Paint, dye and glue

Today I painted one of the blue glue gel resist pieces I worked on yesterday - the one of the sun and water - an impromptu drawing. The photo above it is a glue sketch I did of Lawren Harris' 'Mt. Lefroy' - not exact but another experiment I've been wanting to try. I also did two more glue resist fabrics - a circular one of an art deco style fish on linen and another that is a mixture of random patterns and drawings. So it looks like I have more painting ahead! I also dyed the cave style fabric - hoping the dye stick drawings would resist the dye, which they did - and the other ugly fabric I received as part of the challenge to make ugly fabric better, and I think the golden yellow improves both.

Falling

After further designing of this quilt top, I am 'falling' for it in spite of the ugly grey fabric. The addition of the cascade of leaves and the pinwheel block mimicking their motion offers more interest and I've got it sandwiched with the edges finished in pillow-case style. I've begun quilting and will see where that takes me. I've also been washing fabrics in preparation for dyeing and doing more blue glue gel designs so they will be ready for painting tomorrow.

Ugly is in the Eye of the Beholder

At my last art quilt group meeting, we tried out Pentel dye sticks on freezer paper and transferred it to muslin by burnishing with a utensil of choice. I was aiming for a cave art style and reproduced it a second time by recovering the original after the first transfer. The top of the photo is the freezer paper version I drew and beneath it is the transfer. One member of the group had asked us to bring an ugly fabric which we are to transform for the better. Mine is the grey one. Of course, some people's 'uglies' were attractive to me. This is proving to be interesting - I've been thinking about how to mute ugliness in general - covering it up, amplifying beauty near by, altering in some way - or - exploring and potentially changing my perceptions. I wanted to try things new to me, so I went with a more traditional approach (measuring and quarter inch seams) - first choosing the Japanese yellow, grey and white fabric because I like it, then adding lighter and darker values for contrast, cutting all into 4 inch squares, then cutting further and repiecing. I still find that grey fabric terribly ugly, but it's at least muted by the addition of other fabrics and a decrease in size. When I was recently buying supplies for an upcoming class on making placemats that my quilt guild is offering, I started by trying to match a tablecloth that I have, and was successful in finding a potential border, base and backing. But the more I looked at them, imagining working with them, the more my energy dropped and I knew I had to instead choose fabrics that I love, so I did. When I brought them home, I saw they match a different tablecloth that I have, so that is a bonus. I've also found new storage space for my silks by combining the contents of two drawers into one.