Mystery Project Completed and Hung

Well, it's done and I have drummed up the nerve to hang it in a public place that I'm pretty sure I won't get fined for. But when I found a good vantage point to photograph it from, I realized I had made it too small for such a large public space and it's difficult to read it unless you are really close. However, the design and the colours are still attractive and I consider it a success having never tried working with plastic before. This project did stretch me and I had a great time creating it. Here's a challenge for those of you living in the area. SEE IF YOU CAN FIND IT. And let me know if you do.

The Mystery Project - Sneak Peak

I have been steadily working on my mystery project and thought you might like a sneak peak as to how it's shaping up. What a wonderful variety of coloured plastic bags I received from everyone! Thank you so much to those who contributed. I'm becoming inspired to use the leftovers for other art projects.

The Mystery Project

The Art House Co-op is a group based in Brooklyn, NY that encourages international art that's open to everyone. They came up with the Mystery Project which artists from all over the world can join. Although I am not good with deadlines, I decided to join. For this project, we are to create something that we would install in a public space for others to enjoy. We are to take a photo of it and send it in to the Art House Co-op. I decided that because right now I'm in to contemporary quilting, I would quilt something, however, if I want to install it outside it should be able to withstand the elements. The idea of using plastic came to mind so I invited some friends and family to donate the plastic bags they have laying around the house and recycle them into a piece of art. The response was wonderful and I got a huge variety of colours. (Keep the plastic bags coming). Well, now that I had the medium, I had to come up with a design. I really like the look of graffiti so I thought I'd try to design something along those lines. I also wanted this public installation to leave people who see it with a good feeling. I am well on my way with the design. It will measure approximately 40" X 70". I'm going to need suggestions as to where to install it. If anyone knows of an easily accessable place to hang this plastic quilt where the public will see it, let me know. I'll post photos of the completed quilt in a future blog. Have a great day, everyone!

Working out colours

Donated bags of all colours. Could use more pinks, purples,
and greens if anyone has some.



Used all the white bags to piece together the background
for the quilt top and also for the back of the quilt. I left
some of the store logos on the backing piece.



Enhancing my Quilting Skills

Although I'm more of a contemporary art quilter, I do see the value in practicing pieceing traditional quilt blocks. I am a member of Craftsy which is a website that teaches all manner of crafts. I am currently doing the Craftsy Block of the Month in order to learn the proper ways to piece quilts and will then incorporate what I learn into my own style of quilting. Each month the site posts 2 new quilt blocks for us to practice. Being that it is almost the end of April and the May blocks will be coming out next week, I thought I should spend today putting together the April blocks. However, the April blocks have a fair amount of hand pieceing to do and they didn't get done today.
Below are some of the blocks I've completed. You can see that they are done in Christmas fabric. Since we started in January and will finish in December, I thought I'd make it a Christmas table runner.



This is one of the unfinished April blocks. It is a paper pieced
block and therefore the hexagons must all be handsewn
together.

This is the second April block and once I sew all the little
hexagons together they will become a Christmas tree
in the centre of the block.



International Inspiration - Elburg

During my stay in Holland, I visited a small fishing village called Elburg. I was struck that being a fishing village, why wasn't it situated on open water? It turns out Elburg was once on  a large lake that flowed out to the North Sea called the Zuiderzee. Often when storms came in from the North Sea they caused disasterous flooding and loss of life in the villages along the edges of the Zuiderzee. In order to stem the floods, a large dam was constructed, called the Afsluitdijk, which was completed in 1932. The Zuiderzee became the Ijsselmeer and land within this area was reclaimed for farming and housing. These areas are called polders.

A large polder (Flevoland) was formed in front of Elburg with a river flowing in between them. So the fishermen from Elburg can still access the Ijsselmeer however the water in the lake has turned from salt water into fresh water. Due to the fact that Elburg is no longer situated on open salt water, fishing has deminished and the town now relies on tourism for its economy. 

The town was built with large brick ramparts and the streets and alleys still breath the atmosphere of the Middle Ages. There are many terraces and cafes and popular shops to keep the tourist amused.



You can see where Elburg is situated today on the lower
right of the map. The green areas are reclaimed polders.





I began my painting by drawing the the composition lightly on
watercolour paper.



Then I masked the sailboat cables
and put pale washes in the
background.




Then I started to add more colour and established some
of the shadow areas, leaving the foreground for the end.





"Elburg Fishing Boats"



Journal Pages

I've returned from my trip to Holland to visit my dad and stepmom. While there I gathered inspiration for future artwork. I love the small European towns and fishing villages and was able to spend a day driving around with a cousin, enjoying the uncommonly beautiful weather. We sat in outdoor cafes, walked around an old village, did some shopping and took photographs. I have chosen a photograph and begun a watercolour of the village of Elburg which will be the subject of my next blog. However, in this blog, I thought you might be interested in how I finished some of the pages in the journal I blogged about earlier. While still at home, I prepared the pages of the journal by painting them and gluing in some pictures and pockets and leaving room for journaling and adding things I collected during my stay.



This a detail from the page above. It is a pocket I placed
on a page and in it is a tab with a photograph of my
dad as a boy on one side and a photograph of my dad
today on the other.



This page also has a heart shaped pocket on it with a tab in it
containing a photo of my parents when they were dating and
also a photo of our immigration to Canada.



I use maps and glued in things I have collected like sugar packets, coasters,
napkins, candy wrappers etc.

 I also wrote some of the things that I observed while I was there and some of my feelings about what I observed which I am busy writing up on another sheet of paper which I will place in an envelope inside the journal to keep a little more private. I will continue to keep this journal each time I visit my dad and it will be a wonderful, if not realistic memory of this time with him.
I wasn't sure journaling would be my thing but once I got started, it was rather addictive. I have also started separate journals for each of my grandchildren. In them I draw sketches of them at different stages in life. I mark their special events such as baptism, dedication, first teeth, birthdays and write my own feelings about those events. My plan is to give this to them when they are older in hopes that they will know how special they are to me.
Journals can be very personal and something you don't share with anyone but yourself or they can be special gifts to give to someone.

This Year's Christmas Card

I know I'm getting a little ahead of myself with it being only February and Christmas a long 10 months in the future, however, this was going to be my 2011 Christmas card and when I got into the planning I realized it just wasn't going to get done on time. So now it's 2012's Christmas card.

I planned it out as I would any of my landscape quilts, with a watercolour painting first, a plotted pattern, and the choosing of fabric. What's different about this one is that it is only 7 inches by 8.5 inches in size. So my pattern pieces are miniscule and some I couldn't even pick up with my fingers; I needed tweezers. It became apparent that I couldn't sew the fabric together as I do with my larger landscape quilts and I had to find another way of putting it together. I chose to use a product called Heat 'n Bond which can be ironed onto the back of fabric where it leaves a residue that when heated with an iron will adhere the fabric to something else. So instead of sewing the pieces together I glued them using my iron onto another piece of fabric. Once that was done, I treated it as I would a large landscape quilt and thread painted on top to enhance the design. Then I placed batting and a backing fabric and a border on it and quilted the whole thing.

To complete the card I will manipulate the photograph in my computer, possibly putting a caption on it, then print off the photo and glue it to card stock, add an envelope and I'll be ready for the Christmas 2012 mailing.