Painting a Barn ... with Thread

I am in the process of designing a quilt for the Portland Oregon quilt show 2015.   The theme for the quilt is anything beach or coastal.  I have several photos of the southern peninsula in Washington state which are sources of inspiration.  Below is a photo of Bard-Heim Dairy barn once located on property in Oysterville where my brother and sister-in-law now reside.  They live on the west side of Willapa Bay, a beautiful area, rich in history.

I used a photo of the Bard-Heim Dairy barn for inspiration in creating a replica on fabric.  The fabric paint used is Jacquard's Dye-na-Flow. The paint results in a water color look on fiber.  The colors are amazingly bright and vibrant even when used on beige muslin. All in all I enjoyed experimenting with this, new to me, product.  Machine stitched thread outlines and adds a bit of color to the painted fabric.  The threads used are cotton 40 and 12 weight.

Barn Door ~ Detail

Barn Post ~ Detail

Barn Top ~ Detail

Extension of "Bird of a Feather"

The 3D art class I am taking this semester has introduced new media for art creation.  My favorite assignment so far is making a low resolution figure mold.

Bird of a Feather ~ Fiber Art

My inspiration for the low resolution sculpture was an original fiber art piece called "Bird of a Feather."  This piece was created using two photos, one of a raven and the second of a detail of a feather.  Once the two photos were joined using photoshop software, I printed the image onto cotton.  Next, the raven was free motion stitched and the feather was machine stitched. The raven's wing was extended outside the frame of the original photo.

In class, we fabricated the figure using molding clay.  The mold was made from latex, a flexible material that captures the details of a clay sculpture fairly well.  Once the mold was complete, plaster of paris was used as the mold compound material.  Each plaster cast piece was painted.  I experimented with inks, oil paint, acrylic paint,water color paint, crafting wax pigments, and encaustic wax.

Ten birds were completed with different material applications. Working with various sources of media, basically anything I could get my hands on, was fun ... I was motivated by seeing the results of the media and combinations applied to the plaster.

Water color paint, oil paint, and ink on plaster

Water color paint on geso ground

Background = wax metallic pigment, Bird = acrylic paint

Encaustic wax application

My final piece was a combination of all I had learned using different media.  I love the juxtaposition between the plaster and the formalized landscape.  The metallicness of the frame's gold overtone is repeated in the wax metallic finished used on the bird and circles.

Framed landscape purchased at a local thrift shop

Now Showing at City Hall Until 2017

Drawing for design by Rickie Seifried

Quilting stitches by Linda Natale

I am so proud.  My first public art piece is now on display at the Las Vegas City Hall.  The abstract art quilt, "Enso", is hung in the foyer of the Personnel Department and will be there for the next two years.  I designed and pieced the quilt while Linda Natale, a good friend and fellow quilter, long arm quilted it.  The detailed quilting  enhanced the overall design of the quilt. This project was truly one of collaboration.

Enso - Machine Appliqued

Methods Used: The design for "Enso" was drawn and then painted.  The process was freeing.  Once finalized, the design was then enlarged and templates were made using poster board for each section. A machine applique method was used to piece the quilt top.  All fabrics used in the construction of "Enso" were commercial cottons.

In Zen Buddhism, an ensō (円相 , "circle"^?) is a circle that is hand-drawn in one or two uninhibited brushstrokes to express a moment when the mind is free to let the body create.
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