New work

A couple of weeks ago I dove into discharging again and had a great time.  I was suppose to be getting ready to teach a class but the timing was off.  What I had fun doing was tearing my discharged fabrics into strips and weaving them.  Oh, just remembered, one of the pieces I wove the different blacks first then discharged.  I then cut fused silks into the above pieces and stitched.  I mounted the finished pieces on gallery wrapped 8 x 8" frames.  I'm pleased.  I will revisit the weaving again.

Continuous Line Drawing

I've been drawing on transparencies using a wipe-out pen - tracing over magazine faces using a continuous line.  All in the hope of being able to draw faces easily using the sewing machine.  I traced the face drawn on the transparency onto tissue paper with a transfer pencil and then transferred the face onto fabric using the iron.  Then I stitched.  Way too much fun. Someday I'll stitch without all that work beforehand.  I have this fixation on faces, I'm afraid.

My France Fabric Travel Journal

My trip to France has now been documented.  I created the pages before I left.  I was pretty good about journaling - not every day but close to it.  I used site brochures, postcards, tickets and my trusty PoGo printer - a little Polaroid printer that prints out 2x3" photo stickers (love it).  I didn't create the cover til I got home to save on luggage weight, but I'll not do that again.  The reason is that my first signature became way too big making the sewing/attaching it in the cover so very difficult.   I also found the loose pages a pain to work with.  The other thing I will do differently is to always carry paper and pen to jot down happenings it keep my memory fresh.  Oh, one more thing I will do differently is to take a digital of the name of the place we're exploring.  Sorting out towns and images was trying.  Lessons learned!  I do love the record of my trip!

The only thing left in order for the journal to be complete is to get some prints made of some of my many digital images to add to the last section of the journal.  I'm still going through the 1000+ images though I'm just about finished.

Here are three of my "artsy" photos to whet your appetite!

The hand door knockers!

The beautiful stone carvings, especially the faces!

Niki de Saint Phalle's sculptures, some with yarn clothing!

I've added entries to my grandson's fabric journal as well.  Plus I'll began to practice, practice, practice continuous line drawings of faces.  And play with discharging fabrics again.  More on that later.

Just Another Parrotthead

I'm back from my trip, fabulous trip to France and had a more fabulous visit from my daughter and grandson.  Upon return, I received a message from my local art association, Island Art Association that I won thrid prize for "Just Another Parrotthead."  Yeah!!!!!

3 New Pieces

"Just Another Parrotthead" 23 x 20" (c) Diane Hamburg

I just finished "Just Another Parrotthead" for my local Island Art Association's Nouveau Art Exhibit entitled "It's 5 o'clock somewhere."  My husband came up with the idea of using the parrot and a margarita.  I used Ellen Lindner's technique of double Reverse Applique!  Please go to Ellen's website to learn more about this very versatile technique.  I've fallen in love with it!

I created the following art pieces in June but forgot to photograph them before sending them off to FAN - Fiber Artists Network - my local fiber group.  We're completing our challenge to create fiber work for our 52 Pick up - really 54 cards are portrayed, including 2 jokers.  We'll be exhibiting the whole deck at Jacksonville, Florida's Quiltfest in September.  We're even making the deck into actual playing cards to sell!  Check FAN.

"3 of Clubs"  24 x 15.5" (c) Diane Hamburg

The background for the "3 of Clubs" was created using the wonderful mixed media techniques I learned from Valeria Goodwin during her workshop held in Florida this past June.  I will do this more and more.  It's such fun!   The turtle's were traced onto organza and fused down.

"4 of Spades" 14 x 15.5" (c) Diane Hamburg

The "4 of Spades" started with a dropcloth - painted and repainted in time as I worked on other printing projects.  I added some stenciling to unify the cloth and then used white paint as a light wash to tune it down.  The trees and grasses were appliqued on using fusible web.

I'm off to Europe for 3 weeks.  I hope to come back full of inspiration.  I know I'll come back eager to get back in my studio!  Bon Voyage!

Soy Wax Workshop

Here I am in front of some of the beautiful soy wax batik pieces my students created.  Following are images of some of the folks working/playing away.  The class was so successful I had to offer another one.  The students were other fiber artists as well as newbies to surface design.  It was fun watching them create.

Just one of my favorites.  I wish I took more photos.  I just love the color combination.

Valerie Goodwin's Workshop

Last weekend I attended a workshop by Valerie Goodwin and created the above map piece.  Valerie had several templates printed out for us as well as the towers printed on fabric.  I'm not for one "doing a project" but I did have a great time.  The highlight of the whole weekend was Valerie's method of creating her background.  That in itself was worth the workshop fee.  I hope I can do justice to the process:  crinoline is used as the foundation (I've been using crinoline in my fabric portraits and love how it allows the finished quilt to be very flat with a straight edge) sew pieces of fabric down using the flip and sew method until the crinoline is covered - any fabric raw edges are machine or hand stitched down.  Next comes some fused pieces of transparent fabric like organza, which can be painted or dyed.  Then some painting - roughly and only in places.  That's the background.  I just love it.

So I came home and created the background to my "3 of Clubs" - oh, I know I did 3 turtles but they'll work for the playing card challenge of my fiber group FAN - Fiber Artists Network.  I followed Valerie's technique and added some stamping as well.

Also, one of the other members of FAN shared a technique of using fused transparent fabric like organza and tracing a motif (the tiny Pisa tower in the above piece and the turtles in this piece) and then fusing the motif to another fabric or to the background.  Cool!