Plein Air Painting Indoors with Fabric: a journal quilt

    If summer officially begins June 21 and ends September 22, it is time to prepare the portable paints for some plein air painting. I have made pochade boxes so I can walk out the front door to paint...but now with all the rain, I made a landscape in fabric. I sewed my landscape indoors.

    While studying Gustav Klimt's portraits and landscapes I thought I would create one in fabric. I have lots of birch fabrics and love Maine and NH. If you want to look at Klimt's landscapes, Google Klimt landscapes and click on Images. Scroll down to view his Birch Forest.

Click on photo to see supplies.

    I have plenty of birches in my novelty fabric stash! I cut a 12" x 12" square of sky or water and sprayed some 505 (a temporary spray glue) red and orange "leaves" to the bottom three fourths of the square. Next, I cut out strip after strip of birch trees. A little late in the game I cut skinny strips of fusible webbing (Wonder Under) and ironed the trees loosely down. I must look into Steam A Seam which is not permanent but holds until ironed. (see Susan's Comments below)

   Next, I got out my Jacquard fabric paints which leave the fabric soft, not stiff as you would get with straight acrylics. I thinned the blue paint with water and dragged a glaze over all the birch trees, leaving the paint thicker to darken the tree bases as one must do to ground them. I painted more orange and red leaves on the field.

   I got out Angelina fibers and a Teflon pressing sheet to hint at branches in the sky and darken the field at the bottom. I spread it thin. Then to the sewing machine to wildly quilt my block to 12" x 12" batting with invisible thread, up the sides of the trees. I found a blue painter's cloth print to back the piece and pull over the sides to bind the edges with blue since the sky was a bit shallow.
   
      This accidental journal quilt will remind me of my Klimt quest, the taking up of painting again to do the grandchildren's portraits, and some important lessons I learned this week.

Corralling kids with crafts

     A long rainy weekend sitting three youngsters meant clearing quilting goodies which have taken over the extra bedrooms. Joe took them to see their new empty house where they romped and found nooks and hiding places. He stopped off at Ben Franklin for fill-in crafts. We watched A Dog of Flanders, wonderful movie with a Rubens connection.

      The girls seem to love their portraits. Joe had made and painted 2 1/2" deep frames. They got busy with their bracelet makers:  a Rainbow Loom that uses rubber bands and a Native American bead loom. David zoomed his airplane but joined the girls for a painting session. Joe took them to the park and to feed the bird next door. Tonight we have a pizza candlelight dinner on the deck : o )

 
 
       I chose to string the Native American bead loom for Hannah. There is a certain brand of children's toys/crafts that is annoying for using inadequate materials. However, it was a good lesson in teaching that artists never give up. Not only was the enclosed string knotted up, but the bead loom was braced only by lots of scotch tape. I persisted. Hannah had fun weaving a bead bracelet and taught Erika as well. Erika made the rubber band bracelets on the Rainbow Loom. You can see that Hannah has quite a collection of those rainbow bracelets as well, if you click on the photo to enlarge.

        Then off to the studio. There I accidentally came upon old T-shirts Joe had saved for me to cut up into oil painting wipe rags. They made super comfy smocks. I have always been a sucker for cute little artist smocks but the children love these best. I turned them loose with my acrylics from the Klimt kit, a tube of gold paint,  good brushes, and three canvases each. Hannah and Erika also painted wooden book boxes. I can almost stand up straight. Only one more day and they visit their new schools before returning home to pack.

 P. S. A super painter's tip is find large disposable bed pads and lay the waterproof blue side on the table or across the lap. They  keep the surface clean or waterproof and brushes can be wiped on the white absorbant side! One served three children working at this table in the studio.

Back to Painting...a new start

     Friday before last, Joe and I drove into the MFA to see the colorful quilted 6" x 8" flags sent in from six continents to celebrate Boston. Ahead of me, I had the quilt challenge of "CELL" by my Material Maven international art quilt group. Synergistically, Joe and I had just returned from a stop at the Neue Gallerie in NYC where we viewed "Adele Bloch-Bauer" which is always on permanent display. I happened on a movie of Klimt's life via Netflix and found an unread book in my library titled The Kiss about a Klimt painting. As it turns out, Klimt viewed a lot of cells under microscope which appeared in many paintings. The power of Klimt's paintings inspired me to pick up the brush again.

       Just at the hero and heroine in a romance novel are at odds before they fall in love, I had never liked Klimt's paintings as much as my other favorite painters. Absorbed in his work, I became semi-obsessed.

 
       At Costco, I saw a painting kit, a little more challenging than paint by numbers, and I painted Klimt's "Tree of Life" to get a feel for his cells or signets (an excuse to be a child again). I found some ideas for getting the grands to create their own trees at YouTube. Back into painting, I set up two portable easels to oil paint (alkyds) the grandchildren from photos. I prefer painting from life, but distance is a problem. Whereas I once painted 9 am to 9 pm, after two hours, I had had enough. The next day I realized I needed my BIG easel so I could brace my arm and Joe got me a tall stool. Painting became fun again.  I am looking forward to painting less traditional portraits inspired by Klimt, my teachers at the SMFA Boston and art history...now that I rediscovered my old, but bigger, easel.



       Here are the first day and the second day...MORE TO GO on both. Hannah begins to look like herself, I think; but Erika's is a major miss. But I won't give up! Try, try again, now that I am comfortable. I will save those portable easels for painting landscapes in the open aire, also inspired by Klimt and art history. Click photos to enlarge.

Mixing Media in Boston and NYC

    One day last week in NYC, Joe and I enjoyed the Chelsea Gallery area. The week before, at the MFA in Boston, I had seen fabric with stitching in the Blue and White show and hand sewing on paintings near the cafeteria area. How nice that my two loves, painting and stitching are showing up on museum walls, thanks to PostModernism when the art world opened up to appreciate many media!

     SEW again we saw the mix in NYC galleries.

     The Benny Andrews retrospective was my favorite show of huge paintings. collaged with clothing, fabric, wood and paint. A catalog is coming out, but most museums and galleries allowed photos.
   
      Our last gallery stop had stitched and painted fabric as well.

      I can't show everything we encountered. I did find very amusing the large paintings someone made of glimpses through his neighbors' windows. I am not sure they approved. Here is a painted tree memorial that I appreciated. Paint on photos were delightful as well.

      Of course there is always art on the street. Twice we saw young ladies dressed as baby dolls, posing, walking on the streets, riding the subways. They said they were just "hanging out."  The stuffed donuts were on the walls at Donut Planet. Four-year-old David wanted to know how donuts got into outer space. Please click on these photos I took in NYC to enlarge!

Reveal Day at Material Mavens: Canyon

      Today was Reveal Day at Material Mavens, the international art quilt group. Our topic was "canyon." I am sort of embarrassed by my effort. I should have looked at a photo of The Lighthouse in Palo Duro Canyon, but I am always in a hurry. I have learned my lesson: be patient, think, make many sketches, don't run with your first idea. You can visit the site to see more than a dozen interpretations of "canyon" in a 12" x 12" quilt. Yes, I hope I have learned. Below is my presentation at the MM site:

       Palo Duro Canyon drove my work this time. The canyon is thirty minutes outside of Amarillo, Texas where I was born. Only Grand Canyon is larger. Georgia O’Keefe painted images inspired by it; and my friends who are marrying June 1 developed a romance on the ranches in the area.

       The Grand Canyon has an Eagle structure and Palo Duro has a rock formation called The Lighthouse. My lighthouse looks more like a bottle, unfortunately (champagne for the upcoming wedding?). I made two futile efforts. My first “Canyon” is tamer. I used fabric paints and Sharpie’s Rub a Dub pen. I always felt it needed crows or blackbirds that O’Keefe put in her painting of Palo Duro. My second “Canyon” has stronger colors and shapes are simplified. It needs some yellow beaded flowers. I layered mostly batik fabrics, and stitched all over.

       I had the best time stitching trying to learn something. It often takes more than two tries to learn new techniques. I just have to keep trying. I can begin another for a wedding card.  I have now learned I must slow down, observe better, make many sketches, and THINK. I always wanted a theme to work on and maybe canyon or home could be a start.

       I like the idea of a lighthouse, my home as a light, an assist in navigating life. The warm colors of the Panhandle, yellow (in Spanish, Amarillo), orange and red are in a marbleized fabric on the back of the 2nd quilt. This makes me think of old books...tales of the Apaches and Comanches who once roamed here and the sad histories shared by all people. CLICK to enlarge the images.

Journal quilting and stitching on the road

      Returning from a trip there is always a period of adjustment. Not only does one have to return to exercise (ho ho) and work routines, but this time to get out spring and summer clothes, check the yard, and rejoin real life with busy work  galore. Thus, this tardy blog.

      On the way to see grandchildren, I finished a white and blue sashiko that Ellen gave us to work on in our winter workshop for the Quilters' Connection. I will put it with the other sashiko pieces I have blogged on before, pieces to turn into pillows and coasters. Sashiko is by far my favorite road trip craft. It is so portable. Joe puts a book cd in the car;  I have scissors on a cord around my neck with a small sewing kit in the console; and we are ready-to-roll.  See other sashiko projects by typing that word in the white search area in the top left corner of this post near the Blogger icon. Hit return.

      

      I have just finished some journal quilts to complete with hand stitching, the next time we hit the road. The first is a bed to refer to that awful flu (notwithstanding the shots) which exhausted and grounded us for a month, it seemed. Also, I created that memory while also thinking of the doll beds that Joe is making for Hannah and Erika. This is a two-in-one journal quilt, almost. But it needs more quilting and truly refers to us.

     The second journal quilt is about the busy week of Easter and Passover, and the memory of how I obtained a huge pot of the best matzo ball soup for my big crew. I traded teen Lloyd his portrait (scroll down to see the painting at my April 19 blog) for his big silver pot of incomparable soup. The matzo balls are painterly eggs and the paint brushes allude to the exchange. It really needs some embroidery tidying up.

      The third unrelated quilt is older but it was an experiment in weaving fabrics too close for contrast. I kept adding puff paint and beads and even framed it to try to save it. I just tossed it in for history. Click to enlarge photos.

Grounded Grandparents Sew and Saw

      Creating banishes sadness or stress. Last week, with personal deadlines, I sewed eight quilt blocks for a Project Hope quilt (a bug theme).

      Joe and I had to find Hannah a birthday present. We knew she wanted Mattel's Monster High bed for her dolls, but we wanted to make one. Joe used my favorite tool to saw (then paint) the bed, coffin shape with spider headboard that Hannah can embellish. I made the quilt and pillow by scanning logos on a printable fabric. Below is  my favorite tool for cutting shapes in wood, but you could also cut up shoeboxes.

      Our real present is a Schilling Little Red  toy accordion that is fun for adults to play (Tabs 4Toy accordion).  I found harmonicas (harptabs.com) are similar in the playing, so we got those for the other kids. I learned so much about playing a toy accordian and harmonica that I wondered why I had not ever done that before. There is plenty of music at those sites. According to the the Schilling insert, these instruments belong to the reed family and go back 5000 years to when the legendary Chinese "Yellow Emperor" Huang Ti wanted to reproduce bird songs such as that of the Phoenix. We'll see.

      I made a quilted birthday card for Hannah that says "Sew Fine Hannah is Nine." Her mother saves these quilted greetings. The accordion fit into my shiny MFA bag so it can be treated with care.

      How is that for a scattershot blog. Oh, and we added some books. Grandparents are crazy. Click on photos to enlarge.

       Oh! I forgot to mention the kolaches that West, Texas is known for. Visit the Homesick Texan to learn more. I made a batch this weekend and did not eat just one.