Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Art with Fabric Blog Hop

Yay! It's my day to show my Fabric Artwork on the Art with Fabric Blog Hop!



I've had sew much fun creating my fabric wall hanging. Being a part of this Hop has allowed me to take a sabbatical from my comfort zone, use my imagination and create a textile piece that I won't mind displaying in my home. Shouts of THANKS go out to Alida from Tweety Loves Quilting for all the time she's put into organizing this Blog Hop.

When Alida first contacted me about participating I was very hesitant. I knew very little about conventional art, fine art or works by artist in current or past times. I guess you can say I was/am  "art challenged". How was I going to create a textile piece based on a work of art (painting, sculpture, drawing, architecture, etc).  Yes...I knew about Michael Angelo and was familiar with other old era artists but that was as far as my art knowledge went and for that matter it didn't go very deep. So after the second email I received from Alida I thought...okay...before I commit let me see if I can be inspired by any artist out there.  I found a museum website that listed artists from different eras in alphabetical order and photos of their work.  I started clicking randomly on artist names, viewing their works and I found A LOT that did not inspire me!  The works were beautiful but nothing was happening on the creative side of my brain. When I did find my inspirational artist,  I knew it immediately! I WAS INSPIRED! His work spoke to me like no other artist did!

My inspirational artist was...



His works consist of scenes that include people interacting with nature, animals and landscapes.

The paintings that inspired my fabric artwork were:

The Dream

and The Poultry Yard


I basically designed my piece as I was creating it. I knew I wanted a rooster inspired from The Poultry Yard and I wanted flowers and greenery inspired from The Dream. I went with those thoughts and made changes here and there during the creating process. 

I found this Rooster on EQ7 and thought it would look great as an appliqué. 



I love love love Batik fabrics and knew they would be perfect for my Rooster. I raided my Batik stash and came up with a nice assortment. 

What would work well with a poultry appliqué? Why burlap of course! I wasn't yet sure how a burlap backed rooster would be placed on a piece of background fabric that I hadn't auditioned yet, but I liked the combination and went with it.


I machine appliquéd the rooster body onto a lined burlap piece.


I have a fun pressor foot that I love using...It's a Loop/Fringe foot made by Baby Lock. 


Here's a great tutorial on using the foot....because there is an easy process to getting the look you want. (Believe me when I say it's an easy process)

It gives any project a fantastic look and texture!
I used machine embroidery thread to make the fringe in order to give the Rooster tail a little shine. 


When I made the rooster/burlap combination I didn't know exactly how I was going to use it in my overall wall hanging design.  I placed it on my background fabric that I'd finally chosen and a light bulb went off! Oh my...it looks like a Moon...It looks like a rooster against a moon backdrop! It looks like a rooster walking on a stone wall against a moon backdrop! A name for my project promptly came to my head!



The next step was to design the garden.  I loved the flowers depicted in the painting The Dream and gained the inspiration I needed to create my moonlit garden. 


I appliquéd and stitched detail into my garden flowers and greenery. 

And here you have it.... my completed textile artwork...

"Rooster Crowing in the Moonlit Garden"



I took advantage of my real life inspiration and one hen even posed during the photo op!


I hope you've been inspired by my creation. Continue to be inspired by visiting the other participants that are posting today and though out the week. 


Monday, May 9th, 2016

Tuesday, May 10th, 2016

Wednesday, May 11th, 2016

Thursday, May 12th, 2016

Friday, May 13th, 2016



Thanks for stopping by and have a fun week of being inspired.

Live On!
Quilt On!

Monday, May 2, 2016

Art with Fabric Blog Hop

I'm sew excited about participating in the Art with Fabric Blog Hop hosted by Alida at  Tweety Loves Quilting. She has a week long line-up in place beginning Monday, May 9th.


Participants were asked to create textile artwork inspired by a piece of art...painting, sculpture, drawing, etc. I was hesitant at first because 1) I had to come out of my comfort zone and design something different; 2) I'm not an artist; 3) I no nothing about fine art.

After a few days of thinking about it and viewing artwork on the internet I found an artist who's works really spoke to me. Creative ideas immediately started flowing through my head and I decided to participate in the hop. I'm so glad I did because I've had such fun creating my project! And you know,  it's not all that different than what I really like to do and it allowed me to come out of my comfort zone during the creative process.

Visit Tweety Loves Quilting next Monday, May 9th to start the hop and I'm sure you'll be inspired too. My day to present is May 10th. Come back to see my textile artwork and who the artist was that inspired me.

Here is a preview of my artwork:



Hope you come back next Tuesday, May 10th to view the completed piece.

Quilt On!
Live On!