Art Quilt Practice Pieces

After last week's whirlwind (a guild quilt show and the Art with Fabric blog hop) I didn't think I'd want to quilt for a few weeks. Well, I stayed away from my quilting for 3 whole days! However, the two little projects I made were pressure-free playing using new techniques or materials.

So far, I've participated in 3 of the Colour Me Positive 2016 Weekly Journal Challenge, by creating mini art quilts that are mostly words with free motion quilting (FMQ). I love seeing everyone's art work on the dedicated Facebook page. The pieces are fun and use all types of art journalling techniques. I didn't even know that this existed until joining them!

Week 18 of the Colour Me Positive Challenge - Healing Art (13" x 7.5")

Since I'm also using words in these quilts, I'm now learning to write again with Joanne Sharpe's Whimsical Writing books and videos. Between all of these resources, I've learned about all kinds of neat writing, drawing and art products that are easily adapted to fabric. That's why I couldn't wait to start playing with stamps, markers and stencils.

Week 18 - Healing Art

Details of the tree - coloured and thread painted

I started this piece using the tree stencil and then went a little nuts with some of my daughter's stamps.

I took out my permanent markers and coloured the tree and outlined some of the butterflies and flowers. Since the green of the tree was too intense, I toned it down with some thread painting in browns and darker green.

I then added the "Healing Art" using some cool grungy alphabet stamps. The letters didn't stand out enough so I experimented with my new markers and played around with a colourless blender. Wow! I love the effect it has on the letters - I even used them on the tops of the tulips. It makes them look like water colours. I then added metallic thread through the bobbin and did a little bit of FMQ

As with all of my art, the hardest part is knowing when to stop. I looked at the piece from the perspective of the art theory I've been learning.
Does the piece have:

• a focus point; 
• contrast; 
• balance; and 
• flow?

I think that the answer is yes. However, since the techniques used on this piece include FMQ, stencils, markers and stamps, I though that I should add appliqué to the mix. That's when I dug into my scrap stash and found two cools cats! Nothing says mellow like cats hanging around :-)

Week 9 - Live like a grownup, play like a child

At the quilt show last weekend, my daughter bought me a couple of hand dyed cheese cloth by local fibre artist Linda Palaisy.

Fantaisie 2 -my creation for Week 9 (6.5" x  9")

The colours were so lovely I could just taste them! I couldn't wait to try making something fun and whimsical, so here it is - Fantaisie 2, a fibre collage.

I attached the cheese cloth to a blue cotton to lighten it up. In my stash I found three different fabrics - the hollyhock, the faeries and half meter of fabric that had butterflies, hummingbirds and these great borders.

Fantaisie 2 - close up

I attached the fabric using thread painting. It was flimsy and difficult to sew, so I used a minimum of stitching and then quilted it. Since it's just a fun little piece, I decided to leave the borders as is, without binding. I was hoping to use the same technique I had used for Woven Landscape  - to just fold the backing between the batting and the borders, but it didn't work out. Those are the drawbacks to just forging ahead without planning!

What I learned:

• I should stop when I'm tired - that's when challenges happen.
• Challenges are not important when playing. Fix it, or just move on :-)
• To colour or write on cloth, just iron the cloth to freezer paper to make it more stable.
• The Fantaisie 2 piece is dark, but I think that the borders lighten it up and give it contrast.
• I love the look that the cheese cloth adds to the piece.
• In case you're wondering, yes, week 9 should come before week 18, but we're encouraged to add our pieces whenever they're ready. 

I will be linking up to the following parties - check them out!
Oh Scrap!  Let's Bee Social, Needle and Thread Thursday, Free Motion Mavericks, Off the Wall Friday, and Freemotion by the River

Monthly Landscape Art Quilt Challenge

Butterfly flitting

I’m like a butterfly flitting from one flower to another, except that my flowers are anything quilty!

I love trying new things and I tend to get bored quickly with repetition. Since I know this, I sometimes have to trick myself into doing a variety of related things so that I can actually become proficient at a new skill. Practice helps me acquire skills but repetition kills my motivation!

My solution for learning to make landscape art quilts is to set myself a monthly challenge:

• To make a new landscape quilt each month;
• While learning something new (i.e. technique, subject matter, etc.)

Here is how I will try to interpret making a landscape art quilt* for this challenge. A landscape quilt:

• represents a landscape, a view of a place outdoor that is real or fictitious;

  

  Landscape Art Quilt Challenge Button

• is a quilt, therefore has some type of batting and backing; and
• can incorporate various art techniques (i.e. paint, crayons, embellishments, etc.).

*this is strictly my criteria for this challenge

To date, I’ve made four landscape art quilts. You can read more about most of these projects by following the links below.

• Southwest landscape (started 2010, finished April 2015)
• Dream Landscape (2011)
• Experimental landscape (started Aug 2013, finished May 2015)
• Amalfi Coast - Happy Villages (started March 2014, finished June 2014)

Midwest landscape - First landscape started

Landscape based on Dream Landscapes book

Dream Landscapes by Rose Hughes

Amalfi Coast Landscape based on Happy Villages

Happy Villages by Karen Eckmeier

Experimental Landscape

As you can see from the dates above, most of these projects have been finished within the last year. This corresponds to my increased interest in learning and trying new techniques. I find that as I read and take more Craftsy courses, I'm exposed to different techniques which enables me to figure out what to do next when I'm stuck on a project.

If there's one thing that has given me both confidence and the ability to broaden my skills is learning to free motion quilt (FMQ). That has opened another entire universe of possibilities.

For this challenge, I've created a new photo set on Flickr for landscape art quilts. It'll be great to see my progress as the challenge advances.

What I hope to learn during the challenge:

• I think that trying new techniques that are related to what I've learned in the last project will help me remember the lessons learned as well as add to my prior knowledge.
• I think that I'd like to learn techniques that involve surface design but I've always been intimidated. I'm hoping that this will give me confidence to try these out.
• I also want to actually use all of those books, magazines and Crafty courses!

Wish me luck on my journey!

If you feel like joining me, grab a button and leave a message on my challenge posts with links to your own version of your challenge! If there's enough people, I can even create a linking party!

This post is linked to Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday, Can I get a Whoop Whoop? Link-a-Finish Friday. Check out everyone's posts! 

The Midwest Landscape quilt was highlighted on Link-a-Finish Friday! I'm thrilled. Thanks Richard and Tanya!

The Butterfly photo is from Steve on Flickr. Thanks!