New Work

On March 12, 2007, I saw a building near the ICA in Boston that was a huge inspiration to me for new work. It's taken a few months, but two pieces are now finished. This is Orange Construction Fence Series #53:


and this is Orange Construction Fence Series #54:


Both Orange Construction Fence Series #53 and Orange Construction Fence Series #54, with size information, can be seen on my website.

You can read about my process for these pieces by clicking on various headlines called "Printing/Painting on Fabric" that I posted in April.

Printing/Painting on Fabric

When I was printing fabric last week, I tried using a piece of my new "Silver Hardware Net" (mentioned on June 1st). I used it on two of the four pieces of fabric I printed. The pieces with the "Silver Hardware Net" printed, also have a larger patterned construction fence printed on them. Here is an image of how it printed on one of the pieces:


I have some ideas on how to proceed with this. Will post an update when I have something to show.

Printing/Painting on Fabric

I use many different kinds of fabric paint when I paint and print on fabric, but I use ProChem Textile Paint when I'm printing construction fences, mainly because it's thicker and easier to control. The instructions for the ProChem Textile Paints say:

"Heat set fabric paint. After applying paint to fabric, air dry thoroughly and heat set using one of the four methods outlined. Iron at the hottest setting appropriate for your fabric from the back side for 5 minutes OR place a clean dry cloth over the front of the design and iron for 5 minutes. Do not use steam. Keep the iron moving to prevent scorching."

"Do not wash for 10 to 14 days after fabric is heat set. Wash fabric with luke warm water, gentle agitation and mild detergent. If patterned item is a garment, turn it inside out for washing."

Usually, when I have finished printing with the ProChem Textile Paint, I set the paint by ironing it for 1 minute when it's dry, and wash it the same day. This time I let the fabric dry, ironed it for the one minute the next day, and waited 2 days to wash it, only because I was going away for the weekend and didn't have time. A picture of the unwashed fabric is below:


I don't know if waiting the 2 days made a difference, or if I just printed the fabric darker than in the past and the paint was really in there, but there is very little difference between the unwashed and washed fabric below:


In the future, I'll try to wait a few days before washing if I can. I think darker is better than how light the fabric sometimes is after washing. I'll also try to document it again in the future, to see if waiting is really worth it.

Printing/Painting on Fabric

After the new printed fabric was dry, I decided to take a picture of it because I wanted to document it, so I can see how much lighter the fabric gets after I wash it. When the fence is on the table, and I'm printing from it, I can't tell if the fence shapes are straight or not. I was pretty surprised to see that the left side of the printed image is REALLY warped. I had no idea. I drew red lines on the picture of the fabric to show what I'm talking about.

I thought I was using the same piece of fence I used to print the fabric I showed on April 19th and on April 17th,. The shapes on those pieces of fabric are reasonably straight.

I'm not going to reprint this fabric, but instead I'll make the warped image part of the design. Hopefully it'll make it more interesting.

Printing/Painting on Fabric

I decided to grab a little time and print four pieces of fabric so I would have them ready to work on this summer. I'm planning on using some of the images of buildings I posted on May 21st, as inspiration for my new work.

My printing (and sewing) table isn't wide enough for a full width of fabric so I lay pieces of plexiglass and some other hard white surface (that I don't know the name of) that I bought at Home Depot on my table, and tape them together to make a wider printing surface. The construction fence gets taped to that, and the fabric gets taped on top of the fence. Then I get to work with my fabric paint. Here's the first piece of fabric printed and ready to be hung up to dry in my shower, since I have no where else to hang it.

The Art of Quilting - PBS

The Art of Quilting video that was produced by PBS has been out since March, but their website didn't have any information about it the last time I checked. I just went to the PBS website, and I was happy to see that they now have information about it, including artists interviews. If you haven't been able to see the show, you can read a lot about it online.


The written text on my page, is edited in a strange way, and not exactly how I spoke. Oh well. The general idea is there. I think I'm more articulate than it reads. I very much appreciate PBS posting the info about me and the show, and for linking my website.

Fifty!

Today I am 50 years old. I find it really strange to be saying this because I don't know where the time went that got me to this point. It feels like it was yesterday that I turned 40, and the day before that I was 30.

Given my interest in construction fences, I wanted to create a piece of art that celebrates the occasion, so I made a small (temporary) mixed media piece with a section of my newest purchase of a roll of "Silver Hardware Net", as mentioned on my blog on June 1st. I cut a section of the "Silver Hardware Net" that has 50 squares, and put one very long pin in each of the 50 squares.


When I turned 42 (in 1999 when I was making a small quilt a week), I made a small quilt with 42 strawberries and 42 stitched lines. Strawberries are in full season in Massachusetts around the time of my birthday, so that influenced me at the time. This piece was not included in my upcoming book , The Uncommon Quilter, which features 52 of the 365 small quilts I made from 1999-2005.

When I was younger, people who were 50 seemed so OLD. As a 50 year old today, I feel very young, healthy, and full of energy and creative ideas.

Beautiful!

My house is on a postage stamp sized lot. I have a 50 gallon water garden in my yard, with 2 goldfish and many plants, including a water lily that blooms every June. I think water lilies are beautiful!


My book, The Uncommon Quilter (which is being published in October 2007), has a quilt with an image of a water lily, from a few summers ago.

Printing/Painting on Fabric

Here is the second piece of fabric, of my two interpretations of the building under construction near the ICA in Boston. This piece of fabric will be Orange Construction Fence Series #53. The left side of the picture above is going to be the back (hidden) side of the fabric, and the right side will be the front (showing) side. I've been stitching this fabric, and will try to get it photographed as soon as possible, once finished.

On May 31st I posted two images of buildings under construction at the Natick Mall. I'm planning on using those images as inspiration for some more work in the near future.

Printing/Painting on Fabric

I am totally enjoying the result of how different fabric paints do or don't penetrate the fabric, and what the back side of the fabric looks like in comparison to the front (painted) side.

This is both sides of the piece of fabric, that is one of my two interpretations of the building under construction near the ICA in Boston. The left side of the picture above is going to be the back (hidden) side of the fabric, and the right side will be the front (showing) side. When completed, this piece will be Orange Construction Fence Series #52. The stitching is almost complete. I'll post the finished piece after I've been to the photographer.

I made another version that will be Orange Construction Fence Series #53, and will post the images of both sides of the fabric shortly.

Art with Fiber - on exhibit at the Danforth Museum of Art

On exhibit at the Members Juried Show at the Danforth Museum of Art, in Framingham MA, from June 2 - July 29, 2007, artists, whose artwork, has fiber as a main or important element:

Virginia Fitzgerald, "Provacative" 2007, rope, wire, yarn, feather, leather.

Hiroko Lee, "Buddah and I #10" 2007, and "Dream" 2006, both woodcut and layered screen.

Janet Shapero, "Exilic Yearnings" 2004, and "Pathway yo My Heart" 2004, acrylic on fiberglass screen.

Beverly Sky, "Promise of the Tea Ceremony: See the Universe in a cup of Tea" 2006, "Promise of Enlightenment: Transcendence" 2006, and "Reflections of the Floating World" 2006, all are fabric collage.

And, my piece, "Orange Construction Fence Series #43" 2006, stitched monoprint.

12 x 12 x 12 June - continued

I think the fact that I can take a digital picture of my work and publish it on my blog, all within a few minutes, has me rushing to post my 12 x 12 x 12 pieces before they are finished. On June 5th, I posted my June piece, saying it was complete, and then after reviewing it decided it needed more contrast.

Well, after messing around with it for a few days later, I added a little contrast. Here is my final result (I think).


I have also updated the image on my website, and on The Uncommon Quilter website.

Art with Fiber - on exhibit at The Rose Art Museum

On exhibit at The Rose Art Museum of Brandeis University in Waltham MA, "John M Armleder: Too Much is Not Enough". from April 26- July 30, 2007. This show covers the fields of art, design and pop culture, and includes paintings, sculpture and mixed-media pieces. Of note to anyone who is interested in artists who use fiber in their art work, are three pieces that are made with fabric that is folded over stretcher strips:

"Matuita ma", 2001, folded fabric
"La ora i te forerei", 2001, folded silk
"Himene pirae", 2001, folded velvet

I couldn't find any images from the show on the web, but I did find a similar one, which you can look at, called Enter At Your Own Risk 14, 2000, folded polyester.

12 x 12 x 12

This is my June 2007 12 x 12 x 12 piece, which was inspired by an image from the NY Times Magazine, shown and discussed, in my June 2nd entry.

All of my 12 x 12 x 12 pieces from 2007 (so far) can be seen on my website. You can also check further down on my blog, to read about the other pieces I've created so far this year.

Because it's hard to see detail in the image above, here is a closeup of one section:


I did this design as a study for a larger piece I hope to do this summer. Thinking about what I like and don't like about it. I like the horizontal brown stripes, but I don't like the lack of contrast. If I do do a larger piece, I'll be sure to have more contrast by probably having similar dark sections where the windows are in the photo. If I have time, I'll try to work on this piece some more, to get more contrast. Funny how how something doesn't always turn out how it's envisioned.

12 x 12 x 12 - June in progress

I was very inspired by this image that the NY Times Magazine showed in an architecture discussion a few weeks ago, and I decided to use it as inspiration for my June 12 x 12 x 12 piece.


Notice in the above image, that the architect used different woods between each floor. I love the different "colors" of brown, and I wanted to see what would happen if I tried using paint that way. Here is the front detail of the fabric:


... and here is the back detail:


I wanted to share the full piece of fabric, before stitching and trimming, as seen from the front:


.... and here is the back side of the same piece of fabric.


The picture colors (on my computer at least) are more intense than the actual fabric.

I'm going to have the back side of the painted fabric facing out, and will try to stitch this piece up ASAP, though I do have the whole month of June to do it.

Green Construction Fence and more

Last weekend, at a Farmer's Market, I saw a vendor who had a green construction. This fence was similar to one of the orange pieces I have, but is a very thin plastic. My favorite fences are the thin ones because they are easier to print off of. The bumpy fences make printing difficult because it's hard to pick up the texture of the grid when your hand is bumping along.

I asked the vendor if I could have a piece of her green fence and she was not at all interested in sharing it. That's life. BUT! She did tell me where she go it. Back at home, I immediately went to Gemper's online catalog fence page, and there was the green fence, as well as other shapes and colors.


Fence color is (obviously) not important to me, since I'm printing off of them, not attaching them. The only fence I didn't seem to already have, or that was of interest, was the green "Safety Fence", so I ordered it. It's a few days later, and I'm now the proud owner of a roll that's 4' X 50', which is more than a lifetime supply.


I noticed that on sale, was a roll of "Silver Hardware Net", for only a few dollars, so I decided to get that too. That roll also arrived today, and it's 2' X 15'. The grid is about 3/8" x 5/8", and is more textured. Also, the sizes of the rows of grids is inconsistant, which makes it much more interesting to me. I can see using this a few times, and I have a few friends who might enjoy using it too.

I'll have to find some time to print the green fence ASAP. I would like to use it when using the NY Times images as inspiration.