filled with art. This represents at least my favorite, if certainly not all my work"

My good friend Jane La Fazio just interviewed my other good friend Kelli Perkins author of Stitch Alchemy. They are both mixed media gals who love combining paper, paint, thread and fabric, check out their inspiring interview!

And then when you are done there be sure to pop over to Kelli's blog to read her interview with Jane.






Another mixed media artist interview is with Tracie Lyn Huskamp. This interview is by fellow mixed media artist Diana Trout. These two artists work more with book formats, using paper and paint and incorporating fabric as more of a decorative element.

Textile artists Melanie Testa and Lyric Kinard have joined forces this month to interview each other, review each others books and then create a piece of art for a blog give away. Click here for Melly's wonderful interview with Lyric, then be sure to head over to Lyrics blog to read another great  interview with Melly.