"The Boyscouts"

I started this piece a while ago, back and forth on the design wall. It just returned from a show I was part of at the NC Arboretum. I've always liked the piece, just one of those things where it got lost in the shuffle of other projects.

The subject matter is near and dear to my heart as it's photos of my Uncle Ted and my dad (his brother) in scout uniforms. The photos were layered on top of a rock wall and blended together in Photoshop Elements. The effect is subtle and you have to look hard to see the imagery of the boys. My uncle is in the top right corner, my dad in the lower left about 1/3 from the left side.

You can see it better  in this picture.

I did some screening along the top using discharge paste and felt I needed to break up the black area since the piece was dark to begin with.

I also added some tree branches at bottom left for more interest along with writing from my mother's autograph book.

 I started layering it but realized it needed more and also to be a little larger.

 I found this wonderful glitzy like cotton fabric with a very obvious weave which I thought would work...

and it did but it still needed more.

I tend to use and like darker colors on the edge to "contain" the piece and black seemed to work. I use all kinds of fabric as I'm after effect. Silk noil which is a heavier and nubby silk is what I used here. 

 I also added a more obvious face in the top to give it a more haunting look...

 and lots of glitzy thread along with monofilament.

And the finished piece which measures 17 1/2" x 20"H. If you're interested in purchasing this piece, please email me privately.
Judy

Fiber Junkies Pt 3 - Show and Tell

I've been meaning to share some of the pieces from our Show and Tell at our Fiber Junkies meeting. This is the last piece in  a series Denny has been working on. She's been wearing spider earrings throughout and said when she finished her last piece, the earrings would come off.

It's a wonderful piece and the back interesting as well

with the maze of webs.

Denny made these feathers out of fabric which were a great touch and meaningful to the theme of the piece. All the pieces in this series were based on interviews with people regarding life experiences;  each part of her quilts are essential to the whole.

Mary made this simple and very elegant quilt out of Japanese prints as a gift for family members....lucky family! 

And the back - as beautiful as the front.

Mary also shared her latest pieces using marbled fabric she had created and incorporated with beads. This one pulls at my heartstrings.

Marbled fabric has a lot of energy and hard to work with - quite a task to get a good balance between embellishment and fabric and I think Mary nailed it.
Til next time...
Judy

Fiber Junkies Pt 2 - The Party

And the fun continues, not only did we have such a great day of playing and experimenting but we also celebrated a special birthday for Denny. Since Denny was born in the spooky month of Halloween and also wears spider earrings, we thought this a perfect theme. 

The plates, the napkins and creepy spiders, the tablecloth was a black web sheer covering a hand dyed fabric.

We all brought home a spider but I couldn't keep mine. I would come upon it in my studio and for a second, it scared me to death. I wasn't even thinking it was evil enough to play a prank on husband or son as I know they would return the prank - so in the garbage it had to go...but it was a good one!

We hung dyed cheesecloth and Denny was given a shawl of cheesecloth to wear. You can see both tablecloths on right along with chocolate eyeballs and spiders on top.

Gen made a pot of soup and served it in a cauldron...

along with Mary's wonderful pumpkin cheesecake.

Oops....how did he/she get on there...

and best thing of all - home made breadsticks to look like witches fingers, cleverly created by Mary. How cool is that and an added bonus...they were delicious!

On to the jewels...yes there were lots of interesting jewelry like spider noserings being modeled by  Carol, Gens daughter who always visits us when she's up from Florida.

Denny has a glow in the dark spider necklace, a wand and broom and gorgeous hat...

and the group. We are a crazy group but we do have fun and enjoy the creative input we are able to give to each other. It's always a learning day but also a laughing and inspiration day. Happy Birthday Denny!

Too Early for the White Stuff

As a rule, we never have snow this early - Nov 1...Yikes.....I do like snow as long as I don't have to drive in it or shovel it. I love to watch it falling but then I want it to be gone.

 The weather channel was right for a change, living in such a mountainous area, they often don't get it right.

 It's odd to see the fall foliage still on the trees with the snow coming down...

 a winter wonderland. I'm glad I have some great sewing projects just calling to me...

 and some hot soup and cocoa.

Til next time...

Judy

Fiber Junkies Pt 1 - The Technique

Our Fiber Junkies group met this past week for another day of experimenting and fun. We were continuing with the project from the month before. Denny introduced us to a technique she learned from Judy Coates Perez. 

Last month we created a collage type base using fabric such as muslin and added images on top. Very thin napkins (peel off the back), patterns for sewing, tissues paper were used to create an interesting backdrop. I mixed up the pictures and the 1st step is below...The next thing we did (above) was to add a wash of color over the top. We used transparent paint so a lot of the imagery would show through. I also added some watered down Lumiere metallic to give it a little sheen here and there.

Next step was to draw an image on top using a fine pointed sharpie. I over exaggerated my image as I wanted a lot of the positive space inside the image to show up with the background technique.

I did go back and blend just a little more Lumiere the inside of the tree, but most of the paint was applied around the outside of the tree. I used Lumiere, once again in a wash as it can be a very dense paint and I wanted the original imagery to show in places. I still have to layer it with a thin batting and quilt it. I like the piece, kind of different. I don't know if I'll do it again but I do love anything with layering so it just might happen.

This is Mary's piece that she started last month.

She added some interesting imagery without the paint and I love the way it works.

We always hover over Val's pieces as she always seems to create the most amazing work and this time is no exception. Her starting base above....

and her ending piece.

Kate had a wonderful image she had created months ago and wanted it to be the focal point of this piece without covering it up. She was still deciding where to go with it, so in the interim was working on a piece for her sister.

I do love the color change in the negative space starting with pink at the top and green at the bottom. The tree is very effective with all the colors.

This is the beginning of Denny's piece.

and here it is finished. I like the way you have to see into the image to see what's going on - 2 athletes - one grabbing his foot and the other throwing something - a great idea.

This was Gens original...

and finished with imagery and the final wash. It's really a fun technique and always a surprise to see the way the imagery works under layers of paint.
Join me again soon, we had a wonderful day celebrating a special birthday and a great Show and Tell.

Finishing Up

In the fiber group I'm in -  Fiber Junkies, we love doing deconstructive screen printing, especially in the warm weather when we can work outside. This summer we met at Vals - our "official" gathering place for this technique as she has such a great space. I always bring a number of blank screens and often don't get around to printing them. 

 Like this one....it was left in the garage when I unpacked the car and I just came across it the other day.

 The wonderful thing about this technique is that you can leave a screen with dried dye on it indefinitely.

 and it prints when you are ready to. I had forgotten the colors I used so it was a nice surprise when I started pulling the squeegee.

 I printed around 6 pieces.

Now the challenge of figuring what to do with them.
I've been in a funk since I've been home from Ireland, not able to get back in my studio with so much catch up to do in other areas. I also want to do a series of quilts using some of the pictures I took but I need to edit them first. Anyway, doing some no-brainers, simple things is good for me right now and easing me back into my art.