Onions as art supplies

We are having a bit of a heat wave here in the West, this is our second triple digit day and we have  more to come.  Earlier in the week we had highs in the 60's and 70's, today our morning low was almost 80. I'm sure glad we installed central air a few years ago.

A couple of days ago I was cutting up onions and noticed the rings had some interesting variations.

So I sacrificed a few, got out the black paint and used them to make some prints.

Then took my favorites to the copier and enlarged them many times.

The plan now is to make a  thermofax screen or two and print some fabric. The wavy concentric rings remind me of the rock formations that I was so enamored with on our trip in May. I know that I need to incorporate the concentric wavy lines into some art work but an idea has not gelled yet, so I'm collecting images for the time being.

Daily stitching updates; 365 Red Circles #175 - #180

Indigo and Rust #103 - #108

Weekly stitching #26 and a close up

I'll be linking this post to Off the wall Friday and I'll probably spend part of my afternoon checking out the other blogs.

Donation Quilts

 This week has been a busy week, but not so much in the studio. I did finish up some quilting and binding on a few donation quilts. I have six done, one pieced and ready for batting, and still more fabric hanging around waiting to be used. This group will probably go to St Luke's Children's Cancer Center.

I had planned to take pictures of more of the fiddles hanging in town, but we had an incredibly heavy drenching rain the day I had set aside for that. If they are still up tomorrow I'll try again.

Daily stitching is still on track; 365 Red circles # 168 - #174

Indigo and Rust #96 - #102

 Weekly stitching #25

A book winner and Quilt in public day

I numbered the comments and had my husband pick a number and the People & Portraits book winner is Linda Kittmer, congratulations! Thank you to all who read the blog and entered to win.

Yesterday a few of us set up a booth at the Farmers Market and celebrated "Quilt in Public Day". I volunteered to bring 2 tables for us to use, so Friday was clean out the back of Studio B to find the tables day. This is how it looked, in the back left of center there are some tables leaning up against the wall. I wanted the two that are hiding behind the ones you can see.

I did manage to get them out, but all those empty boxes I was saving are now stacked on my print table waiting to get recycled. I really should be spending to day actually getting the space clean and organized, especially since I know that sometime this week I have a friend bring relatives by for a studio tour. I did get a few pictures from yesterday.

Barbara's lavender and Wendy's jam.

Barbara, me, Diana and Wendy sewing binding on quilts during the Farmer's  Market and Quilt in Public Day.

This morning I took a walk up the street to get a picture of the fiddle that I decorated back in May 2010.
Here you can see how the fiddle is hanging from a light pole.

Here is a close up, the sun hadn't quite gotten high enough for good light. I did write several posts about it while I was doing it. Here's a link to the finished post. http://notesfromstudiob.blogspot.com/2010/06/my-fiddle-takes-first-place.html

Daily stitching, 365 Red circles #166 & #167

Indigo and Rust 394 & #95

Daily stitching updates and Quilt in public day

Don't forget you have through Saturday the 15th to comment on my last post to have a chance at winning the People and Portraits book from Lark.

This week has been quite unproductive, seems like everyday there was something to keep me from studio time. Next week will probably be even worse, it will be "Fiddle" week here in Weiser and I've got three days of volunteering plus time spent enjoying the festivities.

Tomorrow will be the first day of the local farmers market and it's also International Quilt in Public day so my friend Barbara Huck has organized a group of us to be at the farmers market with some quilts. She had read about it in a magazine and decided it was something we needed to do. I'll try to remember to take pictures.

So here's what I have done this week.
365 Red Circles #159 - #165, plus a close up

Indigo and Rust #87 - #93, and a close up

Week #24, and a close up

This post is linked to Off the Wall Friday, go check out some other great blogs.

Art Quilt Portfolio: People & Portraits blog tour

Today is my turn to review Martha Sielman's latest book, Art Quilt Portfolio: People & Portraits. This book is such a wonderful compilation, not only the artwork but the interesting and insightful interviews Martha has done with the 21 featured artists from around the world.

I expected to see the work categorized as either realistic or abstract. Instead the categories are happiness,contemplation, community, icons, family & friends, work & play. The juxtaposition of the different styles within each category made it very interesting to browse through the book. Then to sit down and read what inspires each of the featured artists and how they accomplish their work is eye opening. I will probably never do this type of work, but reading this book gave me a strong appreciation of what each of the artists has created.

If you would like a chance to receive a copy of this book, leave a comment on this post by midnight June 15. Please make sure I will be able to contact you to get a mailing address. Thank you to Lark for providing a book to give away.

The blog tour continues through June, so be sure and check out the rest of the tour.

June 3rd – Lark Kick Off!
June 5th – Sarah Ann Smith –  http://www.sarahannsmith.com/weblogJune 6th – Maria Elkins – http://mariaelkins.comJune 7th – Laura Wasilowski –  http://artfabrik.blogspot.comJune 9th – Katherine McNeese –  http://blueheronquilts2.blogspot.com/June 10th – Cheryl Sleboda –  http://blog.muppin.com June 11th – Linda McLaughlin –  http://notesfromstudiob.blogspot.com/June 12th – Kathy Nida –  http://Kathynida.comJune 13th – Marilyn H. Wall –  http://www.marilynhwall.blogspot.comJune 14th – Janice Paine Dawes – http://thedistoriatedquilter.blogspot.com/June 16th – Pamela Price Klebaum –  http://pamprice.blogspot.comJune 17th – Deborah Boschert –  http://DeborahsJournal.blogspot.comJune 18th – Lisa Chin –  http://somethingcleveraboutnothing.blogspot.com/June 19th – Sue Bleiweiss –  http://www.suebleiweiss.com/blogJune 20th – Leni Wiener – http://www.leniwiener.comJune 24th – Cheryl Lynch –  http://www.CherylLynchQuilts.blogspot.comJune 25th – Lesley Riley – http://ArtistSuccess.com
June 26th – Stephanie Forsyth -  http://thefibernation.blogspot.com  June 30th – Pat Kumich – http://patkumicich.blogspot.com

Self Portraits and a blog tour

Next Tuesday I will be doing a blog post for a blog tour of Martha Sielman's latest book Art Quilt Portfolio: People & Portraits . Thanks to Lark publishing I'll also be giving away a copy of the book. While you are waiting for mine, check out the rest of the bloggers involved.

June 3rd – Lark Kick Off!
June 5th – Sarah Ann Smith –  http://www.sarahannsmith.com/weblogJune 6th – Maria Elkins – http://mariaelkins.comJune 7th – Laura Wasilowski –  http://artfabrik.blogspot.comJune 9th – Katherine McNeese –  http://blueheronquilts2.blogspot.com/June 10th – Cheryl Sleboda –  http://blog.muppin.com June 11th – Linda McLaughlin –  http://notesfromstudiob.blogspot.com/June 12th – Kathy Nida –  http://Kathynida.comJune 13th – Marilyn H. Wall –  http://www.marilynhwall.blogspot.comJune 14th – Janice Paine Dawes – http://thedistoriatedquilter.blogspot.com/June 16th – Pamela Price Klebaum –  http://pamprice.blogspot.comJune 17th – Deborah Boschert –  http://DeborahsJournal.blogspot.comJune 18th – Lisa Chin –  http://somethingcleveraboutnothing.blogspot.com/June 19th – Sue Bleiweiss –  http://www.suebleiweiss.com/blogJune 20th – Leni Wiener – http://www.leniwiener.comJune 24th – Cheryl Lynch –  http://www.CherylLynchQuilts.blogspot.comJune 25th – Lesley Riley – http://ArtistSuccess.com
June 26th – Stephanie Forsyth -  http://thefibernation.blogspot.com  June 30th – Pat Kumich – http://patkumicich.blogspot.com

I rarely even try to take pictures of people let alone  create a portrait. I did do three self portraits about eight years ago. Just before we moved to Idaho I spent the day with a couple of friends and we did self portraits. I've dug mine out to show you.

These were the first two and I've never finished them. The first one shows the introverted side of me hiding behind a screen. The second is ideas starting to pop out of my head. Below is the third one, I'm in lurker mode here, hiding behind all those ideas that came out of my head. This one I actually quilted and finished. These are why my work is not in the book.

Daily project updates.

365 red circles #153 - #158

Indigo and Rust #81 - # 86

Weekly project, week # 23

June's Monthly notion

Remember to come back Tuesday for a chance to win Art Quilt Portfolio: People & Portraits .


This post is linked to Off the Wall Friday.

Monoprints now ready to quilt

I did some more tweaking to the monoprint arrangement, took away the bottom row, rotated some of the others and decided I was happy with it. Today I layered it and It's ready to quilt.

The last piece I did with monoprints took me almost a month to make a decision on how I was going to arrange them.

Daily stitching
365 red circles #149 - #152

 

Indigo and Rust #77 - # 80

Week #22