New Silk Screens

I've been working on some new screens; I really love making them and hard to know when to stop. I did a screen of this chair some time back but the finished product had too much "noise" in it (leaves, grass) which made it difficult to see the main image of the chair. Sometimes the background noise is hard to remove from the picture but I thought I would give it another try. I made a copy of the original and using some white-out, was able to clean it up a bit.

I like it better and think the chair is much more obvious....
This old tire might be my favorite image. I played with it in Photoshop to make it into a photocopy, printed it, cleaned it up to make the tire prominent and then made a lazer copy of my copy which I needed for my Thermofax.
I made a screen in 2 sizes. I store my screens in file folders and print the image on the outside like you see here. It's also a good test to see how the image turned out.
And the old tractor, finally got around to doing a screen. Doesn't "he" have the best face.
It made into a really nice screen.
And the side view of the same tractor. This was taken quite some time ago. I saw him again (think I've humanized him) while at my friend Dorts house and he's now covered with greenery.
It's done in 2 sizes also. I'm really happy with this screen.
All of the above images I'm hoping to use in my "Americana" quilt. I don't remember where I took the picture below. I think it was on one of our outings. I loved all the circles and wanted to see how it would work in a screen - so Photoshop to photocopy to printing it out, cleaning it up and then a lazer copy.
And the screen.
And of course some trees.
This next screen was from corn silk from some corn on the cob. I think it will provide some great texture.
My son who is an artist did this drawing of an eye. I love faces and eyes so this was a fun image to use. I also like to have a bit of his talent popping up in my pieces.
It was a fun, productive day and am anxious to try them out.

PTA November

As always, this wonderful group I'm in, met yesterday and surpassed last months Show and Tell, laughter and good conversation! We've all been working on challenge pieces for an invitational exhibit we're part of at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival in February. Our challenge - to create a piece inspired by a 2-dimensional artist we like. Cathy N finished hers and it's wonderful! Her artist was Kandinsky. Each block has so much detail with embroidery and interesting threads.

And with the leftovers - another great piece!
Connie celebrated a "big" birthday last month and received some surprise gifts at our meeting. Connie has more energy than anyone I know and has a wonderful zest for life. One of her many passions is collecting aprons - which she also uses. This apron was a shirt made into an apron.

Mary B made this wonderful piece based on a picture from her childhood. She had the picture with her and this is a wonderful rendition of it. Mary is the small child in the quilt;  her mom is sitting on the bench.
Dort is our "detail" artist - nothing too small to overlook. This quilt was made for her aunt. It's a map to her house which apparently is at the end of a very winding road. The details are so much fun to see including a helicopter which flies over the house each day - can you see it front and center?
Connie organized a few people from our group to quilt at the Biltmore with children who designed some of the blocks. The quilt will be given to another child who is ill. The children wrote messages of anything they wanted and then quilted it. It was a wonderful experience for adult kids and little kids alike.

Gen is almost finished with her challenge piece based on the work of Klimt. She admits she's ready for it to be done, it is wonderful to see in person.
All in all, it was a great day with just the nicest gals I know. I feel lucky to have them in my life.

Confused??

Does my "Christmas Cactus's" not realize.....

that this is only......
November 6!
Where did I go wrong?

Hope you enjoyed your extra hour of time today. I still haven't adjusted the clocks; I like to feel like I still have that extra hour every time I look at the clock - Silly....I know!

Small Works - Windows 1

I haven't had too much studio time, that time of year when things are crazy. I've taken to doing small pieces when I get a chance; at least I keep my fingers in my art and my mind on a creative track. I have a series called Small Works - small quilts that aren't matted or framed, just small. They're fun to do; I get to use up fabric, try new techniques and best of all feel like I'm creating something with an end in sight. I love using my own photography as it's mine and copyrite free! I took this picture years ago in Old San Juan; I loved the aging walls and colors. I transferred this photo to fabric using an acrylic medium, giving it an aged look.

I have bins and bins of scraps, sometimes I'll dump them out on the floor and just fish through. I find some great treasures. I found these fabrics to frame my window.
They definitely needed more "zing" so using my silkscreen of a tree
I screened part of the image on one piece of fabric,
and the other part of the screen on the corresponding side. I also screened some discharge paste through a "recipe" screen on the light green area. I love using things from my family in my work. This is a screen of one of my grandmother's recipes written in her handwriting.
The top piece of fabric needed something so I screened discharge paste through one of my favorite "tree" screens, I like the way it turned out.
Almost there - a little quilting;  I'm most interested in the imagery and don't want to detract from that.
So here is the finished piece. I was working on this while at John Campbell last month and one of the students bought it so it has found a new home and I know a good one!

Happy Halloween

The price of 3 very large Halloween Pumpkins - $12.00

One pot of colorful fall mums - $5.00
The cost of one bag of Halloween Gourds - $3.00
A bag of Halloween candy (our favorite so we can eat them also) - $5.00
And a 34 year old book that was your daughters favorite (especially at Halloween) - PRICELESS!

There are just some things you can never part with and this is one of them! I think I must have read this story 1,000 times over the course of many years and hopefully will do so again with grandchildren. Have a safe, wonderful and very spooky Halloween.

Where are we???

In the fall, my husband and I make a lot of day trips to view the pretty leaves and enjoy the cooler days of the season. We had never been to Bristol which is in both Tennessee and Virginia. It is a lovely town and the trees just beginning to turn. While in a store, we asked if we were in Tennessee. The lady promptly replied, No, you're in Virginia, if you want Tennessee - just cross the street.

It seems the yellow line down the middle of the road divides the 2 states, sooooo being a typical tourist, we had to take a picture. Cars were very patient, probably thinking here we go again - another tourist having to take a picture with their feet in both states! Yup, we did. And my poor husband, the things I make him do, but he's a good sport and so were all the Virginia and Tennessee drivers waiting patiently for him to move. The stores on one side wave the Virginia flag and the other side have Tennessee flags.
We also visited a charming little town - Abingdon totally in Virginia with a very old tavern. We wanted to have lunch there but they only serve dinner so looks like we'll be making a trip back.
I loved the roof completely covered in moss.

We came upon a very old house called the "Crooked Cabin".
Wonder if you fall out of bed while staying here?
A fun day - I love the fall!

Textures

While at John Campbell a couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to take photos of some wonderful textures. Often my pictures are of odd things, not your typical photo. Most times I haven't a clue where I'll use them, but eventually they do wind up somewhere. I have a good friend who is very creative, takes lots of pictures, especially likes the perspective of things on the ground. Someone asked her once, why she kept looking at her feet - not realizing, that that was her favorite place for subject matter. This beautiful barn was covered with fall foliage. I love the old weathered wood...

and lime green leaves
and this wonderful old plank of wood with nails sticking out.
The forest which provides a shortcut between buildings had some wonderful lights and shadows My love of trees pulled me in.
I also love old, weather-worn windows and doors. They are so interesting with lots of texture.

I'm working on some small studies right now using old windows and trees; this will probably wind up in one of them.

John Campbell Projects

We had a wonderful class at John Campbell including one male student - Dan who did beautiful work and is destined to be an art quilter. The man in the middle - dressed as Christopher Columbus was David - who gave massages - you know the deal - a dollar a minute and worth every penny. He was very good and also very funny - he did his best work dressed in something unusual. He couldn't find his "tu-tu" so Christopher had to do. Behind the students are some of the beautiful quilts made by them this past week. 

The quilt studio at JCC is very large and the class size is kept to 12 people or less.
Plenty of room to walk around and everyone has their own design wall.
This next piece was made by Mary Jane - 78 years old and still loves to make quilts.

Mary Waterman made the same quilt, different colors. They were hanging side by side and fun to see the same pattern made up in 2 different kinds of fabrics and color.

We had a young woman in class - Aino Riiho who was from Finland and married to a man from this area. She is studying to be an arts and crafts teacher in Finland; quilting was the one area that wasn't covered in her course of studies and this was her first attempt at quilting. She first learned the basics of half square triangles and made a heart quilt for her baby due in February. From the beginning I knew she loved art quilts, she designed and made this incredible piece (below) - her second quilt and all in the course of 5 days!  Keep an eye out for her - She is a wonderful artist!
It was amazing to see how much one could accomplish in a mere 5 days.