Crazy

I made a second journal cover, this time it is a sketch journal cover in green and mauve.


The directory given by Sue Bleiweiss were adapted/changed to my convenience, I wanted some bigger sketch pages. I used key rings to bind the pages to the sketch cover.

I also cleaned my closet this afternoon and discovered some forgotten treasures. I found some finished ‘crazy-tops’ that are waiting to be finished.

They were still waiting to be finished because I don’t know how to finish them.

Any one an idea ?

I made them to have something to sew when I watched/listened TV. And I wished to do some hand embroidery stitches.

"He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever. "
Chinese proverb

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Nathalie

Fire Bird

I finished the ‘Fire Bird’ and I like the naïve look of that bird.
I got the pattern from mixed media artist Terri Stegmillar.

Painting the paper/fabric took me ‘some’ time : I hesitated about the type of paint to use, a real luxury problem.
We –as artist- are spoiled, we have plenty tools to choose from and when there is a new product/toy coming out we hardly resist !
The same with fabric. Compared to many of us, I do not have that much fabric and I think it has been at least 4 months that I went on 'fabric-hunt-shopping' !

For the moment I’m working with copy-free clip-art and wingding-a letter type- in Word.
Her is an example of wingding : Nathalie.
I just wrote my name.

But I prefer –for now- playing with clip-art.

I cropped a detail from the clip-art image and I’m transforming the detail to obtain some ideas for further use.
This is a painted detail that is waiting for more addition :

“Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.”
Albert Einstein

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Nathalie

Paper Quilts

I know, I know…
Some months ago I was AGAINST working with paper and paint.
I didn’t want to take paper and pencils ant paints again.
I thought I would have less time to ‘love’ fabric.
The contrary is true.
I forgot I once did love paper and pencils and paints.
I was the one who was always drawing, sketching and painting.
I think I sketched my little sister at least a thousand times.
I did sketch nudes more than you imagine – long time ago- at school. I loved drawing and painting abstracts.
I was 18 when I reproduced a complicate Vasarely going from black to white. Still have that painting.
But I preferred working with fiber.
I made a fabric ‘Fire Bird’ based on the music of Igor Stravinski.
That was the start of my unconditional love for fibre.
But now I rediscovered paper and paints.
So I glued pattern paper on fabric and started to paint the surface.
Can’t stay without fabric.
While writing this I remembered my ‘Fire Bird’ and I will make a ‘Fire Bird’- paper quilt with the painted examples :


Not much fire in it yet, but wait a bit…

"Adversity cause some men to break; others to break records. "
William A. Ward

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Nathalie

Journal Making

Some months ago my youngest daughter asked me to make a journal with some handmade papers she had bought. She wanted a journal where she could put her dearest pictures in.

So I had a reason to take a class from Sue Bleiweiss ‘Journal making for the fiber artist”.
This journal is the result :

I used the text from : "les feuilles mortes" written by Jacques Prévert and played with ‘wordle’ a software program that creates word-clouds.
I mirror printed the words on iron-on transfers, chose a background fabric and ironed the transfer on the fabric.
After I made the cover, I sewed a magnet button as closure.
And last but not least, I added the pages in the journal.

I just had the time to take pictures from the finished journal that my youngest took it so she could fill it with her photos and text.

"I still believe that at any time the no-talent police will come and arrest me."
Mike Myers

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Nathalie

Artists

Some years ago, I followed a class conducted by Marilyn Belford at Quilt University.
The name of that class was ‘artists revisited’ . I then chose for Modigliani because I like the style of the artist :

What I tried was to stay simple and touch the spirit of the painting. Not as simple as it looks like. Knowing that Modigliani is one of my mother’s favorite artist, I gave her the quilt for her birthday some time ago.

Still not having a famous artist hanging in my home I decided to do another ‘artist quilt’.
This time I chose Picasso ; "Le Rève":

Once done, My husband showed it to a work-relation and that relation asked if he could buy it… So I sold my very first piece.

And I still didn’t have an ‘artist quilt.
So I made a third one ;
again Picasso ; "La Lectrice" :

This one is mine. I have chose ‘la lectrice’ because I love reading.
She’s hanging in my studio watching me working.

“It takes a long time to become young”.
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

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Nathalie

Les Calanques

New project in mind.
Again.

After cutting the flowerpicture in pieces yesterday, I wanted to try it with a picture I took while in Marseille.
I played with my embroidery program and ended with this picture :

I sliced my first picture too large. I need 5 slices instead of 4.

This time it’s better, but I do not like the lay –out…

I added some rhythm in my design by shifting the slices…

I made a fabric-collage from the landscape…

And added the sliced fabric-picture…

I already quilted it but still have to add the binding and some further embellishments.
This quilt is only meant to be a souvenir, no more, no less.

“Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.”
Rodin (1840-1917)

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Nathalie

Flowers

I do not have a garden.
This means, I have more time for my art.
This also means that I have to go out to see some nature.
I have the chance that I do not have to go far to see some nature.
It’s maybe the reason that I love taking flower picture and making flowerquilts.
I took this picture in Barcelona past year ..
I adapted the picture, reducing the colours...

I cutted my picture and re-arranged the pieces in another way...

also tried some horizontal slices..

and did some random cuttings, but this time I rearranged the pieces the same way but with spaces in between..

One of those ideas will become a quilt.

I like the first squared cut and already see it in machine embroidery pieces,

this means I should have to digitize the square pieces one by one.

“ Man's mind, stretched by a new idea, never goes back to its original dimensions”.
Oliver Wendell Holmes

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Nathalie

Marseille Quilts

While playing with blue fabric swatches in my sketch journal...

I had a ‘aha-moment’ !
I quickly made a blue fabric collage and the feeling was even stronger…

I appliquéd the fabric collagen a cotton batting…

Printed 2 pictures on fabric, appliquéd the both pictures on the surface,
backed the top, did an envelop binding and…

voilà :

“Croisière des Calanques”
‘Apéritif à bord’
‘Frioul 2008’

Since I’m in the mood :
I also adapted another picture from Marseille to make in fabric :

This picture :

Will probably become something like this :

(made with EQ6)

« Cale sèche «
Le Vieux Port de Marseille

Mamy, je te souhaite un joyeux anniversaire !

“Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter. “
Mark Twain

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Nathalie

Irises

I love Irises.
It’s the flower of my childhood. There were plenty of them in our garden.
That flower seemed to grow and multiply everywhere.
There was an ‘ugly’ corner to the house and it was the best place for those flowers : that corner became a peaceful purple corner.
That corner with the irises are part of my souvenirs since it doesn’t exist any more.

I sketched the iris with chalk, traced the iris on a transparent and superposed the two.

I played with a kaleidoscope program on the internet and –again- the souvenirs came on visit.

My grandmother from Bruges had a kaleidoscope-tube where we (my brother and me, my youngest sister wasn’t born yet) could look and see the most amazing and colourful designs.

Sometimes I think I'm as 'crazy' as she was : she was always making and creating things. She didn't have time (she forgot as it wasn't as important in her eyes) to cook for her 4 boys, my grandfather had to do the cooking work. The result : my father became a Chef. WE always had a meal to eat.

I also played on Electric Quilt and mad some expanded squares.
This is addictive.
Take a two-colour block. Retrieve some of the blacks, flip it and voilà :

I don’t think I will stop playing for a while.

The advantage of playtime : It only takes 10 minutes and then I can stop without harm.

That’s all the time I can afford for the moment : I’m disturb by the phone more than you can imagine !

"All I've ever wanted was an honest week's pay for an honest day's work".
Steve Martin

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Nathalie

More playing and Swirly flowers

Yesterday, I sewed my paper quilt and did finish it.
It’s not so big : 9.00 x 7.00 inch.
When my youngest daughter saw the mini she said :
“Oh, that’s nice. You don’t always have to make big quilts, make some mini’s. You can put more mini’s on 1 wall than the big ones”.

I also did some free hand cutting exercises :

For this one, I first traced the dog :

“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world”.
Albert Einstein

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Nathalie

Still Playing

From time to time I take some play-time and obviously that play time is now. For several days now, I’m playing. Playing with colors, papers, fabrics, glue, threads enz….I’m doing some repetitive exercises but every time in a different way. The more I do, the more I find other ways to do the same. “All the roads ARE going to Rome”.
Those exercises are giving me the peace I miss since we’re back from Marseille : I was truly overwhelmed by all the beauty of the region.
Lucky you, Vero !

I glued pattern paper on fabric and then painted the surface. Then I was soo stupid enough to add salt on the surface.

Once dry I can assure you that I had to rub the salt to get rid of it.
But… I obtained a nice effect.
And I laughed for at least 5 minutes because of my ‘distraction’.
This is the result of my paper-fabric :
For the moment it’s only layered down – not sewed yet.

I played with EQ and made some positive/negative images, once you see the profiles, once you see a vase.




“I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it. “
Thomas Jefferson(1734-1826)

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Nathalie

Sketch journal

Using a sketch journal is addictive.
The more you do ;
The more ideas you get;
The more you try out,
The quicker your journals fills and
then again more ideas.
This is a real brain- and creativity-training.
Almost the Olympics.
This day(Friday) was so strange with a lot of rain and 5 minutes later the sun was shining like she never shined.
So my collage colour of the day was yellow because it didn’t rain any more in the early evening.

Making those colour collage make me aware that the most used colour in magazines is green. It’s the same in nature : green, brown and bleu.

Another fun exercise is “découpage” :

folding paper and cutting some random pieces and when unfold you have ‘snowflakes’.
It’s a bit like origami.

Cutting in a special way you obtain positive and negative spaces

The design above should be fun to make in fabric with a repetition of the design.

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new”.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

write you soon
Nathalie