Completed Kalanchoes

Succulents IX and X are completed. These will probably end up matted and framed similar to the last two Succulents.

Midnight Garden

Deadlines are great for getting projects done. I wasn’t very inspired by my latest project, so I procrastinated on quilting it. I like it now that it’s finished. Some white paint was added after the quilting was completed. And it was completed just in time to enter into a juried show.

Frames for my Latest Succulents

I've gotten Succulents VII & VIII in their new 8 x 10 frames. I think they look great. I will plan on doing some more smaller framed pieces.

Succulent III

Another Succulent quilt is completed for the Fast Friday Challenge.

My first idea of flower stalks reaching upwards was abandoned, since the only flowers blooming on my succulents right now seem to be the sorts that bend downwards. And the stalks all seem to be at awkward angles. I was having trouble getting a composition I liked. So I settled for leaves reaching upwards.

The original intent was to edge the larger leaves with bright red the way it is in my garden. It was to be my “zinger” color to fit the theme of the challenge. But now I think I should leave well enough alone. I don’t think it needs the red, and I’m afraid to overwork it now that it seems done.

The original photo was backlit with strong light along the edges of the back leaves. I may go back and soften some of the white edges and make the white blend into the green more.

Out in the garden, some of the succulents are blooming.This succulent was received as a gift, and was one of a variety of succulents planted in the one large pot. It was beginning to crowd out some of the other succulents, and was looking rather crowded itself. So I made some cuttings from the potted plants, and a succulent garden was born. The potted plants are still only about ten inches tall, but it took off right away when it was freed into open ground. The tallest plant stalk is now nearly three feet tall, and the leaf rosettes about a foot across. It will likely become part of my succulent series some day.

Succulent II

Succulent II is based on a very close cropped photo of a succulent. It is for a Fast Friday challenge to work with either a close view or a far view with the focus on value. The base cloth is the clean-up fabric that I posted about last week. The patterns and colors in the original cloth have nearly disappeared beneath more paint and stitching, but bits of the original fabric still peek through. Working with this fabric helped free me from the need to interpret the colors from the original photo literally, and let me focus on value.

Succulent – The First in a Series

Succulent
10 x 13½

May I dare to call this a series when the rest exist only in my mind? Anyway, the first is done. And it is as I imagined it to be when I first began the painting and quilting a week and a half ago. I will make more quilts similar to this one.

Framing a Small Textile Piece

I have a small quilt that I plan to enter in a juried show for small quilts. I thought a frame would make it look less trivial, and more significant as a piece of art. I liked what Pat Dolan did a few months ago http://patsartjournal.blogspot.com/2007/01/framing-fiber-art.html with similar sized pieces and decided I would do something similar. I wasn’t able to find a Pre-assembled square frame in the size I needed, so I decided to build my own.

Two sets of pre-cut 11 inch wood frame sections were easy to assemble with a bit of wood glue and plastic pegs that push in to hold the corners together. The plastic pegs don’t make quite as tight a joint as I would like, so I was glad the salesman at the art supply store suggested I color the cut ends with a black marker before assembling it.

The artwork was centered on a piece of acid free foamcore, and lines were lightly drawn onto the foamcore about a quarter of an inch in from the edge under the fabric. Two small holes were made in the foam corner at each corner.
Using multiple strands of thread, the quilt was sewn at each corner through the holes, catching just the back of the quilt and a bit of batting, but not going through to the front of the quilt.

Plexiglas was cut to fit the frame. Standard frame quality Plexiglas was recommended over non-glare, because non-glare is not completely clear, and becomes more evident if the artwork is set back from the face of the plastic.

Plastic spacer was cut to fit around the perimeter of the Plexiglas. What was available was an eighth of an inch wide and a quarter inch in depth. It can be scored with a utility knife and snapped to the correct length. It comes with adhesive on the back which is used to fix it onto the back of the glass.

One more piece of foamcore was cut for a back board, and glazier points were used to hold everything in the frame.

Scotch Tape Roller meant for mounting photos does not work well on the back of picture frames. It seems to need a smoother surface to dispense well. Aleene’s scrappbooking glue worked great to attach the paper dust cover to the back.