Self Portrait Progress

I suppose some of you are interested in how the self portrait is coming. As I thought, it is tedious and I have to limit myself to one small section at a time or I get a headache from all those tiny pieces. As with most of my art quilts, it went though a period where I didn't think it was going to work and looked very odd. However, I am pressing on and it is slowing developing into something I rather like.

It is still a bit wonky but that's because I have to finished certain sections first before I can sew it all together so right now you are also seeing 1/4 inch seam allowances around sections. I'll show you the finished product soon!

People Watching

Another of my goals for this year was to draw people. I need a whole lot of practice and while the ideal would be to draw from life, I feel like I need to start with people who are not moving. While out on my walks these past few weeks, I have been discreetly photographing people dressed in their warm winter outerwear. Then when I get home, I draw from my photos. As yet I haven't been putting a lot of detail in my sketches so I can concentrate on the shapes, body language and clothing.

The seated guy was drawn from life as I waited in the hospital during my sister's surgery. He was on his I-pad the whole time so he didn't move much.

This little guy was done from a photo in a magazine.

Sketching Field Trip

I have been on the lookout for a cozy place to sketch where the atmosphere is quaint, where there is interesting subject matter and perhaps a few people to sketch. Sketching outdoors in the Canadian winter just doesn't work. Today, the temperature was -11C with a wind chill of -16C. Not only would my fingers freeze but so would everything else plus the ink in my pen.

A friend of mine told me of a place that made and sold butter tarts that was not far from my home. I had forgotten about this place until I read about it in our local newspaper last week. I took down the address and decided to go out for a coffee and a butter tart.

This coffee shop is small and quaint and loaded with antiques and an eclectic mix of tables and chairs. I found a small table for two right beside the display case filled with every flavour of butter tart you could imagine. I ordered a coffee and a lemon butter tart, sat down and gazed around the place to find something to sketch. There was so much there! I decided that for my first time in this place I would just sketch my coffee and butter tart.

I did feel a bit self conscious but squashed the desire to finish my treats and leave without sketching. I took out the sketchbook and began. It wasn't going well at first but I admonished myself to keep at it. I was the only patron in the place and the owners were busy putting a huge order together to deliver that day so they left me alone.

It is not my best work, the mug is a bit wonky but today the success was not in the sketch, it was in the fact that I stepped out of my comfort zone, found the place, ordered something and sketched. When I was at the register to pay, I had a really nice conversation with the owner, Michelle, about art and fabric. I now have a bit of a relationship with her and when she sees me again (the next time I go there) she'll know I will most likely take out my sketchbook, order coffee and a butter tart and sit there for an hour documenting her shop. As you can see from the sketch, the shop is called Tartistry. I like the name!

This is a pecan butter tart that I bought for my husband. He loves pecan pie.

Attempting a Small Art Quilt

One of my goals for 2019 was to make 3 small art quilts. The subject for my first one is a self-portrait. I've been taking a ton of selfies and clearly I don't know how to do that well because I really didn't get one that I liked. I finally chose one and did a watercolour painting from the photo.

Not sure it looks anything like me but it is a portrait and a subject I have been wanting to try in the technique I use for my quilts.

Because this is a small art quilt, only 9"X 9", my pieces are miniscule such that I don't even have room on the pattern to write numbers or colour codes in them. I had to find a different way plot the fabric colours and sewing order on the plan.

I decided to work out the pattern and then I photocopied it. On the photocopy I put the sewing order numbers and on the actual pattern, I used different coloured pencils to colour in the areas of different fabrics I chose.

Making a small quilt does make a difference in the time it takes to plot out a pattern but today I started the sewing and I have a feeling this could take some time. We'll see.

Inspired by the Homes in my Neighbourhood

As you know, I like to go for walks. I go for exercise but also for inspiration. If I have time I walk outside my neighbourhood but if I can only take a short walk, I stay within my neighbourhood. The area where I live is called Thistletown and it used to be the area that the Toronto dwellers came for vacation. This was the early cottage country along the West Humber river. There are many small cottages that still exist here and there are other older brick houses too. Lately the large properties here are being sold and larger homes are being built. The neighbourhood is changing.

I think some of the homes here are really interesting and the area is eclectic. I was inspired on one of my walks to do sketches of the homes as a way of preserving them. I don't know how many I will complete but I sketched two in December.

This first one is one of the smallest homes in the area. I'm sure this one was considered a cottage. It is a wooden structure.

The second is a brick home but it looks very regal and neat. It is always well-kept and seems as if it is an older home. I've posted my process in which I first sketch with pencil, then I go over the pencil with a uniball pen with waterproof ink and then I used watercolour pencils to colour it in and afterwards added water to blend the colours.

I also printed off copies of each sketch and placed them in the mailbox of the home owners as a keepsake for them.

Goals for 2019

I am a creature of habit. So when my routine is disrupted, I feel very lost and unsettled. That's what's happening to me today. It's Thursday...Art Day...but because we are in the Christmas week, the days have been anything but routine. That's not a bad thing or a negative thing; it just messes me up. I awoke at 3:30 am and just couldn't fall back to sleep. Running through my mind were, "What art am I going to do today?, What will I blog about?, No, I need to tidy up my house after all our partying., Oh, I have library items that are due back today"...and on and on. I finally got up and just started my day.

Maybe I should have begun the day with my usual walk. That always gets my creativity going and inspires me. Being who I am, if the house is a mess, I can't settle down and do art so I began by tidying and cleaning. I felt very satisfied when the house was back to normal but it did nothing for my creativity. Eventually, I went down to my studio to see if just being in that space would inspire me...... Nothing! I took out a few things I had been working on but one of them bombed and that's a real inspiration sapper. Yes, not everything I do, turns out the way I want it to. Bah!

Well, Ok, then. Figure out what your goals will be for 2019. That's what I did and now at least I have a plan and I won't be aimlessly trying to figure out what to do. Here are my goals for 2019.

1. Do more "on location" sketching and include people. Uh, huh, I've been leaving people out of my sketches because I don't do them well. So if I never try them, I'll never do them well. Here's a sketch I did from a magazine this past week, WITH people. Not too bad; there's hope.

2. Paint fabric to use in art quilts. I'm not sure that I will actually use this hand painted fabric because I really love the colours I can get with commercial fabrics. However, I will try the paint and see how vibrant I can make my fabrics.

3. Create a Perpetual Birthday/Anniversary Calendar. I made one of these many years ago so it is time for an update. I'm not sure what the theme will be so if you have an idea for me, please let me know.

4. Create 3 small art quilts. This could be a stretch for me because my goal last year was 2 art quilts and I only produced 1. I think the operative word is "small'.

5. Do one art activity that is "outside my comfort zone". Risky! But how will you know you can do it if you don't try. I have a few ideas so you'll have to keep up with my blog to find out what that would be.

Wishing all my blog supporters a very Blessed 2019 and hope you also have some interesting goals.

Artwork Goals

As the year draws to a close, I am thinking about the goals I set in 2017 for this year. I have them hanging in my studio as a reminder and I didn't do too badly this year.

1. Make less fabric cards - I did make less 4" X 6" greeting cards. I produced only 35 this year. This goal was so that I could devote more time to other types of art. However, I also made 58 2"X 3" fabric cards.

2. Do more watercolour or drawn cards. I ended up making 52 watercolour greeting cards which I have posted here in the past and 10 watercolour 4" X 6" paintings of our kayak trip this summer which you have also seen on this blog in the past.

3. Do at least 2 fabric art quilts. Well, this goal was not met. I did get one art quilt done which took me from April until December to complete. I thought if I made them smaller they would be done quicker but the opposite seems to be true. The smaller the the completed size, the smaller the fabric pieces, the more time it takes. I am happy I got one done.

4. Do at least 2 acrylic paintings. I met this goal with the painting of "The Calm of the Day" which hangs in our pastor's office and "Four Canoes" which I still have.

5. Take an art course. I actually took 2 art courses. One was Portrait painting and the other was Acrylic painting.

6. Experiment with dying my own fabric. I did experiment with rust dying which I will have to revisit since I didn't think it was as successful as it could have been. I also experimented with painting fabric as well as dying it. So I may have to keep this goal on my list for next year to become more confident in this technique.

7. Keep a garden sketch book. I have also met this goal although the sketch book is not yet complete. I'll keep it going next year as well.

In conclusion, my goals were achievable and helped me to focus this year so I'll try to challenge myself a little more for 2019.

Besides what I have listed above, I also completed four baby portraits with one unfinished as yet.