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!

Woodpecker beading project, continues

I posted last week a woodpecker quilt my friend, Mary, finished.  You can read about the history behind the  woodpecker project here.   

This is the picture of the woodpecker, I'm working from. 











I've been beading in between working on my daughter's table topper (post here).  I dye painted the bird using thickened dyes.  After beading, I'll cut out and stitch down on a quilted background.

I started to outline the bird and filling in when I have time in between the topper.

I actually filled in the beak but I wasn't happy with it so what to do..............

Yep...it's called unbeading....my first issue was when I dye painted the bead, I didn't put a point at the end...so when I was beading, I just followed the paint.  I was using size 11 delicas and I switched to seed bead #15's.

I'm still not totally happy with his beak so it might get 'unbeaded' again!  I'll wait until I'm ready to cut the beading out and applique down.   It will be easier then to get the point for the beak. 

In between, the topper project and woodpecker project,  I've just watched our lesson from last Monday this past weekend.  We're in the process of 'drawing and composition'.  Drawing isn't my strong suit by any means, but I have to say Hilary is making is actually fun to do!









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I have some more drawings I'm working on then I'll be coloring/shading each piece.  That should be fun!


This past week was our library book sale so I was busy helping set up from Tuesday thru Thursday then working the book sale on Saturday afternoon.  Lots of work but we had a good turn out and made some money, which is good for the needs of our small library.   Now to get back to my art work!

What I'm working on!

First off, Happy Birthday to my beautiful daughter!!  She still has that same smile today!!!  Everyone called her a little 'Elizabeth Taylor'.

This week Dawn and her hubby, Jeff, are on a cruise to Australia, so no fear she'll read my blog!  We had last week off from Hilary's online MIP class, so I had time to work on a BD gift for my daughter.   Several years ago, Dawn painted this piece of fabric.  She made her own 10"x12" stamp, which you can see in the blue.  She then used a squeeze bottle with thickened dye to create the circles.  I love this piece!!!   It measures 30" x 36".


I thought I would surprise her and make a quilted top for her birthday.  When I was talking to her about what wonderful painted pieces she had, Dawn said "well, you could make me a table runner".  Hmmmmmm  So I confessed that I had already sandwiched the piece and was going to make a top for her.  Guess it was a good thing we talked...because I forgot her table is oblong and she just wanted a runner!




Soooooooooooo  I continued to free motion quilt the piece

...then I decided to do some hand embroidery on the blue stamped areas.  It's great TV work! 

I've made a few table toppers for Dawn through the years.  Not sure when I made this one.  It measures 40" x 24" and she uses it from time to time on her table.






This is another round topper I made for her living room.  She has a great birch wood circle coffee table and this fits well on it.  I made this in 2011.

Now the big decision is where do I cut the newest piece to make a table runner.  Her table is 45"x76" oval but the table runners she has are anywhere from 40"x24" , which is the longer one I made years ago.

Dawn also has some she's purchased from Pier1, 15"x39", 14"x 36".  I haven't quite decided on how I'm 'trimming' the current  piece but I'm sure I'll make it fit, somehow!

More inspiration from my friends!

 I've said it before and I know I'll say it again...I'm so lucky to have such talented friends to inspire me!  I want my readers to meet another friend, Lois Ann and see her beautiful work.  I have posted a little here and there about Lois Ann and her quilted beauties but I wanted to show some of her current work.  Lois Ann (along with our bud, Carol T.) belong to the White Lake Library.  They had a 'call for entry' of art work, which both Carol and Lois Ann entered (I'll show Carol's piece in another post.).   This is Lois Ann's beautiful painted canvas she entered!  I'm not sure of the size but it's around 35"x35".  Beautiful isn't it!  Oh, the little square is from me taking a picture of a picture on LA's camera! 

This was another painted canvas LA is/was working on.  She was going to enter it for the library's exhibit but she went over the size limit...so that's when she made the butterfly above (in a weekend, I believe!).   This one isn't finished yet.  She's painting books on the table (white area) but I think it's already an amazing piece of art work.

Here this is our super star!  I've always been a fan of LA!  So are my dogs!  HA Her work is outstanding and always impresses me she can draw and paint so easily!  

Last summer, I did a post on both Lois Ann and Carol on their painting the utility boxes in Grand Blanc, Michigan.  You can read that post here and see more of LA's paintings.  

Now I want to show some of her fabulous quilts!  This is her eagle quilt she used as inspiration for painting one of the utility boxes.  It is so realistic!!! 

Her butterfly quilts have so much detail!

Some quilts LoisAnn created a few years ago

  

Another example of Lois Ann's quilt that she used for inspiration for  a 2nd utility box!  

I love the vivid colors LA's uses as well as her machine quilting and overall workmanship!

In addition to quilting and painting, LoisAnn does quite a bit of daily drawings.  

Lois Ann's sketchbook is never far from her hands whether she is on a camping trip with her husband or living in Italy (which they did for several years) touring the city.  

She won a pie for this race!

And another addition to being a wonderful quilter and artist of painting and drawing, LA is also a bicycle racer,  of which she is currently in the top 10 for the Women's Short course  - which can be 20+ - 50 miles in her age group!  Yea, that's a short course!  HA   I know she ran a race last weekend and has one more for the season to go but I'm not sure where she finished but I bet she's still in the top ten.   Lois Ann rides in the MGRS- Michigan Gravel Race series which, as it states, they ride on gravel for a good portion of their races.  How cool is that! 

I hope you enjoyed seeing why I am so inspired by my friends!   I don't think the biking will inspire me but LA's art work will for years to come!