A Color Study:  Underwater Fantasy

Created by

The Aussome Study Group

Orange - Mary Andrews

Yellow - Lois Ann Fulton

Blue - Robbie Payne

Green - Karen Kiley Olson

Red - Carol Tamasiunas

It's been quite a busy week!!  Our Aussome Study Group's opening, for our art quilt exhibit, is next Friday.  Hence, this past week or so has been dedicated to picking up quilts, getting sleeves on quilts, making all the labels for the wall at the exhibit...and other busy work!   The group quilt picture above is one we did back in  2008 and was juried into the IQA show in Houston (you can read my blog post on it here).   This piece will be on the main wall as you walk into the Art Council bldg.  I think it will draw a lot of attention.  If you can click on the picture and look at each quilt detail, I think you'll be impressed.  Lots and lots of different techniques and materials used.

The quilt picture above doesn't look like much but under this 'stack' are 39 other art quilts from our groups Inspired by the Master exhibit.  The IBTM exhibit are all consistent in size - 16" x 20" but we have a variety of sizes for each of our six individual exhibits.  Actually we have 95 quilts to hang!!!  I'm hoping we can hang all of them but you never know.  The majority of mine, for example, are 8 1/2" x 11" (my beaded pieces) and some of the other ladies have small sizes as well.   I think the exhibit will be really interesting as we have so many different techniques/mediums we each work in.

We always have a good time at the opening...usually meeting for dinner ahead of time and then the 'meet and greet'.  The Art Council bldg is always packed, and I mean packed with folks coming to see the art work.

In between quilts, I finally got a chance to get 75% caught up on my Watercolor lessons with Val Webb.  I do enjoy working with the watercolor...not good at the 'drawing' part but learning a lot and figure I can always trace any letter(s) I might choose to work with!  There's always a way, right!

Lesson in creating a trinity knot

A Uncial inspired letter

This is a fun lesson to do.  A painted watercolor background that we add botanical elements using a Crow Quill pen and white, opaque ink.  The only problem I'm having is getting the ink to flow from my pen.  Sometimes it works great and other times all I get is a scratch on my paper.  I'm only pulling the pen towards me but still...gets frustrating because I'm enjoying this process the most.  Reminds me of doodling/Zentangle type work.

So busy week this week...we're hanging the quilts starting on Tues.  We should be finished by Friday!!  Let's hope, right!

I'll stick to my day job...whatever that is!

 

Yep...going to stick to my day job - now I just need to figure out which that 'day job' is - fiber - beads - dye!  Anyway, the Watercolor Lettering class is really great...I am enjoying working in a new medium, watercolor....and I've learned some new tips from Val Webb that I know I can apply to my 'day job' of fiber and beads!  That's the whole point of a class, right...to learn something new!

We have printouts and of course our samples so I put them all in a folder, which I sketched/colored...kinda hokey but at least I'll be able to find it!

Lesson 3 is on banners...we were suppose to find a word to color on our banner but I couldn't think of anything (go figure!) so I thought it was a good way to practice the alphabet...ok, part of it anyway!

Lesson 4 will be out today but I may not get to it until later this week.  Today I'm putting labels on some of my beaded pieces for our upcoming exhibit.  Our Inspired by the Masters quilts will be on exhibit at the Greater Flint Art Center the middle of Sept.  In addition to our Master quilts we'll each (there are six in our Aussome Study Group) have a place to hang additional work(s).  I have four of my beaded pieces framed and have a few more to add to the group...they are all 'flora and fauna'...in my backyard...ok, maybe someone else's backyard!

Idle hands? Not!

I certainly haven't been idle this week but not much accomplished in art work....unless you count my Watercolor Lettering class...I did finish a few practice pieces for our 2nd lesson.  I'm having a problem with perspective and proportion in my letters so I'm going back to lesson 1 to work on this part of lettering.

Attempt 1

Attempt 2

Really bad attempt 2!

Back to lesson 1!

I'll keep practicing...and I'm still enjoying Val's class.  She does explain and show in her video's great instructions...I'm just a slow learner!

Bob painted over half of the deck yesterday so today I'll start on the spindles and railing.  He'll paint the other half later this week.  New carpeting is suppose to be re-installed on Tues., Wed. is kids day - paddle boat time; Thursday lunch with my friend Joan and Friday a visit with another friend to do some fabric organizing.
My friend, Mary, had her hip replaced last Tues., headed to her daughter's on Friday but ended up back in ER yesterday due to swelling, which they think was caused by BP meds.  She is/was walking around more and said she felt better.  Here's hoping she keeps up the good work!!!  And no more visits to ER!!!

Lesson 2

I did get to practice somewhat this a.m. on our 2nd lesson of Watercolor Lettering by Val Webb

I only had enough time to work on this practice piece before heading out for a hair cut.  Monday was our fiber meeting, tomorrow is day with grand kids and Thursday I have to go to the funeral home, as an old, old friend passed away suddenly early this morning.  Carol was a great pal back in the day when i raised horses.  She and I were single at the same time.  We hauled hay, stacked it, got feed by the ton, clean stalls and trained horses...all the while having a blast at it!  We did more laughing (&eating!) during the 'day'....she was quite the animal lover and never wanted to sell a horse or foal.  I do have fond memories of our time together.  I did notice something as I was looking up old pictures of Carol....she isn't in any but 3-4!  Why is that!

Well, she was the one always taking pictures of our group.  We had started a saddle club back in the mid to late 70's and met each weekend to trail ride or attend horse shows.  Carol was the 'keeper of the albums'...but because she took the pictures, she wasn't in any of them!  I do know how this goes...in the old fiber group I belonged to, I took all the pictures monthly and posted them on our yahoo page...same with our current small fiber group.  I take the pictures but there aren't any of me in them because I'm taking them....not sure if this is good or bad, but something to keep in mind for the future.

So that's my week this week...not sure how much I'll get done in my art work until the weekend.  I'm going to try to add some beads on my sun/moon piece...Tigers are on tonight so it's a good night to do some type of hand work. I've already taken Kalee on her walk so she should be resting and not wanting to play...guess we'll see!

Well, it's been a busy week...not so much with art work (more on that later in this post).  I did get some things accomplished...finished my cuff!  The pattern is Verdant Enchantment, a pattern by Sand Fibers/Carol Sharpe).   I love Carol's patterns and she has me hooked on the word charts!!!

I am very happy with how it turned out...although, I did remove about 10 rows from the beginning so the center was the 'X' pattern.  I like my cuffs tight and guess my wrist is small...and I just happen to have had a copper toggle!

I couldn't get a good picture of the cuff on my wrist so just pretend it's on a wrist!

I also played with another lesson, called 'pebbles' from this week's Watercolor Lettering class I'm taking online.  (If you're interested you can read about it here and see my first 'lettering I did'.)

So now to our week...and what a week it's been...started off with carpeting being delivered on Tues. for the living room...all was well and then when the carpet was unrolled...FLAWS...lots of FLAWS in the pattern...not good!  So...installers did their job and installed what they brought so we could at least get the LR back to semi normal (all the furniture was in the dining room).

They made a call to the carpet store to reorder...ok, that's fine..we can deal with that...but after a day and half of looking and walking on the carpet, Bob and I decided we didn't like it!!!  Well, now was the time to pick out something else..so Thursday we headed off to the carpet store and re-ordered a whole different type of carpet.  Guess things happen for a reason, right!
Yes, it's a little inconvenient, but I think it turned out to be a good thing!  At least I hope we like the new carpet we ordered....oh yea, in between time our 65" TV in the LR broke...had repair man out...ordered  a part...new part didn't work...had to reorder same part...finally got that installed on Wed. or Thursday..I honestly don't remember the day...and in between all that Bob bought another 65" TV for downstairs...he isn't happy with it...thinks it's not as clear as upstairs....SO, he is trying to determine if it's the TV, the cable wiring, the HDMI cable...yada, yada...personally, I think it looks ok...but I probably listen more to TV than watch it.  I'm usually doing beading or sewing or on the computer while shows are on.  I'm not a good judge of how a TV looks.

So that's been our week...here's hoping this week is more productive!!!  Fiber meeting tomorrow with ladies, meeting another friend on Tues., Wed. is day with kids and who knows what else will keep me out of the sewing room the rest of the week!!!

For your viewing pleasure!

First, have to show the progress on my beaded cuff!  Didn't work on it last night but made good headway on Tuesday night.  I'm on row 70 of 230!  A ways to go and yes, for those 'eagle' eyes...I just noticed that I messed up and have the wrong bead in my triangle!  Grrrrrrrrrr  Since this 'bead mistake' will be in the back perhaps I'll be the only one to notice!  I might rip it out and replace...yea...that's what I'll have to do.  I think there's a way you crack the 'bad' bead and then stitch back through to replace it?  I'll have to look that up!

At our fiber meeting on Monday, I asked two of our ladies, Carol and LoisAnn, if I could post some of their watercolor work they do.  I'm always impressed with any painting or drawing since I can't do either!  So here for your "viewing pleasure" are some of the art work from my talented friends!

Carol was working on an online class called, Fantasy Journaling, by Diane Hollingsworth.  If you want to see  Diane's studio and some of her artwork, check out her YouTube here.  WOW!

Here are some pages from Carol's Fantasy journal.  I love the look of these pages and it's all done in watercolor!   Look closely at each of the elements in her pages.   Cool!

And these are just a few pages from Lois Ann's journal.  LA did these while sitting beach or ocean side! She just takes her watercolor paints with her and these are her results!  Amazing!

Hope you enjoy seeing some of my friend's work(s)!

Another warm one today.....looking forward to fall already!

WIP's

Just showing some works in progress..the first one isn't mine. This is a piece my friend Carol T. is working on. Carol does quite a bit of drawing with watercolor on paper and she also paints quite a few of her art quilts. This is a piece she's drawing on fabric with pencils and I think it's turning out really good! I was really impressed with how it's coming out and she's actually inspired me to try doing some flowers on fabric. I have the book 'The Botanical Palette' and I'm going to trace some flowers to play with. Carol draws all of her pieces and does a really good job...I can trace really good so that's what I'll stick with!

The next 'WIP' is my bracelet I started on my loom! Yippee!! I did finish it with the exception of the clasp. I'm really pleased with how my first attempt at bead loom work!! I really love working on the loom with the beads and I'm anxious to get started on my next piece. I want to make a cuff so I'm looking at some different designs or I might even make up my own pattern again.

Beautiful weather again today with some rain early this a.m. Cool breeze and a nice day to bead outside as well! Temps suppose to be in the 80's by next week so I'm sure kids will be doing lots of swimming!

Weekend underway

Last night was our CCC (Complex Cloth Club) fiber meeting. During our show and tell, one of our members showed a pillow advertisement. I did go to their web site just because I was curious as to who would pay $125 for one little cushion! I have to say they have some really nice, unique pillows. In fact, some of the pillows look like they'd make a nice quilt design! hmmmmm

We did have a really interesting and relaxing meeting! We always start off with show and tell which is quite nice and last night wasn't any different. Dye camp was two weeks ago so we had lots of hand dyed fabrics to look at. Some great designs and colors.
After our S&T, our technique for this month was a Water Color Play Day or Holistic Art Workshop, I'm not sure which title Marty wanted! (Each month one member presents a technique for us to try.) It turned out to be quite a relaxing technique. We were supplied (by Marty!) with herbal treats (I think it was cashew peanut butter, wheat bagels, dark chocolate and alkaline water) and then she showed us some breathing techniques and then we played with watercolors. I'm not into drawing at all or using my watercolors to actually paint something but Marty made us all feel quite relaxed (could it have been the oil we sniffed? Oh, I forgot to mention that didn't I!).

For our first exercise, we were just to paint on our paper anything! So I did! This was my first piece.

Our next exercise was to paint a 'shape'. I honestly couldn't think of a shape to paint! I was going to do a triangle but then decided not to...my friend next to me started to do one so I didn't want her to think I was that lame that I was copying her! OK, I don't know what shape it is either..if you turn it, someone said it looked like a cucumber..maybe..but it was fun to do.

We were suppose to bring a piece of fruit, which I forgot, but my friend had a pear and an apple with her. The last exercise we were to use Sharpie's and draw (ugh...scary for me!) our fruit or draw an object. So i elected to draw the pear. You can see my small pear on the right which is outlined. It looked so sad by itself so I added the other two. They suggested I color the background..well, duh! I didn't think of that. See, I said i don't draw or color! Gosh, how bad am I! It's a wonder I can put fabric together to make my art quilts!
All in all we had a really, really nice evening..relaxing and exactly what Marty wanted us to have. She did a great job.

Today I've been struggling with creating a design for a gift I need to make. I literally worked ALL day and I think I've come up with what I want to do. I'm almost afraid to sleep on it because for the past four days, every time I wake up and start to work on it I change my mind! Maybe I'll think about my green pears instead and what color I want the background to be..that should keep me up tonight!