What on earth am I making? Take a look at the parts and see if you can figure it out.
This project is very different for me because it’s 3D mixed media and it uses SOMEONE ELSE’S PATTERN! Thank goodness for that latter part, since I have no expertise in such matters. I’m finding it (mostly) fun to work with different techniques.
I hope this project turns out as cool as it is in my head. Stay tuned.
Ellen Lindner
My latest quilt, High Ti, is now complete and I’m quite happy with it.
Click any image for a larger view
Detail view:
If you’ve been following my blog, you know that I tried to work very loosely on this piece. I looked at the photo for inspiration only and then put it away. Now, you can see where it all began.
This is what the ti plants looked like, with the lighting from the front. Normally, all the leaves would be pink, but many were damaged by a freeze and had turned an orange-tan, instead. Rather disappointing.
However, when I looked the other direction, I saw ti plants that were back-lit and they looked like this. Wow! Suddenly those burnt leaves were an asset.
Kinda amazing, huh?
I had trouble naming this piece, but you blog readers came to my rescue. Since Ti is pronounced tee, I got many suggestions that were plays on the word tea, something I hadn’t thought of. And one reader suggested that the ti plants seemed to be under the influence of drugs, due to their bright colors. Thus, the title High Ti. Thanks for the great suggestions, everyone!
Ellen Lindner
P.S. See more of my quilts on my web site’s gallery page.
In an earlier post, I told you about starting this fun quilt featuring ti plants. Since then, I’ve added some darker purple leaves, as well as an inner and outer border. Here it is before quilting.
Click any image for a larger view.
Of course, the tricky thing with borders is making sure they relate to and support the interior image. So, I wasn’t sure about this solid black.
To help integrate the two parts, I did several things. First, I extended the flower petals into the border. Then, with yellow green thread, I stitched a rather busy pattern into the border. I think it’s going to work well.
After completing the quilting, I’ll darken the center veins with ink.
Would you like to know more about planning borders? If so, I’ve written an article about it, which you can find in the Learn With Ellen section of my website.
Ellen Lindner
P.S. I need a name for this quilt. Something bright and happy. Any ideas?
Have you ever heard the country song, “Let’s Go to Luckenbach Texas?” While in Texas, we stumbled upon this interesting spot and stopped in for a brief visit.
Although we expected a town, instead we found a little attraction of sorts. It’s set in a beautiful rural area, with sprawling oak trees. There are about four buildings, all of which are unpainted and open air. There’s a saloon:
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A post office, who’s porch can be seen in the left of this photo,
A bath room building,
a general store, and a dance hall, not shown. That’s it. No houses or anything.
This spot is very popular with bikers, but we also saw several families. The dance hall provides live music every weekend, and local roosters provide the “music” the rest of the time.
We stopped for a yummy snack of “curly fries.” This consists of a potato spiral cut in front of the customer and then fried up into one long continuous potato chip. Isn’t it pretty?
This was a very fun stop, especially since we just happened upon it. I love that sort of adventure!
Ellen Lindner
P.S. I think there’s a rooster quilt in my future.
I really enjoy traveling to some place new, learning a little about it, and NOTICING all the interesting scenery and customs. Such was the case on a recent trip to San Antonio.
One of the first things we noticed in this historic city was people wearing sashes loaded with pins. What was up with this, we wondered?
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Eventually, we figured out that this was part of Fiesta, a 10 day city-wide party with all sorts of events and revelry. Local businesses give away (or sell) specialty Fiesta pins each year, and it’s a point of pride for the local citizens to be covered with them. I even managed to get a free one before our visit was over!
In addition to the pins, which were worn anywhere and everywhere, we also saw some wacky hats at one of the events.
Part of the Fiesta celebration was the decorating of homes and businesses throughout town. Very brightly colored paper cutouts and paper flowers were often used for this.
We also learned about cascarones, shown below. These are empty eggshells, which have been colored and filled with confetti. The holes have been covered with matching tissue paper.
The cascarones are used in celebrations, especially those in the spring, such as Easter and Fiesta. The idea is to crack one over someone’s head, which is supposed to give them good luck. What a fun tradition!
We saw these for sale in several stores, usually for about 50 cents each. One shopkeeper told me that the price went up to $5 each if they were cracked inside. Who can blame her?
Lots of colorful inspiration!
Ellen Lindner
This huge undulating piece was very interesting. It’s wall sized, with a lot of folds and wrinkles.
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It’s made out of…well, I’m not sure. Bottle tops? Something like that.
I’m sorry that I didn’t record the artist.
Chuck Close’s portrait, Lucas was also huge – and very compelling.
Here’s a detail shot:
Now, for a little art humor.
I was surprised to come around a corner and see this lovely statue of an Indian girl…wait a minute…TEXTING?
Of course, she’s not really holding a cell phone. On closer inspection, I realized it was a cross. This 19th century piece is by Erastus Palmer.
My husband said very little as we viewed all the art. But he did get excited when he discovered his favorite piece, asking me to photograph him with it.
That’s right. It’s an empty display case!
MY favorite is quite a bit more interesting. “Little Dancer” by Degas:
I just love her confident posture.
Hope you’ve enjoyed the mini art show.
Ellen Lindner
If you ever get a chance to visit this museum, you simply MUST! Even if you’re not a big art fan. It includes huge Egyptian buildings, vignettes of American furniture, sculptures, impressionist art by “the biggies,” unusual contemporary art, suits of armor, and much more. No wonder it’s the most visited attraction in the city!
Let’s start in the Egyptian wing, which had actual buildings that are nearly 5000 years old. Amazing!
Here’s my son in an actual burial chamber, c.2300 BC. The wall images behind him are original.
Check out these petroglyphs from another structure. (Click to enlarge.)
Of course, there were plenty of ANCIENT statues and such.
And part of an actual building!
There was also a section of the museum featuring armor and weapons of all sorts.
The guys liked all the macho weapons, but I was enamored with this leather fencing vest. Can you see how it’s quilted and ruffled? All in leather. (Click to enlarge.)
More photos to come!
Ellen Lindner
I spent the bulk of this past week in New York City, with my family. It was fabulous! (But cold.) We had lots of fun doing the usual tourist things, and, of course, I took lots of photos of those activities. But, I also found myself reaching for the camera A LOT, just to record the “everyday” things around me. (Everyday to New Yorkers, but not to this Floridian who grew up on a farm.)
There were tall pale buildings, bright blue skies, stark tree trunks, magnificent architecture, street vendors, and paths through Central Park. So many visual delights!
Click any image for a larger view.
It’s always exhilarating to visit new places and to appreciate the wonderful sites there. It also reminds to look at my own surroundings with the eyes of a tourist. What have I been missing here at home?
Where do you find inspiration? How do you record it?
Ellen Lindner
The next vignette was created by quilter Sheryl Milner and painter Donna Miller.
Watercolor painter Adele Park joined with quilters Rie Hawkins, Lisa Crawford McRoberts, and Nancy Loftis to create the vignette below. I’m in love with Adele’s painting of a Bird of Paradise!
Last, but certainly not least, painter Cindy Michaud and quilter Andrea Luliak came up with a unique idea for their collaboration about music.
See Cindy’s triptych below, and better detail shot here.
And Andrea’s:
I think I’ve now shown you at least one photo from each vignette. (Hope I didn’t forget anyone!)
Of course, all this would not be possible without the hard work of a wonderful committee and their workers. A big “thank you” and “congratulations” to them! Special kudos to Margie Engle for not only coming up with such great ideas, but for having the initiative to make them a reality.
Great job everyone!
Ellen Lindner
P.S. Did you miss the first post about this exhibit? If so, you’ll find an explanation here.
P.P.S. And if you want to see my group’s vignette, check this out.
I’ve spent a lot of time working on left-brain tasks lately, so I was really looking forward to my scheduled play day, with Jo-Ann Jensen, today.
My plan was to LOOSELY interpret a recent photo, as a small collage. To help with the loose part, I looked at the photo and then put it away. (I’ll show it to you in a later post.) The photo was of brightly lit Ti plants, in a tropical setting. The background included lots of spiky palms and such. So, I started working on that.
Click any image for a larger view
These plants were rather unusual because they included more than the typical pink color. Due to freeze damage, some of the leaves were tan, which glowed ORANGE when back lit. Amazing! They came next.
This piece was starting to sing. Loudly! I was loving it!
Did you notice the funky prints? Nearly all of them were from Jo-Ann’s stash. Isn’t she generous? I found it exhilarating to work with these prints, since they’re not quite what I’m used to.
Next, I started adding hot pink leaves.
OK, maybe I got a little carried away there. It’s starting to look like a pink blob, and I think it’s lost some of it’s earlier energy. Time to edit a bit. Then, I’ll add some darker leaves to complete each plant.
I found it really invigorating to work with these graphic prints, and to just play! I really need to find time for that more often.
What exhilirating art adventures have you had lately?
Ellen Lindner
