Laura Kate

Update on Creation Project

Posted on January 3, 2023 by Laura Kate

It’s time to turn my full attention to incorporating the panels into a quilt. After perusing my Quilter’s Recipes book, I settled on a block called “A” Star Variation.

This version of a nine-patch block is described as Easy. I notice that the book shows a small quilt made with four blocks. This would work very well for my four panels. A secondary design is revealed right in the block’s middle. I have a good idea for an embellishment on that location.

As of today, I have all the patches cut and assembled.

The middle rows of each block, featuring the applique patch, are sewn up.

The next step is to assemble the first block. This will be a true test of my cutting and piecing skills.

It looks…………okay. The three-piece triangle blocks show my weakness in cutting and matching points. I’m not bothered sufficiently by the block’s wonkiness to take it apart and re-make those patches. But I will double-check the remaining patches of that type for accuracy and size.

Soon the assembly will be done, and I can move forward to making surface designs, which will make me happy. I also plan to add a double border using dark teal and rust red fabrics. Those fabrics are visible in the upper left corner of this block.

Have a great day. It’s nice here – I plan to take a walk.

quilting

Final Test Creation Panels Project

Posted on January 1, 2023 by Laura Kate

Using my new watercolor pencils, yesterday I painted the final two panels copied from a 13th century illuminated manuscript.

I’m testing the performance of this medium on cloth. If I find that the pigment doesn’t bleed or fade, I will add this tool to my fabric painting practice. Now that all four images are finished, the cloth gets dipped in soapy water……

….swished gently, rinsed and dried. I’ll admit that I left the cloth to soak for less than a minute. There was a tiny bit of yellow and red pigment dissolved into the bath water. But as I blotted the rinsed cloth, I saw no pigment transferred to the white terry towel. Happy days! The pigment is colorfast.

The absolute final test is permanence. This one can’t be rushed. I just have to use the object and see what happens over time.

Because the muslin is so lightweight, I decided to cut out the circles and applique them to quilting cotton. In keeping with the “let there be light” theme, I chose a gold ombre fabric.

For the quilt, I’ll stick with the colors of the original painting – gold, dark blue, red and teal green. I have a silvery-gray solid to use as the background.

More to come after a trip to the fabric store.

colorwork, drawing, painting

More Fun with Watercolor Pencils

Posted on December 30, 2022 by Laura Kate

If you follow this blog, you may well guess what my next experiment must be:

Yes! I had to try my new pencils out on fabric! You see here a piece of cotton muslin. I have marked a part of a rainbow, running the colors into each other. After liquifying the colors and letting the fabric dry, I used my hot iron to set the pigment. Then I sprayed on more water, just to see if the color bled further. The paint passed this test, so I moved on to a bigger experiment.

There is something about the medium that reminds me of stained glass. Thinking deeper about the possibilities of blending colors, I decide it is more like medieval illuminated manuscript. Then I remembered that I have a book.

What if I reproduce one of these paintings on my muslin cloth? I flipped through the pages to find a likely subject and landed on this image depicting the creation of the world.

First, I drew a series of four circles on the muslin. Next, I used my swatch card to find matches to the hues of the illustrations. I began working the two days on the right side of the panel.

This was very fun and pretty satisfying. Despite the slight bleeding outside the margins (totally fixable) I find the results most acceptable. I did notice that there are tide marks left behind by some of the blue and green pencils. But this extra texture seems very much in keeping with the pigments and style of the era.

After I paint days 1 and 3, I’ll put the fabric in a gentle cold-water bath to look for more fading or bleeding. If the piece passes this test, I’ll move on to a bit of quilting.

I hope you are enjoying your year-end holiday. Please do let me know what you think of this experiment or share what you are planning to make in 2023. Happy New Year.

painting

Watercolor Plus Wednesday

Posted on December 28, 2022December 27, 2022 by Laura Kate

It’s Wednesday, it’s time for a watercolor painting but…….

I had to test out my Christmas gift from Bill.

He’s the kind of guy that loves Christmas gift giving. So this is a BIG box of watercolor pencils. The first thing I had to do was make a swatch.

I spent a lot of time on Christmas afternoon making this swatch. First of all, the pencils weren’t in a usable order, so I had to re-arrange them. There were three steps. 1. Write out the color numbers and names in the same order that they lay in the trays. 2. Scribble each pencil. 3. Liquify each swatch with water to reveal the color.

For my first painting with these pencils, I chose a photograph by Bill of a cardinal.

I love this image, because of the light. He must have taken this one late in the day.

After making a sketch, I laid down an initial watercolor wash. Then I selected about a dozen watercolor pencils which seemed to match all the hues of the bird. I blended these on the sketch then stroked over with water to liquify the pigment. After it dried, I added black details and white highlights with paint.

At that point, it was obvious to me that the background was too pale. I deepened the shades using Payne’s gray and a little burnt sienna.

I’m pretty happy with the result. I think that I will try some floral subjects next.

painting

Christmas Post – Poinsettia

Posted on December 25, 2022 by Laura Kate

I call this painting Cheryl’s Poinsettia. Yes, I did paint it, but it was while attending a tutorial session offered by Cheryl Bryan in early December. The image is hers and she walked us through all the steps.

While working on this still life, I felt totally relaxed and engaged – to the point that I was sorry when I had finished it. It’s a feeling I hope to capture again.

Cheryl Bryan’s work can be found here:

https://cibstad07.wixsite.com/mysite-1

Merry Christmas to all.