Fabric and Paper Beads

These are beads that I made for a swap on Art Techniques.

For the fabric ones, I painted the red silk type fabric with a little bit of copper paint and then wrapped with copper foil. The blue ones were wrapped with "Razzle Dazzle" thick decorative thread.



The paper beads were cut into long triangles and wrapped. The blue ones started off as a peach floral scrapbooking paper, and I paintedthem by rubbing dimensional paint on them.



The red ones were newspaper that I painted with red acrylic and then wrapped with copper wire.

Katie Pasquini Masopust Workshop

I took a fabulous workshop last weekend with Katie P-M, "Color and Composition for the Creative Quilter", based on her book by the same name. It was just wonderful. We did a 3 day workshop in only 2 days, so the pace was fast, but well worth it.

We started by doing some drawing exercises with a fruit or vegetable still life, and then worked them into a free-motion machine quilting exercise and a cropped Acromatic and Monochromatic composition.

These were 3 of one of my favorite exercises using line and compostition:

And finally, a free cutting compostition, based on a photograph. We had to use an Analogous color scheme in colors that were different from those used in the picture. This was a tropical scene in blues and greens. Gives a very different feel than using true colors.

Katie gave us lots of useful information on composition and color schemes, and some great exercises to get the creative juices flowing. Can't wait to spend some studio time developing what I learned!

Do You UHU?

UHU sent me one of their Glue Rollers to try out and review. I had heard about it from Maria's blog here: www.mariafilosa.com where she has lots of great projects and tips about using UHU. I had actually never used a UHU product or a glue roller, but now I am hooked. The glue comes out the end in little tacky dots as you roll the tool along paper or whatever you are gluing. For a while, I wasn't sure what to use it on, and then one day, I was working on fabric postcards, and I needed to tack down the fabric postcard top to the cardstock that I use for the backing so that the top wouldn't slip around when I sewed the edges. I had been using glue stick or double stick tape for this, but glue stick can be messy or goopy, and the double stick tape is kind of a pain. So, I thought of the UHU Glue Roller. A few quick rolls in the corners, and it was glued down for me to do my stitching! Easy and mess free. I have since had it sitting out on my drafting table, and use it often for attaching postcard backs, ATC backs, collage work, and more. It is so handy!

Asian Leaf

I did this for the Habiliments group challenge this month, using a reoccurring image in my art--a leaf. I began by pulling out my purple scrap bin, laying out different pieces to get an idea of color placement, and then began to sew thebackground together--half preplanned, half improvised. Then I appliqued the leaf using one of my hand dyed fabrics (that I am nolonger saving for special--I am using them!) I tore 1/2 inch strips of a lovely hand dye that I bought from a friend of mine--I only have a fat quarter, so it is coveted, but perfect for this. I tore the strips because I like the soft raveled edge that it created, andI appliqued these with a straight stitch. I made the beads on the left with fabric strips wrapped with a piece of copper (made for stained glass). The edge is couched with olive green yarn.

What's Black, White and Yellow?

ATCs of course! These are my latest set of ATCs for the Sky's the Limit group. The theme was black, white and one color. The flowers were "borrowed" from my daughters broken lai necklace--I had to do it when she wasn't looking or she'd throw a fit--she already caught me in the act a few weeks ago. I also added little paper flowers and brads, beads and a yarn edging.

Red Ocean Painting

This is my first attempt at painting with acrylics in over 15 years. I just joined a yahoo group that is going to be working from the book "Acrylic Revolution" by Nancy Reyner. I just wanted to dabble a little bit with the paint before we got going. I feel totally out of my element, but it was fun to push the paint around the paper. This piece turned out totally different than planned--it started off being vertically oriented, and then this ocean reflection revealed itself, so I went with it.