Category Archives: Coastal Color

# 2, Coastal Color, Coping, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Label Blocks, Moon Fall, Parts

Winter workings

January 29, 2016 admin

Hello,

The week has been a full one with lots of activates. This work is by a high school student and a part of the Scholastic Art show now going on at Onondaga Community Collage. I was a judge a few weeks ago and I judged animation and film. I went to see the other works that made it into the show. There is lots of wonderful work, and it is well worth the effort to go and see it. The FAB group also meant this week

. Nancy has added two more boarders on her quilt. I love how she mixes so many different patterns in her work. She is also so very good at making all her points. A characteristic that I admire as I find that process so very frustrating. I like a challenge so much more than a repeat activity. So I decided to be a part of the Cancer Project. This is the cancer mask that I will be altering in the next weeks. I have not decided how or where I will go with this one yet, but I really think it is fascinating. Another thing I did this week was take four quilts off to be a part of the Cabin Fever Quilt show that hangs in Betts Branch Library for the month of February. I also hung a show of 15 pieces of my work at the Briar Patch in Ithaca New York yesterday. I am sorry that I did not take my camera so there are no pictures of that. Because of all of our snow and the wonderful stash of dye that I inherited from Ethel, I attempted some snow dyeing this week. I had to call on the knowledge of my friend Angela to get myself going on this project . The photo is a shot of the first batch under plastic starting to melt. I learned from this first one to cut way down on the amount of dye one adds to the snow as the navy blue took over and there is no yellow at all on the final piece. The process takes a long time- about 24 hours for all the snow to melt because I am doing it in the basement were the heat is low and I may be packing too much snow in the bucket. Anyway the second batch looks like the yellow and green will remain a part of the color. And I did not add any navy to it. Everything is washing out now with a third bucket starting to melt. Look for images next week. Another thing I started this week was my 6X6 entries. That is for the Rochester Art fundraiser. I decided to use this paper as the base for a paper quilts for this project.

Progress Report: Coastal Color I

I really enjoyed working on these felted base works. I ended up adding a fabric back and sleeve to this one to finish it. Thanks again to the gals in QuIGs for there suggestions on this project.Mixing the machine work and adding yarns and fabrics to the surface sure made the process a joy for me. I have one more in the grouping to complete; I am excited and I have not even started adding anything to the felted surface yet.

Coastal Color II This felted work is stretched over stretcher bars with a batting in between. Again the QuIGs were the source for this solution to the finishing problem. This solution creates quite a different feel for the finished work. But again I got to do the thing I love the most with the machine drawing and the fiber additions. I just love to build up the surface.

Moon Fall I have enjoyed working on this project as the world out side has become one of grays, white and black. No thread build up here but lots of fun free motion work. I used some of the same thick thread techniques that I developed with the leaf and Autumn quilts I did earlier this fall. I mostly followed an edge when I could to make the quilting patterns. I appliqued the moon on top without any quilting of its own so it would float above the surface a bit. It seems to do that to me.

Coping Quilting away on this work was a nice contrast to all the free motion work I was doing this week. All the quilting here is strait lines with stops and turns it it. I first made a series of rectangles in silver and purples threads. Then I used black to make more quilting that filled in the open ares and added a little interest to the surface. It does the job I think although I do not find it overly exciting in the end. I do like the colors and that is a good thing as I have the second half of the original to deal with next. This one does have quite a different feel I think. I need to look and think for a while on this one too.

New Work I am tying to mix some of my altered fabrics with commercial ones here. The some of commercial ones are Ethel’s and the flowers are from my friend Tanya.

Parts is Parts I continue to stitch down the camera parts onto the surface here. What with the finishing of the first three quilts this week, I have not done a lot of hand work on this project.

Label Block # 37 The labels got their share of hand work though. I am looking forward to my February closet clean out as I think I will be able to add some more labels to my collection when I do that project.

Keep Creating,

Carol

I could not resist adding one more Scholastic entry to this blog.

Autumn Leaves, Coastal Color, Creatibve Assistants, Label Blocks, Natural Elements, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), William's Quilt

Winter

January 7, 2016 admin 1 Comment

Hello,

The woman who works with her hands is a laborer. The woman who works with her head and her hands is a craftsman. The woman who works with her hands , her head and her heart is an Artist. St Francis of Assisi

This quote really spoke to me this week. My wish for all my friends is that they be Artists. I spent a lot of time with those artist this week. One day I went to the Turquoise Street Studio and work with three other gals. Beth was doing pastels, while Barb and the other two were painting. What a lot of fun to work with this energy flowing.

Then because it was the beginning of the month the QuIGs and Diva’s meant too. The gals in those groups help me so much when it comes to problems I have with my techniques. I learned a lot about mixing different types of fabrics this week. Corrine was showing off her daughters aromatic jewelry at the meeting and she even sold one. Then yesterday the FAB group meant at Patti’s house. She shared beautiful fabrics from the far east with us. There was wonderful weaving in all of them with lots of color and gold threads. My one other event this week was to be a part of the judging of Scholastic Art. I so enjoy seeing what the middle school and high school students are doing when it comes to art. It was very enjoyable.

Progress Report: Creative Assistants While I was at the studio with all the other artists I worked on these little guys. I was only stitching them closed and adding a pin to the back, but I got 20 of them done. I added the paint when I got home and they are now ready to pass along to others.

Williams’s Quilt I finished the stitch in the ditch quilting on this project this week. There were lots of lines to do. Now I am ready to start to do the binding. It will take about and hour to do each side. It is a bright colorful work – just great for an active little boy.

Coastal Colors I made progress on this piece this week. It is done as far as the machine work is concerned. But I am concerned about the ripple. The gals at the meetings all had great suggestions about how to deal with that and I learned from them.

Hopefully I can stretch it well enough to get it flat. The bad news is I already laided out and started two more that I fear will have the same problem. But the next time I try to mix felting with machine drawing, I will know better then to put stiffener as a part of that step. It does not shrink at the same rate as the wool and that is the source of the problem we think.

Autumn Leaves I am doing the free motion drawing of the vanes of the leaves now. I am having fun and I have learned how Mother Nature designs each species differently.

Label Block #34 I remember taking the Pooh label off a blanket for Alexis when she was little. She is 20 now. Do I hold onto things for a long time or what?

Keep Creating

Carol

Autumn Leaves, Autumns Collection, Buffalo Bluffs A & B, Coastal Color, Label Blocks, Natural Elements, Stretch Works, William's Quilt

Reflection

December 31, 2015 admin

Hello-

We are coming to the end of another year and I have been thinking not only about my dreams for the future, but also reviewing what happened in 2015.

A Jewish Proved says it best:

The Quality of life is fuelled by our productive wealth.

With this in mind I can say I am very wealthy. For me it has been a very productive year. For the first time I counted the number of spools of thread I used in my work. All that machine drawing does add up and I finished off 65 spools this year. This is reflective of the number of works I completed and with Autumn Collection added today that number is 49. I do so enjoy challenging myself and the amount of work I do reflects this drive I have.

I enjoyed my travels this year and visited lots of friends. I went south to Susan in Florida in March. I took a trip to Maine to see Barbara and Elizabeth with Marty in May. I went to see Barb in Indiana in June. There was also loss in my life this year as two friends died. The WWII veteran, Fred Bishop, who lived up the street passed away in March. My good friend and mentor Ethel Whitmore died in August. I miss her greatly, but do to the generosity of her children I am wrapped in her fabrics and dyes that now fill my studio. I made a promise to myself that I would use some of her material in every work I create for a year. That will not be too much of a challenge as I already find her fabrics blending into my work with ease. She helped me grow so very much and all the joy I find in creating and using Silk Paper is do to her introduction to that material. I am thankful that she was a part of my life for such a long time.

Progress Report: Buffalo Bluffs This diptych is now complete. Both units are stretched and measure 16” X 20 “. I learned a lot about cutting up a unified work with this project. I had to make some additions to both sides when I sliced it to make each section work on its own as well as in tandem. I based the work on this part of a photo I took last summer. I enjoyed building up the surface with lace , velvet, cotton, felt, silk and organza.

I continue to use the fabrics that do the job texturally as well as colorfully to keep the piece functioning.

Autumn Collection This work is 37” X 30.5 “ With is quilt I finally used the silk leaves that I created with Cris in the silk paper workshop earlier this fall. The piece has lots of different techniques and fabrics in it. Not only the silk leaves but also leaves cut from cotton and organza fabrics. The trunk has some of the fabric that Marty and I spray painted after we came back from visiting with Elizabeth last spring. I also included some colored pencil drawing along the top of the hill to suggest far away trees behind the weeds. It was great fun to work on this piece.

Autumn Leaves I am now doing the quilting on this piece. I loaded the bobbin with thick cotton thread and did the outline of the leaf from the back of the quilt. Then flipped it over and drew in the vanes. I am happy with how it is coming along.

Coastal Color- Red Rock I have only just started the thread painting on this work. It is different to be building on top of a felted surface. This work is based on a small portion of a photo. I block off only the section I want to look at and use it as my starting point. This is the section of the rock face.

New work I built this collage a few weeks ago and it is the start of another work. I am not going to copy the colors – but try to keep the shapes and tones in the work the same. This is the first pin up of the fabrics I have selected for this project. Two of them are from Ethel’s stash, but most are ones I have altered with dye and paint.

William’s Quilt The top and back are now complete and I have the two sections united. I am doing stitch in the ditch quilting starting by quilting around all the photos and working out form there. This process is not fast, but it is enjoyable for me.

Label Block # 33 There is not rush here just slow and steady progress on this project.

May the 2016 bring you joy and delight.

Carol

Cre-8

Category Archives: Coastal Color

Winter workings

Winter

Reflection

Creative Fiber Collage Artist Carol Boyer