Quilt 'til You Wilt

Our guild had our annual Quilt 'til You Wilt at the Stoneridge Inn; great time as usual! I didn't know what to bring with me. I brought my entire stash, minus Christmas fabrics; it fits into one laundry basket!

I ended up spending most of my day making this tote bag out of an old Kabuki (by David Mack) t-shirt I found. This shirt was from the baggy t-shirt days, not the clingy babydolls of today, so I hardly ever wear it anymore. The art was a little long, so I cut off the word Kabuki. David likes to use triangles in his sketches, so I thought I would fuse some random triangles on it to jazz it up. Luckily I had some great purple batik to use.




Then I cut the word Kabuki into individual letters and then fused them onto the batik, I then fused that onto the tote bag. I machine stitched the applique all into place and completed the bag.



When we finish a project, we have to show it off to everyone, and there is a lot oohing and aahing, and photo taking. The ladies are asking me who Kabuki is and I am nonchalantly telling them 'Oh, she's a Japanese government assassin" And then they all break out in laughter! These women think I am crazy!

Anyway, a great use of an old t-shirt, I think. You can see other projects I've made out of t-shirts here, a quilt here, and a postcard here.

Finding Inspiration from David Mack

I'm a little David Mack obsessed this past week. I just enjoyed my latest copy of David Mack's Reflections, #9. Mack is a comic artist that works in what I call a form of collage art or I guess mixed media. It's a combination of sketches, paintings, photos, and found objects. He currently works on a comic called Kabuki. I have not actually read Kabuki yet. It's a slow process, and it does not come out frequently. I know him more from all the cover art he's done for comic books. I love his covers! Reflections is a regular publication of his sketches, and his thoughts on the art process. Lately, I've been very interested in other people's sketchbooks; how somebody gets to the final product and this is not a disappointment.


Below is my favourite piece in this issue. He shows the steps to this final page, he writes "I used a deep dark green for the hair paint because the composition was giving me the sense of a tree. So I went with it & continued with earthy tones & let the hair branch out as it seemed to have a very elemental earth goddess effect."

Before I even read the description I was thinking "Mother Earth". I love how it is all strong at the top and so vulnerable below, especially the fact she is nude and covering herself in that way. I am so mesmerized by this piece.

Below, I pass this on to my quilting friends, it is Artistic License. I hope you can read it from this photo. It says "This ID certifies that_______is an activist in the Global (and internal) WAR OF ART.....copyright free. Duplicate and pass on to fertile minds."



I have now ordered my copies of Kabuki: Circle of Blood, The Alchemy of Art DVD, and The Shy Creatures, a children's book by David Mack (at first glance, influenced by Dr Suess).