Thursday 26 March 2015

Art Quilt: Flower Hexaptych

Flower Hexaptych



Jesus is love
By Catherine Parkinson
90 cm x 135 cm
Each square is 45 cm x 45 cm

$2000.00

Painted whole cloth quilt. Machine quilted. Mediums used: Oils sticks, coloured pencils, textile ink, ink and thread.

Artist statement
The 6 flowers in this hexaptych grow in the region of Israel and depict the life of Christ. Each flower representing a stage in his life. Flowers have a language of their own and are a perfect representation of the cycle of human life….Planting, growth, blooming, withering and dying. Jesus was born, grew and blossomed from an infant to our Saviour. He lived, he died and though his life and resurrection we all can live forever. 
The symbolism of flowers has been used for centuries to portray an underlying hidden message to the receiver. They can remind a person of a special event or a moment. They are given to another to express love. Christ planted seeds of love where ever he went and he was a perfect example of faith, thoughtfulness and devotion to mankind. Flowers bear record that Jesus is love.  
“If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.” - Buddha ... 
Flowers are perfect, magnificent and are an amazing miracle. As each flower produces seed and is nourished we have faith and hope that it will grow and that life and beauty will spring forth.  
“As seedlings of God, we barely blossom on earth; we fully flower in heaven.” Russell M. Nelson 
We have faith and hope in our Saviour, that his atonement will provide the way to go back to our father again and there partake of eternal life and bloom to our full potential. 





Black rose


Olive branch


Star of Bethlehem


Blue Iris


Crown Daisy


White Lily


Star of Bethlehem


White lily

Wednesday 25 March 2015

Blogs I love

I love reading other art blogs and web pages.  We are so blessed to be able to have the internet to be able to access wonderful ideas, opinions and information.  We are surrounded by a wealth of information that can true change our lives,  motivate and help us reach our goals.  I have found some wonderful blogs on-line which I love to read.


We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in 

retrospect.” 




These are some blogs I love and keep going back to time and time again.

   
  • Alyson at the Art biz blog has an amazing blog.  She is generous with all ideas of business know how for artists Well worth a read and to sign up to her newsletter.  She also offers business coaching, products and programmes
  • Strathmore on-line workshops are free workshops for drawing and painting.  They are a great resource for any type of artist.  The workshops are available for a long time (although the tutors are only available to support for 4 weeks after the opening of the course)
  • PHLEARN has some great learning tools for photographers.  Whether photography is your art form or you are learning to photograph your own work there are some great tutorials on this website.
  • The free motion quilting project has wonderful ideas and support on your free motion quilting journey. Leah Day produces excellent resources to help the beginning, intermediate and advanced machine quilters.  Her instructions are clear and informative. Well worth a visit to this blog.
  • Alisa Burke  is one amazing lady.  Her creativity and joy for life holds no bounds.  He blog is creative, energising and inspirational.  Look out for her on-line classes, books, many wonderful ideas all captured with amazing photography. 
  • Another blog a really love is Maria Elkins original art work Maria is an figurative and abstract artist who is so inspiring.  Her figurative work is beautiful.  She also has produced a fantastic DVD on making faces that is a wonderful resource.
  • On the windy side written by Adrianne is a delightful blog. Adrianne is a contemporary quilter from NZ.
  • For a blog on sketchbook practice Gwein Deihn's blog Real life journals is a wonderful resource. Gwein has some wonderful examples of sketchbook pages.  She writes beautifully.
  • For quirky art work and delightful crafty ideas Common life into ART by Kelli Nina Perkins.  Kelly Is delightful and so fun. I love her writing style and her neat ideas.
  • The slightly mad quilt lady AKA Charlotte Scott, is another NZ blogger who writes from her 1945 Navy boat in upper NZ.  She has some delightful work and a lovely blog.
What blogs do you read and love?

Thursday 19 March 2015

Tutorial: Using glue as a resist

Making fabric: PVA glue resist



Basic children PVA glue makes a fantastic and very simple resist.  this tutorial will take you through the process step by step.

Equipment
  • Textile ink
  • PVA glue (children's white glue)
  • Objects to print with
  • Paint tray
  • Bottle with nozzle
  • Paint brushes or foam brushes
  • Washing liquid
  • Bucket
  • Iron




Method


1. Cut your cloth to a desired size


2.  Pour PVA glue into a bottle with a nozzle.  The squeeze the design of your choice onto the fabric.  I have written words,  made a flower pattern and circles for this tutorial.


3.  Let the PVA glue dry.



4.  Choose 2 colours of paint.  I wanted a red purple and a blue purple so I blended red and blue together make 4 different shades of purple. Mix the paint with water until it is a runny custard consistency.


5. Paint the watered down paint over the glue resist.  


6.  Using a wet cloth blend the paint together.


7.  Let the paint dry for 24 hours.  This will cure the paint so that the paint will stick to the fibres and not bleed too much when you wash out the PVA glue.


8.  Mix some dish washing liquid in very hot tap water or boiling water.


9.  Place the fabric in the container and leave to soak for 1/2 hour or until the glue has dissolved.


10.  Squeeze and rub cloth until all the glue is dislodged 



11. Rinse thoroughly with cool water and squeeze out all the excess water.



12.  This is what the cloth will look like once all the water is squeezed out.  Leave to dry.




13.  Once dry iron cloth.


14.  Choose 2 stamping materials to use to add more texture to the surface.  I have chosen and plastic doily and some bubble wrap.

15.  Print the doily in white and the bubble wrap in 3 shades of pale purple.  Experiment with colour and textures.  


16.  Finished close ups of the cloth.  The thicker solid white lines are where we put the glue.



PVA glue resist provide endless possibilities in making fabric and is so easy to do.  



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