Feb. Daily Stitching

Daily stitching for Feb. 2017.  I'm still trying to get a handle on this project.  I wanted it to be stitch heavy, but I am missing the fabric chunks.  I did add some sheers here and there on this one.  I guess it feels a little too tame to me, but then it was a pretty calm month with lots of quiet days at home.  I have a feeling I'll figure this one out about Dec. then wish I had approached it differently all along.

I have learned that those beautiful silk threads that inspired this project are not that fun to stitch with.  They tend to split and tangle a lot.  Learning as I go!

Breathing Space

"Shelter from the Sun", acrylic on paper, 11x14"

The Line Up

I'm so excited to start joining together the components of my 2016 Daily Stitch Project into a large piece.  It's like quilting where the individual squares are nice, but the real magic happens when they start interacting with one another.  Sometimes I have to let go of a special frayed edge, but that's the way it goes.  I especially like when a block that was somewhat plain on its own really enhances those around it, or when one picks up the colors of the adjacent one and they form a new design.  They play so nicely together.

Because the strips are so long, the process involves laying all the components out on the carpet and rearranging until I'm happy.  I decided on 2 long sections for each month, but they are still ending up about 6 ft. long.  I may break that down to 3 shorter sections for each month.  I got the idea of putting casings on top of each strip and using a simple rod so I could move them around easily.  That way I could do seasonal clusters if I don't have space for the whole year to hang at the same time.

These are from Feb. 2016:
 

 I didn't bother posting any individual pieces this month since they are still black and white and very similar to Jans. but here are a few of the segments.

Next month color starts moving in.

Breathing Space

Night Light, acrylic on paper, 11x14"

Sometimes I start with an inspiration or idea before I paint, other times I just like to see what comes out and then I name it after I see it.  This was the latter.  It's interesting to look back on these that I painted a while ago because this has now become one of my favorites, and it wasn't at first.

The Do-Your-Own-Thing Collaboration

My art group, Portland Art Collective, is doing a really fun project this year we call the "Do-Your-Own-Thing Collaboration."  About 15 of us are participating.  Each month the 2 people who are up for that month give us all a packet of materials and instructions on what they want us to do.  Sometimes the instructions are very specific, other times it's more wide open to our interpretation.  We've done everything from making quilt blocks, to dressing paper dolls, to doing abstract calligraphy.  Unfortunately, I didn't think to photograph the earlier projects, but here are a few of the recent ones.

Lenall asked us to make a piece 5"x 7" or smaller that contained a heart or hearts and the color red.  I am obsessed with this stitch I saw on Pinterest.  It probably has a name, but I don't know what it is,  just a tight blending of colors into one another.  The piece needed a little batting to take away the poufs, so I ended up making it into a tiny quilted piece.

I used that same stitch when I made Carol's piece.  Carol gave each of us a pennant shaped canvas with grommets in the top.  We each got a letter to include in any way we wanted on the pennant.  Some stitched, some painted, some collaged.   She requested some aqua and teal to tie them together.  She is making a large garland out of them that says, "Celebrate Happy" to hang for special occasions.

 Suzanne gave us each a 6X6" board with the instruction to do a circle within the square using any media we wanted.  I collaged some parts of my rejected paintings on it.  She left the instructions wide open to use any colors.

 This isn't part of our project but is my first attempt at trying that stitch.  It's so fun to use around negative space.

We are all really enjoying this project.  Each month feels like Christmas when we get our new packet of materials.  And it's so much fun to see each artist's different interpretations of the project and how they tie together as a whole piece.  It's a good challenge to be stretched in different directions each month.

Breathing Space--and Not

 Another from my Breathing Space series.  This one is called Traveling Alone.  I've been spending a lot of time traveling with family over the last few years.  It's been wonderful, but I  especially love those moments when I am off by myself and have time to absorb what's around me in silence.

Traveling Alone, acrylic on paper, 11x14"

Last year my paintings were very calm, but that is not the state I'm in right now.  I can't help but notice how much stuff appears as I paint.  Here's one in the early under stages at my easel, maybe things will be calmer by the time it's finished.  We can only hope. 

Canvas Pencil Bags

I wanted to make a gift for a friend recently, so I pulled out paints and pencils and made a canvas pencil bag.  I made quite a few for myself a while ago and found that they are really useful for holding pencils, brushes, markers.  I made them in different sizes, tall and short.  The idea came from Elisa Burke's blog and her directions can be found here.

They are always a little funky and lumpy, but I like that.  Elisa rolls her top, but I prefer painting the top black and then leaving the edge raw.

My newly painted gift:

They are full of stuff all over my studio.

Technical details:  I just found older comments that I didn't know how to find earlier.  Thank you for those!  I hope I'm now on top of them.  I also see that when I look at my blog on Feedly, the format is odd and kind of random.  They appear orderly on my blog, so I don't know how to correct that.  If anyone can help, please do.

Breathing Space

I wanted to experiment with opening up the center of a canvas, having lots of quiet space in the middle and pushing the chaotic elements to the edges.

Edge of Tomorrow, acrylic on paper, 11x14"