Monday, March 31, 2008

What is it? continued.

Seeing how that technique is no longer a mystery to one person I thought I'd continue this for another day or two. I have a few pouches to give away. The bottom example turned out quite a bit differently than the other ones.; same technique though.


Either post a comment or email me at:
gpierce@dslextreme.com

I spent most the afternoon in the garage painting more brown paper bags. I have a fear that the garage will be too hot to work in before I'm ready to surrender it to the heat of summer.


Quotes: The thing is to become a master, and in your old age to acquire the courage to do what children did when they knew nothing.
Henry Miller

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Textured what?


Mystery technique.

Tell me what you think the texture is and I'll send the first person who gets it right a credit card pouch similar to the ones I posted yesterday. (email me at gpierce@dslextreme.com)
if you'd prefer not to leave a comment on this blog.






Quotes: The man who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd. The man who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been before.
Alan Ashley-Pitt

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Paper Bag Challenge

For the http://www.fibreandstitch.com/ yahoo group paper bag challenge I finally ended up with some pieces that I like. I can't remember how many times I've painted and scrunched brown paper bags without using them for anything. The challenge was to not only paint paper bags but create a 3-D object using the paper. On the fibrestitch site there is a pattern for a business card that gave me the idea of making some credit card pouches for the myriad of cards my poor sad wallet was filled to brim with. I'm always misplacing debit card receipts so I made a pouch to keep them in. Then there is the discount cards that grocery stores seem to think we all need; they now have a separate pouch and the few credit cards I carry also have their own pouch. I've needed a new wallet for quite some time. I decided to make a simple one with curved sides that has a small coin pouch attached to it. The gold metal leaf shape didn't photograph very well; I'll probably wrap some cord around the wallet to help keep it closed.


Layers and layers of paint were applied to the paper bags and allowed to dry. Then the paper was scrunched a couple of times. Dye ink pads were rubbed over the surface to highlight the creases followed by gold. Each of the pieces has a couple of coats of acrylic wax on it to protect the paper.

The two examples of painted paper bags on the lower right weren't scrunched.

Quote: Begin with another's to end up with your own.
Baltasar Grecian

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Prehistoric or Hot Glue?

Who knew what fun hot glue is to work with? I had no idea to that amoeba-like-shapes would come out of the end of a glue gun. The background paper is a paper towel with rust and coffee drippings on it. This piece is another challenge I took on the textile challenge yahoo group. Thanks Carol for the nudge!

Quotes: Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.
Oscar Wilde

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Vessel Revisited


I couldn't resist the call for art from Seth, but what to write about? Sometimes it's good to revisit a piece, thus, Vessel #1 will soon be on



Playing Favorites - starts on March 24th.

Here's what I wrote:

At times I've found it difficult to find a reason to create anything; life has been continually bumpy with health issues. At the end of 2007 the only resolution that made a bit of sense to me and encourages me to continue creating was to become involved in art challenges. The impetus for my resolution was Vessel #1 that I created for a textile challenge yahoo group last November. I had no idea at that time that I was also choosing my "true colors" for a fabric paper quilt that I entered in Quilting Arts True Colors Challenge. Blue is said to be a calming color which is reason enough for me to be drawn to all shades of it. Toss in a little ochre, rust, sepia, soft yellow or a dash of red iron oxide and I'm happy. The patina of rust has always fascinated me to the degree that I now rust metal objects in order to make mono prints or rust dye fabric.
The fabric vessel started off life as a flat uninteresting piece of rust dyed felt that came to life when it was distressed with both a soldering iron and heat gun. Lutradur is intriguing in that it doesn't have a grain, doesn't fray, loves paint and can also be heat distressed making it the perfect choice to layer with the felt. Once the two fabrics were glued together there was only one seam left to cover. After trying a variety of ways to cover the untidy seam I settled on a fabric wire wrapped stick and some yarn.
At the La Quinta Art Festival earlier this month I bought a 4x4 inch abstract from Jennie Thom in my "true colors." Shades of blue, oranges, yellows and a touch of red iron oxide simply dance next to Vessel #1

Quote: I invent nothing, I rediscover.
Auguste Rodin


Sunday, March 16, 2008

St. Patrick's Day

The charm on this 4x6 inch needle felted piece was a thank you from Patricia Winter for participating in the comfort doll project. It felt like a token of good luck to me.


Quotes:
St. Patrick's Day is an enchanted time - a day to begin transforming winter's dreams into summer's magic. ~Adrienne Cook



For each petal on the shamrock. This brings a wish your way -Good health, good luck, and happiness For today and every day.~Author Unknown

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Rust dyed distressed felt

I didn't notice the obvious line in the center until I scanned this piece and looked at it in PSE!! I'll have to break up the line. Otherwise I'm pretty happy with this background for an exchange I'm participating in. Rust dyed felt and painted dryer sheets have been distressed with a heat gun and soldering iron.





Quote: Live Happy! Life is better that way.

Another musing from Sally Huss

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Quilting Arts Challenge

The fabric paper quilt took me forever to finish, in fact I was still working on it just before I photographed it to enter in the QA challenge. Happily it was chosen for the True Colors exhibit.
The beginnings of this piece are a few posts back. The diptych is a digital image of Kino Blue boulders that reside in our backyard. Lots of techniques in this piece that I plan to write up in a tutorial for ExpressionStudio.

Quote: Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.
Erich Fromm