Family Pic Time!

I just have to  share some family pics!  First off, look at how big Rilynn (great grand daughter) is getting!  Is she a little beauty or what!  Grandma MaryJo got to hold and hug her while her parents had a date night this weekend!


I sure know what a wonderful feeling it is to be a grandma for the first time....and for the 2nd time and even having those 'bonus' grands!  It's a wonderful relationship to embrace!

MaryJo took a picture of Rilynn laying on the quilt I made her!!  How sweet!!!!  Thanks, MJ!!  Just love seeing how this beautiful baby is growing!!
















Next is my daughter and grand daughter this past weekend.  Sienna Heights girls Lacrosse team played three games on Saturday at Grand Valley (GVSU).  It was a bit breezy to say the least!!   The team won 2 out of the 3 games!  So proud of Amber and her dedication to this sport.  Go Saints!

When I'm in my dye room playing with my 'toys', the girls are always with me.  Normally, Kalee lays in the bed and Gigi lays by the sliding door next to my table looking for birds in the yard!  This past week, I couldn't find Gigi until I looked at their dog bed!  Hard to see at first, but there are two dogs in there.  And there's another bed next to this one!!

I was walking Kalee and Gigi and a neighbor  had just put out a Halloween decoration and the girls just had to stop and stare!!!  So funny!!

Deconstructed Printing Results

Well, not as intense color wise that i wanted but they aren't bad.  I'm making my dye/print paste mixtures stronger by adding more dye powder.  Yes, I've made some new screens that are drying downstairs. 

Here are my results.  The screen is on the left and the printed fabric(s) are on the right! 

One of my favorites

This was a stencil laid on the screen

Above, another favorite...although, not as intense as I wanted.  The ovals  are plastic and purchased  from a store in Ann Arbor, where you could purchase 'junk' to use in your art work!  I have a small bin full of different items like this! HA

Hope to print more pieces on Friday.  And hope I added enough dye powder to retain some of the color for the next printing session!  

Blotted papers

As I was creating the 'breakdown' screens, I had to blot the excess dyes.  I grabbed some of my previous printed/dyed papers to blot with.  Washing out my fabrics today, so they'll be in the next post.  I really like how the papers turned out...afraid my prints on the fabric won't be as intense.....all but 3 of the papers are on layout paper...

Deli paper

Deli paper

Deli paper

My favorites!

This was blotted on a hum drum piece I mono printed.  Turned out cool!

Now to see how the fabric took the dye!!!  Fingers crossed!

Breakdown Printing

"What?"  Breakdown Printing...I have only heard the term 'deconstructed screen printing' until Hilary's MIP class.  Guess it is called both as the process is the same.  This was our lesson this past week.  And ya all know I love deconstructed, I mean, breakdown printing!  I look forward to the unique results you get from this process.  My screens are still a tad wet as our warm weather and sun are now gone.  The sun was at when I first placed the screens outside...within 30 minutes, clouds rolled in....hence, they are sitting in my dye room. 

I've left the cup holders, etc. on the screens until they dry.  Some will fall off or I'll take them off depends on my mood.

I

Yes, I do drink quite a bit of Starbuck's coffee!  My family and friends know I love a Starbuck gift card!

This is a really large screen my friend, Mary, gave me a few years ago.  It's actually the first time I've used it.  I am hoping I can pull two or three prints from it.  But....I noticed some of my thickened dyes were quite runny...yes, I still used them and some I added more print paste.  Not sure how they'll turn out but it's always a surprise regardless!

Well, isn't this an eye catcher!  NOT!!  I forgot to take a picture when I removed the little white pieces!  They are title samples that I placed onto the screen!  They'll be little squares all over. 

I used some of my previous stamped/dyed papers to blot up excess dye from the screens.  I love the ovals on the bottom pieces...and the bubble wrap looks like it might work well as a tree for my beaded woodpecker!  Who knows...as I said..you never know what you'll get.



I hope to print this weekend sometime. I have my fabric already soaked in soda ash just waiting for the screens to dry! 

Art Show at the White Lake Library

One of my bestie's, Carol T., is a dedicated 'Friends of the Library' volunteer at the White Lake Township Library (here in Michigan).   She is also a talented artist and quilter and I've posted some of her work(s) on my blog in the past.

In addition to all her work she does for the FOL,  (organzing books, setting up for book sales, etc., )  she also helped organize and set up  a 'Library Art Competition'.  This competition was to commemorate the opening of their new library, which is beautiful.  Yesterday,  Mary and I headed to the library to meet up with Carol to see the art exhibit and the new library.  It is beautiful and so spacious.    The art exhibit was really quite nice...tons of talent and each piece was so different.  Hope my readers enjoying seeing this art display.  Because this is a competition, I don't have names of the artists (with exception of my friends!).

First off, this is the piece Carol created for the exhibit!  Isn't it cool!!!  Click to enlarge so you can  see the detail and texture she created.  Carol does such unusual drawing/paintings in this style.  They are all so interesting and unusual - in a good way.

This was a really cool piece made by a teenager!!!  One you have to click on to see all the detail!  What a great job.

This was done by a 7 year old girl!!!  She loves books...such a clever young girl.  The 'book' is a a bed and she wants to read to her cat "Milo"!  How sweet!

You may recognize this piece.  It was created by our friend, Lois Ann.  I just did a blog post on her last week (click here). 

Another work in acrylics and so unusual.  I really liked this too.

 This was a beautiful acrylic painting.   One of my favorites.

This was done in pencil!  There were two pieces from this artist but I forgot to get a picture of the second one.  I just like the design.

 

This was oil on canvas and was stunning!  Reminds you of an old master's painting.  Makes  you feel like you could reach up and touch a person!  Just beautiful.

This was a fabric collage under glass...quite interesting.

I had to take several pictures of areas from this art work!  I think it is fantastic and so unusual.  In person, it looks like a book.  Click on the picture to read the label. 

I wish I took a better picture from a distance so viewers could grasp all that's in this and the book effect.  Just a wow piece in my mind.


Think this might be my favorite...other than Carol and Lois Ann's pieces! 

This piece was a digital painting done on the computer and using a photoshop software.  Pretty cool...glare is from the lights.  My back was against book shelves (we are in a library, remember.  HA) and the lights were hitting the art work under glass.  Too bad because there is a lot of detail in this piece too.

This was another cool/interesting piece done using Gouache paint.  It's depicting a scene from 1840 of a Captains parlor in the Army.  Great detail.

I would hang this in my house...love the colors and addition of black.  It was done using watercolor, ink and crayons (Caran d'ache).

This was so cool but the light/glare once again took away from the beauty of the piece.  There's so much going on in this.

I had to take another closeup to see if the glare would go away...but you can see my friend Mary in the picture!  HA
















So that was the exhibit and it was well worth the trip & lunch we had!  And to finally get to see Carol's new library we've all been hearing about for the past year!  They certainly should be proud of what they have built...and now that it's built...they will come!!! 

Composition and Design

Our lesson last week in Hilary's MIP online was on drawing/composition/design...ya all know I'm not big on drawing so I have to admit I wasn't looking forward to this lesson.  But with all our other lessons, I'm once again, very pleased with how Hilary approached this area.  Drawing was at a minimum and her method was one that i didn't feel intimidated by. 

Hilary suggested we look at different shapes that we'd like to work with.  I happened to have a feather drawing, which I've always liked.  So that was the first drawing I did. 

 I'm not showing how Hilary 'taught' or suggested we follow to make our drawings (you have to take her class!). 

Next up, she showed us how to use jars/glass work.  So I found some pictures on Google and used those as my inspiration. 











Once we had our drawing, then we got to color them in! What fun!!!  I used  Derwent Pastels.....

Then I used water on my brush to obtain the color(s).

I had to play around with some more pieces and coloring!  Just because it's so much fun! 

Next, I used Gelatos, which I love using!  They work so much better, for me at least, than the oil pastels we've all used in the past.



Lastly, Hilary told us "to play with our papers" and that's what I did..  These are some of my painted/dyed/stamped papers.  I put these in my Shape/color journal (8 1/2" x 11").  I'm quite happy with how this page turned out. 

So I know my 'art work' isn't the best but it's a great exercise in design and composition.  We'll leave the drawing part out of this one!  I am going to play around with this some more - in my spare time! 

Oh, here's a shot of my work area...BEFORE...it was a real mess with papers, crayons, etc. 

AFTER....all cleaned up (AGAIN!)...and ready to go!