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Collaging with Magazine Pages

By Ellen Lindner on December 18, 2023 in Uncategorized

Do you ever hit a creative stumbling block? Or just don’t have the mental stamina to take on something major? How about a quick little collage with magazine pages.

I especially like doing this with calendar images. Since the images already relate to one another, it makes for easier going.

Here’s one I did with winter birds.

And with Western/Native American motifs.

These are NOT meant to be works of art. Or even inspiration for something else. They’re purely a playful exercise in arranging colors, shapes, and values. Just a moment of creativity. I love making them.

Of course, magazine pages are also great if you’re trying to make an abstracted version of something realistic. In that case, I tear the pages, knowing that everything will be somewhat imperfect: just what I need for abstracting.

I’ve written several blog posts about this technique. See the links below.

Ellen Lindner
Links: Loosen Up with Torn Paper Collage
Torn Paper
Overcoming my Left Brained Tendencies
Three Cherries Complete

Dyeing with Forethought

By Ellen Lindner on December 9, 2023 in Uncategorized

I’ve been dyeing again. These are the fabrics I created in a week-long session.

I tried to repeat motifs and colors so that I might be able to use some of these fabrics together. Like these.

Or, a different combination.

I don’t use much white, but thought it would be useful for creating contrast and interest. So, I did these.

These are all mono prints, done on slick vinyl. The vinyl makes the dye bead up, giving lacy results.

I think the blue and green one, above, could become a whole cloth quilt. Maybe with the addition of some black stitching?

Dyeing fabrics is always fun!

Ellen Lindner

“Exuberance” Complete

By Ellen Lindner on December 4, 2023 in Uncategorized

I’m very happy with my latest piece, Exhuberance.

Exhuberance

See more photos and information.

And here’s a photo of what it might look like installed in an interior.

Exhuberance, an art quilt by Ellen Lindner, shown in an intererior. AdventureQuilter.com

I love that I can show it to scale like this!

Ellen Lindner

“Space Bar” at Elegant Threads

By Ellen Lindner on November 28, 2023 in Uncategorized

The Elegant Threads exhibit, currently on display at the Lighthouse Gallery, in Tequesta, FL is VERY diverse. It’s a juries collection of 2D fiber art, 3D wearable garments, jewelry and accessories, as well as several invited pieces on loan.

The most interesting of these is Space Bar, by Nigerian artist Moffat Takadiwa.

As you can see, it fills most of one wall. It doesn’t lay flat, but has very interesting undulations.

What was it made of? Glad you asked: junk from a landfill.

Many of the components are computer keyboard keys. Thus the title of Space Bar.

The other primary material is the heads of old toothbrushes! VERY creative!

This exhibit runs through December 2nd, and it’s well worth a visit.

Ellen Lindner
P.S. See two other posts about this exhibit.

I Met a Portrait Artist

By Ellen Lindner on November 27, 2023 in Uncategorized

I’m very excited to have a solo show coming up next spring, in Orange, VA. This is the town where I grew up, so that’s extra special. (I say I grew up there, but I actually grew up on a farm 15 miles away. But Orange was town to us.) Anyway, on a recent visit I stopped in to the Arts Center of Orange, where my exhibit will be, to take some photos and measurements.

The space I’ll be using is offered to various artists and groups for their displays. But this month (November 2023) a portrait artist, Davi Leventhal, is occupying the space and painting portraits of whomever shows up.

Portrait artist, Davi Leventhal. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

When people show up and agree to sit for him, he makes a small under painting, like these.

Portrait artist, Davi Leventhal. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Later, he applies Renaissance techniques and turns them into something like this.

Portrait artist, Davi Leventhal. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

I find this pretty fascinating.

Davi also had several of his sketchbooks and other paraphernalia for visitors to peruse. Aren’t these interesting? They represent about 1/4 of the people he had sketched onto one page in his sketchbook.

Portrait artist, Davi Leventhal. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

If you miss Davi’s stint in Orange, you may want to check out his website. Of particular interest to quilters, he was involved with a community project making what we would call yo yos.

Now, back to my exhibit: what do you think of that turquoise wall color? It’s just on one wall, which I think will be perfect for my purposes. Lots of planning to do!

Ellen Lindner

Elegant Threads Fashion Show

By Ellen Lindner on November 26, 2023 in Uncategorized

Wow! The Elegant Threads fashion show was pretty amazing! I didn’t get to attend, but a friend sent me photos. Just check these out.

The show included garments, jewelry, and accessories. In this case, the green necklace is the featured item. It is made (crocheted???) from wire.

My friend, Perlie Petrillo, made this garment and she was kind enough to provide all these photos. She intended the head wrap to be a sash, but they styled it differently here. A versatile piece.

This was the Viewers’ Choice. It was constructed from old quilts purchased at garage sales. The different sections were joined together with zippers. I was surprised to see how well it moved, even with batting.

These next two garments were made by Amy Blicher. They’re both very wearable.

Can you say “goth?” My friend referred to this garment as “the leather dress.” But, I’m thinking it was actually recycled tires. Interesting either way.

Marjolaine Arsenault was the maker of this lovely felted shawl.

This felted dress was made by Charity Van de Meer Musma.

I think this garment was crocheted and felted.

This model could wear anything! I mean, what kind of confidence does it take to wear a top made entirely from strands of beads?!?

Although the fashion show is now history, the entire exhibit is still on display through December 2nd. I recommend that you hurry to see it at the Lighthouse Gallery, Tequesta, FL.

If you haven’t already, be sure to read my earlier post about the exhibit.

Ellen Lindner

Composing an Abstract Composition

By Ellen Lindner on November 10, 2023 in Uncategorized

In my last post, I showed how I started with a diagonal composition. That was probably a good starting point, but I could very quickly see that it was way to bulky and “regular.”

I knew it needed to have some variation and some energy added. So, I started trying new things. First, I got rid of the pink corner and I added a high contrast print with circles. That helped a lot!

I pieced together the center section, which had vertical pieces. I was pretty confident with that portion, so I left it in place while I auditioned changes in other areas.

You get the idea. But then, I decided I should turn that center section 90 degrees – just to mix things up.

It didn’t immediately look better. As a matter of fact, maybe it looked worse. But, since it was DIFFERENT FROM MY EARLIER VISION, it appealed to me and I decided to work with it some more. (After all, I could always turn it back.)

I kept this new center orientation as I continued to work on the placement of the red.

I’m loving the energy of this piece and I’m having fun working on it.

It needs a title, so I’m writing my thoughts on a list as ideas come to me.

Ellen Lindner

Elegant Threads is Worth a Visit

By Ellen Lindner on October 30, 2023 in Uncategorized

If you’re anywhere near Tequesta/Jupiter, FL you really owe it to yourself to check out the Elegant Threads exhibit at the Lighthouse Art Center. As the name implies, the exhibit includes wearable art, but also 3D fiber art, jewelry, accessories, and some large invitational pieces.

My favorite piece was this quilt by Bisa Butler. Her work is all over the internet, so perhaps you’ve seen it. This was my first time to see one of her pieces in person and it did not disappoint. This piece is called Mighty Gents.

Don’t you love their body language?
Here’s a detail shot. (Slightly distorted, since I was standing close and looking up at it.)

There were many wonderful wearable garments on display. (Some more wearable than others.) This felted piece was made by Charity Van de Meer Musma, and is called Mysterious Bride.

Amy Blicher calls her quilted and painted red coat Migraine.

And her yellow coat is called Daisies.

The wearables were hung from the ceiling or displayed on mannequins. It was a very nice presentation.

These are just a SMALL sampling of what’s on display. See it for yourself, if you can. It will be on display through December 2, 2023. (And, there’s a fashion show in November, if you can handle the $100 ticket price.)

In my next post, I’ll show you another VERY interesting piece on display in this exhibit.

Ellen Lindner

Twigs of Teal and Red-Orange: Creating a Diagonal

By Ellen Lindner on October 26, 2023 in Uncategorized

Here’s that featured fabric loosely put into place. Not bad, I think. But what now? I think I’ll probably need to cut into the twiggy fabric some in order to create more energy.

Perhaps a diagonal will work well.

Hmm. It has potential.

Time to fill in the corners. Of course, I could use blue-green in the bottom right, but that seems rather predictable. What would yellow look like?

Not the best choice, I think. What about pink?

I was not at all convinced about the pink, but I left it in place for most of the rest of the design process.

Because I really liked the stripes, I decided to group them all together. Now, THAT I loved! These stripes were printed on the diagonal and I think that really helps.

A better look at those stripes, not yet pieced. This was exciting me!

LOTS more trial and error lay ahead.

Ellen Lindner

Twigs of Teal and Red-Orange: Getting Started

By Ellen Lindner on October 23, 2023 in Uncategorized

I dyed this fabric last year and it’s one of my favorites.

I was really happy with the way I had a viable design without doing anything more to it, but HOW do you design with that? I had a false start last year and am now trying again.

These are the collection of “featured” fabrics I thought I might be able to use. I call them featured fabrics because they have high amounts of contrast in them, which will draw the viewer’s eye. When working with such fabrics, I try to put them in place early on and then fill in with less dramatic fabrics, as needed.

Next, I pulled out every fabric I thought might work. As you can see, I like these colors and found that I had quite a collection.

But, maybe it needed something unexpected. What about accents of yellow?

Hmm. Maybe.

I liked the large twig (center right) on the dull orange print. But, I didn’t like the background fabric. So, I stenciled on a couple more using paint.

These should be usable.

I had my fabric decisions (mostly) made, so it was time to start moving things around on the design wall. (The challenging, but fun, part!)

Ellen Lindner

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