sew sew art: June 2012

24 June 2012

todays sketch and news

This is the sketch from today. I know it is nothing great but I am learning. This is my third watercolor ever.

The news is I received a commission to make a similar quilt to Coastal Pollution which will go to live in the Philly area.

21 June 2012

I haven't been on the blog much. The workshops have been keeping me busy as well as a new interest in watercolors. I took a free online watercolor class and I must admit I am smitten. These are the two pieces I've painted over the last few days. This one is on very good quality Arches watercolor paper. It is a study of a quilt I am going to make.

This one is of some poppy heads I picked this morning on my 5am walk. I did it on crap paper so lesson learned: Don't waste your time or paints on crap paper. It was like egg carton - just super absorbent compressed paper.

I also made a "folder" to keep these small sketches in. It is about 8" X 10" and covered in the paper from the Paste Paper Workshop. I used permamnet markers to "color" the button and some heavy metallic cord with a silver foil bead as a closure. Very fun to make.

WARNING: You may see more watercolors in the future.

19 June 2012

My First Worksop of the Season

This past weekend was the first workshop I taught - Silk Scarf Batik. Marcella was in attendance til noon when she had a mandatory family obligation (MFO) and had to leave. She was 2/3 of the way through her scarf and will finish it at home. One of the other participants had to rush her teenaged son to the ER with complications from a broken arm (both bones). In the afternoon Laura and I soldiered on completely 2 silk scarves each. I batiked one (Habotai) and used shibori with paint on the other (Crepe de Chine). Please check out the student work (scroll down to class)
This is my work

Yes, these are the same colors as the last scarf I batiked but with different shapes

I just finished putting them on the Necessities or Not website.

14 June 2012

Thanks Marcella

These are close-ups of my paste papers from yesterday's class

Paste paper on cloth previously deconstructed silk screened in yellow

Water soluble crayons on dry paper with black paste paper over top then scraped

Above piece looked like below piece then covered with black paste paper then scraped. I was so sad I had covered such a lovely piece with black that I made another similar.

I used my favorite mark making tool on the above piece. Marcella hand carved a cork. It may not sound too sophisticated or difficult but it was and look at those marks!

clean-up paper towel

Paste paper on cloth

10 June 2012

Article

I sent my friend and Massage Therapist, Maria Gail, my flyer about the Searsport workshops and she kindly wrote an article for the newspaper. Link

09 June 2012

I'm not a paper person

Well, I guess that isn't true any more. I just took Marcella's class in Cool Painted Papers. What a ball. Everyone loved it and we made wonderful papers to use in book making. I love making little books and now I have wonderful papers to use on the covers and techniques to use inside the books.
Here is a sample of some of today's work from the three of us.

One on left is on cotton ironed onto freezer paper.

One on left is paste paper over a deconstructed piece of cotton in yellows

One of the students in our workshop

Marcella spread turquoise paste over a piece of wet paper and below the final result

Student work

And more student work

The Master's touch - Marcella's "sample". Just gorgeous!

Thank you Marcella for a fabulous class.

02 June 2012

Open House

Today was the open house/ class preview for the Art Greenhouse. It went very well and the workshops are filling. Here are some pics I took before and during...