Up in the Frigid Midwest

This time of year is the perfect time to do indoor projects.....including hobbies and art.
And as the beginning of the year seems to make
 us more introspective,  what a great time it is to exercise our creative muscles !

 If you are a painter, writer, musician, filmmaker or artist of any kind,  take advantage of technology by finding podcasts about your particular area .  But also think outside the box and explore other
disciplines.  For example, I sometimes listen to podcasts about film because the verbal description or critique of a film can conjure up images for my artwork.  It is also a means of inspiring me to create when I find myself in a slump.  And I don't mean watching a movie !  I find it is a great exercise  to listen to words about something to stimulate creative ideas.  They have a far different effect on creativity than watching a video.  Listening to a book on audio can have the same effect.
I am a firm believer that all of us have more creativity than we think we do.  We often don't think we are creative simply because we are not open to the idea that we can create something.

    "Think left and think right and think low and think high.  Oh, the thinks you can think up                  if only you try."  ~Dr Seuss

All it takes, in some cases, is to just try something, however small, and keep trying.  The key is to start, and then build on your successes. 

So on this last day of the first month of a new year...... I encourage you to create something... be proud of it ...and continue to create things!  It can be a very satisfying occupation of your time.

"Every child is an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up"  ~  Pablo Picasso

Guest Artist - Christine Penna

There is so much variety in how we all see things and how we interpret what we see.

Unique styles of expression are very interesting to me. That is why I am always excited to find other fabric collage artists who are willing to share their work.  

 Today I am showcasing the work of Christine Penna from Redding, California.  Her style is very loose, which I like, and she uses surface threads and stitching which adds another dimension to her pieces.  She gets her inspiration from paintings and from life.  Locally, they call her the  "scrap lady"  because she goes around the quilt shops on sew days to collect all of the scraps that the quilters would otherwise throw away -  a woman after my own heart :).

I will let her explain how she began "painting with fabric"

"When I started learning to quilt, I very quickly decided I didn't like the "traditional quilting and piecing process"  I admire them but don't have the patience for the preciseness of the process and I tend to get bored!

Years and years ago there was a article in Good Housekeeping about creating pictures using fabric and it stuck in my brain.  After I started looking for another way to use fabrics, I found the wonderful world of "Art Quilts" and got hooked!  Living in a rather small town I didn't have access to taking classes so I just starting reading everything I could find on the Internet regarding threadpainting, collage work, fusible applique, etc....................

The Memorial Quilt of my dog was my first attempt at putting together a collaged piece!  I printed the picture of the dog and fused it to the background piece and then just started cutting, piecing and sewing!  (the yarn on the tree was the result of working late at nite after a few glasses of wine!  I just call it "whimiscal").  It was also my first attempt at threadpainting which I enjoy!

Fabric Collage by Christine Penna

The other pieces were the result of trying to recreate some paintings I came across with fabric and thread!  I tend to try to do pieces that draw the viewer in a little deeper..........................

                                                             Fabric Collage by Christine Penna

With each piece, I try to explore different techniques and styles.  I really enjoy the challenge of creating a fabric and thread piece as if it were a watercolor or oil painting.

Fabric Collage by Christine Penna

Fabric Collage by Christine Penna

My next project will be a landscape using all those hundreds of little pieces of fabrics I've been collecting the last year!  I think I will try to use the process where you slice up a bunch of fabric into spaghetti-like pieces and group them into little color piles and then using Bonash powder, fuse them down on a background piece."

I look forward to seeing that particular project.  Thanks, Christine for being willing to share your artwork !

Keep up the great work ! 

 

LW

Completed Art Prize 2012 Entry

Title :  Top Heavy
Medium:  Fabric Collage
Dimensions:  4 ft x 8 ft

More about the rationale behind this piece at :
        http://www.artprize.org/lynette-williams/2012/top-heavy

A Bit of Whimsy

A while back I submitted some artwork for a cd jacket to a musician - Annie J Dahlgren  - looking for said art for a soon to be released cd.  The process of making this piece was a bit different in that  the image was conjured up form the lyrics of a song which is to be the title track of the cd.  My interpretation may be a bit literal but I saw some analogies between the cat and her cigarettes and I couldn't resist.   Below are a few snaps of the original layout and the finished product.  If you are interested in the lyrics, they may be found here :  http://alleycatcd.com/lyrics/ 

I believe the cd has not as yet been released but I am curious to know which of the artwork submitted was chosen for the cover.  There were some great entries !!

~LW

 

Showing progress so far of my 2012 Art Prize Entry

Another Nameless Face

I have come to feel as if I know these children whose images I am creating out of snippets of fabric.  As their features develop so does their character.  My soft life has not prepared me for such adversity as they see daily.  May we who have so much never lose sight of our responsibility to the rest of the world.
Here are some of the latest additions to my Art Prize piece.

And a bit of progress on the "other side" of things.  This piece is meant to focus on the plight of millions of children around the world whose "reality" is a daily struggle to survive - contrasted to my life - our lives - which by comparison almost seems "cartoon-ish"  because of the comfort and over-abundance of "stuff" we have.

Given my self-imposed deadline of August 15th ,  I see a few late nights ahead.
Much is yet to be finished.
Better keep cuttin' up !
LW
 

Art Prize

Somehow I managed to delete the post from Sat, June 2.  Clever of me, eh?  Thank goodness for that backwards arrow.  So I am copying and pasting and then adding a new image I have been working on today for the Art Prize collage.

(previous post)


Art Prize is a large local open art competition held in Grand Rapids, MI.  Last year artists from 39 different countries entered the exhibition which is held from mid-September to early October.  It took me a long time to decide about doing this, but, I have finally committed to enter this year.
 Over the past year or more I have been repeatedly confronted with the fact that even though I am not a rich person by usual standards,  I have great wealth compared to so many around the world. The piece I am working on for Art Prize focuses on the children of the world who for a variety of reasons barely have subsistence and struggle daily to survive.  Their living conditions are deplorable and many are orphans left to care for younger siblings.  It also focuses on our part in this scenario as those who have so much ! . Here is a part of the much larger piece I am working on  ( 8 feet wide x 4 feet high).

still tweaking these but wanted to show progress so far

 

Come back to check on my progress as I will be posting updates to this project periodically.

Thanks for stopping by :) ~ LW