Mixed Media Fabric Art Explorations - Playing with Shaving Cream

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I am really going to miss these students when this class ends in a few weeks! There is so much joy in experimenting and playing with techniques with like-minded people.

Part of tonight's fun was marbling with shaving cream with inks and acrylics on water color paper, deli paper and fabric.

Fun, messy, almost instant gratification and papers/fabrics that can be used in your artwork. Doesn't get much better in my mind. We had a blast.

Class Location:  Phoenix Center for the Arts, 1202 N 3rd St, Phoenix, AZ 85004 - New classes begin in May, 2014.
  

Quilt Experiment: Gesso & Paint

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After Gesso is added.

After Paint is added.

This fabric mixed media experiment was inspired by work I have seen on the blog Purple Missus and the work that Linda and Diana Kemshall  in their book The Painted Quilt.

I have tried a few 'quilt it then paint it' experiments but this is my first one using gesso after quilting. You can see I also added some beads and a little hand stitching before adding gesso and painting. This was really fun and is still a work in progress.

It has several layers of watered down acrylic (first layer after the gesso) as well as some different colors of Lumiere Russet, Copper and Gold. I did decide it was too metallic and added some Violet Jacquard Textile Color with a sponge brush, gently pulled across the top.

My favorite part of this are the my little circles that meander across this piece. I think they now look like stones in a river.

I am curious what you see and what you like about this experiment? Ever done anything similar?  More to come as I will be adding some satin stitching to the sides and maybe add some more beads and hand stitching.  More to come

Leave a comment and as always, you can click on photos for a closer look.

Thank you for visiting my blog.

Student Work from Wire Wrapping 7 Weeks

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Just a sampling of student work from session #3 of my Wire Wrapping class. It is such a blast working with 12 students who are so excited about what they are learning. This is their 2nd attempt at wrapping a cabochon and they did great! Click on any photo for a closer look.

Plenty of mistakes and stumbles but that is the point of taking a class, I believe. All of those stumbles lead to learning that will never be forgotten.

Student Work 1 - Wire Wrapping 7 Weeks at Phoenix Center for the Arts

Student Work 2 - Wire Wrapping 

7 Weeks at Phoenix Center for the Arts

Student Work 3 - Wire Wrapping 7 Weeks at Phoenix Center for the Arts

Student Work 4 - Wire Wrapping 7 Weeks at Phoenix Center for the Arts

Student Work 5 - Wire Wrapping 7 Weeks at Phoenix for the Arts

Stitching on Air Part 1

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 My first attempt at sewing on air.



Phoenix Quilt Artist Nancy Green had an article in the October/November 2012 issue of  Quilting Arts Magazine about 'Stitching on Air'. The moment I saw it I knew I had to try it. In all my years of sewing, it never occurred to me that I could stitch across empty spaces. But it works!


After my first experiment you see above, I jumped in to try doing a small piece.

    

The fabric is a brown scrap that I sponge painted using two or three of my favorite Lumiere paints by Jacquard. Once heat set, I fused it to a piece of Fast-2-Fuse fusible (on both sides) stiff interfacing and cut out my rectangles. 

 Then came the satin-stitching around the edges of the open space before beginning the really fun part - stitching! I simply stitched slowly and carefully from edge to edge. These photos show the first pass of stitching. 

My apologies for the not-so-great photos. Click on any photo for a better look. 

Stitching on Air Part 2 coming soon. It is still a work in progress.

Playing with Hammered Wire

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Playing with wire is another fascination of mine and lately I have been experimenting with hammering heavy gauge aluminum wire with some nice results.

 

I really like the textured look of the hammered wire and will share more of my experiments soon. 

Clicking on a photo will give you a closer look. 

Leave a comment any time and thank you for visiting my blog. 

Wire Wrapped Jewelry

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I enjoy wire wrapping and teaching it. There are many ways to wire wrap. Recently I taught a class at the studio encouraging the artists to experiment with wrapping wire heart shapes with beads to make pendants. This technique is very different from my usual style of wire wrapping, and I wanted all of us to explore. There are so many options.

I believe that experimentation is a process that sparks ideas and encourages us to try new things and focus on discovery rather than what we did wrong. Sometimes the most difficult part of trying a new thing is that it does not look very good to us the first few times. I always tell my students that this is ok. It does take several tries to get used to a new technique and then begin to make it your own. What new technique have you tried lately?

Thank you for visiting my blog. Leave a comment anytime and remember you can click on any photo to get a closer look.

Fused Glass #3 'Circles & Bowls'

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I made a bowl! A fused glass bowl!

Of course I had to learn to cut circles first and we had a lot of practice and plenty of success in our class. The problem with glass is that it is all so pretty, I just want it all. But since I haven't won the lottery yet, here are some circles of glass cut by myself and some of my classmates:

Some closeups of my first bowl:

I would love to know what you think. Click on any photo for a closer look and leave a comment.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Playing with Freemotion Stitching

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Fused Glass Class Two

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 I am having so much fun in this Intro to Fused Glass Class at Phoenix Center for the Arts!

Class #2 was all about 'cutting practice'. Really, scoring and breaking. Since I live for the challenge of the creative process, my design required a lot of practice. Needless to say, I am much better at cutting 1/4 (approx) pieces of glass now than I was at the start. 

My coasters Before firing:

 In all their imperfect glory.     :-)

My coasters After firing:

 

Happy with the finished product. They were pretty forgiving. 

My coaster design was inspired by the designs of Piet Mondrian. Here are some resources if you want to learn more about him and/or his work:

Enchanted Learning site - for art activities based on his work.

Artcyclopedia site - inspiration, photos of Mondrian's work and more.

Encyclopedia.com site - facts about Mondrian

As always, click on photos in the post to see larger versions. And please remember I welcome your comments.

Reduction Drawing

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I took a guest artist to my Thursday art group and we learned about Reduction Drawing. This is only the second time that I have ever tried a reduction drawing.

Reduction Drawing is a technique where you cover the paper with charcoal and create your drawing by smudging and removing the charcoal with an eraser to create the darks and lights or shadows and highlights. This time I was able to focus more on the lights and darks than on the 'lines' of the still life. The more I worked on the drawing, the more lights and darks I could see. While this drawing has many posibilities for improvement, I was surprised at how well I can distinguish my shapes, especially the glass vase in front of the plate.

Everyone in the group was willing to jump in and try it, even though they were all beginners. They loved it. We've decided our next lesson will be painting landscapes. I'll report back. 

As always, your comments are welcomed. Thanks for visiting my blog today.

Fused Glass Class One–Frit Painting

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taken at Phoenix Center for the Arts.
I am loving this class because the instructor is very down to earth, funny, and after teaching us how to use the tools for a particular project and how to work with the glass for whatever project – then he lets us design our own. I love this type of teaching. It is the kind I like to do for my students because the possibilities are their’s, no templates, no forced design. Just knowledge and freedom to play with guidance.

The photo at the top is a 6x12 piece of 96 coe fused glass as the base. I used glue to outline the white shapes you see which are my version of cowrie shells. The shells were filled in with a medium coarse frit.

The top and bottom corners of the painting are clear glass scraps as a second layer, with short lengths of black stringer laid out in a pattern on each corner.

Finally, all of the leftover space was filled in with a dark purple frit powder which I had never used before. You can see that my bottom right corner of glass slid over onto my shell design – this is a live and learn opportunity.
      
I made note of all the things I learned for future projects. There is always a lesson. I am having a lot of fun in this class and will continue to share as we go through the projects.
Thanks for stopping by to read my blog and you are always welcome to leave comments.

Playing with Texture #2

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 There are many ways to create texture on canvas. Joint compound, available at any home improvement store, has a similar texture to molding paste. Although it does not seem to be quite as dense.

The small circles you see were made by pushing joint compound through punchinella or sequin waste. The squares were created by pushing it through hardware cloth, also available at the home improvement store. 

The larger circles are from a short wood tube I found in the studio while working. After waiting for the compound to dry, I had fun dripping different colors of ink onto the canvas. I am happy with the results of this experiment.

Click on photos to get a closer look and feel free to leave comments. 

Textures in Clay

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I. Love. Texture. I love to explore mediums and techniques to see how I might combine them.

My recent explorations with earthenware clay and  various textures have led me to creating several free-form flat shapes of clay with texture designs on the surface. These are so much fun!

I have been fairly obsessed with this current idea of creating these free-form shaped flat clay pieces with texture designs on their surface. I have created texture with objects such as shells, feathers, beads, metal, needle point canvas, and more.



I love this type of creative exploration and am having fun just letting the pieces come to life.


This piece was created in earthenware clay with textures and clay embellishments added before kiln firing. The bisque-ware was then painted with a variety of acrylic paints, and a couple of fabric paints. I will be adding wire, fibers and beads so will share more as the piece progresses.

As always, click on each picture to view larger image. And comments are always welcome.