A Brown Victory!

Victory!  I have created a successful brown, finally.  I did actually end up using pre-mixed browns to get it right.  But I am not giving up on mixing my own brown.  I will try again in the future, but in the interest of time for my project I will be sticking with this method.

they look a bit red on the computer but I promise they are quite beautiful browns in person:)

Also here are some swatches of the color layout for the entire piece of fabric that will be making the canopy.  The one in the center is what it will look like.

Tomorrow I have to start cutting the fabric, lots and lots of fabric:)

Fabric Forts and Canopy's

Beautiful Fabric Fort by Justina Blakeney, check out Design Sponge for the super easy "How To"

I love Fabric Forts!  Who hasn't tried to build one at some point in their life?

The end of my first year of grad school is quickly approaching.  Late nights combine with early mornings, group meals, and lots of stress.  The constant hum of machinery, sewing, hammering, cutting, chatter and music, the studio is bustling with energy with our end of the year show May 6th-8th.

Everyone is busy working on their projects for the show.  This semester I decided to do something I have never done before...create an installation, on purpose:)  I am building a Fabric Canopy/Fort!

It's going to be structured like a typical bed canopy, with the feel of a child like fort.  I am really excited about this project and have been hard at work.

The photo above is one of my inspiration photos.  I love the eclectic look and the cozy feel of it, although what I have in mind will be quite different.  Mine will be made to resemble a fairy-tale forest, one of my favorite places!  I will be dying the fabric in colors to simulate my fairy-tale forest, a gorgeous blue at the top to resemble the sky cascading into rich greens of foliage, and finally transitioning into a deep earth brown.  The interior will be decorated with lots of pillows, some over sized leaf shapes, regular squares with floral prints, and some soft furry ones to create a comfortable and cozy feel.  I am also going to add crocheted vines and flowers cascading from the top center down to the floor. 

Soooooo...Time to get to work!  So far I have been doing lots of dye tests to figure out which fabric I want to use, how to get the colors I want, and what techniques to use.  So far some have been successful and others...not so much.

In the photo above the 2 on the left were tests in technique and color.  The blues and greens I love but the brown came out waaaay too red.  So that led me to do some smaller tests to see if I could get a better brown.

Not so much here either:(  After a bit of internet research I learned that brown is apparently a very hard color to mix, and that even the browns that are sold premixed don't always look so great.  But luckily there were a few good tips about how to get a good brown that I will hopefully be able to work on tomorrow. 

To try and distract me from getting too discouraged about my unsuccessful dying experiments, I decided to work on the measurements for the canopy and made a small model out of scrap fabric and wire.  I only cut out 2 of the 4 fabric panels for the model, but it was good enough for me to see the drape and get a good idea of how it will look.  I am happy to see that my pattern and measurements worked out nicely.  Now all I have to do is make the actual size pattern and start cutting the fabric pieces (exciting).  My model is made at about 1/3 the size.  The finished canopy will be about 8ft wide at the floor and 7ft off the ground.

This is the view from the inside, the clothespins are merely acting as weights:)

This is the view from the back/outside

How do you feel about fabric forts?  Do you have a memory of a favorite fabric fort that you built as a kid?  Feel free to share in the comments below:)  

Till next time, wish me luck with the brown dye!

Fear and Neglect

Photo of the Summit Trail in Sequoia National Forest at the point where Christian and I lost the trail.  We may have been a bit lost, but the view was amazing!

It's been way too long since I have posted here, and not for any reason in particular.  Mostly I have been in a rut and struggling with insecurities in school, which led to a mixture of fear and avoidance.  For me those things come hand in hand.  If I am fearing something it often times leads me to avoid doing what ever that task may be.  My fears seem pretty typical for someone working as an artist, which seems like it should be easy enough to push them aside and get over it.  But so far my fears have left me dead in my tracks, with an inability to move forward on my projects.

Lately, my list of fears seem never ending, especially at this point in school.  We are more than half way through the 2nd semester, and really close to the end of my first yr!

My list of fears goes something like this...

- Making the wrong move and focusing on the wrong thing (wasting time)
- Effectively communicate my ideas through an art quilt
- Why am I making art quilts?
- Will my work be good?
- What will others think of my work?
- What does my work say about me?
- Is my work saying the right things?
- Do I really know what I am doing?
- Why cant I figure out exactly why I love working with fabric?
- What will I do when I graduate?!

The list continues but I think that's the majority of what has my mind racing at the moment.  The interesting thing is that most of those fears are actually questions, questions that I don't have answers to but feel like I should.  And there in lies the fear.  Fear of the unknown.

Ironically everyone I talk (dept heads, mentors, teachers) to about this feeling of being lost and confused and insecure and scared, all say "Excellent, what a great place to be!"  To which my response is more confusion:( 

I am trying my best to kick these nasty fears, and all that I can do for now is try my best to be mindful of my state and realize that it will pass in time and my confidence will soon be restored. 

Also I know that buckling down and finishing one of my art quilts will give me the sense of accomplishment that I need to move forward...So what am I waiting for:)  Off to the studio I go!

Do you ever feel lost or fall into a state of fear that leads to neglect?  What kinds of things do you do to get yourself out of your rut?

Nearing the end

Last week was a full week of excitement, anticipation and exhaustion!  We had our end of the semester Works in Progress Open House with all of us 1st years and 2nd years showcasing what we've been working on.  Since its a new program we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to build our own space to showcase our work (sarcasm).  We were our own curators and builders!  It was a lot of hard work (exhaustion) but we all came together and made it work.  And even though I was so tired I thought I was going to fall asleep in my rocking chair, I had a great time chatting with people and seeing everyone's work come together.

Here are some photos of some of the amazing people I have been working with this year

Katherine Bradshaw - invisible childhood memories

Ali Gradisher - wooden bench and table

Amber Roelfs - compost paper lanterns

Sheri Earnhart - stage model for a play

Selja Ojanne - Fiber games, swing and woven rug

Billy Rueck - wool parasol, sheeps wool yarn, wooden tools

And in addition I attended my first Columbia Fiber Arts Guild meeting, which was full of so many amazing and talented Fiber Artists.  I actually got to meet the amazing art quilter (and book writer) Ann Johnston!  Who I just so happened to discover at the Northwest Quilt Expo, and wrote about right here on my very blog:)  I felt so star struck I barely knew what to say, but I did get a chance to tell her she inspired me to make my first whole cloth quilt, which I showcased at our Open House.

And here are some photos of my installation with my work.

whole cloth quilt, and embroidered photos printed on fabric

whole cloth quilt front - hand dyed, batiked, painted, and stitched

whole cloth quilt back

embroidered photos printed on cotton fabric

And I made this fancy hexagonal wooden frame, with the help of my wonderful man:)

It was a great week that I am sure I wont forget!

The Whirlwind!

Boy has this ever been a whirlwind of the past couple of months.  With 4 or 5 visiting artist lectures, making fluffy wool clouds for a window display, weaving, workshops, reading for classes, writing papers (its been a long time), and diving head first into dying fabrics and making art quilts, the first half of this semester has FLOWN by!
So here it is the middle of November and I am just getting around to sharing what I've been working on here in Portland:)

So here is a little taste of what I have been working on so far...

Starting with the dying, this is one of the larger pieces I did.  It was first painted with dye in a gradient of 2 colors, batiked, then thrown into another dye bath.

This is a piece I made in the Jane Lackey workshop I took.  It was a 2 day course at OCAC, where we were challenged to take everyday found materials and create a piece using 56 points and connect them in some way.

Here are some shots of the weaving I've been doing.  So far I only have pics of the loom set up, since we just started weaving last week.  It took about 12hrs just to set up the loom!

This is a shot of my very first attempt at an art quilt.

And these are some current shots of what I am working on now, which I am really excited about!
These are photographs that I have taken and printed out on fabric.

 

Yay!  Stay tuned as I will be posting some finished projects quite soon.  And after this weekend I will have some photos of the fluffy wool clouds I made with one of my classmates for a window display:)

Leave a comment I would love to hear what you think!

Design Build Complete followed by a Fun Fiber Filled Weekend!

Here is the finished project installed at OCAC temporarily

Design Build is complete! 
It was fun, tiring, frustrating, silly, labor intensive, talkative, difficult, and full of learning.  I think we all came out of it feeling pretty good about the finished product but really good about the friendships we made and the comradery we developed after only knowing each other for 3 or 4 weeks.  I had a great time learning new things and working with materials I had never worked with before, and definitely loved getting to know everyone better!  Job well done:)

Fun Fiber Filled Weekend!

Now that the Design Build is complete I am ready to get to work dying, spinning, sewing, quilting and embroidering.  And what better way to get a "mega jolt of inspiration" than to visit the Northwest Quilting Expo here in Portland!  It was filled with all kinds of inspiring art quilts that had me ooohhhing and aaaahhhhing all over the place.  And I discovered an incredible quitling artist Ann Johnston, whos work I absolutely adore!

"Sand on the Wind" Art Quilt by Ann Johnston

"Sand on the Wind" Detail shot of Art Quilt by Ann Johnston

I am absolutely in love with her use of color, bright, bright beautiful color!  And the stitch detail is just perfect, adding texture from a distance and subtle color details up close.

I loved this quilt of birch trees and leaves.  I really like that its part literal and part abstract, and of course the colors are brilliant.  I like that she has mixed warm and cool colors to convey a feeling of Fall.

And continuing on with the tree theme, I also found this quilt captivating.  I would love for that to be my backyard, who wouldn't love pink grass!?

And following the Quilt Expo, I explored the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival to complete my Fun Fiber Filled weekend. 

There were Llamas

 and Alpacas

and Goats

and Sheep

and Bunnies

Oh My!

How cute is this face!

 I'll take one of each please:)  I love the idea of having a farm one day where I can harvest my animals fibers, ahhhh one day, one day.

Do you have a dream of living on a farm one day?  Did you grow up on a farm?  Or are you currently living on a farm?  I would love to hear what you think, feel free to share your comments below:)

And now this week I am ready to work work work! 
Stay tuned as I will be sharing some of my fabric painting experiments soon.
Thanks for reading!

Welcome to Portland!

So I've been a bit busy between moving to Portland and starting school, that I have neglected my poor little bloggy blog:(  But worry no more for I will be continually documenting my journey through school, and my new life here in Portland!

For those of you that dont know I moved to Portland at the end of August to go back to school to earn my Masters of Fine Arts in Applied Craft and Design, (a joint program between PNCA and OCAC)... You may say what the heck does that mean?  Well to be honest we are all learning the history of the terms right now in our classes so none of us are really sure the literal translation.  But basically we are getting an MFA in Designing and Making our own work/products.  Its an incredible opportunity as this is a one-of-a-kind degree that is unlike any other out there, and I must say I am proud and excited to be a part of a new revolution in higher education!  Still confused?  Dont worry I will be describing the program in further detail as I go along in future posts.

For now I will share some photos of our first group project that we are working on called the Design Build.  This is a two week (10 day) intensive project where we as classmates design and BUILD a space for a revolutionary condo complex called Eco-Flats.  This is designed into the curriculum as a team building exercise for the class as a way for us to become closer and really get to know one another and our skills.  And a chance to learn some new techniques that we might never have been exposed to.

Here is the layout of the complex.  We are building on the area labeled Stormwater Basin

Site visit to hear from the Developers Jean-Pierre Veillet and Doug Shapiro

A view of the site from the second story of the complex

After the site visit it was back to the studio to brainstorm and build models of our ideas to present to the Developers.

Brainstorming and Building models

Near the end of the Design process we broke up into 2 groups to build on our ideas and presented 2 options to the Developers.

Group 1 - living green wall with a secret garden canopy

Group 1 model side view

Group 2 model top view - a beautiful corner deck with mobile green wall panels

Group 2 model side view

So a decision was reached and we are now building a Living Green Wall and a wooden walkway over the 580 sqft storm water basin.

We just finished our 7th day in the process and are well on our way to completing the project by Wed 9/22:)

I think that is a good introduction so far, stay tuned for more photos of the process and more insight to this brand new program!