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Thursday, August 19, 2010

Color, Free Motion, and Dyeing

"When all is said and done, artists need to struggle on their own." Robert Genn
It really seems like summer is over here in north Seattle, today is so gray and rainy looking, cool, breezy, same as yesterday, this mid-August. So I needed a blast of color - and here it is.

These colorful pieces were created last May in my machine embroidery group. So much fun and experimenting. We did spray dyeing of the specialty papers with procion dyes, then zigged, zagged and looped some free motion machine embroidery, and added puff paints for texture... I love the brilliance of the colors and how they wash together like watercolors.
I really like the loopy flowers below, they seem so painterly, amazing what can be done with thread. I am only a beginner at painting with thread, there are those who do very precise beautiful work including words which I find difficult. That will take lots of practice. Here is the reverse side of my loopy flowers which I like just as well, you can see the stitching better. And speaking of stitching, if you look very closely you may see where I stitched these photos together because these pieces were bigger than my scanner. Easily done, but not perfect, in Photoshop.
I'm not sure what I'll do with these or future pieces, they could be book covers or part of another art piece or book. Somehow I'm thinking some of these techniques will find their way into my journey into acrylics and mixed media paintings... Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to our machine embroidery group reconvening in the fall which is only a whisper away.

12 comments:

mermaid gallery said...

I really like the randomness of your sewing...they are wonderful, light, and spirited....

HeartFire said...

Hi Susan,
Thanks for stopping in from Nelson, you must be chillier than we are! I just have to get back up there, that part of BC is so beautiful, and lovely little town!
And thanks for the compliments, it truly is random sewing. Probably if I was trying to be precise, it would still come out random!
Delorse

Seth said...

Love the saturated colors and the stitching! Must have been fun to create.

HeartFire said...

Seth, it IS so much fun to create randomly... I'm not one who does the pre-sketch, planning out all the details and minutia!
Delorse

Janette Kearns Wilson said...

Thankyou for visiting me. It is so lovely to see your sunny pieces, it has been such a long winter here that your work makes my heart sing

layers said...

as someone who lives north of Seattle I know what you are talking about-- we do seem to get a lot of gray clouding days- and I can see where a blast of color in the studio can be fun and inspiring.

JonesMoore Studio Art, Lisa JonesMoore said...

Oh I just want to EAT these!! Just gorgeous...

HeartFire said...

Donna & Lisa,
Thanks for stopping in for my bursts of color!
Delorse

Ger said...

Hi, just hopped over from your e-mail - and liked a lot what I saw, I´m especially fond of the reverse side photo, lovely free energy circulating in those flower shapes...

HeartFire said...

Hi Ger!
You know I think I like the reverse side better myself. I will have to try machine embroidery words again, and hope I get results like you do!
Delorse

Dreamcicle Journeys said...

Love your blasts of color and free-motion stitching. Thanks for your recent visit to my blog.

HeartFire said...

Hey Paula,
I noticed you had some machine stitching going on too, quite lovely...
Delorse