New Blog Coming Soon!

I haven't posted in a long time as I have slowly been creating a new blog that should be easier to find me. You can find it here, although not much as been done or posted as of yet. If you'd like to have a look and care to give me any suggestions - please go to www.jennywilliamsartquilts.blogspot.com
Thanks! Hope to see you there soon!

Sketching?

 
So - I did sign up for the sketchbook challenge and I know I haven't posted anything yet. So - I'm taking the leap and posting now.

So - I showed this to Steve and asked him who it was. He said he had no idea. I asked my friend, Jennifer, the next day, and she knew immediately that it was our daughter, Keri. Okay - so I did it from a photo that doesn't look like her that mu ch, but c'mon. If Jennifer recognized her, ????? 
I did this with Micron pen.  So - it's a start.






It's not perfect, but look at the photo I sketched it from

I don't know why I can't get it closer, but there it is

 Here are also some fool-around sketches of a wine label that I've always loved called "The Other Hand". Not something you'll find in your local stores, but a really cool label.

And - my copper gingko leaves - I MUST post those, even though they are painted.

These were the inspiration for the copper gingko leaves I created for "Tranquility".

Sketched, then painted with copper metallic paint.

I use my sketchbooks constantly in designing my work. I like to draw loose sketches, and while the finished work rarely even resembles the original sketch, I like to keep it for future reference. good for another "beginning".

Some finished work

 
I feel better - I finished 3 more pieces for the Jonesboro, Arkansas show. Having 3 snow days following a weekend was a major help - giving me so much extra time. I really needed it, too, because the last piece gave me such angst in trying to figure how to attach the metals to the fabric, while retaining the integrity of the metal. 

This piece follows the "Reeds" piece previously shown. This is titled "Dunes", as it reminds me of the beach. Thanks Jennifer - for not letting me chop half of it off and giving me a hint at how to fix it. Add some cattails on the left!

Here is a close-up of the copper "grasses". On this one I thread painted some of the short green grass on water soluble stabilizer and tulle in a hoop, then dissolved, trimmed and stitched them on to cover the bottoms of the paddles. They just didn't look right in this piece without the grass.





This long skinny piece I just call Chains - because that's all I could think of. I started out with just the center black rectangle, then added the narrow rust, but realized that wasn't enough, either. So I gave it more presence by adding more black.




Here is a closeup. Red copper wire pounded flat and kind of woven together. The gold looking diamond on the orange fabric is actually bronze mesh - it's a metal cloth. I pound this with my hammer and it gives it really cool highlights. This was a lot of fun. I will make more like this.  No angst!

This is the angst piece - "Tranquility"! So titled because it does look very simple and tranquil - NOW! - but not so tranquil trying to figure out how to actually accomplish it caused me great anguish last week.




 Below is the left panel - the gingko branch. The branch is copper that was dragged through liver of sulphur to darken it and then hammered to hold its shape. I hand-stitched the branch to the fabric with smoke monofilament thread.

The gingko leaves were cut out of thin copper sheeting, hammered so they would keep their shape, and then the lines were carved in with a stylus. I hand-stitched these leaves to the branch with copper metallis thread. You can also see the little bit of free motion stitching on the "moon".

 This is the detail of the panel on the right - the bamboo trees. These were cut from the bronze metal mesh. This stuff really hurts when you are cutting it - it's very sharp and sticks in your fingers. I was having a lot of trouble trying to figure out how to stitch these onto the panel. I tried just stitching straight down the center with clear monofilament thread, but the holes looked huge and it was horrible. Took that off. Then my biggest fan (Steve) suggested that I stitch them on the "nodes" - where they have their growth spurts, or whatever. I did that with smoke monofilament thread. The bamboo leaves are copper sheeting that I hand cut, hammered, and embossed lines. So how to get these to stay on?  I actually did it on the sewing machine with monofilament thread. I then dabbed some clear glue on the thread to help hold it.

So - my 3 new pieces for Jonesboro. Sigh. And now I'm having a 3 day weekend (MLK) and my muse went on vacation. I have accomplished nothing. I have a piece on the table that I'm playing with, but as Steve says, I'm at a wall. Working working working for so long and so intense. Need to just breathe. 

Thanks for reading and I would appreciate any suggestions - like how I'm going to ship these things! lol!

Updated and New Work

 

The winter storm that is moving up the east coast began here about 5:15 this morning. Beautiful big flakes of white snow. But we know that following the snow is the nasty sleet and wintry mix that makes driving so hazardous. All of the public schools are closed and that's usually my barometer for whether or not I stay home. The university isn't closed, but the snow, etc. hasn't hit there yet. I hope they will close when the roads start getting bad.

So - I have another day in the studio!  I promised Laura that I would post photos of the pieces she and Eileen helped me with at lunch last Friday. The first is the one I posted last week. We decided it could do with a little more "presence" - so here it is with some attitude!  I really do think that adding the large black background helps it a lot.

And here is the new one on the right. The piece is laying flat on the worktable. I'm working very slowly on this. I've changed the original design completely - that will be a different piece altogether. I'm enjoying working with the copper and bronze mesh and wanted to do more with that, so here is a look at the preliminary layout. There are still lots of changes and additions to be made, but this is where I am beginning.


On the left is a closeup from overhead. You can see the "moon" hiding behind the two panels and the bronze mesh bamboo trees on the left with just a couple of copper leaves suggested. My plan is to lightly threadpaint the moon to highlight some of those "clouds" crossing in front of it. The right panel will have the gingko in copper. I know it will need more, but that will come when this part is more finished and I can better feel what it will need. 

So - we are making potato soup with leeks and ham today and staying inside where it is dry and warm. Back to the studio! Thanks for checking in and please feel free to make comments or suggestions!