Dimensional Leaves

One of the things I thought I might float across the surface of "Fracture" is sheer dimensional leaves, just barely tacked on. I had the gold sheer in hand, just wondered how I would technically pull off making stand-alone leaves out of it. I thought about fusing two layers together, but feared that would make them too opaque. I wondered if I could hoop it up with stabilizer and just straight stitch the outline and trim near it. Would that be enough or would the stitching be all wobbly and the whole thing limp and lifeless? As I pondered this technical problem, I discovered my answer in a Quilting Arts show on PBS. As I watched Heidi Lund demonstrate her technique, I could see I was on the right track. With her additional suggestions (available in pdf form on the website, TV series 200, episode 205), I gave it a go with excellent results.


As luck would have it, I'd recently received a sample of the very stabilizer Heidi used: Sulky Sticky Fabri-Solvy Water Soluble Stabilizer. I really had no idea what to try it on so I am glad for this direction. Peel it from its backing and smooth the sticky side on either the top or underside of the fabric. I was amazed at how well it stuck to this synthetic sheer, providing ample stability when placed in the spring hoop even though it feels quite soft.


If you use it on top as I did, you can draw your design directly on it. I'd placed a transparency sheet over my pieced center and drawn some leaves to make sure I was making them the right size, then just placed my hooped fabric over that drawing and traced. I'm using a Sulky Ultra-Twist Rayon thread in the top and a Madeira Polyneon thread in the bobbin to do the first round of stitching - as I had thought it is a free-motion straight stitch around the outside and along the veins. What I had not thought though was Heidi's second step of going back over the outlining straight stitch with a free-motion zigzag stitch. That is what makes this really work. Because my leaves are relatively small, I used a relatively narrow width of 1.5 compared to Heidi's 2.5 or 3 width.


Once the stitching is complete, it is relatively easy to trim each leaf close to that zigzag stitching before removing the stabilizer. Without the white of the stabilizer, it would be more difficult to get in close without accidentally snipping the thread. Now all that is left is to soak the leaves in warm water until the stabilizer magically disappears.


And here are my lovely leaves drying. I like the way many of them are curling slightly, just like real leaves would. Once dry, I have one more thing I want to try with them - stay tuned. I have to admit, I was letting myself be intimidated by the whole free-motion thing again but I really must stop that. Once I got going, my stitching was fine and I found these a lot of fun to make. I'm not at all sure that these belong on "Fracture" but if not, I will certainly find a use for them somewhere. And in the meantime, I have found a new stabilizer that I just love.

Photo Shoots & Color Matching

"Strawberry Moon 4"
Art Quilt 8 x 10 framed
Sheila Mahanke Barnes 2011

Last week I braved 40 degree windy weather to try and get better photos of the three art pieces being submitted with my ArtWalk entry form. I really have been quite lazy about this picture taking thing of late, and have struggle to get accurate colors. I hoped that going outside on an overcast day would solve my problems. Well, only partly. The good news is that because I had blocked out the day for photo shoot and jpg preparation, I learned some different ways to adjust color in my Paint Shop Pro program which finally gave me much more accurate representation of my art.

"Strawberry Moon 2"
Art Quilt 8 x 10 framed
Sheila Mahanke Barnes 2011

With the artwork propped next to the monitor, I could see that the biggest challenges come from teal green which perpetually reads as blue. In both Strawberry Moon variations, there are fabrics with this green tint. In the first one, the background actually washed out to white. Any color manipulation merely gave it a blue cast. In the second one, the grey was reading more blue than green. With any of the one step fixes, I could not match that green tint well, and the pink of the moon would be totally thrown off. What I learned was to isolate different sections so that the color manipulation would only apply to the sections needing it. Maybe that sounds obvious, and in fact, I'd played around a bit with that in the past, but this time, I improved my skills in fine tuning the selected area and I used color adjust functions I'd not understood before. Now if I can just remember what I learned. Compare these to my previous photo of these two here.

"Fracture"
Art Quilt 12 x 16 framed
Sheila Mahanke Barnes 2011

I still struggled getting it right with Fracture. I felt I needed to apply a golden wash to the center part of it, as the lighter silks are just too white. Still, it is a better representation than the raw photo. And as you can see, I opted to submit it sans dimensional leaves. Time constraints did not allow me to fully assess whether their addition worked or not.


So after the photo shoot and preparation of the jpgs, I spent quite a bit of time arranging and re-arranging those leaves. I left them pinned in place as you see them above and moved the framed art around the house so I could see it in all kinds of light. Because it just wasn't working. The leaves weren't adding anything to the design. They weren't showing up over the pieced area as I'd anticipated. They were lovely but not for this piece. Even though part of what I hoped they'd do was camouflage some baubles in the satin stitching along one edge.

So finally on Monday, I moved it back into the studio, ready to remove the leaves and stitch it to its watercolor paper backing. And then I had second thoughts. The leaves suddenly looked like they should be there. I was caught off guard by what must have been my inner eye envisioning the upper leaves moved higher. Ok, I'll bite, I thought. I moved three leaves up and partially off onto the border and now it seems to be working. Still, I'm letting myself live with it for awhile before I stitch them down. And however I stitch them, it will be an easily reversible act in case my mind's eye changes its opinion. And why, in this shot quickly taken in the studio, do I suddenly get that golden glow with no color adjustment?

Meeting the ArtWalk Deadline

My application for this year's ArtWalk is due on Friday, so the weekend found me not quite frantically putting the last of the garnet stitching in this eighth leaf cluster. Frankly, I thought it would go more quickly since there are 4 clusters stamped on this 15" square rather than just one as in the other cluster using this stitch. I filled the bobbin 3 times and killed off the spool of Aurifil Thread I like to use in the bottom. I'm undecided about how to frame this one up, though. It was meant to be another one wrapped over a 10 X 10 canvas and slipped in a floater frame but I rather like the look of the full clusters with their tails curving to the outside.

Possible finishing of Leaf Cluster VIII - Sheila Mahanke Barnes ©2018

Friend Meg always reminds me that I do not have to submit photos of new work or even work I plan to exhibit and I know that to be true. POAC just needs to get a feel for the media and typical size of an applicant's art to help them choose the best venue for it. But if I did not use this first deadline to get my pieces I plan to exhibit mostly done, I'd be in real trouble come hanging day. I just get enough done so that I can take a photo that can have the frame or binding photo-shopped in, as I have done in the photo above. I didn't even think of the orientation when I pinned the quilt up and shot the photo. I think it needs to be quarter turned to the left. But the quilting is visible and I very well may finish it off this way rather than essentially crop a couple of inches off all round.

Fracture - Sheila Mahanke Barnes ©2011

I haven't gotten to the binding yet on Sway so up on the wall it went too, getting a photo-shopped binding and not worrying that in the end it may sport leaves. I did choose an older piece to submit as my third example, one that would look good with these new pieces and hasn't been out on the circuit in awhile. When I looked in the entry folder of that exhibit it was in, thinking I could just copy that photo to my application stuff, I noted I'd done the trick on it too. Fracture seen above ended up having sheer leaves added to it, like I plan to do with Sway, but the entry photo was taken before that happened. Such is the world of entering exhibits here. I could not get away with that if I was entering juried exhibits and most big quilt shows.

So the photo thing was taken care of yesterday and today I reworked an Artist Statement to better match what I think I will be showing. Finally, I filled out the application pdf and emailed everything off to POAC. So pleased I've made this the priority at the beginning of the week rather than doing it at the end last minute. I'm taking a break and working on a little bookbinding challenge (it was for April and I wouldn't let myself start until I had this ArtWalk stuff taken care of - Silly me thinking I could do it in a few hours at the end of the month) which I will share when it is a little farther along. And then I'll get that binding attended to and some more quilting done.

Ready For Artwalk

"Fracture"
Art Quilt, 12" x 16" framed
Sheila Mahanke Barnes 2011

Pend Oreille Arts Council's ArtWalk 2011 Exhibits are going up all over town this week. I am one of about 20 artists displaying work at POAC's Power House Gallery. "Fracture" is one of 4 new pieces I have in the show, and as you can see, the leaves finally won me over. I just needed to get them arranged properly! (Click on any picture for a larger view.)


To see how I made these leaves, see this post and this post.. They are attached by stitching along the center vein only so the edges can lift a curl a bit off the surface.


Here are those 4 pieces as we hung them today. If you look closely, you can see some red dots on the gallery cards - the reception isn't until Friday, but the three Strawberry Moons have sold already! They are going as a set to a lady who works in one of the offices in the Power House. I could not be more thrilled, and really enjoyed talking to her about what she likes about them and where she hopes to hang them.


Here's the rest of my display. If these look familiar, they should. They were some I had in the recent exhibit at the Panhandle Bank. That show did not get a lot of foot traffic, so I asked if I could show some of the same pieces here. The coordinator agreed, as long as one of them was the quilt on the bottom - she wanted to buy it. So there ya go - 4 quilts sold before the show even opens. I can't believe it, but I am so happy to have these pieces go to good homes rather than back into storage once the show is over.


The usual crew were on hand to set up this morning and we were all surprised at how quickly it came together. Here are two volunteers that help with every exhibit - checking in the artwork and helping to hang.


Here a visual arts committee member chats with an artist.


These mixed media shows are always so fun and sometimes a bit challenging. Here some unusual 3-dimensional pieces by a papier mache artist got a slightly different treatment.


The brick wall upstairs is always a challenge, but makes an interesting backdrop for the brighter art work.


Many of the offices surrounding the atrium have dogs keeping an eye on the comings and goings, and several of them were keeping close watch on us as we scurried about.

ArtWalk exhibits can be found at 20 locations in downtown Sandpoint, all hosting their opening receptions Friday from 5:30 to 8:00. Hope to see you there!

Good News, Everyone!

"Energy" has a new home

Well, you have to be a Futurama fan to get that reference, but if you are, you understand that the news is more good for me than it is for everyone. Still - I hope you will be as excited as I am. ArtWalk wrapped up back on September 12th with the sale of two more quilts! I'd started seeing my nurse practitioner on a weekly basis for allergy shots, and she quickly made the connection between me, her patient, and me, the artist she'd seen over at Monarch Mountain Coffee. Her practice is expanding, she's redecorating her offices and buying a few new pieces of art to support the local art community. And she wanted to include me in her purchases. I had this sneaking suspicion that she'd want "Tears of Mayo" which I had not offered for sale, and she admitted that she did. Frankly, I couldn't think of a better person for it to go to or a better place for it to be, so we agreed on a price. She surprised me by buying "Energy" as well.

But wait - there's more good news! The manager of the coffee shop had mentioned she might like my work to stay up after ArtWalk, depending on whether any other appropriate artists were lobbying for the space. She confirmed last week that I could continue showing there and was delighted to hear that I could switch out some of the ArtWalk pieces with fall-themed art. I was so glad my work table was still cleaned off so I had a space to set out various pieces for consideration and fill out gallery cards and other paperwork.

And I indeed have many pieces with fall colors or themes, many pieces with leaves, pieces I've shown in various exhibits around town but which probably haven't been seen by most who frequent Monarch Mountain Coffee. It's good to get the older work out of the closet, assessed with a less critical eye than when it was first finished. Down came the newest work from the long wall in the back, up went quilts with trees and leaves. Impossible to get a decent picture so here are links to the individual quilts: Fracture, Falling Leaves, Wisconsin Memories, Far From the Midwest Prairie.

Different work also went up along the wall up front: Azalea Mosaic V: Slippery Slope and Jockeying in the Queue.

"Idaho Maple" took the place of the two Upward Ticks. This guy was sitting in the same spot the day I hung the original exhibit - I think this is his daily spot - and was very gracious about nudging over a bit to give me room to work.

I decided to leave the Upward Ticks there, just move them to a different spot. This idea of moving existing artwork around was the manager's suggestion and a good one. Because of the layout, and the way regular customers often sit at the same table each visit, just moving something to a new location could bring it a new audience. Plus I think these two look quite different over the quasi-fireplace thing with a wall of a different color and different lighting. Note the coffee shop has been decorated for Halloween.

Northwoods Autumn Splendor - Sheila Mahanke Barnes ©2001

While I was digging through my stock of quilts, I ran across this one made in 2001 while living in Wisconsin, briefly considered it for the coffee shop, then decided against it. But I do have this good-size wall in my office where nothing was hanging at the moment. I haven't had "Northwoods Autumn Splendor" out in ages so up it went at home.

My friend Judi brought that leaf fabric back from a quilt show she had vended at and presented it to me - you all must know why. Not at all her style but definitely mine! At the time, I was working with these pyramid blocks of diamonds in another project while always considering how I could work our hand-dyed fabrics into traditional quilt designs. Beyond the piecing, a technical challenge I worked on was how to get parts of the border leaves to extend past the seamline into the body of the quilt. The abstract image of trees in full color is reinforced by the individual leaves fussycut from the border fabric and scattered across the center of the top (they are fused in place). I wasn't terribly comfortable with free-motion quilting yet at this stage - otherwise I might have quilted in a few leaves as well. It's just such a rich quilt colorwise, just like the northwoods of Wisconsin come fall. Leftovers of the leaf fabric went into "Wisconsin Memories" and the last bit of it into Autumn Confetti. Good to the last drop!

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Just a reminder to hop on over to Hilary's blog to read her Around the World Blog Hop post here. Also, you might enjoy reading my friend Sherrie's post on the subject and checking out her links. I wanted her to be one of my tagee's but someone beat me to it. And yes, she was getting ready to tag me as well!

ArtWalk 2018

"Sway" - 17-1/2 x 39" - Sheila Mahanke Barnes ©2018

ArtWalk officially opens tomorrow with receptions, music, and ART at many locations throughout downtown Sandpoint. My work is at a new location, The Cedar Street Bridge, and I have yet to stop by to see how everything looks, just taking it on faith I guess. It is a more awkward location in terms of accessibility since it does not have its own parking lot like the bank where I'd displayed in previous years, and of course, there is street work going on just a block away making it challenging for even the locals to navigate, but there is hope that this will not deter the loyal crowds who always come out for this event.

I don't think I've shown you Sway in its finished state. I think of it as my showcase piece of the four that will be on display. You've seen the others: Leaf Cluster VIII, Float, and Fracture. If you live in the area, I hope you will stop by my location and say hello!