Creative Minds…

This post is for Diane Erickson at Sweet Annie’s jewelry who put pictures of her workspace on her blog.  She wrote a post called Creative Minds are Rarely Tidy.  (Amen to that, btw.) I am trying to help her feel better!  My sewing room just does not have enough nooks and crannies for storage.  Just for the record, this room is now cleaned up and no longer looks just like this, but this is how bad it can get!  This is the Un-Tidy Truth About My Studio!

Tomorrow I am off to vend at the Decatur quilt show.  If you are in the area, come by and see me.

New Work…

Remember a very peaceful red/blue-green piece I was working on a few weeks ago?  Well, I  decided it was too one-dimensional… so I painted a very diluted layer of black paint on it.  I like layers.  It still wasn’t done, so I rolled some white gesso over the black paint.  Too much white streaks..still wasn’t done and didn’t have a name either.  I got out the paintstiks and brought some color back in over those two layers…AND got a name!  Now it’s finished and ready for the Arts Council exhibit.

Weathered Places

I have to say, after working on this piece, Linda and Laura Kemshall’s practice of working everything out on paper first makes a ton of sense.  It got pretty scary adding subsequent layers to this piece after all the quilting was done.  I knew it wasn’t done, so I took the plunge, but it did almost take my breath away and make my heart race.  I haven’t developed the practice of planning ahead of time…that just doesn’t seem to be the way I ‘m working right now, but sometimes I felt like I just had a very close call…

My New Toys…

I got some new toys last week. They are called moldable foam blocks by PenScore. I have been wanting some of these for a couple of years.  I ordered these from Dharma Trading Company.

They also come in other shapes and sizes.

You simply heat the surface of the foam block with a heat gun.  You need 300 – 400 degrees.

Then press the heated side of the foam block onto an item…such as Great Northern Beans…

…or a pair of stork scissors…

…this method of making a stamp makes a negative image, but it is loads of fun!

If you tire of an image, you simply heat the block again; the block returns to a smooth surface, and you can make another image in its place.  How cool is that?

New Books Added…

Bit by bit I am adding new retail items to my website.  This week I added three of Ann Johnston’s books.  Color By Accident is a manual on low water immersion techniques.  Color By Design is full of dye painting techniques and ideas.  The Quilter’s Book of Design is a newly revised version with lots of quilt art to look at and design ideas to ponder and study. They can be purchased on the Dyeing Supplies/Books page of my website at www.mywildflowerdesigns.com.

And Then There Was This….

…driving through a small town on Route 1 on Friday, this caught my eye…don’t know what it will turn into yet, but I thought it was pretty interesting…

This ‘N That…

What…my first post for March…I have been busy.  I would have posted last Monday but I was packing and getting ready to leave, and putting the final touches on a lecture and workshop.  I traveled to Greenwood, IN (outside Indianapolis) on Tuesday to visit my artist friend, Cynthia.  This is now a yearly trip.  Her quilt guild asked me to do a workshop with them and the program for their monthly meeting.  It was lots of work getting ready as I was preparing something new.

The workshop was on Dye Painting.  They did rubbings, stamping, monoprinting, gelatin printing and I had some screens made up for them to play with.  Here is Jo working on a stamped piece of cloth.

Here is a rubbing made by Cindy…

…a monoprint carefully planned and executed by Mary….

…another well executed piece by Phyllis…

…the gelatin after someone printed on it…believe it or not, there is no dye left on this to print…the gelatin has soaked it up or something…

…and Sandy’s 1 yard size clean up cloth.  I thought it was an awesome piece and urged her to save it for some special idea.

I think everyone said they had a good time and we didn’t make too big a mess.

On Thursday, Cynthia and I went to the Indiana Heritage Quilt show in Bloomington, IN to see vendors, friends and quilts.  That evening I gave a program on Journal Quilt Techniques for the guild, showing them some of the quirky things I do on small art pieces.  All in all, a fun and exhausting time…I drove home Friday morning after sleeping in.  Now…to get ready for whatever is next….