Praise Hands - a Rerun on Off the Wall Friday

 Since I started working full-time back in 2012, Thursday nights have always been my blog night.  This mostly works out well, unless an emergency pops up like today.  So I thought I would steal an idea from my favorite blog, Ask A Manager, and rerun a post that was hidden in the archives.  Since back in 2009 hardly anybody was reading, I thought what the heck!  

Praise Hands for Sacred Threads 2009

"Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God, the Father, for everything." Eph 5:19,20


I have a habit of emailing quilters if their work really strikes me. This is how I got to know a new friend, Lisa Ellis last summer. I loved a lily quilt that she made and posted. Looking over her body of work I could see many similarities with mine. We both like to use Christian themes, women in motion, and organic lines. She suggested that I enter the Sacred Threads Quilt Show. I put it on my list of things to do since I had seen articles on how amazing the show was. That said, life happens and the deadline for the show snuck up on me. So a week before they were due, I started designing. I had 3 or 4 designs drawn out and chose the one that I thought was the strongest. I had gotten inspiration from an online photo - which I blew up and cropped (twice). Then I drew in my own elements adding value with pencil.

I picked a pallet of primary colors (adding a bit of the complementary for accent). I pieced the background using fabrics not only from my stash but also from my scrap bags. Ever since I color-sorted my scraps, they are far more useful. With the background safely done, I created a pattern for the praise ribbons that would rise from the hands. I imagine them to gradate in different values of yellow, orange, and red. Still, I was a little stumped on how to do that until I decided to paper piece them right onto the pattern. I machine rough-edged the praise elements onto the background - which created a nice hard element of line - then added a ton of machine quilting. I don't think I ever added so much free-motion thread work before in a piece.
I sewed every free moment I had that week. It took just over 40 hours to make the quilt but I was really happy with the final result since it was what I had seen in my mind's eye. Lisa is Sacred Threads Web Master and she cleverly had set up an online entry system which is wonderful. I got my entry in with only 4 hours to spare. I was thrilled! The only thing that topped that excitement was when I received the envelope 10 weeks later saying that it was accepted - my first national show.

Reading this I think - Wow! - where does the time go!!  Obviously, I hadn't created my writing style yet but you get the gist.  

So What Have You Been UP to Creatively?

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More Value on Off the Wall Friday

 I would love to say that I've accomplished more this week, but  'Tis the Season and all that!!  All I can say is the house is nearly decorated so at least it's looking festive around here.

I did finally finish up my value studies with these last two.  I took the suggestion of my critique partner and tried some with the point of the ray going underneath of the circle.  Also, I wanted to try making the lightest parts of the curve on the outer edges which I definitely think adds depth.  I can see how the ideas have progressed as I tried different versions.  I think these last two are nearly where I need to be.

I also want to mention another handy trick.  Now, most people will take pictures of their work as they go.  Also, it's common to look at those pictures in greyscale to check out the values.  I went one step further and applied the introvert filter on PhotoShop Express. I've been trying out this photo editing app and find it easy to work with and has all that I need in an editor.  The introvert version of my trials, I found interesting.  Honestly, I think I'm going to have to really think about these last versions.  BUT it's definitely time to make a decision because they're all starting to run together!

I would start choosing the palette but I'm just too sleepy to do a good job.  At least it's Friday!  I'll have plenty of time this weekend to finally get my hands on some color and fabric!

So What Have You've Been Up to Creatively?

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Adding the Value on Off the Wall Friday

A Work Table of a Quilter?

 

About 10 years ago, Elizabeth Barton asked me to make value studies of the design I had chosen to do in her class.  No problem.....How many?

8

I beg your pardon?  Did you say 8? OMGosh!  Are you crazy? I sew.  I do not spend time coloring ... in greys!

But I did (Because why spend $600 on a class if you're not going to listen to the teacher, right?!)  Let me tell you it was time well spent.  Doing value studies really gives you good starting point once you start auditioning fabrics.  I mean think about it...You might pick the colors you want in your piece but how many fabrics do you have in those colors?  Do you just want to randomly start pulling them from your stash and auditioning them one after another?  Once you have your value study chosen then at least you know where the darks go - where the lights go etc etc.  It doesn't mean that you are strictly going to stick with your value map....but it's a start.

So my Sacred Threads Design continued this week (Yes this is week 2 and I still haven't touched fabric!).  I first want to give a big THANK YOU to Margaret Blank who pointed out that my original  chosen composition contained the sin of a tangent element.  With a quick google search I found out she was right so it was back to the drawing board! (And yes of course she was right..it's Margaret!)

So after scrapping the tangent praise lady... I decided to bring back another element I had originally played around with

Cross, Ray, Circles

Now this I was happy with.  So on with the  value studies.  I start with  the line drawing  and reduce it down to 25% .  The smaller sketches are easier to color in with colored pencils.  I made due with grays from my  prismacolor  set.  Later,  I did find that DickBlick sells an actual tin of gradations of gray scale pencils which I put immediately on my Christmas list!  

It took a long afternoon and several episodes of Star Trek Voyager but I came up 8 different variations of value.

In the beginning I was using big blocks of the same value while later I started playing with an ombre effect which of course added even more movement.  (Sorry it isn't exactly clear in the photos) .  I do like how by placing the lightest of the lights in the circle it creates a window effect,  Also it adds emphasis to what probably will be the focal point - where they all intercept.  

One thing I did noticed was that they all seemed a bit "stodgy".  I've been watching a lot of the British Bake-Off lately and the Britianism's are starting to wear off.  (Stodgy - heavy, filling, full of carbohydrates).  So a composition that I wanted to contain light and movement was being weighted down.  hmmmm but by what??

So I went back to the original inspiration by Georgia OKeefe.  Here it is in greyscale.  See what she did?  She broke up the values to give more movement, helping the curve recede and then draw forward.  Cool right?  So I'm thinking I need more of that!  

And yes that means I need to do some few more value studies before I can play with fabric.  Elizabeth would be so pleased..grin

So What Have Been Up to Creatively?

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The Idea Continues on Off the Wall Friday

 Last week I explained how I create an idea from the very beginning.  This week I actually put it into practice.  With the Sacred Threads Art Show deadline 7 weeks away, I really need to get my act together.  Of course, after the year I've had, sometimes I forget where my act actually is so I can get it together.  Luckily I found some creativity I had squirred away for a rainy day and the design is well on its way.  

Red and Orange Streak, OKeefe

#1 Theme - For Sacred Threads, it needs to be themes that explore joy, spirituality, peace/brotherhood, inspiration, grief, or healing.So I'll pick something in there!

#2 Research - I spent a long afternoon researching different ideas and inspirations I had saved on Pinterest.  Honestly, I really think they should rename that site The Rabbit Hole since I open it up, and the next thing you know days hours have passed.  For this project, I studied how other artists interrupted praise.  It was all curves and radiating compositions which fits me fine!  Plus they are all drama, drama, drama.  Perfect!!  The more I looked the more I kept coming back to Georgia OKeefe's Red and Orange Streak.  Not only does it have a fitting composition Cruciform Structure (yeah just a fancy way of saying cross shape) but it's all about the drama!  So I stole that and went from there.

#3 Design - Now here is where things get dicey.  Once I have the initial idea, I do most of my designing  on paper.  It's readily available, comes in lots of sizes, easy to draw on and trace through, and most importantly easy to EARASE.  With tracing paper you can add in elements, take out elements and layer them pretty easily. So that's what I did!  Here are some of the trials....

Cross  With Lady

It's a beginning ...but I'm not keen on the way the line breaks up her tummy plus how quiet the upper left hand corner is

Add Another Lady

Too much Lady - losing the Cross (Paul said Nina she's too big- oops he's right)

Lady and Little Lady

Well this helps but I have no idea what I'm going to do with little lady's chopped off legs - that just looks weird.  It could be worked into the a pieced background.  With this  - I'm losing the cross composition which really should be the star of the piece - Scrapped this idea

Cross, Lady and Circle

This was just one trial of many, many circle ideas.  Honestly I do think that a circle still could be worked into this design but maybe as a secondary element in a  pieced background.  I'm thinking with the primary composition less is more.

Cross, Lady, Rays

Now this I like...First of all who doesn't like rays coming down from Heaven to shine on a Praise lady (grin).  Secondly, composition wise it gives a push and pull to the curve without taking over the piece.  This one I'm keeping.  

Those are only a few of the ideas that I tried getting to the end composition.  Many of them were scrapped and some went into the trash.  With tracing paper though it was harmless and a lot cheaper than doing it with fabric.

Want more on how to evaluate a composition???  You can find posts  Here and Here!

What's Next?  Value studies and palette/fabric choices

On this Week's Edition of Things I Like.... One Expensive .... One Cheap

After watching me wrestle with my old laptop, my husband very kindly bought me a new Dell Inspiron 15 (not for Christmas - just because I deserved it!)  It's been 7 years since my last upgrade and OMGosh I'm in heaven.  It's so much faster which makes editing and writing this blog a breeze.  It keeps up with my fast internet so I can get things done so much quicker.  I love Windows 11 - much more than Windows 10.  I find where things are innately.  Plus the apps it came with are really what I

need...especially the To-Do App...love it!  The built in webcam isn't the best but it's fine for my purposes.  

Finally under the category of  "It's the Simple Things" for all this paper work I broke out my favorite erasure, Pentel Clic Eraser.  I discovered this baby in 1984 in the Syracuse University Bookstore. and as a freshman engineer student I thought it was coolest thing ever.  Nearly 40 years later, I still love them.  The eraser is perfect for when you want to erase just what you want to erase.  Not to mention it doesn't smear and ages well without drying out Plus it's easy to store with your other pencils.  Anyways for $5 it makes my life easier!

So What Are You Up To Creatively?

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The Birth of an Idea on Off the Wall Friday

 

Honestly, I don't know how it can be Thursday already!  Work is crazy, the snow has started to fly (yes SNOW #lifeonLakeErie) and the holidays are just around the corner.  In all of this, I got the bright idea to try to enter Sacred Threads 2022.  With the deadline  fast approaching, it suddenly got moved to the top of my to-do list.   The only problem is I have no clue of what I want to enter.  I thought it would be fun to blog out how I go about coming up with a new design.  (Notice the use of blog as a verb...see the younger generation isn't the only one that can slaughter the English language!)  

(Now remember this is just how I go about giving birth to an idea!)

Red & Orange Streak, Georgia OKeefe

Step 1:  Theme ... Here I decide what I want to say.  I've seen many, many quilters make a quilt and then decides what it says.    That might be fun for an exercise but for something as important as Sacred Threads that just won't do.  For me, though its easy.  I want to continue on with my worship series.  Worship for me is an big part of my spiritual life and it's fun to bring both my passions (worship/art) together.  This would be the fourth in the series.  

Victory Dance, Deborah Nell

Step 2:  Research ... Most times, this is where I need to learn more about the subject I
want to create.  Of course with this project,  I totally understand the subject.  That brings me to looking at inspirational ideas.  What works for me is to study how other artists have covered a subject.  From the beginning of art, artists have looked to other artists to inspire their own work.  With the advent of the internet it's become that much easier.  Over the last 10 years, I've currated my pinterest boards.  I use them not only to hoard collect pretty pictures but put together ideas for future projects.  With a new project, it just gives me an excuse to go down the rabbit hole of Pintrest....in fact...I just had to stop myself from doing it while I was writing this post.  With this project, I already had a board going called Praise.

Step 3: Brainstorm ... In the past I would do this mentally, but as I get older I find it's not a bad idea to write things down.  Most of the time it starts out on quarter cut pieces of scrap paper that I'll jot down as I'm talking to  my customers.  It goes somethings like this..... VERBALLY  Yes, I'm sorry to say but the no-iron pants in  14 petite are  on back order till December 14....MENTALLY  I love how
those the curves radiate right off the edge of this painting.  It makes it seem like the praise just keeps going and going.  PHYSICALLY Jot down a quick sketch and put it in the pile for after work. (Oh yeah, I do get my customer her pants ... we always have those pants in some color!)    Then the little sketches can be later evaluated and stored for the next step.

Step 4:  Design ... This is where rubber hits the road.  I mean, it's all fine and good to be
talking about a new design but if you can't get it down on paper, it's all for naught, right?!  For me I'll do simple line sketches of the different ideas and elements from previous steps.  They don't have to be anything fancy, but they have to start looking like an actual compositions.  I do this with both abstract and figurative designs.  And no...I don't do just one.... I'll do a few.  THEN I can evaluate which one is the strongest.   The strongest goes safely into my sketchbook where it can later be refined. 

And THAT's how an idea is born.  For me, it's all down on paper.  I know weird, but I really do need to have a road map on where I'm going or I'll just end up standing still...or worse yet....circling back to the beginning.  With that said,  I definitely don't guarantee that I will get to where I actually meant to but I'm quite sure it will be someplace interesting.  

So What Are You Up to Creatively?

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Little by Little - Design Wall Monday

  After a long day in studio yesterday - 10 hours! - I'm getting close and closer to the finish of the piecing of Curves2.

I finally got my studio up to 70 degrees which makes it just that much easier to stay productive in there.  By the end of the night, I was tired!

 Still I did notice something.  The last yellow piece I put on did not read "Dark Yellow" under the studio lights.  When the lights are off you can tell its suppose to be dark yellow, but with the lights on it just reads a touch darker than its curving counterpart.

You know what that means right?  sighhhhhhhhh

I'll have to do that section again.  It shouldn't take  that long.  I'm hoping to  get the bottom section piecing done this week so I can layer it up on my studio day on Thursday.

See other great design walls at Judy's Patchwork Times!

Baby Its Cold Outside - Off the Wall Friday

Did I need to make it 55 by 45??

Hat, Gloves AND my blankie!

I am not at my creative best  during the winter months, especially February when it seems like the cold is never going to end.  This year though my latest project has really kept me going.  Too bad it can't keep me warm!  This week, we've had sub zero  temps for most of the week  - as low as -18!

You know what that means??  My studio doesn't get much warmer than 60 degrees.  Can anyone say - Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr?!?!?!

Little by little though, I am getting the Curves2 done.  I was hoping to have all the piecing done by today but who knew it would take this long?!  I'm literally on the 9th bobbin of thread on this baby!  Geesh - like winter, I'm thinking the piecing is never going to end!!!

p.s.  this is what I woke up this fine Friday morning......guess the cold isn't ending soon either!!!

Hopefully you're warmer than I and don't have to create with gloves on!

What are you up to creatively?

Sacred Curves - Take 2 - Off the Wall Friday

I tried.  Honestly, I did.  I took my last design, which by the way, wasn't half bad.  I didn't love, love it but I didn't hate it either.  So, I tried coloring it and I colored some more. But none of them seemed right.  What's a girl to do when a piece that is suppose to be "inspired" feels more like a chore?

Scrap it!  Start Again!  If I had that idea, I'll have another.

I decided what I didn't like about the design was that there was too much representational work in what I wanted to be an abstraction of spiritual praise.  I think its not a bad idea to write out what you want your piece to express and put that on your design wall.  That way you won't take a wrong turn and end up completely somewhere else.  (Not that somewhere else isn't perfectly fine, but, hey, its not where we wanted to go!)


So Guess What??  My design came out of me with no problem.  I refined it here and there for a long while and finally was satisfied.  Now I just have to color it.  Again.  Groan. . 

This time, I took a different approached and used my handy dandy Photoshop Elements program.  Its really not that complicated.  After making sure that the design only included enclosed shapes, I scanned it into the program. 
Then all you have to do is "Select" (I used the lasso) the shapes, pick a
color and "Paint Bucket" to fill it
.  Waaaa - La!!  I feel very smart!

The hardest part was picking the colors. . . of course.  Now remember this was  only to give me a rough idea of where I'm doing with the piece.  I didn't feel the need to perfect the colors.  Its amazing that once you start playing with the colors you see all sorts of directions the design can go.

These are only the first three.  I gave myself a deadline to start sewing by Sunday so I don't end up down another rabbit hole!

So what have you been up to creatively?

A Color Story - Off the Wall Friday

Ahhhhh - our Christmas Rush is over and I have some time to create.  Well, just a little time, since it still is Christmas. . . not to mention all the things I let slide the last three weeks.  Yet, it wasn't a bad idea letting my next project "cook" a bit.  I've been thinking of values and colors - so I pulled out my color pencil collection.

As an aside - for a "Non-Drawer" - I have a pretty big collection of color pencils. I mean doesn't everyone need 5 different sets to the tune of 200+ pencils?  And what set do I like the best and its my go-to set - yep - you guessed it - my Crayola Pencils.  Not only were they the least expensive  ($6) but they color smooth, sharpen nicely and the 50 pencil set has a nice range of colors.  Just perfect for utility coloring of the design process.

So last month I came up with my sketch for Sacred Threads.  Since you should always make visual decisions visually - I've been coloring up some mock ups.

UGH!!  Can you say edit??  Too many colors - but I do like the way the yellow moves through it.  Also not enough value changes.

Again to many colors  - the yellow creates a nice focal point - the lighter cross makes it stand out more.  Do I want the cross to be the highlight of the piece or the abstracted people?  hmmmm

I started to limit the palette a bit - I like the cross in the neutral and the nice dark background - but it all seems a bit too much blue and dark.  I wanted this to be a happy piece - needs more happy colors.

This is getting closer - I like the idea of putting the cross in the same color family as background - using three bits of yellow to create movement and focal points.  The color palette is working nicely too. I'm getting closer.

After 4 - I called uncle.  I mean my hand was starting to cramp up!  But I still want to try some more trials since I made a lot of copies of the sketch.  The thing about this process is it makes me decide what do I actually want to say and how do I want to say it.  Color and Value play a huge part in that. 

I've learned the better you plan out a project, the easier it will go in the end.  Besides there are worse things to do than color in front of the Christmas tree.

I will be running Off the Wall Friday the next two weekends - even with the holidays for anybody who wants to link up. Right now my studio looks like Wrapping Central but I do expect to get some time back in there soon!

No matter what your beliefs -

Let me just wish you Blessings of the Season.  

So what have you been up to creatively

An InLinkz Link-up

To Photo or Not to Photo - Off the Wall Friday

This week my email box has been flooded with  the QuiltArt List's discussion  on the use of photos as a starting point in original art.  Is is copying or is it inspiration?  What makes original art  - original?  What should be accepted into art shows on the national level?  And of course, everyone has an opinion.  Including me.

I, as you know, use photos as inspiration in most of my work.  Is it ever a copy of the photo?  My opinion is no. I thought I would offer the design process of my latest project as the proof of my opinion.

With the Sacred Threads deadline dooming looming -  I started off with photos collected in my pinterest files for inspiration.( They were taken from the Creative Commons with a share/adapt designation).  I loved these images

Cool huh?!  I thought so! Anyways - not being able to sketch - I traced the images into a composition that I liked (this composition was always in my creative mind - I choose the images to suit the composition)

But - I didn't want to work representational or figurative.  I've been trying to flex my abstract muscles plus play with curves.  So being inspired by Sonia Delauney, I came up with this background.  I tried not to overthink it too much!

Then I added the two together. . . blobbing out abstracting the figures so that they should only be the impression of what they really are.

Of course from here comes value sketches and palette choices - But I thought I would think on this sketch for a bit to make sure I really like it.  Let me tell you - even if I do keep this sketch - it will be abstracted even more so that the viewer should only get a hint of what the figures were originally.  Or at least that's the plan.

So needless to say - I'm quite sure that nobody is going to say upon viewing the final piece - OMG - those are cemetery statues aren't they??

No they should say - OMG - Nina- how did you do that?

And that's all I'm going to say on the matter of  using photos for inspiration.

So what have you been up to creatively?