Adventure Quilter
Ellen Lindner uses fabric the way a painter uses paint, with extraordinary results
This is one of the most enjoyable quilts I’ve ever made. I cut loose and experimented and embraced lots of
new-to-me ideas. And I love the result!
Brainstorm
Here are some detail shots.
I was kinda proud of the title, too. Doesn’t it look like a brainstorm? Certainly my process involved some brainstorming.
You can read about my process in the blog links below. I hope you like it as much as I do.
Ellen Lindner
P.S. Would you like to audition this art in your home?
Please use this image with my compliments. See the July 8, 2016 post for some ideas about what to do with it.
Ellen Lindner
As I mentioned in a recent post, I’m left-brained, meaning that I tend to be rather literal with my art. Since I want to change that I’m actively “exercising” my right brain – the creative side. I’ve been doing a variety of activities to strengthen my creative muscles. Most recently, they’ve been the ones found in Paint Mojo, by Tracy Verdugo.
This book focuses on random, playful creating, rather than getting caught up in over thinking. As I’m doing the exercises I’m focusing on PROCESS, rather than product.
I especially liked the first exercise. It involved making what I’m calling “ugly paper.” There were a series of prompts to follow. Things like mixing and using a dark color, dripping paint onto the paper, adding stamping, etc. At the end it looked like quite a hodge podge of unrelated elements. See what I mean?
But, no worries. Because the next instructions were to identify and cut out several sections with potential. I turned it upside down for a fresh perspective and used L-shaped pieces of cardboard to visually crop and select sections. I found 3.
Next came suggestions for how to improve the pieces. This is the left piece after the addition of some black and white skinny lines. Low and behold I really like it!
This is the center section which I over painted with yellow, among other things. Not too successful, but a very intriguing PROCESS.
The 3rd section is my favorite, although I think I’d rotate it to the left. I added the center color to this one (which looks MUCH better in real life.) It’s really yellow-orange without any green.
Now that was fun! On to the next exercise, which involved a little more introspection. The instructions said to first write about yourself, then partially paint over it. Next draw a circle, choose your paint colors and add your thumbprints to it.
Spraying it with water made the colors run and blend. But some glued on (leftover) white-on-white fabrics resisted the color. I liked that effect!
Final instructions were to draw a large motif and paint out the background. I chose an angel and ended up with this. Can you see those thumbprints still visible?
Some detail shots:
Not bad, I think. Oops, there I go again thinking about the end result! Ignore that. The PROCESS was fun and engaging.
It’s very fun to work freely and quickly with paint like this. I’m not sure how/if it will translate to fabric later but I feel like it WILL enhance my right brain skills. I plan to work about a week or so on this type of thing.
Got some paint? Want to join me?
Ellen Lindner
After getting started on two big leaf quilts, things went pretty smoothly. (The photos in this post show the left quilt.) Having previously drawn the design on a large piece of muslin, I auditioned which green to use where.
Can you believe I had to buy MORE fabric? Very unexpected.
Here’s the final arrangement of greens. Which ended up being not so final after all.
I was beginning to audition vein colors and widths. I loved the color above, but thought it was a little fat. More experimenting was needed.
In the photo below, I’ve changed some of the bottom right fabrics and I was continuing to add veins. I REALLY liked these colors!
Here’s the final version, with veins complete. I was quite happy with it.
Then, I got to thinking about adding shadows to make the veins looked raised. I did a little experimenting and decided to do this with two layers of black tulle.
I covered the entire quilt with the tulle (2 layers.) Next, I decided on the light source and did some crazy calculating (and guessing) to determine the correct width of the shadow at each location. I drew in the shadow dimensions and stitched them with dark monofilament thread. Finally, I cut away the extra tulle.
In the photo below the entire quilt has tulle on it. I’ve stitched the first few shadow lines, on the right. allowing me to cut away the tulle in those areas. I was pleased to see that it was developing as I had hoped.
In the next photo, the left side is still covered with tulle and the right has had the shadows completed.
And here it is finished.
I think the shadow effect worked perfectly. What do you think?
Want to see it up close? I know you do, so here it is.
I think I might use clear thread next time.
The left quilt is now almost complete. I’ll wait to trim and face it until the second quilt is finished, so I can make sure they’re the same size.
BTW, I’ve used tulle to add a shadow, or to change a color many other times. See several examples on this page.
– Misty Morn required four layers of black tulle to create the shadows in the foreground.
– Blue tulle was used to created the shadows on the oranges in Lakeside Citrus.
– Black oraganza (more opaque than tulle) was used for the berry shadows in Ripening.
– Two layers of black tulle created the border for Autumn Breeze. Can you see how the interior image continues right into the border?
TIP: Using tulle in this way is very easy.
– Start with a piece significantly larger than needed. Pin well.
– Stitch along desired lines.
– Trim closely.
Because tulle is extruded plastic it will not ravel! (Other woven sheers generally ravel very badly.)
Have you ever used tulle to alter a color?
Ellen Lindner
From the Ellen Lindner 1st Edition Art Adventure Dictionary:
art-ing, v. the act of experimenting in an artful way
Arting is just what I did on a long cross-country flight. These were the supplies I took with me: InkTense blocks, portable water filled brushes, latex gloves, a glue stick, and my sketch book.*
First, I tried to get to know my InkTense blocks a little. I could easily fit my sketch book and the Inktense container on the tray table. I had prefilled my brushes. (See the water in the handle?) I wore the gloves to keep the color off my hands. (Which I recommend with these blocks.)
First, a little intentional bleeding on wet paper.
Next, some further experimentation.
Mixed results on that one.
On to collage. Those airline magazines have got to be good for something, right?
I wasn’t aiming for anything in particular, just enjoying tearing, gluing, and covering the page. The strong teal water I had seen in California was on my mind, and that influenced the color selection.
Finally, a little sketching. Boy was I RUSTY!
But, it’s good to practice.
All of this arting definitely helped pass the time!
Do you have an art travel kit? If so, what’s in it? And where have you used it?
*It would have been great if I had taken a book of watercolor paper, rather than just sketch pages. They would have held up to the wet work better. But, my approach to my sketch book is to put EVERYTHING in it. Some items are 3D and have to be folded and glued in, but that’s okay. I want to have it all contained in the same place. I record the dates on the front cover, and on the back I list the various projects included.
Ellen Lindner
P.S. The queen of making art on the go is Elizabeth St. Hilaire. See her working on a plane. Her art is amazing (paper collage.) You’ll definitely want to visit her website.
Related posts: Inktense blocks, California’s coast
Have you tried InkTense pencils and blocks yet? They’re water soluble ink in either pencil or block form and I’ve been seeing them on all sorts of quilts. I got a chance to play with the blocks recently and they were a ton of fun.
My first experiment was to test their “smear-ability,” or how much they’d bleed. I sprayed the top 2/3 of my fabric with water and used Aloe Vera gel to moisten the bottom 1/3. Then I drew over both parts with the end of the blocks, as well as with the blocks laying flat for lots of coverage.
As you can see, the water areas bled pretty well and the Aloe Vera part did not. Good to know. Now, I can select the best one based on the desired results.
Next, I dipped the end of a block into water and drew on dry fabric. The amount of saturated color that comes from these blocks is amazing! As soon as my mark looked dry, I’d wet the end again and continue. The end just sort of melted into wonderful ink. It was very cool, and this was the result.
Finally, I tried blending colors directly onto wet fabric. Hmm, that was much less controllable. It bled more than I wanted, so then I decided to encourage bleeding by adding more water. Yep, it bled alright. Finally, I drew a design on, trying to control what I had. Not too successful, I’m afraid. But, that’s why I was experimenting.
When I’m on the ball I remember to write notes about my techniques directly onto my samples.
I’ve heard a lot about the InkTense inks being permanent once dried. So, I added the step of heat setting these samples and set out to see if all of this was true. It turns out: not so much. Here’s the cotton swab after rubbing it over my dry sample – in the area where water was used.
It seems like a lot of color, but maybe it wouldn’t be enough to transfer. So I tried it. It’s subtle, but it did transfer. (This actually shows up more in person.)
So, what about the area with the aloe vera? What would that do?
Same thing. I think these are still very viable for use on quilts, but it’s good to know what their properties really are.
What have you experimented with lately?
Ellen Lindner