Just like a new strap can make an old watch feel brand new, nothing updates your iPhone faster and easier than a fresh new wallpaper. This Tumblr has been
”Architecture arouses sentiments in man. The architect's task, therefore, is to make those sentiments more precise.” Adolf Loos
I was working on deadline to document the process of making my City Windows quilt when I discovered a huge problem regarding the importance of contrast. My upcoming Architecture Quilt class was starting in just one week and I still needed to finish creating all my video clips to show the process of creating this […]
Gateway Arch
Have you ever wondered if you will make it to the finish line in a race? I gave myself a month to create this city quilt, and I needed every bit of that time. Reason? Mainly, it is BIG, as my own a…
It's that time again! I love Blogger's Quilt Festival - the genius idea of Amy Ellis of Amy's Creative Side where blogge...
Have you ever wondered if you will make it to the finish line in a race? I gave myself a month to create this city quilt, and I needed every bit of that time. Reason? Mainly, it is BIG, as my own a…
Just like a new strap can make an old watch feel brand new, nothing updates your iPhone faster and easier than a fresh new wallpaper. This Tumblr has been
Just like a new strap can make an old watch feel brand new, nothing updates your iPhone faster and easier than a fresh new wallpaper. This Tumblr has been
Just like a new strap can make an old watch feel brand new, nothing updates your iPhone faster and easier than a fresh new wallpaper. This Tumblr has been
Have you ever wondered if you will make it to the finish line in a race? I gave myself a month to create this city quilt, and I needed every bit of that time. Reason? Mainly, it is BIG, as my own a…
Get ready. This is a long one. Because, you know, one of those secret projects that couldn't be revealed. Until now. Baby's not here yet, so...
Just like a new strap can make an old watch feel brand new, nothing updates your iPhone faster and easier than a fresh new wallpaper. This Tumblr has been
Just like a new strap can make an old watch feel brand new, nothing updates your iPhone faster and easier than a fresh new wallpaper. This Tumblr has been
For the first time in the Sketchbook Challenge my heart dropped when reading about the new theme for this month. It was: Urban Sketching. Living in the back of beyond doesn't offer any opportunities for urban sketching and West Linton can hardly be described as an urban environment. I wouldn't ever want to take my sketchbook to Edinburgh and draw in situ. Way too much attention, it would really put me off. So I started thinking about alternatives and somehow my mind drifted to small Italian hill towns such as can be found in Tuscany. It might not be truly urban but after all they are towns and were once independent states. I remembered the curious juxtaposition in one street of farm buildings, small cottages, town houses and defensive towers with of course also at least one church. An idea came and as the first hing that came to hand (despite the fact I have a veritable wealth of sketchbooks!)was my diary. I scribbled it down in there. You can see the sketch here Then I graduated to drawing my town plan to scale i.e. 10" square as I've made all the quilts for the Sketchbook Challenge. I had fun colouring in the drawing using Promarkers and you can see the finished drawing here I used this as the template for making the fabric Journal Quilt for this week with the assistance of lots of Bondaweb. As background I chose to use a black/white squared fabric that brought to my mind the tiled floors you find in many Italian houses and churches. I used a selection of brightly coloured Chinese cottons as well as my hand-dyed ones to bring the houses to life. And you can see the end product here. It's another of my weekly journal quilts I'm making as part of my 52 Journals project. If you want to see all the previous ones you can click on the 52 Journals label below this post and there is also a slideshow of the ones finished so far in the sidebar. I've tried to describe how this piece came to be but in reality even I don't fully understand my mind's process. I just try to get out of the way and let it happen. And in this case I'm very happy with the results. It might not be all that urban compared to sketching in say New York but it's a lot more urban than our rustic location and what's more important, it works well as a design and I thoroughly enjoyed the hectic day that led from scribble to drawing to fabric.
Rue du Saint Sacrement My friend John Vazalinskas has invited me to stage a two-person show with him this fall. John is a talented and versatile painter, who works en plein air and in the studio. His subjects include both rural and urban landscape. John's idea was that as the focal point of our publicity, we should each produce a 24" x 24" work inspired by the same scene, and that we should choose a distinctively Montreal subject. John is full of good ideas. We spent a few hours in Old Montreal and the area around the port, to see if we could find a subject that appealed to us both. John graciously conceded to my first choice, a subject I had captured once before as a simple line drawing. original photo I have to say I had some trouble choosing my colours and values for this piece. I found a wonderful hand-dyed sky in my stash, and somehow its naturalistic palette inhibited me when choosing the bolder colours I wanted for the buildings themselves. Many hand-dyed bits were swapped in and out as I auditioned them for their roles. I may revisit this composition, but will have to let some time pass before I can see it with fresh eyes. For now, Rue du Saint Sacrement will be tucked away, waiting for its debut.
Just like a new strap can make an old watch feel brand new, nothing updates your iPhone faster and easier than a fresh new wallpaper. This Tumblr has been
