Category Archives: Out of the Dark

Acanthite, Caramelized, New Iris, Oak Leaves, Out of the Dark, Out the Window, Pomegranate, Red Nebula, Yellowstone

Realisations

November 20, 2014 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

I feel so Positive when I think about my work. I did a solo trunk show yesterday for the North Syracuse Art Guild titled

Out the Window 16.5" X 21.5" $125.00 — Out the Window
16.5″ X 21.5″
$125.00

” Your Art /My Art”. In that lecture/ trunks show, I compared my work to the many styles and types of work that the members use. In doing so I really realized how much I draw from the other art categories to get my ideas across. I draw directly on the fabric with pencils, crayons and markers. I use my machine as a drawing tool too. I Paint with acrylic,water color and dye on the surface when I need to create a special effect. I print on the surface using silk screens, stamping and stencils to get images I want on the work. I use some weaving techniques like felting, silk papers and frapping. I often use collage techniques to build up my surfaces with

Red Nebula 18" X 24" — Red Nebula
18″ X 24″

textures and transparencies and different already textured fabrics like velvet and satins. I even embellish with old jewelry on occasion. I am thankful that I get to use from all the different art areas to full fill my creative drive. I realized too that I have been using my experiences and interests to fuel my work for most of my life. Doing a presentation like this is a good way to reflect and re evaluate oneself.

Oak Leaves 45" X 30" $ 350.00 — Oak Leaves
45″ X 30″
$ 350.00

I now have the monster job of returning all the work back into the category packs that I store them in. I feel so very thankful that I am working in so many ways to fulfill my creative ideas.

Acanthite: Foundations XXIV 18" X 23" $ 150.00 — Acanthite: Foundations XXIV
18″ X 23″
$ 150.00

Progress Report: Acanthite :Foundation 24 This quilt is went together very quickly for me. This stone added some problems as some of the areas where a sold white. I wanted to be sure to use velvet and now whale corduroy on this work to show the wonderful textures they add to the surface. There were also lots of cracks on the surface that added interest to this one.

This shot also shows some of the chenille yarn( dark green) and some silk paper( blue- near the top).

Broadcasting I am enjoying doing the hand work on this piece. Most of the saxaphone pads are stitched down now and I am adding beads and french knots to the surface. I have added some reflective quilting to the surface too. This work is going along well at the moment with each actions leading to the next.

Yellowstone The ease that Broadcasting is a great contrast with my slow process on this work. I think I finally have the map portions the correct size and location. I will do the paint step for that and then I will move forward. I also realized that the piece is too pale. Yellowstone has lots of forest and I want to project that feel too so I pulled out dark green organza ( pinned to the left) and adding that will help me go forward I hope.

The Blues This work just needs time as the hand work is a slow thing. I am playing with three of different types of stitches- the chain stitch, the blanket stitch and the fly stitch. I am varying the size of the stitches to add interest.

Caramelized This is a new work that is still in the shifting and pinning stage. I melted the Tyvec that I painted in the fall colors last week, with the iron between sheets of parchment paper. The melt results are so much fun because they are uncontrollable. Mixing them with silk paper makes me think of carmel and melting butter. That is were the title came from. I am enjoying the play.

Keep Creating

Carol

Blooming Bacteria, on the Road to Dry Falls, Wind Fall

August 16, 2013 Nature is Lush

August 16, 2013 admin 1 Comment

Hello followers,

I am always amazed by the growth that happens every summer. These beautiful flowers are at the top of some swamp loving plat that is nearly six feet tall. They are annuals and the amount of energy it takes to grow from a small seed to this towering colorful plant just makes me stop in my tracks.

I have had a busy week as the kids are getting ready for a return to school and we all seem to be in a rush to do all summer activities that we have put off thinking there was still time for them in the future . With that though in mind I will tell you that there were be no post next week as I am off for a trip to Ohio next week.

This week included a play day with my friend Cheri. We painted fabric on Wed. Cheri did the two pieces and I did the single one. This is only the first step of many so we will be getting together again. It is always fun to experiment with a fellow artist and we had a good time even though it rained off and on all day.

I am putting most of my efforts into preparation for the “Sticks and Stones” show at the Americana Winery now. It will be hung on Wed next week. I am doing a bit of rework and additional quilting to some of my Grand Canyon works for that show. Images will appear in the next post.

Wind Fall 23" X 42" $245.00 — Wind Fall
23″ X 42″
$245.00

Progress Report: Wind Fall I am very happy with how this quilt turned out. All the twigs that I pick up after the wind storm work well on this curved pieced background. I had a lot of fun doing all the hand stitching as well. The only real problem with this quilt is it must be rolled and not folded as the sticks will break if it is folded.

I like all the color changes that are present in the tan twigs- from very dark brown to a cream color- some times on the same branch.

I machine drew in branches in the dark areas of this work to add bit more interest too.

The Machine drawing came about because I felt that the quilt needed a bit of horizontal action to contrast the strong verticals present in the sticks and most of the other quilting.

Synapse Firing 30" X 47.5" $ 360.00 — Synapse Firing
30″ X 47.5″
$ 360.00

Synapse Firing I am happy with how this quilt came out. I have found that when I am exploring new territory I can only go so far before I need to fall back to familiar ground were I know what to do. Such was the case with this work that I created at QBL. I was playing and working on all the rock/texture stuff and I needed to feel safe again- so I pulled out this fabric that I had purchased from Randy last summer and put this quilt together. I quilted this with silver thread and then added a variegated around the out side of the work .

On the Road to Dry Falls
This is the work I was constructing when I did Synapse Firing. It is highly textured with fabric that is wadded and then pressed in the wadded state before it is sewn to the surface. I also used a satin fabric ( dark brown) that was shinny on one side and matt on the other to add additional texture. I tore strips of fabric and left the raw edges exposed for a further texture. I am enjoying the free motion quilt drawing process to continue the wrought feel of the rock too. At this point I am more concerned with the way the eye does not quite flow across surface as I intended then I am with the texture parts. There is always work to do.

Blooming Bacteria This quilt I started before QBL as I wanted to keep my direction with this idea. I am adding the black button wholes on top by hand now. They really add a wonderful texture to the surface of this piece. It will take a long time to complete it however as the hand work is quite slow. I do think the time and effort it worth it however.

Please remember there will be no post next week.

Keep Creating

Carol

Felt Work, Goddess Series, Out of the Dark, Stump Men, Text in Quilts

Thur Dec. 27 Between the Holidays

December 28, 2012 admin

Hello-

We are now in the space between the gift rush and celebration of Christmas and the celebrations of new beginnings that come with New Years day. I happen to be in the middle of a big snow storm too and that does give one pause as travel is not really a good idea at this point. I fortunately do not have to leave the house except to shovel the walk so the post man can get to the mail box. I will venture out and walk up the street to check on the 95 year old- Fred, but mostly I am staying put. This week is the time I try to evaluate and be realistic. To finish up the started projects and to discard the unsuccessful things, and be honest about what seems to slip to the bottom of consideration and toss out the things I really will never go back and finish. If I do have anything in the way of resolutions there are two. This one about being realistic and the second is to try the 30 day exercise that I have been hearing about. That proposition is to take a small thing that you have wanted to do like become a better drawer, learn to use my Print Shop Pro program, or do more collage journaling, and commit to yourself to doing that idea for 30 days. Then you reevaluate. You can then choose your next action on this idea. This sounds very doable to me. I will make my decision by next Tue.

Progress Report: Out of the Dark

This quilt is a new work for the goddess show that I will be doing in Jan. I actually did the first piece of this in Aug with Susan. That section is the middle sized goddess that I drew in pencil and we made a photo transfer onto fabric. The other drawn images are done in permanent ink.

I did the ink drawings from the images in “The Language of the Goddess ” book by Marija Gimbutas. I really enjoyed working on silk for this project.

Painted Sands This is another of the wiggle series and I am enjoying the freedom

of this process. The big painted units I did last summer. There is also some text on thous areas from a stencil that I created.

The crisp gold line here is the stencil. It is a part of my graffiti series were I was using my name as the element of the stenciling.

Tree Men

This is one of the old projects that I have pulled out to work on. After trying out four different arrangement for the units I think this is the strongest one and now I need to decide what the next step will be. It is hanging from the bookshelf in the direct sight line from my sewing machine. I think this will help me look and think about the process more. I do not hold any illusions though- it has been 5 years sense I started this so going forward may be slow.

Written Words This quilt is again one where I am using the graffiti stencil. It is

a bit easier to see as this time the letters are stenciled in a blue purple paint. I quilted my name in free motion work in all directions to hold this quilt sandwich together. There are blue facings on the top and bottom that I will pull to the back and stitch down to create a knife edge.

Jots and Joints This is a new quilt top that I started this week as I wanted to use several of the painted fabrics I had created in my class this summer. In class I created the stencil- the line with a dot at both ends show here in dark green. I am still playing with scraps from the silk scarp bag with this top. The light blue/white is a course weave silk fabric.

I hope you are all enjoying the season. I will post my 30 day effort resolution along with my work next week.

Keep Crating

Carol

Abame- Sisters Quilt, Curvie Cuts, Explorations 3, Out of the Dark, Text in Quilts, Written Word

Thur Dec 20- Solstices computer failure……

December 20, 2012 admin

Hello ,

Happy Solstices! I am looking forward to the days getting longer – even if it is cold. I am not a fan of the long nights even though I do enjoy setting by a fire. I just hate to find crows flying to roost in the darkening 4 o’clock sky.

Sorry to have dropped on the map so abruptly. The computer crashed. We took it off to Best Bye and they had to send it out to have the Mother Board replaced. When it came back the machine crashed again while they were running a diagnostic check. Off the machine went again for 10 days. Needless to say I learned how much I depend on the silly thing and short cuts as I could not excess this sight for the whole time. The second computer that I did have access too did not have Photos Shop either so I could not do photos even if I could have gotten to it. I will try to up date without being overwhelming.

Progress Report: Exploration 3

I really enjoyed working away on this quilt with the free form cutting and the irregular edges. It is both freeing and a bit worrisome as I give up control and the reliance on the ruler for strait lines. I do really enjoy the feeling of flow however and feel there is a lot more room for exploration here.

Thunder Boomer I started this work because I was nervous about the wiggle cut things I was trying . I needed to work on something

that I felt comfortable with. I did challenge myself by using silk as a part of this work. The silk was a way of expressing how the air feels all electric when a storm is going on.

I enjoyed doing the machine drawing here as well. This was a good confidence builder for me at that time.

Pillows I did two pillows to accompany the quilt I did for the bride last mouth. They came out looking good and I think they will enhance the bed when they are placed on top of the quilt.

Abame – Sisters Quilt This little quilt is the next in the wiggle series. I call it a sister quilt because a second quilt grew out of this work as well. I made too much material and found it worked better as a separate unit. I am almost done with the stitching of the face panels.

Sunmi Wash Up
This top is mostly done by hand. I have been seeing lots of images of the large amounts of plastic washing up on the west cost. The piles I find distressing so I thought I might do a bit of a “junk ” collection piece to highlight this idea.

Out of the Dark This top is my next work for the solo show that I will be doing in late Jan. I have always been fascinated by stories of the gods and goddess of the past as well as all the little stone figures of women that have been uncovered. Joseph Campbell’s books have also influenced me. I was delighted when he came and spook at Ball State.

Letters This is just the working title of this piece that I just started. There is a challenge to do a quilt using text and this is my first attempt at that idea. I feel this does not say exactly what I had in mind- but I like the way it is coming together so I think I will finish it none the less.

Out of Control This too is a working title. I am so upset by the shooting in the elementary school this last week. I used some discharged fabric to start this quilt because one has so little control with that process and league of control is how I feel in relationship to this tragedy. I tried to show the chaos I felt with this piece. It does not give that feel yet – I think that the quilting I plan to use with help with this.

Discharging
I did a little hand writing with dish washer soap to discharge the surface of this black fabric. This is another go at the text thing. I put the dishwasher soap in the mustard container to do the writhing and it worked well. The fabric is in the washer at the moment . Even if I do not use this in the Text Challenge, it was a fun thing to try

I enjoy preparing for the up coming celebrations so that is where my energy will be going for the next few day. May the wonders of the season ans the joys of your life fill you in the up coming holidays.

Keep Crating

Carol

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Category Archives: Out of the Dark

Realisations

August 16, 2013 Nature is Lush

Thur Dec. 27 Between the Holidays

Thur Dec 20- Solstices computer failure……

Creative Fiber Collage Artist Carol Boyer