Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
Here are my latest FOTY blocks. I love them! They make me feel so cheerful. Can you tell I have received a lot of blues and pinks?
Some of these fabrics I am going to pull out for a project for which I am collecting fabric. Not sure which ones, but I’ll post a pic when I get a little further along.
Here is one last choice that I couldn’t resist. I am kind of liking this one best, but I think that is because it is new. I still like the China Cake Plate in the Tarts Cake Plate Conundrum post.
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I am having some trouble deciding how to organize the blocks on the left hand side. Other arrangements are:
If you start from the bottom you can see the evolution over the past few months.
Somehow this story that I seem to be creating is really important. I don’t feel like I am a good enough artist to really do it justice like some of the artists in recent books I have read, but I keep plugging away.
I did a series of the creative prompts all at once listening to music and it was really a different experience. I really got into a creative zone and that felt good.
What you see or how heavy you are?
See the Creative Prompt page if you have questions about this project.
Post the URL where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted in the comments area of this post. It is a good way to keep all the artwork together.
There is more information on the Creative Prompt Page.
I swear I only bought the purple dot and two of the Christmas fabrics for gift bags. The shop sent me all of these fabrics including those little reindeer fabrics (hhmmm).
I had an idea for the dots and one thing led to another, but I am not going to that cool quilt shop in Carpenteria unless my sister pays. No more fabric for me for awhile.
This not a direct A to B kind of inspiration. It is a true inspiration where I see something and it inspires me to create something.
The first thing I want to do is draw this leaf in grey and black so I can see what I am dealing with. I’ll let you know how it goes.
This drawing is kind of the culmination of a series of flower doodles that I did in a journal I used in the middle of last year. I got on a flower kick and just couldn’t stop drawing them.
I don’t feel very proficient at some of the technical aspects of the drawings, but it is fun to try and work out the little problems. I am kind of glad I am doing a bit of a series, because I can work out and improve some of the aspects in the later drawings.
I have an idea for a flower/picnic quilt and think that the flowers may be studies for the flowers I will use in that quilt.
I know that all of my sketches are out of order. As a inherently organized person, this is driving me crazy. I can’t, however, with good conscience back date them, so here they are in all their glory.
I think I may be caught up except for Beacon and I have an idea for that one. It is a technique, though and not an image. I really have to check, though to make sure.
Here is the response to bold. I apologize to everyone who had trouble with this one, because I did, too.
The story continues….
Orange was the creative prompt to which this drawing is a response. It doesn’t feel very creative just to draw a bunch of oranges. I like how they fit with my cartoon story.
A lighthouse is a beacon.
Beacon of hope.
See the Creative Prompt page if you want more resources or have questions about this project. See other creative prompts and their responses by clicking on ‘Creative Prompt’ in the tag cloud.
Post the direct URL where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted in the comments area of this post. It is a useful way of keeping all the artwork together.
There is more information on the Creative Prompt Page.
Summary: this post follows up on Saturday’s post about the Pamela Allen class.
I realized that when I am in a class with Pamela, I do think outside of my own quiltmaking box. I also realized that if I just listen and do what she says I succeed. I also feel a bit freer in my work. I really have a strong feeling that I need to make a much larger piece in Pamela’s style.
Pamela gave us tips and I interpreted them as:
We talked a lot about art quilts at our dinner out together. I feel strongly that all quilts need to have a good design. Block type quilts have a basic structure which helps with good design. Most art quilts do not have a basic, inherent structure and some go astray because the quiltmaker doesn’t care, doesn’t know how to initiate and then evaluate a design or doesn’t have the technique foundation. I think it is easy to find out about these things. There are a lot of good principles of design type books, such as Pentak and Lauer’s Design Basics. The basic thing concerning technique in art quilts is that they don’t fall apart upon hanging. Pamela doesn’t have the classic quilt background that many quiltmakers have, but she has learned what she needs to keep the quilts structurally sound and then applied her art and design training. This is the best of both worlds and this is where I really want to be.
You can see from the gallery above how she inspires great and different work. Diane is a wonderful silk painter. She normally paints a whole cloth piece on silk and then quilts it. Her blue trees piece is really different from her normal style and really, truly wonderful. Kristen is very busy with her family and doesn’t have tons of time to sew, but made some fantastic pieces that her children would enjoy. I love that space alien monster! Kristen’s pieces are also cheerful and imaginative and wonderfully creative. Mrs. K’s sauguaro cactus/Suspicion Mountains piece has a calmness to I that I love. I hope she finishes it and hangs it somewhere where it can inspire other people. Everyone really did fantastic work and I am sorry I didn’t take more photos.
We made a creative mess. Mess is the wrong word; we had supplies and we needed to use them. When you only have 15 minutes to make a piece of art, the fabric will be flying and it was. I brought my scraps which kept ending up on the floor. People would stop by, pick up some bit of fabric and ask to whom it belonged. It became quite hilarious. We really couldn’t have done the workshop without Mrs. K. She brought tubs of fabric which allowed us to actually have backs and batting and such things. I seemed to conveniently forget those supplies when I go to Pamela’s workshops! DUH!
Summary: response to dream creative prompt
I know I showed this quilt on Saturday, but I realized that I am dreaming of flowers and the beach and of all things cheerful. After the Pamela Allen class, I really want to make a larger piece using her techniques. I wish I was at Asilomar with her and could work on it under her guidance. Someday.
