Painted Fabric - September 2019

Well everything finally came together and I this morning I had time and space to paint.
It feels like it's been a very long time, but since I had sold a number of FQ in Orillia last spring I've been aware my supply was getting low. And I needed to replace my Birch Tree bark.

My first efforts felt a little awkward and didn't grab me right away, but using salt or scrunching them I 'saved' some of the first efforts.

There will be more.
It looks like a good Fall to paint and eco dye.

Painted cloth - July

It took me a few days to get back to this cloth.

The first was a 'leftover' from last year's workshop with natural dyes. White cotton treated with milk (protein additive) then layered with onion skins, tied and boiled with alum. A no-brainer there.

These following were the second go around from earlier in the week.
They each received another pass with dilute paint and then once they dried, they were dipped in a very dilute black paint solution, laid flat and crumpled until they dried completely.

They are all interesting but not all will make the cut for Night Sky.
They are each paired, first paint job then today's.
The last one I'll keep for other purposes.

Birch Fabric

I spent a few days gardening, patiently waiting, since April 1, to hear if  had been accepted into the TO show in June. Their letters were only 12 days delayed but now I know I'm in and do need to replace the major yellow pieces that are going to the CQA show, later in June. The issue is, those pieces will be in the hands of the quilt show by the end of May, so unavailable for the TO show.
This TO show is the first weekend of June so I do have lots of time.
But I don't work that way. I now feel the need to start.
So
Today was material painting day.
I only need the birch material.
It took about two hours but most of that was drying and ironing time.

All the pieces I craft are different. This one was double spattered with paint, first with dilute black and then with a more concentrated black. Third came an effort to make some horizontal runs across the fabric but that didn't work well today. I had no "walnut water" left, so I finished this by "staining" with pale brown and pale orange, for those dirty spots on the mature trees. Anything else can be penned in at the end.

And a little slice shows how it resembles a birch tree.

 

One of those Eureka Moments

I spent quite a while last evening talking to hubby ( well out loud anyway...such a patient soul. )
Though I was happy with how the material was eventually utilized, the finish was still a question.
We started talking "storm" as suggested by the sky. A series of straight diagonal lines was his idea; I leaned towards curves in sympathy with the assumed curves of the roof.  Though I know there were black windows in the original picture he suggested a solitary light..........in a barn? Milking the cows at dawn?
Monkey minds, both of us!

This morning, I received an email from my son in law. My daughter is participating in the current Toronto Artist Project. Both are wonderful artists, she, with acrylics and oil and he, as a wood turner. We are always exchanging pics we think might inspire us.

The message was about Tracey Lawson. She is in The Artist Project this year. She has had work shown in several Canadian events and venues and magazine features. She's offering for sale the piece I saw 3 yrs ago. For me, it was a heart stopper and a game changer.
When I saw that piece again I knew it was the perfect way, the only way to finish my piece.
Thread Painting
Even then it took me an hour before I could begin. This is a big piece.

The right hand section beside the barn took 2 hrs.
This will take a little while! (I wish I hadn't sewn on the barns)

Barn Raising.....in the Studio

Early this morning, after dithering for a VERY long time, I picked up my rotary cutter and slashed my B&W cloth.
And then put it all back together.
When I was satisfied I'd arranged it to the best of it's limitations, I anchored most of it with a glue stick, massaged the barn into place... and stitched it down.

I gave the eaves some depth by couching on several strands of black yarn. The buildings need a little more definition, but that's not urgent.

Cutting and cropping this has reduced the metre cloth about 2/5th. Now it goes on the batting and the sky/ground definition begins.
Tomorrow.

Barns

I decided to give the moon a rest while I decided on the quilting.

Today's "fun" is the barn.

I think what attracted me to this is the fluid nature of both the snow and the lines of the barn. Very few straight edges. I can't help but think OLD when I look at this.

After drawing it out to the size I want, I cut it out and auditioned in on the raw fabric.

Now I'm thinking I will have to abandon this fabric for this piece. There are too many distracting lines. These were caused by the permanent wrinkles in the plastic sheet I put over my work table.. I won't throw the cloth out as there will be a use for it, but I either have to repaint this background or change the background all together.

Sigh!
More decisions.

2:30 PM - NEVER GIVE UP! NEVER SURRENDER!  ( from my favourite movie EVER!)

I went back and flipped the background fabric, then cut out the barn cartoon from the intended fabric.
THIS I can work with!

I love the implied roofs!
Sigh!

Pine Cone - Day 5...Day 6 Actually

I finished painting this today. Slow going because I worked on it while I was quilting a couple of small quilts. When my legs got tired, I'd sit down and paint a little bit more.
I took off the original branch that was just glued in place. I rather like it in free fall. Maybe that's how I'll finish it.

My intention is to thread paint this now. But I do like it the way it is. I always wonder if I might ruin it when I start stitching.

GCQ - Devil's Advocate with a Pandora's Box

I trimmed up the piece this morning and was hunting for binding colours when my eye passed over a tool I often use on small pieces......
A FRAME with WHITE MATTING - ( OH NO ...options?)

Though it's total impractical for eventually shipping this piece to BC, its fun to look at the possibilities. So here is the canvas trimmed with a half in margin.

But look what happens when I frame this baby!

It's an entirely different piece. Now this is a generous frame but it cropped part.
If I shift the frame.....

a totally different feel and picture.

SIGH... so many considerations.
So I'll DEFINITELY put this aside for a while, (I have a over a month until its needs to be handed in,) and move on!

Sunrise - Final

The addition of two more geese and the slight extension of the grass edge gave this a more pleasing balance. It was rebound with a standard French binding ( adding 6 layers on the final stitching pass ) with a walking foot, bringing the number of layers of cloth in this piece up to 10.
Good Grief!
Good old Juki.
I can hear the geese.

End of Another Season

Now is my time to explore pure art, simply creating with no real goal in mind. This is the shoulder season at LeBeausoleil where my sister displays and sells my work. They're closed till after Christmas. Her walls are filled and she even has extras to fill holes in the display when they occur.
I painted and dyed all summer. NOW is the time I get to re-examine what I made and use it.

This painted FQ was almost cut for another use but I'm glad I put it aside.

The colours in this are warm and muted. They are the colours of late Autumn, when the intense reds have vanished in the rain and wind.
Yesterday I played with stamping it very loosely. The deep brown at the top was a paint stick, oil.



The three leaves at the bottom were paint, also applied with a stamp. There but not there. There are a few in gold as well.

At long last I can apply some of that cheesecloth that I used to sop up all the leftover paints and dyes.
I placed this off centered and anchored it with a muted satin stitch.



Then I began cross hatching the whole piece. I usually don't think far enough ahead to the quilting of the background. But this time I did.

It's been awhile since I played on the fabric surface.
Here is a tight satin stitch mimicking the path of a falling leaf.

Organza  leaves appliqued in yellow and gold.

And then back to my cheesecloth.
These last two leaves of the day were hooped to hold the cloth tight while the leaf was sketched over top. Several passes with a FM zigzag were necessary to secure enough of the fibres in this gauzy material before I cut way the excess.



What's next?
There is definitely a call for thread painted leaves, but I don't want them yet.

Finishing Art Blocks

Clearing the decks for something new.
I spent the last week or so "finishing" quilts, guild blocks, and today, the two art pieces for the ploughing match quilt, for next year's event.

They needed to be quilted to the edge. Even though they are over-sized and will be cut down to a final size by the committee assembling the quilts, I needed to make the edges and waste quilting fit the spirit of the block.
These will be handed in at our next meeting on Tuesday.
Another check mark for things DONE.

Iris on the Green of Wellington County

Wellington County - Fertile Fields and Wildlife Sancturaries

Both these pieces have some of my painted cloth.

Finishing the Rain

I"m working this afternoon so I thought I'd take the time this morning to finish my "rain".

This was my own painted fabric and I really liked the result of the thread work.
But I hadn't used a heavy backing as a nod to showing my stitching on the back and I ran into trouble.
The edges of this piece were so wowed it wouldn't hang properly.
I knew I had to remount it but couldn't decide how. I had no material that came anywhere near the turquoise in the material. So I went for a black burlap print.
Careful stitching gathered the offensive edges and now it hangs straight.
I LOVE it on my "Portuguese Blue" wall.!

But again there is no stitching on the backside. Sigh.....

Painting Day

The weather was perfect this morning, so I planned on painting.
I had picked and dried a lot of Queen Anne's Lace or wild carrot earlier in the summer but with all the disruptions I never got to use them.
They were certainly dry, but some had been too wet and the garage too hot and they rotted in the newspaper. However I did get a fair number of usable flower heads.

This is painted with 3 colours, gold and light brown and then over painted with an olive. While it may not photograph well it has lots of texture. The flowers didn't adhere well, hence, the overprinting.
I do love my "muddy" greens. But they are very useful in the background of many things.

I had better luck with the sun-printing with this gold piece. The paint was thicker and I re-wet the dried flowers to get them to adhere to the cloth better.

And yes there ARE letters in the centre of this piece. I had used this plastic coated board many times to pin my work to while it was drying. THIS time it transferred some of the label print to the back of the piece. LOL
It's a result of the very hot weather this summer. The board was in the hot garage and the heat probable weakened the bond of ink to plastic.
I doubt it will really be a problem when I use it.

Painted Fabric - My Journey to the Dark Side

It was a lovely day so while I was waiting for hubby I painted a whole metre of fabric. Two passes, using a thinner version the second time and crumble drying, I ended with a nice interesting piece of blue.

Then it happened................He arrived with the DYES. (Actually, he's been wooing me all week.)

I had rejected dye a year ago, because of all the fuss and restrictions.
He took care of all that.
I didn't want something I had to use in a limited time.
He took care of all that by premixing some of the ingredients that can be held.
I really didn't want to work with something where we had to wear gloves.
That one, we threw out the window. Someday our hands will come clean. LOL

I went to the dark side today and I painted with dye.
NICE.

We worked only with the primaries today, First I made "plaid" to see how the colours would mix.
(Now I'm trying to think of something to make from this FQ.)

Then I "painted" with dye. Almost as slick as paint, but. oh my..........COLOUR.

It is a little more fuss and bother, but.........................
I WILL do this again.

Painted Fabric - 4

What to do with a "sow's ear"?

                                 

This piece is pretty awful so I played around, going for earthy tones as my final product.

I set it over night in a "rust" environment. After rinsing, I gave it a yellow wash, a brown wash and finally a dose of muddy green.

Now I have something that will work in forest scenes, leaves and shadows.