Ellen Lindner: Art & Creativity

Yahoo!  My Crotons quilt took longer than I anticipated, so I’m doubly glad to finally complete it.  I’m really happy with it, though.

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At 40 x 60, these croton leaves are huge!  Major drama – which I love.  Detail shot below.

I have to say, I love these colors.  The scraps were so enticing that I’ve even started a little quilt with them. 

Crotons will soon be on display as part of the “Florida in Fabric:  Wish You Were Here!” exhibit at the Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts, in Melbourne, FL.  (More details coming.)

I’ve been posting about this quilt since January of 2012.  If  you’re interested in seeing the process  please do a little browsing.  Plus, pricing and other details are on my website.

Ellen Lindner

I’ve been working with hand dyed fabrics and fusible web lately.  When steaming the fabrics, I was surprised to see a lot of color coming through onto my pressing cloth.  See what I mean?

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Only the hand dyed fabric bled.  Thankfully, it didn’t show against the dark background.

I never wash my fabrics, since I don’t wash my quilts.  But, if I’m likely to use fusible much, I’ll have to rethink this.

Ellen Lindner

I recently had lots of fun playing with my art quilt buddies as we learned about ice dyeing and screen printing.

The ice dyeing results were absolutely fabulous!  What vivid colors!

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I used fuschia, golden yellow and lemon yellow dyes.  I expected to get a lot of orange as the colors mixed.  But, as you can see, the three colors stayed pretty much intact, as they bled and migrated.  Not that it matters.  I love this piece!

My screen printing technique definitely still needs some work, but it certainly has a lot of potential.  For this next piece, I applied water soluble glue directly to the screen, as a resist.  Then, I screened on both blue and black ink.

The next time, I’ll add the glue much more heavily.  Still, this will make an interesting addition to a blue background, etc. 

Too late I realized that some very interesting things were happening on the plastic under my fabric.  If only I had another layer of fabric in place!  Instead, I scrunched up some fabric and wiped it in the extra paint, resulting in a pretty cool “clean up rag.”  Actually, I can see it as part of a sky.

When I do this sort of play, I often get mixed results.  But, that’s NOT important.  It was SO exhilirating to experiment and to spend time with my friends!  Even if every piece of fabric had turned out horribly it still would have been a wonderful day.

Has it been a while since you had a play day?  If so, I hope you’ll be able to manage one soon.

Ellen Lindner
P.S.   The glue washed out easily.  It still showed as a shadow on the screen, which worried me, but it was completely gone.

I have new artwork on my wall and I love it!  It’s Sea Star, created for me by my good friend, Jo-Ann Jensen.  Here it is installed in my hallway.

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I love this location.  The colors look great together and this is a spot where it will be viewed close up – better for appreciating the details.

Clearly, this piece is hard to photograph, due to the glass covering it.  But, I hope you’ll click on the image above to get a better idea.  It’s painted silk:  two different images, one on organza and another on habotai.

Jo-Ann sent me some in-progress photos of this piece.  The photo below shows the first (back) layer, which is opaque.

The next layer, shown in progress below,  is sheer.  It’s mounted in front of the first painting, but with a little gap between the two.  The result is an almost holographic effect.

Jo-Ann developed this technique and she calls it “Double Vision.”  Please check out her website for more of her work.

Ellen Lindner

Gee, I had fun today!  I met up with some of my fiber art buddies for play and experimentation. 

After donning our face masks, we opened the dye powder jars and were ready to get going.
NOTE:  Dye powder is very harmful.  You MUST wear a mask when handling it!

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First, Jill showed us how to do ice dying.  Below, Marlyn is adding dye powder to hers. 

And this is what mine looked like after I added fuschia and two different yellow dyes.

How exciting!  (I’m now being VERY disciplined and letting it sit still until the 24 hour mark.)

Next, Andrea showed us a bunch of ways to do screen printing.

In addition to using prepared screens, she showed us how to use a variety of objects as resists.  These included glue, newspaper, and freezer paper, shown below.  After placing freezer paper spirals on dark fabric, she pulled yellow and red paints through the screen.

An added bonus:  after applying paint the cut outs can be lifted and used as stamps.  See the foreground spiral as an example.

After seeing all this, I played with freezer paper cutouts, glue resist, “painting” several clean up rags, and painters tape as a resist.  Where are the photos, you ask?  Well gee, a girl can’t be expected to stop playing in order to take pictures now can she?  (I’ll show the results after the fact, though.  Deal?)

It sure was great to play and to be with frends!!  Hope you’re having fun, too.

Ellen Lindner

I’m delighted to have recieved a commission to create artwork for Nemours Children’s Hospital, in Orland0, FL!  The client wanted to purchase this piece, Natural Progression:

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However, this piece has sold, so I’ve been requested to make something similar. 

Having not worked with an Art Design Service, before, I was suprised at the amount of thought that had gone into the art plans for this new facility.  The architechts, clients, and designers spent months coming up with a theme for the hospital’s art, coordinating materials and colors, and ideas for integrating the art into the building. 

In this case, the overall art theme is Florida gardens.  You might think they would have decided on bright juvenile colors for the art.  But, realizing that each child would be accompanied by at least one adult, they wanted a color scheme with broader appeal.  A very wise decision, I think.

Soon, I’ll start designing the new piece.  I’ll use the same photo sources I did with the first quilt. 

I’ve isolated some of them and layered them in a Photo editing program.  This allows me to manipulate each item independently.  I can move, rotate, or resize them, and much more.    This is very helpful when considering various composition alternatives. 

How would you arrange these flowers?

Ellen Lindner

P.S.  I’ve spent A LOT of time in hospitals, and I’ve always noticed the art.  I’ve found that interesting art does, indeed, lift my spirits.  I hope my quilt will be able to do the same.

P.P.S.  SAQA PAMs, note that my work was discovered via Portfolio 18.

Day Two at The Villages brought another Instant Art Quilt class.  And once again, the students rose to the challenge.

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Brenda worked with a variety of fabrics to create her background: a tricky task that she managed extremely well.  A fabric with hot tropical foliage provided the perfect accent pieces.

Kathy also used several different fabrics to create her background.  She selected a lovely spring green color for accents.  She plans to add leaves in this color, and sheer flowers in a variety of red-orange colors.  It will be very springy and organic!

Once arranged, Sharon’s fabric created a natural diagonal effect, which she used to her advantage.  The lime green accents play this up very nicely.

Sally’s fabric had drama to spare!  She was able to quickly work it into a fantastic design.

Cindy used a gauzy fabric.  It added a wonderful textural quality to her quilt.  And don’t you love those colors?

The lighter accents of Nancy’s quilt create a wonderful sparkle against the dark background.  A nice selection!

Marlene’s fabric produced a beautiful, subtle background.  She kicked things up with tiny hot accents.  It didn’t take much of that powerful orange-red to do the trick.  Very effective!

At first it seemed like Cathy’s fabric didn’t have enough contrast to create an effective IAQ.  But then I commented that her background reminded me of looking through vines toward the sky.  So, we sketched and experimented, and she created this design.  I think the abstracted quality of vines and branches is extremely successful.

All the results were FANTASTIC!  What a fun class – for all of us.

Ellen Lindner
P.S.  This class is also taught online.  Click here for info.

I recently taught two Instant Art Quilt classes in The Villages, FL.  (Yes, that’s the name of the community.)  Geared toward retirees, it’s made up of multiple idyllic villages , with a TON of available activities and amenities - including a quilt club with around 700 members!!! 

As always in this class, the ladies were a little uncertain about the idea of tearing up their gorgeous hand dyed fabrics.  But, they jumped right in and produced beautiful results in just three hours! 

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Above: Pat watching Carol
Below: Carol showing off her nearly finished quilt.  

Carol actually used three different fabrics for her background, which can be quite challenging.  However, she did a great job.  The blue-green ovals were the perfect complementary accents to her very warm colors.

Dale cut loose, quite literally.  She used a batik for her background, and added fusible applique as her focal point.  She planned ahead and it really paid off!

This was Wendy’s very first quilt!  Wow!  The pride is showing on her face.

The spring colors in Heather’s quilt were very lovely.

Pat’s background fabric had a great variety of values, which she arranged quite well.  However, her quilt needed some excitement.  As she began to cut random accents from a floral fabric, we decided, instead, to “fussy cut” some of the floral shapes.  A unique and appropirate accent, I think.

Ann’s selection of  a complementary color for her accents was very effective.  (If only I had gotten a better photo.)

Joan did her own thing, which I always applaud.  She arranged her base rectangles off-kilter and added a variety of black motifs as accents.  Very dramatic!

Lynn was inspired to make a scene with her quilt.  She’s working on a setting sun and will add a sheer sail boat on the right.  How creative!

 This was the third time I’d had Jackie as a student and she was very enthusiastic, as usual.  Don’t you love the rich colors of her quilt?  And the dark purple accents really set it off.

Micki stayed busy as my hostess, but also had time to arrange her fabric into a dramatic composition.  The diagonal lines add a lot of movement.

Can you believe they accomplished all of this, along with a GOOD bit of quilting, in just three hours?  Way to go, ladies!

Ellen Lindner
P.S.  Learn about the online version of this class.  (Just started on April 6th, 2012.)

Ooh, I’m a happy girl!  Just check out my new phone cover.

It’s a custom design featuring one of my quilts, along with the name of my website.  Now, how cool is that?  I feel so professional with this slick little number.  I’m afraid I’m having a little too much fun showing it off, though.  I even showed it to a complete stranger at the gym!

Ellen Lindner
P.S.  I got this from zazzle.com.

I’m currently part of a two-person show at a local performing arts center.  Called “Visions and Vistas,”  I mostly selected quilts depicting Florida vegetation for it.  But, at the 11th hour, I added this quilt, Mountain Meadows.

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As the only piece with a distant view, I was afraid it might not look right with the rest of the pieces.  Happily, I was wrong, since the colors and composition relate well to the other quilts. 

Still, I wasn’t expecting it to be so popular with the viewers!  Many of them said it was their favorite piece, and nearly all of them identified it as looking like some place they’d been.  (Although none of them mentioned the location that actually inspired it.)

Clearly there was some sort of universal recognition of this sort of vista.  Which made it much more personal for the viewers, and therefore (I think) affected how much they enjoyed it.  Interesting. 

Maybe there are other vistas or subjects that would strike a similar chord with viewers.  Not that I would necessarily choose subjects because of that, but it’s definitely got me thinking.

Ellen Lindner
P.S.  You can see most of my exhibit pieces here.