Powered By Blogger

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Oh, the Things You See...





I feel a bit like a "Grandma Moses" of art journaling. Many years ago I enjoyed doing a lot of different crafts, but finally told myself "Pick one!" because there just was so little time or space for multiple hobbies while teaching and raising our family. So I chose quilting at the time. However, in retirement, I have more leisure time and have discovered an interest in mixed media art journaling. I never tried it before, but have really enjoyed exploring the supplies and techniques. It helps that I enroll in online classes in order to learn what to do and how to do it. My most recent class is a 16-week one called One BADASS Art Journal 2017. Each week a new artist guides us through a lesson. Tiare Smith is the organizer of the class and she taught the dream girl above which includes the use of a floral napkin in the composition. So I'll share a little peak into my art journal here.



The second week was about using black backgrounds and adding texture with modeling paste. Fun!


And then we learned to make our own art papers, create compositions with them, and add doodles for interest. There's lots more to come as we are not even half way through the course.



We've traveled about some lately, too, so I have not been blogging as much. But I'm always taken by the scenes and things you see when traveling. This lovely entry is part of a large Thoroughbred horse farm in our area. We're always happy to drive by at night when it's lit so beautifully. Very inviting, don't you think?



And we met some friends in Dunedin, FL, near Tampa recently. The community has some nice art installations around town. I just love the colors and graceful lines of this one.


These dolphins are also displayed around town and are done by different artists in different styles.




One night we were driving at sunset and saw this magnificent anvil cloud. Just amazing.




I always notice cars and love vintage ones. But I'd never seen anything quite like this one. It's so customized that I can't figure out what it started out life as. Those gray areas are a brushed finish and it drew a lot of attention there in the parking lot. You just never know what surprises are in store when you are out and about! Phone cameras are just the best for recording those special sights.

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

A Breath of Spring...







When my daughter and my husband admired a quilt similar to this one at a quilt show last fall, I decided to make one to display on the wall in her home. It's such as easy design and yet evokes that pleasant feeling of looking through a window at a pretty view. The quilt starts with a fabric panel landscape scene. Making it requires just enough math to determine the size of the rectangles that can be cut from the panel so you'll know how many rows and columns there will be in the quilt. And the best thing of all is that Jenny Doan of The Missouri Star Quilt Co. has a helpful tutorial to guide you through the math. So once that's out of the way, cutting and sewing the quilt moves right along quickly.




Another good thing about her method is that there are no set-in seams. Traditionally the Attic Windows block requires a Y-seam or set-in seam at each corner where the lattice pieces come together. That's often tricky. But this method relies on half-square triangles at one end of the lattices and you can hardly see the seams, giving it a set-in look without the challenge. I've seen a few other panels that would lend themselves to this type of quilt, including a Santa-through-the-window one and a western-themed one with horses on a roundup. Now that this one is finished, I may decide it's not my last Attic Windows quilt!

I'm heading off to the AQS quilt show in Daytona for a couple of days, so perhaps my shopping with include another panel or two. I'll also be taking a class, so will post photos soon. Ahhh, Springtime!