Here's to a Creative New Year!

Here we are, already seven days into 2017. I would like to wish you a happy and creative new year!

I've been busy, but I'm also taking time to relax.

Remember this piece? I'm back at the job of machine quilting it. I made the piece a year ago but never finished quilting it.

I've also got my pattern all ready for the hosta blossoms. I'm going to be building on it this week. Stay tuned!

Since I last wrote, I've completed a few pen and ink drawings with watercolour. This first one is based on photo I took in France.

This one is based on a photo taken in Italy.

Originally I intended my art journal to be more about quick sketches from my life, but I'm finding myself using my photos a lot. This next drawing was more what I had in mind. I bought this polka-dotted cup, saucer and plate at HomeSense over the holidays. I can never resist black and white polka dots. It was just begging to become a pen and ink drawing, especially on a day I was snowed in.

One thing I'm loving about being home is making good food from scratch. I'm experimenting with making bread right now. I've never been fully happy with the way bread bakes in my bread maker, so now I'm using it just to mix the dough and then baking it in the oven. This French Bread was a success.



This week I'll keep on working on quilting the ferns, start building the hosta blossoms, prep for my upcoming Art Quilt class at the Ottawa Valley Quilters Guild (the series begins on Saturday) and yes, I'll probably bake some bread too.

In the Studio and Outdoors

Christmas 2016 is quickly approaching, and I've been busy baking numerous batches of shortbread. In addition, I created my second in the Smoke bush series. It's a triptych, on the chartreuse green background I originally planned to use. There might be a few small changes to come, but for the most part, this is the final version.

I will need some time to think about how I am going to quilt the above piece. I want more of an impression than a completely realistic piece I'm also trying to come up with a clever name for this series. In the mean time, I will start quilting the first piece that is more realistic due to the veins. Looks like I have lots of thread colours that will work!

I've been journaling a bit more. Here's my latest pen & ink drawing with watercolour. It is based on a photo I took at Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, a few years ago.

Sunday was cold, but the sunlight made me want to go outside and photograph. I took my car and drove around some of the country roads a few minutes from my home. Between 3 and 4 pm the sun was lower in the sky, so the light was magical. It also allowed me to capture some wonderful shadows.

These two are very similar but I couldn't decide between the two!

As the sun lowered, sometimes I found the snow actually looked like golden sand!

Since I probably won't be blogging again before Christmas, I'd like to take this time to wish you a Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday, and a wonderful time with friends and family.

Two Weeks In the Studio

One of the things I enjoy a lot about being home right now is spending time with my feline companions. Every day at 5 pm Peekaboo snuggles on my lap while we tune into CBC's Power and Politics. We snuggle again later at night for the 9 pm or 11 pm news.

We have snow now, and Wilma does her "Google Street View" looking out at snow from my studio window these days.

I've been journaling and doing pen and ink sketches with watercolour. Here's Peekaboo sleeping on my lap.

When I'm not sure what to sketch I rely on photographs I've taken. This one of two boats near the dock in Haliburton.

This drawing is from one of my favorite photos I took in Venice. It is interesting how one can simplify what is in the drawing but still get the idea across. I like doing these drawings because when using ink I don't view them as "too precious" and there is no temptation to erase and start over. I just keep going and accept the imperfections. They are fast too.

And so this brings us to my first Smoke bush quilt. I cut a lot of leaves, and had planned to make a composition on this chartreuse green.

I procrastinated a few days while thinking about veins or no veins, and how to do the veins. If in doubt, cut some more leaves!

Finally jumped in and decided to do the veins with Prismacolor Artist Pencils. There are more choices for colour than my textile paints or Shiva Paintstiks. I tend to prefer dry media anyway because what you see is what you get. You don't need to wait until it dries to know. After doing all the veins, I decided to protect with diluted acrylic medium (3 parts water to 1 part medium). This will prevent the artist pencil from rubbing off on my gloves while I quilt the piece.

My wee studio is now a complete disaster, and I have to figure out where to put all those fabrics I dyed for my smoke bush leaves. Many of them are going to take up a lot more space because they have fusible web ironed to the back.

Here is the finished first piece in this series. At the last minute I decided I liked a monochromatic look so chose a light background in the same colours as the leaves. The piece is about 22" x 32".  The next piece will be larger, and will be using that chartreuse green above as a background, and will be a triptych. I'm already working on it.

I also got inspired last week to dye some fabric for hosta blossoms, inspired by the two photos you see below.

This one is imminent on my agenda. In the mean time, my seasonal bakefest has begun, so I may be a bit distracted this week. It's great to be creating again!

What I'm Working On

I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying some quiet time to reflect and get in touch with my creativity again. It is taking a while but I can feel it starting to happen.

Two things I'm trying to do regularly are: 1) journal about ideas and things that are occupying my mind, and 2) keeping a visual artist journal. The latter is a blank sketch/mixed media book where I am doing loose pen and ink drawings, and adding watercolour to them. I try to add some words that come to mind. These are quick sketches to just capture the essence of what I am seeing, without being worried about perfection. I don't care if they look like what I'm drawing from, only that I get some practice and can live with the results.

I'm sharing just a few of my journal pages. The first one is based on a photograph I took of a section of our crab apple tree.

This quick sketch was done en plein air. I was seated on my front porch, when I noticed this lovely almost path-like entry into my neighbours' gardens.

A quick drawing I did using the cover of a book I'm reading. Completed while watching TV.

This week I also had the joy of dyeing 15 meters of fabric for my next project.

What is my next project? Well a year ago this past June, I was on Vancouver Island during a west coast teaching trip. Walking through Butchart Gardens, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed these leaves shimmering. Of course I had never noticed Smoke Bush (Cotinus) before, even though they grow widely across Canada. Throughout the year the memory of this experience has come back to me again and again. The leaves were shimmering in the wind, revealing one side that is orange/copper, and the other deep purple/eggplant. 

Since my Contemplative Photography class last month I have been wondering if I can catch that same perception in an art quilt? It is occupying my mind a lot right now.

I knew that having some fabrics that read "Smoke Bush" would help inspire me. And so I had a dye session this week. Here are my lovely results. Am I happy? You bet!

During my photography class, I also had the chance to photograph Smokebush in Haliburton (here in Ontario), but I think these impressions are quite different from my first impressions on Vancouver Island. Therefore I expect there could be two quilts eventually.

And last, but of course not least, I warmed up a bit in the studio by creating a new teaching sample for my Liberated Radial Piecing class. It was a lot of fun for me, although a challenge to get the design off-centre. A person doing it for the first time would probably be advised to start with a full radial design. I enjoyed teaching this class to a local group of ladies who hired me to give a private workshop yesterday. 

I'm pleased with my progress, despite being very very distracted by the US election, and despite having been very out of practice after months of teaching.