Percolating

Thought I would give the reconstituted mashed potato resist another try, this time with a thicker layer. It was dried over several days, then painted with fabric paint, dried for a few more days, then washed in the machine and heat set. I think it has some possibilities, if sliced into segments, with interesting textures and suggestions of a drawn line.

I also have done another deColourant piece, this time using a hand-carved stamp. The stamp has a different brick-like design on each side. The cotton began as a hand-dye.


Finally, I have been spending the last number of days (weeks?) fumbling around with Photoshop. My plan is to produce some images for photo transfer, for a workshop I am taking with Pam and Michele in mid-August. I have been altering some photos taken during a trip to Tuscany several years ago, using the Threshold feature and a mask, to add interest to the edges.

I hope to have the makings of a Fragments piece out of all this. With several other deadlines on the horizon, it would be great if all this fiddling came together in a productive way!

21 July 2011

I am sooo.... envious of you girls and the fun time you all have had and best of all the wonderful results. They are all fantastic.  I received a bottle of  'deColourant'  with my order of dyes last week.  I used a thermofax screen and made three drags on a piece of cloth. Unfortunately the area I stay in is a strongly traditional bunch of quilters.  No more complaining, I know Hilary has some wonderful things up her sleeve for us to do when I arrive in a weeks time.

Samples from Retreat

As Dianne suggested, I am posting photos of some of my experiments done at her cottage last week.
These first pieces were made with Colour Vie paint, which uses very concentrated pigments added to a neutral base. It has a nice yogurt-like consistency, so I could fill a syringe with it and write script with the paint. It also stamps quite well. It loses some vibrancy when washed, so I guess the secret is to add a little more pigment to the base.
This piece had a resist applied to it, a thin layer of instant mashed potatoes, reconstituted. I scratched some numerals into the wet resist, let it dry, applied fabric paint, then dried it in the sun for several days before washing it all out in the machine.
These next pieces were done using hand-dyed cotton and deColourant, a new product which uses the heat of an iron to activate the discharging process.
This piece was made with thickened dye on white cotton, pre-treated with soda ash.
Finally, here are four different pieces which began as hand-dyed cotton, soaked in a vinegar solution. Rusty things were laid on the cloth, and all was sealed up in plastic and left there in the heat of the day, and overnight. These would lend themselves nicely to a Fragments theme, because they have that "de-constructed" look to them.

As always, the challenge is to actually use these new fabrics to make something interesting!

Text'Art at the cottage

A few more photos.  I have posted quite a few on my blog, and a bit of a description of what we did.

Summer Camp Excursions

What a great way to celebrate a birthday! Thank you for your good wishes everyone.

On Tuesday, we went on a photo safari in the bucolic countryside of Stanstead, Quebec. Here is Linda waiting for a bullfrog to inflate his throat:


And here is Michele getting down to work:


On Thursday, we remaining three explored a gorge in Sherbrooke, finding a Liz Barton landscape or two.


Here are some of my favourite texture shots, beginning with a rusted roof at the granite quarry,
peeling paint on a doorway in the village of Stanstead
a manhole cover in a rustic courtyard
and a froth of ferns by the roadside.
Thank you Dianne. The Ogden Artistic Retreat 2011 was another triumph!

Fragments - a hint

Because I can't get on with the actual piece for a while I am giving a hint at where I'm heading.  Hope I haven't given the game away too much...

I am dying to make a start but there are things I HAVE to finish for the Festival of Quilts and the grandchildren are arriving in a weeks time - and I have to make another quilt for Makower before they arrive.  Now I know I am mad!

Hilary

I have just finished my fragment(s) piece which I am quite pleased with - in fact it was a fabulous subject and I have so enjoyed doing it. I so look forward to each and every subject that comes up and I am enjoying the creative process so much - our blog has done so much for me and I am absolutely loving each and every bit of it. I know I don't put much up here but nevertheless read all and everything that is being done by all of you. The reason I have had to get my piece finished so quickly is that I am meeting up with my sister from New Zealand (also a quilter) and we are off to Birmingham together to spend 5 glorious days amongst all the quilts and quilting friends. Apart from Hilary and Phil are any others of you going to be there? If so I look forward to meeting up with you. I am then going to spend time with my daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren in London before returning back just in time to put my Fragment(s) up on our blog.

I had some fun recently after reading up on the Zen Doodles in Quilting Arts and did a couple of pieces which I will put up here. I think in the one I must have been influenced a bit subliminally colour wise as I seem to have gravitated to using the same colours as the one shown in the magazine - just goes to show how one is influenced, even by colours and we have to continually bend our creative spirit to doing what we want to portray.

Venetta in print and online

Now it's our own Venetta's star turn - see her on page 62 of the 2011 Houston Quilt Festival programme.  Looks very patriotic whatever it is, Venetta.  You can also download a pdf of the programme and she is on page 64 (http://tinyurl.com/6hd3zhv ).


Hilary

Rusting away

Happy Birthday Heather!

In the back are pieces painted with Colour Vie.

Some of the rust dyeing

Our Text'Art group at the cottage.  And we are having such a great time.  Good food, good company, lots to play with....

Colour Theory

A few weeks ago Heather, Linda, Michele and I took a class in colour theory from William Hodge in Ottawa.  Even though we had heard and read much of it, it was still good to get a different slant on colours and how they work together.    We're hoping to do a little more investigation at my cottage next week.  Fingers crossed that the weather remains this great!

I also did a bed count - I really could squeeze 12 people in......

Fragments ...

..... just a first thought ....

Colour test

I subscribe to a twice-weekly e-mail bulletin from Robert Genn. In this morning's text, he discusses colour acuity in men and women, and refers readers to an on-line test at
www.xrite.com/custom_page.aspx?PageID=77&Lang=en

Women generally score higher on the test. You might find it fun to try and see how you compare to others of your gender and age group. I'm willing to bet that the people who do better on the test are also likely to find the experience more fun, though I would need funding to conduct a full study.