Starting to Plan...

Back in January, I did some rust dyeing and talked a little about the 'how to' of it all.  Well it's time to get all those fabrics out and start planning the art quilt for which they were made.   

I'm planning to use text on this quilt, as well as a photograph which I took and digitally altered to include a quote.  

There are so many ideas floating around in my head.  Now I just need to harness some of them and get started with the actual piecing...

Water and Ice...

I took this photo a few weeks ago while exploring along the Bruce trail.  It was a mild winter day, and the textures in the ice and the water were stunning.  I did a couple of very minor adjustments to the levels and contrast and then I added a subtle gradient mask to get a bit more of the sparkle back in the water without loosing the definition in the ice.

I added a layer of Kim Klassens "cool grunge' texture using a hard light blend mode at 15% and then finished off by creating a soft frame using an inverse selection and adding a colour adjustment at a low opacity with a soft light blend mode.

The final steps to the edit were to add the quote and my signature.  The quote uses 'Journal' font.

As much as I like the beauty of the ice and snow, I look forward to images of Spring, hopefully in the very near future!

Linking up with Our World Tuesday, Texture Tuesday, and Sweet Shot Tuesday

Out of the Blue

Once I came up with the final concept for this quilt, I struggled with the decision to share the meaning behind it.  If you've been following my blog you'll know this is 'Plan B', but as I worked on it, a reoccurring theme kept coming up.  As I researched the text covering this quilt, which relates to all things blue, from the various colour names to facts about the colour blue, one theme kept coming to the forefront...that of depression.  And so I decided to embrace it and really focus on what that means to me.

As such the quilt, like depression, is messy.  It doesn't have square edges and it doesn't lie flat.  The text itself is depicted as sort of a 'blah, blah, blah' droning on in an endless, flat fashion.  In the midst of the quilt is a deep, black hole, and from it there are lots of people struggling to escape...Out of the Blue.  Those numbers are important, because although depression is a dark and lonely place, the prevalence of people suffering depression is staggering.  And, while you are in that deep, dark place, you are unable to see that you are not alone, in large part because of the silence that still surrounds this disorder.  The quilt hangs from a rough piece of driftwood that has somewhat harsh, broken ends.

So, yes...I'm putting it out there.  To quote a friend, I'm putting on my big girl panties and I sharing this art quilt and the meaning behind it because the message needs to be shared.  As Clara Hughes says as the spokesperson for Bell's National campaign, LET'S TALK!

I've included a bit of information from the Depression Hurts website:

During their lifetime about 1 in 10 people in Canada will experience an episode of major depressive disorder (the diagnosis given to those suffering from depression) ⁵ 

Unfortunately many people, unaware of how common depression is, avoid seeking treatment because they worry what others will think of them. They feel like they’re the only ones. Depression is in fact a widespread medical condition:^6,7

• Depression is among the leading causes of disability worldwide⁶

Dust-free Chalkboard Sign

I've been seeing a lot of chalkboard signs with vintage looking lettering lately and always being up on the very latest, Kim has been noticing this too.  She did a walk through in Beyond Beyond of a technique from Fontaholic's site on how to make your font look like chalk.  So I just had to play with the idea and a great quote I've been waiting to use...

Life in the 'Burbs...

Life in the 'burbs...peace and quite while still being close enough to the city to take advantage of the museum, art galleries and theatres.  Another spread, this time inspired by Karen Ellis' Creative Jumpstart video.  The background and papers were made using a Gelli plate, acrylic ink and stencils.

Remembering Oatie...

I made a special fibre postcard in honour of Oatis, a four year old miniature schnauzer that recently died because of a tragic misdiagnosis.  My friend, Donna and her husband were devastated by the loss of this little fur person, and this is just a little token to let them know that I'm thinking of them.

I altered this image in Lightroom and Photoshop to create the image for the postcard.

Some might say that he was "just a dog", but I get it Donna!








Linking up with Photo Art Friday for Bonnie's 'portrait' theme.

Repurposed Map Book = Art Journal

I dropped by Waste Wise the other day and I picked up a map book with a great coil binding.  It will make the perfect repurposed art journal since the pages lay perfectly flat when open and the bonus of course is that the full page maps will make for a great first layer as I add paint, stamps, stencils, etc.












So far all I've done is the outside cover.  I used my Gelli plate to create the green textured background on both the front and back of the journal.  As you can see in the close up of the back, between the spiral stencil I used and the actual paint texture, it looks really great (I think :o)) so I've decided just to leave the back with only the bit of a doodled border.

On the front, I've used some sprayed and stamped paper on which I had written "Create" using matte medium (mixed with some black paint).  I cut up some extra bits to add spaces to write the other words and to create the little circles.  The doodled border you see is the same on the back of the journal.

Cost of my new art journal:  .50¢
Daily art journalling enjoyment:  Priceless!

Art Journal Page...

After watching Louise Nelson's CJS 2013 video, I decided to explore crackle medium in this art journal spread. I had a little bottle of Decor Art One Step Crackle (from the dollar store) in my stash so I pulled it out and put it over the woman and let it dry for a couple of hours. I then added a watered down wash of white gesso, and as you can see in the close up, the cracks are quite evident.  As an afterthought  I added the crackle medium to the pendants at the top of the page, but this time I used a heat gun to dry them.  That seemed to be a mistake, since they really didn't crack much and when I applied a watered down black gesso it had almost no effect.  Live and learn...

Vicariously Visiting Ace Hotel in Palm Springs...

Have I ever mentioned how much fun it is to play with photos and digitally alter them?  Today's image is a compilation of an image that Kim gave us to play with in Beyond Beyond (the chairs sit outside the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs) and a photo of me when I was a little girl.  I've never been to California, but a girl can play!

Linking up with Beyond Beyond, Our World Tuesday, Texture Tuesday, Sweet Shot Tuesday

Better Than A Groundhog...

Yesterday was a spectacular day...Spring is in the air and the temperature was up around 5ºC so I spent a few hours outside 'strolling' with Casey, our golden retriever.  Casey has always loved playing in snow and burrowing her face in it.  Ever since she was a puppy (she's getting close to 13 yrs. old) she signalled the start of Spring for us by insisting that she walk in/on all of the snowbanks.  Last week she was content to walk on cleared sidewalks, but now she has to have her feet in the snow.  It's as if she knows that it will soon be gone and she has to enjoy every last bit of it. Like I say, she's been doing this since she was a puppy...she's more reliable than the groundhogs as far as I'm concerned!


In addition to spending time outside enjoying the weather, I also worked on this art quilt for a few hours. I'm really pleased with how it is coming along.  You can see I've been sewing the painted Lutradur text onto it, word by word.  I've been working from the bottom and therefore have to recreate the message backwards as I go.  My cat was 'helping' by knocking words to the floor and just generally mixing them up for me, so for the time being she has been banned from the studio.  I'm having enough trouble and have to constantly re-read the statements as I go to ensure they're making sense.




And, as things go, the longer I work at it the less things sound right so I've had to walk away from it for now.