old wheel- again

I finished my 'Old Wheel' ! I'm glad.
I tried to write down almost every move I made with this picture till the finished known result. I took the picture because I liked the tree trunk, the wheel was there 'by accident'.
It turned down that I accentuated the wheel and the trunk was the 'support'.
Boy did I have trouble with that trunk !
The 'absence' of colors turned me crazy.
Now, up to the big version.
I have to look for 'the ' fabric, but I have time, I don't want to rush.

"Every day brings a chance for you to draw in a breath, kick off your shoes, and dance."

Oprah Winfrey (1954- )

write you soon

Nathalie

Inspiration

I have aged my ‘old wheel’ and I’m ready to thread paint the drawing.
I hoped I could have started the ‘fabric’ old wheel but I missed the time to do.
So this evening I thread paint and Sunday I start the big version.

I didn’t expect to be so tired after our trip to Marseille but the last days I need to sleep.
I’m human after all.

Since I filled my first idea-journal I started number two and that one will be filled in no time :
I have seen so much in Marseille. I have to make a series-work about the nature there.
I have some ideas but have to put them on paper first : I will not remember them all, next month I 'forgot' most of them.
I will use them on a later time when I’m out of inspiration.
Oh , yes, it happens ; sometimes I have some majors block-issues.
No inspiration at all !

"You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club."
Jack London (1876-1916)

write you soon
Nathalie

Agenda

I made this cover for my agenda using painted nappy liners and chiffon, did some free machine embroidery and zapped the whole bunch. After layering netting on the surface I did some more free machine embroidery using a metallic thread.

I now use this cover with many pleasure and receive possitive coments when friends are seeing my ‘personal agenda’.

This evening I hope I can start making the big version ‘old wheel’ in fabric. I still have issues with the trunk but I will solve that problem when I’m at the trunk.

“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.”
Aristotle

Write you soon

Nathalie

Stitches

I have a super sewing machine with a lot of fancy stitches and one of the ways to visualise those different stitches was to actually stitch them in different rows.
So I did.



Never realised that this was a titanic work !
And boring !



But now that this is done I’m glad I did it.
If I need to sew a decorative stitch, I take my sampler pages and look for the ‘most wanted’ stitch.

I have used my sampler to choose some stitches in the ‘Bubbles’ Darned Quilt I made in a Quilt University class conducted By Dena Crain (see link at right).
If you have the possibility : TAKE that class !
You will not regret it.
It is such a funny technique with quick and unexpected results.



"There is no pleasure in having nothing to do ;
the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it."
Mary Wilson little

Write you soon
Nathalie

Marseille

Marseille is a beautiful city !
We spend some fantastic days there.



We slept in a charming hotel on the ‘Vieux Port’, the oldest part of Marseille.
This was the view we had from our hotel :


Like every port this city is a melting pot of cultures.
You feel the southern way of live : much life and noise, speaking with the whole body and very friendly.
We visited the oldest part of Marseille with a guide.

In the evening we went eating the ‘bouillabaisse’ – a ‘fish soup’-with a glass of ‘rosé de Provence’.
After enjoying the meal we walked near the ‘Vieux Port’ looking at the boats.

Very romantic !

We also visited the ‘Calanques’ from Marseille to Cassis with a boat – I was impressed by the primitive beauty of the nature.

The day after we visited the Calanques on foot on the ‘îles du Frioul’ We walked for about 4 hours.

The only thing you hear is the noise of the seagulls.

You have so many things to look at...

There's not so much green due to the climate.

I will go back !

"The goal of life is living in agreement with nature."

Zeno (335BC-264BC)

write you soom

Nathalie

Old wheel

A last short note before leaving.

Yesterday evening I made a color drawing from the ‘old wheel’ on fabric with watercolor pencils. I’m not yet satisfied about the trunk, but I will solve that problem with the thread painting.



“A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.”
George Moore


Till next week
Nathalie

Sketching

I started to sketch again , without having the intention to make a fibre version of the drawing. The last time I sketched, was when I was still at school ! I need more exercise, so I will try to sketch some views while in Marseille.



2 sketches and a doodle

Usually, for my art, I draw rough lines and I stay abstract : when I want to make a landscape I draw some lines and write the words : ex. : sun, bird, tree…and that’s it. No need for more.

"I paint my own reality. The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head without any other consideration."
Frida Kahlo (1907-1954)

see you later

Nathalie

Suitcases

I made my suitcases this evening. Making them is like holiday already. We leave on Thursday and come back on Tuesday. I never was in Marseille but I intend to visit a lot. I will take as many pictures as I can.

My blue apple made in the workshop from Ellen Lindner( link on the right) is finished.
I was happy to make an easy little piece without thinking too much.



The other workshop ‘Idea to Image’ from Laura Cater-Woods(link on the right) is also near to an end. This was a real discovery workshop with a group that wasn’t too big. I intend to take her next workshop in the near future. For the moment I’m so full of ideas that I need to sort them. I need to work on myself for a while.

I learned to work with a sketchbook again and will use it to develop some ideas.

"If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable,
you disconnect yourself from what you truly want,
and all that is left is a compromise."
Robert Fritz


Write you soon
Nathalie

Play Time

I played today with fabric, steam-a-seam ,tissues, paintings and shiva paint sticks.
I ironed an ‘ugly’ fabric, layered steam-a-seam and ripped colored tissue, painted the tissue, let it dry, added a new layer of steam-a-seam and tissue and finished with drawing some naïve flowers with the paint sticks and ironed again to finish.
I had nothing in mind, just wanted to try some techniques out and see how I can use them in my art.


Much learning does not teach understanding
Heraclitus(540BC-480BC)


write you soon
Nathalie

Joy

When I wake up in the morning, this is the first view I see.
I hear the birds giving concertos and I enjoy it : no better way to wake up.

Before I get in the kitchen I have to go true my studio

I always drink my first cup of coffee in my studio, enjoying the sight of the fabric in the closet and the to-finish works.

It’s in the early morning that I’m auditioning the different fabric for a particular work.

It only takes the time of drinking my cup of coffee ; but this is what makes my day.

The flower collage below was made early on a Sunday morning. I sketched the petals with my scissors, laid the fabric on a background, putted tulle over it and thread painted it.

This collage is made after a picture I took in ‘le parc de la tête d’or’ in Lyon.

My DH and I had a wonderful time there : The ‘old Lyon’ is a must-visit with some Italian influence.

And the ‘parc de la tête d’or’ is spectacular.
I never saw as many brides and grooms on one day taking their marriage pictures !

"Joy is not in things, it is in us."

Richard Wagner

Write you soon
Nathalie

Pumpkin flower and early work

This quilt is still one of my favourites.
I had so much trouble drawing the design and finding the right fabric…
I spend hours looking for greens and at last dyed some.
It hangs in my kitchen where I can see it every day.


What a difference with my early work !
Like many of us I started with classic themes, but combined different techniques :
In this quilt, I used machine-appliqué, Seminole, piecing and trapunto.
This quilt was entered in a national show in Belgium some years ago and was found ‘too modern’.

This was one of the turning points. In those days I also gave patchwork classes, made a new example for each class, searched for fresh ideas and executed them in fabric.
I was demotivated to continue giving classes because the majority was allergic to machine work, that was another turning point.

I stopped giving classes.
I choose to go ahead without looking back and go my way.

Never regretted my decision !

"I can't give you a sure-fire formula for success, but I can give you a formula for failure : Try to please everybody all the time"

Herbert Bayard Swope (1882-1958)

write you soon

Nathalie

finished the summer dress

I finished my dress just in time !
I had to chase hunt for a long zipper. Never thought I would have to do so many shops to find the correct zipper.
But the result may be seen :


I can take this dress next week on our city trip to Marseille.
The last time we took some days off was in september.


Some time ago I wanted to make an art quilt that expressed my job.
After some thinking I took some used stuff from our shop and made this :

The keys and the lock are part my job : I’m a locksmith.
The red phone is one of my business tools but sometime the phone is too present : that’s why I made it red and behind a trail. This is a certain way of protecting myself.

Nathalie

Image to Drawing

Yesterday evening I took the time to simplify my design from the old Wheel against a tree trunk.
I’m so glad I took classes from Marilyn Belford and Susan Brittingham at Quilt University (link at right)some years ago.
They both learned me how to alter images so that you can ‘easily’ draw the chosen picture.



This was my first drawing result, but as I said in a previous post the drawing was still too complicated to reproduce in fabric :



So I deleted some lines without loosing the spirit of the picture and the drawing :





I believe that the drawing is like it should be.
The most exciting part is looking for the right fabric – without buying new fabric !
My stash is huge !
Reproducing the shadow will be challenging.



A strange thing of being an artist :
You have plenty of work hanging on the walls of your studio and even more in the closets but you can’t stop yourself producing.
At first you give some works away and at last you decide to sell your ‘babies’ so that you have more money to make new work.


A last word from George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) :
“Inspiration is the beginning of creation.”

Write you soon
Nathalie

Walking

We have, at last, sunny weather. With the sea breeze, the temperature is about 20°C. Just enough to work and perfect for a walk.




The walking routes along the beach and the dunes are numerous and interesting.

So……Went for a walk with my dog and looked at the old houses in the neighbourhood. I really looked at them and there are some jewels of architecture.
These holiday houses were build at the beginning of past century for the Brussels’ ‘bourgeoisie’ and were only used during the summer months july and august. Later some famous artists came living in my village, Paul Delvaux is probably the most famous of them.

I added a picture from a quilt I made some time ago : it represents the horse path to the beach.

I hope you enjoyed my 'promenade' of my village.

Nathalie

Blue Apple

A few weeks ago I followed a workshop conducted by Ellen Lindner (her link is right on the page) named ‘Instant Art quilts’.
It was such fun that I enrolled for her other online workshop ‘ Double Reverse Appliqué’.
The explained technique is not new for me – I already made some quilts using that method, but the group is fully participating and giving ideas to each other.
We’re simply having fun and that’s all that counts.

The given subject to sew is a simple apple.
Seeing the word ‘apple’ made me think of René Magritte
.
So I sewed a Blue Apple and will call my work : ‘Remember René Magritte’.
While being in Vienna, Austria, a few years ago, I had the chance to see his work.

Nathalie

Tree Trunk- again and fatherday

Again a tree trunk
When I told I was fascinated…

A new idea for a quilt.
I already cropped the image and made a line drawing, still too complicated to sew.
I have to reduce the lines so I can produce a simpler design.

The picture was taken 2 weeks after the tree was ‘cut’.
I remember the shadow it gave us in summertime and the sound of the wind blowing in the leaves.
I remember the children climbing in that tree and scaring us because they climbed too high.

Nostalgic souvenirs....




Bonne fête papa, je t'aime !
Une chance que j'ai toute une collection de photos.

Nathalie