Footless Friday 12-09-11

I didn't take any feet photos this week and don't have any leftovers from past weeks. So...

 

This is a Cecile Brunner climbing rose, a very old variety, that my friend Liz has growing on her back fence. Some Cecile Brunners only bloom in the Spring, but Liz has at least a few blooms most of the year, including right now. They are so fragrant, I could smell them when she opened the car door to get out. So, of course, I had to take a picture. Too bad I can't attach the fragrance!

 

It is such a diminutive darling, isn't it? I put in my crookedy old hand to show just how tiny the flower is.

Christmas Excess 12--08-11

Some of you  might remember Halloween Excess:

http://delquilts.blogspot.com/2011/10/halloween-excess-10-30-11.html

This is the same yard - encountered immediately when driving into the exclusive neighbor where Corky lives.  I keep wondering where they store all these decorations - must have a storage unit off site.

The prop on the top of the helicopter turns and there are lights inside at night.  Along with the lit icicles.

There are a few bare inches where something else could be placed.

I have never heard a Christmas story about a pig, but then I am not up on Christmas these days.

I haven't seen this at night yet - I've not seen any snow inside the bubble, which they put up every year.

Wordless Wednesday 12-07-11

Mono printing w/Geli Plates - Jane LaFazio 12-06-11

This workshop was offered by Visions Art Museum in San Diego - a bit of a drive for me to arrive for a 9am class, so I drove down on Sunday and spent the night nearby.  There were thirteen students who worked in the main gallery of the museum and were able to enjoy the current exhibit "Interpretations" - a juried exhibit with work from Visions members. I took pictures during class and at the end when various students put all their work on a table for us to view.  I have tried to keep track of which work was done by each student, but I may have made errors.  If you notice one, please let me know as soon as possible so I can correct the mistake.  I have chosen one piece or a panel of pieces for each student and will post these again along with all the other images on a Picasa album as soon as I have the time to organize it.
 Jane LaFazio Blog:  http://www.JaneVille.blogspot.com
Visions Art Museum:    http://www.quiltvisions.org/

Click on photos to enlarge.

This is a Geli Plate from www.gelliarts.com  They come in two sizes and Jane provide each student with one of the 6X6 plates to use in class.  

She also provided the Biocolor paint she prefers to use http://www.discountschoolsupply.com/
 and a large selection of plastic stencils. The students brought fabric, a brayer (or two), stencils/stamps, paper towels and plastic drop cloths. ( I much prefer using a plastic table cover with a flannel backing because it doesn't slip around on me.) I think a 1" - 1-1/2" paint brush would be helpful and I borrowed one from the museum supply room.

Jane has some great stencils, including this lovely tree and this great baroque design.  She also has one with a jumble of numbers that several students used.

Cindy Tanner (Austin, TX) and teacher Jane LaFazio. 

Quilt is by Pamela Allen "Fishing Derby Mesopotamia 2000BC", 2010, 48"X58"

Kay Laboda   Quilt by Judith Larzelere.

Jo Griffith and Claire-Lise Matthey Anderegg looking at Claire-Lise's work.  Quilts by

Work by Jane LaFazio using mono prints on reclaimed fabric with hand stitching in different threads.

I previously misidentified this to be by Jane LaFazio - it is, instead, by Gillian Moss.   She has just started hand stitching  - flowers in the background and ladder stitch along one edge.  I believe this leaf design was done with a freezer paper stencil.

Work by Gillian Moss.   For some of these she has used a paint brush to texture the paint on the gel plate.

Claire-Lise Matthey Anderegg used the plastic tree stencil both as a resist and a direct print.

Jo Griffith layered many stencils and colors - I especially like the checkerboard stamp she incorporated.

Kay Laboda gleaned leaves and pine needles from the landscaping.  She also used the number stencil.

Alicia Hallett was particularly productive.  She stuck with the same color palette so all her pieces could be used together.  I like the layered geometric stencils in the lower left corner.

E.J. Brown was there from Austin, Texas, and had taken a drawing class with Jane the previous day.  She has used rubber bands in the lower left corner and a variety of stencils.  On the right side she used fabric markers to trace the outline of a stencil over her yellow/orange mono print.

These two strips are mine.  I had a hard time applying a thin enough layer of paint onto the gel plate and created a lot of almost solid six inch squares of color.  The circle stamp is an old birth control pill container that has been in my "plastic stuff" box about four decades - I hate to throw away these useful "artifacts".   The fabric I took to the workshop was an assortment of rejects from previous dyeing classes.  I never know what to do with those ugly pieces, but Rayna Gillman inspired me to overprint and overdye.  Jane LaFazio explained that one of the "tricks" to the mono printing technique is layering - so I started out with one layer already on the fabric.  Most of what I had was dyed green the first time around.

Lisa Yoder printed five gel plates close together - might be a long skinny quilt or incorporated into something larger.  She varied her palette which gives her many possible directions.

Virginia Sumner did some successful layering on this piece.  I believe the flowers are one of Jane's stencils, but I don't know about the white scribbly lines.

Cindy Tanner, who traveled from Austin, Texas, with E.J., used a plaster scribing tool to make this design and added the color using colored pencils after the paint had dried.

Sandy Brownell, who is new to fiber arts, followed Kay's action and gathered some pine needles and leaves to use in some of her mono prints.

 

Nancy Lemke got into the layering technique and used different stencils and resists.  She also tried mono printing on a long piece of cheese cloth.

Monday Browsing 12-04-11

I am a big fan of the very inventive Rayna Gillman who has a new book out explaining her methods for creating original "Free Form Quilts".  Alex Anderson interviewed her and let the camera continue to roll for a personal conversation afterward.  You will find the URLs on Rayna's Blog:  Rayna is tentatively scheduled to teach at Empty Spools at Asilomar in 2013.
http://studio78notes.blogspot.com/2011/12/i-finally-watched-it.html 
To order a signed copy of this inspiring book go to: 
http://studio78notes.blogspot.com/p/raynas-new-book.html


Nothing to do with quiltmaking, but if you are a reader you will probably find it interesting: http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2011/11/the_wondrous_database_that_reveals_what_books_americans_checked_out_of_the_library_a_century_ago_.html

Buttons, pins, and other goodies that are different than what I usually find. Check out the pages for Buttons & Pins and Silver Charms. http://www.countrystitchesonline.com/

http://nationalchristmascenter.com/  The National Christmas Center overflows with hundreds of thousands of Christmas items, some more than 200 years old. The 20,000 square feet center features 14 yuletide fantasy worlds including a replica of a Woolworth's 5 & 10 Cent Store (which originated in Lancaster).


Woolworth's 5 & 10 Cent Store:

http://www.nationalchristmascenter.com/exhibits/htm/woolworth.htm

Virtual Tour of Woolworth's:

http://nationalchristmascenter.com/virtual/pano46d/virtual.aspx

Video tour of the National Christmas Center w/Martha Stewart: http://www.marthastewart.com/266779/national-christmas-center


A great dog show with rescued dogs (from Germany?) http://www.flixxy.com/dog-show.htm

The very best seedless raspberry jam (from Oregon) http://berriesinajar.com

I took the fun class with Jane LaFazio today, but I am somewhat exhausted and can't process the pictures - I'll post about the class tonight (Tuesday). 

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On the Road to San Diego 11-04-11

I drove down here to San Diego in the late afternoon to meet friends for dinner, spend the night and take a mono printing class from Jane LaFazio tomorrow.  I managed to come off with several things I needed to bring, but guess I'll muddle through.

About 5pm I was on I-5 near Las Pulgas (yes, "The Fleas") Road, I imagine the bump of trees up on the right are those at the Rest Stop to the south.  As you can see the sky is soft pastels and the land is unoccupied - it is part of Pendleton Marine Base.

But off to the right the sun is falling into the Pacific Ocean and making quite a "splash".

 

I managed these two fairly decent shots out of about fourteen snapped through the passenger side window while I was driving along.  I didn't look, I just pointed the camera and snap-snap-snap while I watched the road ahead.  I have edited them so the horizon is straight and sharpened them slightly.  The color is unchanged.

Green Bird 12-03-11

I didn't mean to miss posting yesterday, I just ran out of steam.  I seem to be doing that a lot lately.

 

This was going to be a green bird in a gilded cage, but once I drew out the cage and started to transfer it to the fabric I didn't like the way it looked.  So I went back to the plain bird and am working on a different direction.   I imagine leaves, but haven't worked it out. 

I'm going to San Diego to take a class with Jane LaFazio on Monday at Visions Art Museum.  The class is Mono printing using gel plates, something I have never tried before.  I'll give you a full report - possibly on Monday night.