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I've been reading a lot of Quilting Arts Magazine, lately...in fact I have a subscription. Don't get me wrong I'm no artist. I have no art classes under my belt, not even in highschool, but I have been finding so much inspiration in these magazines! I am starting to think outside the box when it comes to my quilting. There are many things in these magazines I am not ready for or even want to try. I don't think I'll ever be an embellisher. I've never worn a lot of jewelry, I don't think I want to put it on my quilt. Don't get offended if that is your thing. I still can appreciate other people's work in that area. I love Hilary Rice's Ethlyndryal the Protector, but I doubt that type of work will come from inside me. But who knows, I am still discovering the creative person inside me. I've always been a basic kind of person, I like primary colours: red, blue, yellow. In comic books I've always liked the black and white art: Paul Chadwick, Jeff Smith, DS Barrick (local talent), Jill Thompson, Roman Dirge, Frank Cho, to name a few. But I also like the crazy fantastical cover art of Dave McKean, David Mack, Bill Seinkewicz. And of course I love patterns, which is one of the reasons I like quilting, I love the geometry, which is also why I like MC Escher art.
But I digress... Lately QA Magazine has been discussing the keeping of sketchbooks and this has inspired me to keep my own sketchbooks. I figured it was a good idea anyway because I was always loosing my sketches for quilting ideas, anyway. The magazine also has exercises in design, a few of which I have been trying. One of these exercises has been so fun I've dedicated one complete sketchbook to it. Jane Dunnewold calls it the expanded square, you cut out black and white shapes from squares and then you can make repeated patterns with it. I haven't made the repeated patterns yet, but here is where it has led me:
Another idea, I've been working on came from a book about landscape quilts, I don't remember the name, but the idea was to take a photo and pick out the colours from it, rank the proportion of colour and then create a quilt from those proportions. A similar idea is to take some everyday item like a macaroni and cheese box or a kleenex box and use the colour scheme of the packaging for a quilt idea. I picked out comic book cover I liked and came up with these:
Well, as usual my camera fails me, you can't see the fabric too well. I've kept the original concept of the cover (by Dave Johnson), because I liked it so much, but I changed the Spectre to a cat and added a mouse to the base of my tree. I am calling it Cat and Mouse. My first drawing was more of a copy of the original, so in the second and third small drawings I decided to centre my tree. I've got an idea of how this is going to look in my head, I am now trying to figure out the details, what type of applique, size, etc. It's too bad the colour is off in the photo, because I think the fabric matches the cover quite nicely. That's all I've done for now.
Yesterday, Christine and I took a drive to Winter Wheat in Sparta. I went last fall with my cousin (see October 29 post). Last fall they were getting ready for Christmas and they had many Christmas themed stuff, so it was nice to go in the summer and see more garden stuff! It is run by folk artist Lucy Ogletree and her husband Mike. The small farm consists of their storybook home and a rustic house that is the main shop, plus some quaint little buildings: 2 tea rooms and a shed for the goats, all resting in a grove of huge pine trees. Sprinkled throughout the grove are a few picnic tables and giant wooden, whimsical folk sculptures, see above: the tea lady and her flowers made of teacups and teapots and below: the angel with the Robert Frost poem on her wings.
I've finished the Robyn Pandolph applique!!! It still has to be quilted.
Here is the thank you postcard I made for our friends in Michigan. They are crazy about tropical fish. I remembered there was an advertising in a magazine for a simple tropical fish quilt. Of course, could I find that ad??!!No! Then I thought, maybe I could draw it from memory. When I started drawing it I remembered it was only 2 triangles who needs a pattern for that! Scissors and scraps, that's all one needs! Beads for eyes. So may I present my tiny liberated fish!
Here's the back:
There was no fusing in this postcard, just regular quilting stuff: patchwork, batting, and muslin. I didn't even trim off the batting, looks kind of like an aquarium, this way. Still don't trust the post office with this and it went wrapped with a gift.
