What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

While I’m resting up my arms and shoulders from a quilt wrestling project (why did I choose a circular quilting design?) I’ve been playing with paper. Some efforts I’ve framed, and some I’ve created as part of Willa Wanders‘ free Fodder Challenge lessons.

After living with so-so framed art for many years I decided new art in the frames would be nice. One is a collage, two are gel plate monoprints, and one is a weaving of collaged strips sewn onto paper. I had forgotten what a pain it is to frame stuff.

In between faulty ...

I've been busy. With my gifted studio space I am making good use of it. There's no wi-fi, so I tend to just work and not stop to make videos or write posts, etc.  As a result I've been less visible than usual, which has been a good thing to do from time to time. Regroup, rethink, reprioritize, and in general concentrate on what I like, what I want and less on what I think I "should" be doing. Painting has taken me back to beginner status.  I'm just figuring things out, testing out the materials ...

In the week since I wrote about the Map Play class I took with Valerie Goodwin, I read two posts about art classes. The first by Jane Davies responds to a student’s comments that she wanted to play and have fun at a workshop and then had a meltdown when she was asked to dig deeper.

From Jane Davies’ blog.

Making art IS about play and it IS fun, but that is not all it is, usually. If you are always playing and having fun, with no angst or frustration, and you are also generating images that really speak ...

I almost said no to this, but my great friend and enabler Cindy signed up and I decided I must join her.

I have lots of thoughts about collage portrait quilting after taking several classes over the past 6-7 18 months, and I’ll share those in this and future posts. 

Phyllis Cullen and Cindy Richard are the authors of “It’s All About the Face: Quilted Portraits”.  Cindy and I participated in online 5-class series devoted to human subjects, then signed up for a 2-part series on pet portraiture.

The pet portrait class reminded me a lot of the ...

Each year the National Collage Society holds a small format members’ exhibition. Since the the exhibit of eighty-six 4 by 6 inch works was held at Summit ArtSpace in Akron, I made a point of going to it. At first it seemed out of scale to walk into a large room with one horizontal line of very small works on three walls, but you forgot that once you drew closer to the pieces. I was amazed at the detail the artists packed into such small real estate.

While almost all the works merited close examination, here are the ones that ...

I’ve mentioned before that I’m enrolled in a mixed media class called Wanderlust. The idea is to learn to use several mixed media materials that are considered staples. We’ve run through gessos and image transfers. Now we’re doing modeling paste. … Continue reading →

Sometimes I like a continuing program of classes rather than a one shot deal, and Everything Arts’ Wanderlust lessons in mixed media and art journaling are delivering weekly doses of something new. Since I started exploring mixed media in 2020 … Continue reading →

contemporary embroidery posted a photo:

Surface design, play, paper, net, embroidery, gimp,
karenannruane.typepad.com/.../developing-design...

Apparently I was overly enthusiastic in coating magazine pages with gloss medium for ironed collages. I had lots of colorful pages left so I created a few more collages, using the technique I mentioned earlier from Gerald Brommer’s book, “Collage … Continue reading →

Over the years I have received many arts and crafts leftovers – fabric, thread, paper, paint, frames, patterns, books, quilting rulers, etc. This Thanksgiving I’d like to thank the donors, and especially three people who have given me a lot … Continue reading →

Like many quilters who have been at it a while, I have plenty of fabric. Years of trips to quilt shops and gifts from former quilters have fleshed out my stash. And the internet has made it so easy to … Continue reading →

A quick browse of Etsy for art journals will reveal a dizzying choice of journals that range in price from $15 to $150 plus. Some are so gorgeous that I would be afraid to even write my name in them … Continue reading →

Almost all paper collage techniques involve glue – gel medium, glue stick, Sobo, wheat paste, rice paste, etc. Because my fine motor skills are subpar I usually end up with glue, and sometimes bits of paper, all over my fingers. … Continue reading →

Infrastructure has been in the news lately, with the ongoing federal efforts to fund overdue repairs. I certainly want safe roads, dams, bridges, etc., but I confess to a tendency toward ruin porn. I find a strange beauty in dilapidated, … Continue reading →

I hadn’t realized I was creating another bottomless source of scraps when I started making collages. The courses I took had us make collage papers from monoprints and paintings, and I already had a stash of magazine pages thanks to … Continue reading →

Thanks to my brother I have a digital archive of photos passed down from several family members. Many identify the people and places shown, but some are just plain mysteries. My cousins have tried and failed to name the people, … Continue reading →

I’ve been paper collaging like mad the past week or so to give my brain time to develop quilting plans for a few pieces. Ignoring something is often a surefire way to have solutions find me. And I wanted to … Continue reading →

Vår cirkel, Art Quilt Circle, kommer att ha en utställning i Järnboden, Harg 18 - 30 juni. Vi är nio medlemmar och detta blir vår första gemensamma utställning 

Mitt verk Acorn/Ekollon antogs av juryn till SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) Virtual Gallery Plurality of Voices. Juryn bestod av Claire Passmore och Geneviève Attinger, detta är andra gången jag fick ett verk antaget, jag har ett porträtt tidigare i No Limits.

Swedish - Danish Challenge 13/18

Jag har också tänkt att delta i SAQA Europe & Middle East projekt Orientexpressen. Varje deltagare skall göra en panel 25 cm x ...

In an effort to be mindful in sharing my process with you, I'll show my progress on the projects instead of waiting to do the big reveal.

I was reading about the process pledge and getting a better understanding of it. In past blog posts I typically share the project after it's completed and talk about its journey at the same time. The posts get long-winded and it's no wonder so many people prefer Instagram over blogs. SEE THE PRETTY AND MOVE ON!

But I want a journal of my work in the hopes that someone in ...