Kathy's Abstraction

“An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.” -Oscar Wilde

My 12x12 group had the challenge theme- 'Abstraction'.  I really struggle with creating abstract art and this piece was a struggle throughout. I never quite got into it or as the quote says above- it never became 'dangerous'.  I completed the exercise, but still am not happy with the finished piece, even considered disposing of it.

 An interesting struggle was when I  begun hand embroidering circles haphazardly on the top but it looked AWFUL!  I had marked the circles on the fabric with a Pilot Frixion pen (draw with the pen, iron it and it disappears); I love these pens but when you iron it, it takes a little color with it.  To make lemonade out of my lemons, I made circles ALL OVER the piece, ironed it and made it a design element!

I am hoping my next one is more inspiring!

STRUCTURE

The next topic for the challenge......with not much notice.......

STRUCTURE

So what does this mean to you?? Routine, architecture, texture. Get your thinking caps on. 

LINE

Well, abstraction certainly got the juices flowing! Loved this challenge, Gladys. For the last couple of years, I've been trying to figure out just what is abstraction. Still learning as my natural inclination is to do fairly representational/realistic artwork. Thanks for giving me a chance to explore my creativity on another level.

I called this piece "Line", even though it is kind of colour blocking. Line is what gives us shape and therefore image. That is accented by quilting stitches as well. This piece is all made out of my hand dyed/rusted fabrics. I sewed the 4 background blocks together, sandwiched and quilted the background before adding the central smaller square. It was not quilted, just machine appliqued on to the middle. Boring. Lacking. Unhappy. Out came the fabric paint. White. Fat lines with the paint brush. Vertical and horizontal. Misses where the background is quilted giving dimension. Happier! Next comes the dimensional paint - black and white. Kind of blobby, a bit of cross hatching. Now I don't see boredom. Now I see more interest. Now I am happy :)

3

3
I really wasn't sure what to make for "Abstraction" I usually make a thumbnail sketch or work from a photograph when I work. For this challenge I decided to take a very different approach. I had a package of goodies from Stitches Fibre Art that I bought at a quilt show last year. It had various items all hand-dyed for a fibre art project. I dumped the contents of the bag onto my cutting table along with some aluminum shaving from my husbands workshop. I decided to try and let the materials "speak" to me rather than go with a "plan".

I pulled and stretched the cheesecloth to make holes in it and elongate the holes. I chopped the waffle fabric up and sewed it down in the order I cut it up. I then dug thru some lovely foil that I had and added to to my circle section and used a hole punch to punch out more circles. I quilted the piece then hand sewed the aluminum pieces on.
It was fun and challenging to work intuitively and I really that is the beauty of participating in the group :-)

Had to add a close-up

NEXT THEME

I think we did extremely well and produced outstanding pieces for Margaret's theme and I felt a little intimidated at thinking up another theme because of that.  How do I think of one as good as that, which can be as inspiring to the group as "words" was?  I've thought and thought.  I considered "self portrait"; Egypt; trees; and many others.  But I've settled on ........

 



ABSTRACTIONS

 

 

I hope we can work with that and do just as well as the last one.  And at the same time, let's see if each of us can recruit one new member so that it makes the site more interesting.  The more the merrier!  



I am glad I am a tea bag

My favorite quote is from Eleanor Roosevelt, "A woman is like a teabag, you never know how strong it is until it's in hot water". 

I began with white fabric that I used Jacquard's color magnet on by making a dot pattern with the pen. When I dyed the fabric with periwinkle dye, the dots become darker than the rest of the fabric. 

I hand embroidered the outlines of the letters for the quote. My teacup and its flowers are machine appliquéd with some puff-paint accents. A fine China teacup usually is gold rimmed, so I thought it fitting I trimmed the entire teacup, saucer, and handle with gold paint.

Finally outside of the quote's circle, I did a pattern of French knots. Inside of the circle I did a diamond hand quilting pattern. One of the niftiest parts of this 12" x 12" quilt is the binding, it's the first binding I ever did that was entirely machine sewn with no handstitching needed.

Enjoy!

Kathy

I DON'T LIKE MORNINGS by Gladys Love

This challenge was fun!  Thank you Margaret for such a good idea!  I had an idea as soon as it was announced and have no reason to be late, except that life gets in the way around here!

This piece is quilted with what would amount to a journal page of words in the lines between the stripes on the bed sheet.  I chose non contrast thread so that it wasn't immediately as negative as it actually is.  In doing this piece I discovered the cathartic effect of writing down what is bothering you at the time.  But it's done discreetly so nobody is hurt.  Words you might find are: "mashed potatoes, clockwork mouse, repetitive stories, senior pace, dreams, and caregiver".  You can get the general idea from that.

First I quilted the words onto the sandwich.

When that was done, I arranged the rumpled sheets and made two little pillows.  These were arranged on the "bed" and the drawing placed over them with pins and some hand stitching.  I then thread painted on top of my drawing (done on soluble).  Why I did that I have no idea because it meant getting the project wet afterwards to get it all off!  If I had used tracing paper I suspect I'd have had much better results.  The thread used is Aurifil Wool so that it gave a softer look to the drawing. Her clothing was applied in a sort of "collage" manner.  

I think if one had the patience to do it, you could hold this in front of a mirror and read most of it.  Here is a photo of the back.  

As with everything I do, I would do it differently if I were to do it again!  But it was a good learning experience and I did accomplish my goal to produce a 3D project. At least I think it is!  What is the difference between 1 dimensional, 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional?  Does anyone know?