Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Judy S. "Element's of Art"

When the word "Element" first came to mind I was in an art gallery and I thought, "What are the elements in these pieces of artwork that make me like them?"

There are the elements of art that the artists think of when they are creating the artwork and then there are those things that really draw us to those pieces that speak to us. Every place I go I try to visit a museum, art gallery, quilt show, festival, or craft venue. I have many creative friends and family members who always share the beautiful things they are making and it feeds me.

A room with pictures was where I wanted to go with my quilt. How was I going to do that since I don't really draw? I did do a drawing, but it was just for an idea since that drawing was never going to come to life.

For artwork I pulled some stamps from a vast collection that my sister brought to my mom's house one summer. The first step was to get the paper and glue off of the ones I wanted. Then I stitched a frame with a satin stitch on muslin. Libby Lehman taught a class where she showed how to miter the corners by dialing the width of the satin stitch down and back up. My corners are mitered on the frames, but since I used a solid brown it doesn't show and in some places that is a good thing.

I used tacky glue to adhere the stamps to the muslin and to turn the edges under. Stitching just inside the frame attaching them to the wall made the frame stand out so that there is a shadow under the picture. The cream colored wall makes the pictures (stamps) show up the best. I found the wood like fabric and knew that was going to be a great floor.

To get my "thoughts" out there I wrote them on white fabric and cut them out like thought balloons and randomly placed them on the quilt. When I showed my work in progress to one of my fellow artists in the studio area, she suggested putting in the baseboard to help it give more of the feel of a room. She also suggested that I just write the words on the wall. Hmmm. When I put the baseboard on it helped a lot. I decided to quilt the words on.

Now to get "Me" into the quilt. I like red and found a fun print for my blouse. Then there was the head. Ahh, the back of the head would make it so that you would be looking into the quilt. No eyes, nose, or lips to deal with. I cut out a head just so that there would be a shape to work with. I put 2 different colors of brown thread on the machine and threaded them both through the needle. Then I squiggled and wiggled. There were 2 layers of tear-away stabilizer under it so that it wouldn't draw the fabric all up.This was a fun project and it stretched me. I really wanted this look and it has turned out, but I didn't know if I could get all the components to work with me. It is nice to see something come together.

11 comments:

  1. Judy, what a clever quilt! So much to admire here--your use of the stamps, just the perfect size for the paintings in the "gallery." And I love your putting yourself in, gazing at those paintings. Your pretty curly blonde hair and the red blouse--wonderful! PS I see you jumped the gun a bit--6 minutes early, thus appearing here on March 14, but that matters not! Just hope that all the Mavens will find it on the archive on March 14.

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  2. Judy, this is so clever and everyone's clocks are off by minutes somewhere...no thought to that! Your theme any artist would want to do and not know where to begin, but you did it!

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  3. Love your use of the stamps for the paintings. Lovely piece!!

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  5. Judy, I just LOVE this. What a clever quilt using the stamps, the machine stitched words, and of course your very own curly locks. See, you ARE an artist!

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  6. A tremendous amount of thought is depicted in this small foot of space. I'd also considered the Elements of Art approach but certainly didn't envision this idea. Very clever and resourceful. Nice job.

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  7. Hi Judy - Loved your composition, and your use of different techniques. Your explanation on how you managed all those techniques was great. Thanks !

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  8. Sitting here having my first cup of coffee and scrolling to see all of the Element reveals yesterday, found that I missed this one...and it is NOT to be missed! So sweet and clever. Brilliant use of postage stamps, and just love that we get to view them along with you!

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  9. I love this Judy - you really did some magic to get it done. Elements of Art was the second thing that popped into my mind after the periodic table. I love the elements you incorporated here and of course the back of your head!

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  10. I agree with all the previous comments. You have a very creative and clever use of our challenge word! I too had to look again at the art and realized they really are stamps! What a fantastic mitering job!

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