Tiny Beetles

Now that I've shown you my giant beetles, I'd like to show you some tiny beetles. Each of these beetles is 1.5" square and framed in a 4" square frame with a custom-cut mat.

A few of these tiny beetles have copper tape wrapped around one edge, all have stamps or "chops" on them, as well as a design stamped from a bit of metal screening material and acrylic paint, for texture. 

Each is $25 framed and an additional $5 shipping but I'm offering free shipping through the end of the year, so if one of these tiny beetles needs to live at your house, don't wait!

Giant beetles!

As promised yesterday, here is a recent piece with two seriously big beetles. "Elfreth's Alley" is a mixed media collage with stitching on a 36" x 48" stretched canvas.

This is the first in a series of at least 8 new works, all depicting large-scale insects. I've sketched out the next four already. The one I'll start next has a big-ass moth on it. This is a fun series to construct because I'm having to invent methods and techniques to make what's in my head work in real life. I'm enjoying the unexpected turns that this project is taking me. Check back for more progress and updates!

Swarm - new art cloth

Sorry about missing the last couple of days of blogging, there was nothing blog-worthy going on over here! Today I hung up a new piece, Swarm, outside my studio. It just returned from a show at the View Art Center in Old Forge NY.

The piece is art cloth (no batting or backing) that started as plain white heavy cotton. First I painted it with a diluted acrylic ink wash. Second I blockprinted with a mustard acrylic paint a series of geometric blocks that I'd made previously. Next I screen-printed a swarm of beetles with a thermofax screen and an opaque navy acrylic paint And finally I added some hand stitching with coral linen floss. It's 18" x 36" overall.

I've been on a beetle kick for a number of years now. I find their forms so intriguing, and they've come to symbolize how I feel about climate change. Beetles are at once formidable and fragile, much like the earth herself.

Tomorrow I'll show you my recent gigantic beetle piece - each beetle is over two feet long!

Pattern Play

I've been experimenting with pattern in the studio lately. I designed and made some large blocks for block printing.

Often the first thing I'll do with a new block is print it out with black paint on white paper to play with the repeats and secondary designs.

Next I'll test out some paint colors on colored backgrounds. I start with white fabric and paint a wash of acrylic ink and water to achieve the color I want. Once the background is dry, I'll mix and apply paint to my block and start printing. Here are some recents results:

As you can see, I like to keep the colors fairly close in family, or neighbors on the color wheel. These designs will end up as home decor items (pillows, lamps, etc), wallpaper, and more. I think the rabbits are my favorites so far!

Printed Fabric Bee - Insects theme

I am the "Queen Bee" for the month of August of the Printed Fabric Bee group. That means that I got to choose the theme and the size for the fabric this month. Naturally, I chose insects as my theme.

Each of the Printed Fabric Bee members have made a 6" square fabric for me to giveaway to a lucky reader. If you would like to win these lovely fabrics, please leave a comment on this blog post, or on the Printed Fabric Bee blog before August 15 for a chance to win. Buzz on over!

Check out a sampling of the creative fabrics made by the members in this month's collage.

The guidelines to go along with my insect theme this month were an artist's choice of colors, with a touch of black. For my own fabric, I started by painting a solid white fabric with a wash of diluted Liquitex ink, then printed the hexagonal shapes on top with a yellow ochre Neopaque acrylic paint, and finally added the bees with another block print and a black Neopaque acrylic paint. Bees are among my favorite insects for their industriousness, their strong community, and the beauty in the function of their honeycombs. What is your favorite insect and why?

Check out the other Bee member's blogs for insights into their favorite insects too!

Carol R. Eaton
Jackie Lams
Lynda Heines
Gerrie Congdon
Susan Purney Mark
Deborah Boschert
Jane Davila
Lisa Chin
Lynn Krawczyk
Leslie Jenison
Judy Gula 
Julie B. Booth

New Classes for Spring!

I'm SO excited to release a new class schedule for spring! I have new classes, including one with my friend Susan Murray of Finished with Style, who has a studio across the hall from me at the NEST Arts Factory. She does some wicked cool decorative finishing techniques that look spectacular on fabric (or paper!) with materials that fabric surface designers don't usually use. New toys and new tools to play with!

You can find more details and sign up for the workshops on my workshop page here. Class sizes are limited so you'll want to hurry to save your spot!

There are several printing workshops - Simple Screen Printing and Four-Color Block Printing, plus an in-depth Intro to Image Transfers. If class is being held on a day that isn't convenient for you, think about setting up a custom class. With a minimum of 4 students, I can arrange a workshop on a day that you're available, so find a group of friends and have a fabulous day of art, creativity, and learning.

Printmaking and more at Create Mixed Media retreat in Chicago!

I had such a great time teaching at the Create Mixed Media retreat in New Jersey in July that I'm doing it again in Chicago this month. I'd love for you to join me!

I'll be teaching four workshops. First up is the 4-color block printing class. You'll learn about design, registration for perfect prints, marketing and selling prints, and even cut your own mat. You can add some stitching by hand and/or machine. Everyone works on their own design and New Jersey's students came up with some stellar ones!

On Saturday I'll be teaching a class called Art Websites for Beginners. All you need is a laptop with wifi capability and some images of your work. There's no software to buy or download, no special knowledge needed. By the end of class you'll be well on your way to a beautiful website you can maintain and update yourself. We work on the websites in real time, one step at a time, until everyone is confident and ready to move onto the next step. In New Jersey we joked about having a hacker party with pizza and beer in the hotel lobby after class to keep working on our sites together. Fun!

Saturday night we jump into the Live Tweets class. This is a great introduction to soft sculpture and the results are delightful. Make a bird with fabric and paper that you've painted or printed yourself. What a fabulous way to show off your handiwork!

And on Sunday morning join me for a great inspirational exercise that ends up as a house with a bird on it in the Bird:House workshop. Randomly choose a "bird word" and create a collaged and stitched house to illustrate it. We talk about inspiration, the principles of design, and many construction techniques. The houses can either hang on the wall or sit in a wooden stand when complete.

The Create retreats are great fun, inspirational, educational, and a wonderful way to connect with our "tribe" while trying new things and meeting new people. I hope to see you there!

A functional use for stamps

I used some of my handmade stamps for a utilitarian purpose. I added the designs to a simple tablerunner!

I choose two very similar colors and stamped on either end of a length of fabric that I picked up at IKEA last year. They had a fabric on the bolt, sold by the yard, that is about 18" wide with sewn hems along the long edges. You can easily make placemats or table runners with this clever fabric by cutting the length you'd like and hemming the short ends. Easy peasy! I couldn't find it on their website, but will definitely look for more the next time I stop in. It came in at least 3 colors and has a linen type texture.

The stamp I used is made from a square of acrylic and shapes cut from adhesive fun foam. I've made a LOT of these stamps over the years and they are very durable and very versatile.

I used 2 coppery/bronzy shades of Jacquard Lumiere paints for the images, with the darker in the center. The Lumiere paints are water-proof once dry and heat set. Now my table has a fresh, fun new look for these dreary, cold winter days.

As a teaser and coming attraction - both Carlos and I have gotten back into more traditional printmaking after a long absence. The press was moved upstairs and plates are being cut and etched as we speak. Wait until you see what we're each working on!

Art on Exhibit!

I spent the morning hanging my solo show. I have been working all summer to get ready for this exhibit -- making new work, and matting, framing and mounting existing work. It was fantastic to see it all hanging together on big white walls!

The opening reception is tomorrow night, Thursday September 23rd from 7 - 8:30 pm. The exhibition is held at the Edward J Duffy Art Gallery at the Canterbury School in New Milford CT. The show runs through October 14 and the gallery is open to the public weekdays from 8 -3 and Saturdays from 8-12 or by appt (860-210-3800).


On exhibit are over 50 pieces, including the first public showing of the first half of the Loteria series and many other new works. I've discovered one drawback to working on a small scale - it takes a LOT of work to fill a gallery!

Many of the Loteria series are on display, as well as an assortment of gyotaku fiber and paper collages, insect work in a variety of formats, some new pieces inspired by cell phone photography and a few three-dimensional fiber houses.

I hope you can stop by!

AED - backgrounds

Background layers for Artist Trading Cards. Yummy.

4" square challenge

I showed you the beginnings of my 4" square challenge pieces here and now that the art is swapped I can reveal more of the process and the finished results.

After I had fused on the prepared-for-dyeing fabric to the 4" squares of fast2fuse interfacing, I applied a wash of acrylic paint diluted with water, mixing colors as I went.



Even after they dried they were a little too bright for me so I added another wash over all of them, this time in a diluted off-white color.



Then I added pattern with designs from stamps I made, applied with more of the off-white color, undiluted this time.



And finally, I screen-printed thermofax images of insects with black acrylic paint randomly to each of the squares. After the paint was dry, I trimmed the squares and topstitched around the edges. I added labels on the back and headed off to the meeting for the grand swap. 28 artists traded 4" squares and a good time was had by all! I found a cool box (meant to store ATCs) that I need to alter to store them all in.







At the meeting it was really interesting to hear how varied all of our approaches to this project were. Some people started out planning to make 29 similar pieces and got bored after 10 so switched to making groups of similar pieces. A few people began intentionally by making definite groups. Several people made all completely different pieces, some within themes, and some not. A couple of people made large backgrounds and cut them down into 4" squares and proceeded with more design. There were a lot of different edge-finishing techniques. Many people chose to work entirely or mostly by hand due to the project's portability. So many different ways to get to the same place!

I find that the assembly-line process works best for me, as you can see from my pictures above. As a printmaker, I'm used to work in editions and this is very much the same thing - all originals, but absolutely an edition or series.

Of course, as soon as we had swapped and discussed and admired, we jumped right into a new challenge - stay tuned!

Gettin' messy

Today was a rare free day in the studio with nothing more pressing to work on than some 4" squares for a swap for my art group on Thursday evening.

First though, I played with printing on big sheets of white paper. Anyone who knows me knows how "all out" I go when wrapping presents. I love to use beautiful paper, make unique gift tags and add sumptious, funky or unusual ribbons. A special someone has a birthday coming up this week and I couldn't resist making my own wrapping paper this time. I used stamps that I had made and acrylic paint to print designs all over the paper. Delicious! Wouldn't this make a pretty fabric?



That done and drying, I started on the 4" squares. I can't show you how far I've gotten but I can say that I'm using some of the same layering techniques that I used on my bricolages, on fabric this time. Here's my assembly line all set up and ready for the first painting step.



I realized AFTER I had cut all of the fast2fuse squares and ironed on all the little pieces of fabric that I could have ironed a big piece of fabric to a big piece of fast2fuse, painted it and then cut it into 4" squares. Oy.

An intrepid group of about 35 art quilters and fiber artists meets each month and we discuss all sorts of topics of professional interest to artists, we have challenges and creativity prompts, we mount a group exhibit, and we learn from each other and laugh a lot. Over the summer 29 of us have been working on 4" squares to trade with each other. We agreed to keep our work secret until the due date and after everything's swapped on Thursday night we can all reveal the art on our blogs, Facebook and websites. I'm so looking forward to seeing what everyone else has made!

Based on a few of my fellow swappers' blogs (Melanie has help with hers, scroll down to the bottom here) and Facebook status updates (I'm looking at you, Natalya and Vivien, lol!), I'm not the only one working on these today...

Printmaking Workshop - July

Friday and Saturday, July 17 & 18, is the next session of my Printmaking for Art Quilters workshop. There are still a couple of spaces if you hurry!


collagraph with acrylic paint on pfd cotton

More details can be found on my website. We'll be working on a variety of printmaking techniques, adapted for printing on fabric with acrylic paints and mediums, with a good mix of hand and press printing processes. Come join us!

Art Quilts at Play

Here's the big, exciting news! I've been living this project for the last 18 months and I can finally share. Elin Waterston and I have written a new book, Art Quilts at Play, for C&T Publishing, to be released in January 2009.

This new book is a perfect complement to our first book, Art Quilt Workbook, and covers a plethora of surface design techniques and special effects on fabric. The book is full of illustrated how-tos, many, many samples from the different processes and oodles of finished art. Once we've shown you how to create and alter some beautiful fabric, we give you scads of ideas of what to do with it, from challenges and trades to collaborations and more. Our first book was based on an in-depth, comprehensive class that we'd been teaching. This new one also draws on workshops plus the techniques we each use in our own art.

Over a year ago we asked a small number of very talented women in the art quilt and mixed-media world to contribute some pieces to our book and they very generously agreed. Their work enriches the material and shows you how different artists with different voices and different techniques approach the same themes or materials with exciting, original and unique results. We're so grateful to each of them for their contributions.

Natalya Aikens
Woodie Anderson
Liz Berg
Gail Ellspermann
Janet Ghio
Rayna Gillman
Terry Grant
Kathryn Hunter
Andrea Jenkins
Jane LaFazio
Mati McDonough
Tricia McKellar
Kim Rae Nugent
Karen Stiehl Osborn
Virginia Spiegel
Beryl Taylor

A few of our students were also asked and graciously agreed to share their work with us. We are so thankful to them for their generosity (and in a couple of cases, their bravery as well!)

There will be a big release party, book signing and art quilt exhibition at the Country Quilter in Somers NY on Saturday, February 21st and we hope you can join us!

You can pre-order an autographed copy of the book now by contacting me. We're so pleased with the response to our first book and hope that you'll like this one just as much.

Artful Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving my sister and her family came for a day of fun, food and art.

While the turkey was cooking everyone got to work on a variety of projects. Some of us started with stamp carving and block printing. A quick how-to from me, a few samples, all the tools and supplies, and they were off!



Even the dog got into the act, supervising while Sam was cutting out pattern pieces for a pet bed.



Whitman is already an accomplished artist and was eager to try this kind of stamp making and block printing.



He kept his first stamp pretty simple (below) but quickly advanced to larger, much more detailed blocks (which I totally forgot to take pictures of before everything got packed into the car, but I was really impressed.)



Sage assured me that she had already done this in school and she knew exactly what she was going to carve.



Everything she carved, drew or made today had a heart on it, reflecting her loving nature (and the fact that she's six ::big smile::).



Sam was working on the pet bed and it's amazing that she managed to get that 1" sheet foam cut into the multitude of needed pieces with the dog and a small cousin underfoot.



Linda tried the stamp carving too and, again, I forgot to take a picture of the block she made. She came with fabric and a plan, worked quickly and secreted the results away. I have a feeling her prints may factor into some handmade holiday gifts...



But most of the day she was knitting these neat "muttons" (mittens without fingers) for a co-worker. Last year she made me a pair and I love them. They keep my always-cold hands toasty warm and I can still work with them on.



I managed to open my new soldering iron, but never actually used it. Sage and I made some jewelry, but decided to keep it simple with beads, findings and fabric. She even made up a song about her new necklace and performed it for all of us. Over and over and over again. I could sing it for you now, if you'd like - it's still stuck in my head!

It was a wonderful, warm, creative day with good food to eat and good people to enjoy it all with. I'm so thankful for my family.

Printmaking + quilting

selva primeval, 2008

I decided to put some of the fabric I printed with gelatin plates to good use so I made a small art quilt. I learned the gelatin-plate printing technique from Rayna Gillman and her new book. The butterfly is block-printed from a stamp I carved. The quilt also incorporates some printed mulberry paper and some found object paper.

I need to schedule time for another printing session, the resulting fabric is so unique and versatile, and the technique was pretty quick and easy.

time running

time running 5" x 7"

Deadlines, deadlines everywhere... If I didn't make lists I'd feel totally out of control. Nose to the grindstone, keep working, keep crossing things off.

Say, where does that expression come from anyway? "Nose to the grindstone" - sounds painful, and not terribly productive since you'd have to stop and bandage your nose.

Collages for Fiber Art for a Cause

Yesterday I finished up three collages to donate to Virginia Spiegel's newest fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, Collage Mania II.


Fiber Art for a Cause, her brainchild and passion, has donated over $140,000 to ACS in the last couple of years and I'm delighted to be a small part of it.



Our shop's art quilting website, Flourish!, is donating a $100 gift certificate in a random drawing from among those who have donated $50 or more toward the purchase of Virginia's beautiful online book, Art, Nature, Creativity, Life. This book is such rich inspiration and reflects Virginia's abiding love of nature and art in rich photographs, and pensive essays and haikus.

I am in awe of Virginia's dedication and commitment to this cause. She has put aside her work time and again, and logged countless hours in her drive to make these fundraisers successful. It is truly an honor to know her and to help support her efforts.

por Juan, que te echo de menos