painting – Page 2 – Daily Fiber

Another Friday, More Finished Blocks

Posted on July 4, 2025July 4, 2025 by Laura Kate

This week was moderately productive. I finished several more blocks for the Oregon Baby quilt, including two feature blocks. There are now four features finished, except for any finishing embroidery touches.

I made the western meadowlark and baby rabbit blocks.

Beginning sketch for meadowlark:

Progress photos and finished block:

Beginning sketch of rabbit:

Some additional remarks about the rabbit: The original photo was of a hybrid rabbit – white fur and brown patches, pale blue eyes. I’ve been observing many wild rabbits that hop about the garden here in my new home. Their coloration is more earthy and the eyes appear jet black. So that is how I made this rabbit. Also, the poor bunny has no nose or mouth yet. Those details will be added with embroidery floss. And maybe a few whiskers to boot.

Now when I line up the completed blocks, the quilt looks like this:

Two rows out of five. The big picture is coming into focus.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you are enjoying your long week-end (U.S. readers) Please drop me a word or two about your current project. I’d love to know what feeds your creative impulses.

painting, quilting

Friday Finish: Baby Quilt Feature Blocks

Posted on June 27, 2025 by Laura Kate

Hi, friends,

I’m thinking that it’s time to reveal the first finished blocks that I made for Oregon Baby quilt. As I described in earlier posts, these would be various animals found in the baby’s home state.

I started with the rufous hummingbird and the Oregon swallowtail butterfly. Here are photos showing the steps to completion:

Hummingbird:

Butterfly:

Oregon Swallowtail pencil sketch, a little color added

Slight exaggeration here: The butterfly needs its antenna . I will hand embroider this detail before I assemble the quilt.

Some of you may think that I omitted showing all the steps in the process. And you’re right. I had to turn the pencil drawings into pattern pieces before I could convert the design to fabric. Without going into tedious details, this work was done using tracing paper and photo copies. I also did zigzag machine stitching around the butterfly and straight stitching on all the edges of the hummingbird.

Now here is an photo of how these panels look next to the string-pieced blocks.

My apologies to those who are bothered by the wonkiness of the strips. Yes, it was deliberate. So sue me.

The fun will continue over the weekend as I translate more of my sketches into quilt blocks. Which will I choose next?

drawing, Living Life Well, painting

Another Oldie but Goody

Posted on April 17, 2025 by Laura Kate

Carrying on with postings from the past, I bring you this one, written two years ago today. The 100 Day project was a collaboration with my husband. He selected 100 photographs from his archives that matched a list of categories I had given him. I then attempted to make art out of his choices. We both enjoyed the process. In the pursuit of truth, I must admit that I didn’t make it to 100 days.

100 Day Project: Days 22 to 26

painting

Finished by Friday – a Farewell

Posted on April 4, 2025 by Laura Kate

Taking a break from packing boxes this week, I decided to attend Open Studio at my local art association for a class conducted by mentor Cheryl Bryan. This will be my last class with Cheryl before I move away. She sent us this sketch…..

……and told us we would practice painting with only two colors. We were to choose two that, when mixed together, created a neutral black.

I chose to make my own sketch instead of tracing Cheryl’s. I followed her general design but simplified the line work in the lower left area. My chosen pigments were Winsor and Newton’s Ultramarine blue and transparent orange. This is one of my favorites for a good black, as I discovered when painting Winter Chicks in 2023.

The following morning, I cleaned up my edges, adjusted a few values and added tiny and minimal details using Micron pens and a soluble graphite pencil.

This was a fun, easy class that produced a highly-stylized result. I loved every minute. I call this one Dancing with a Seagull. It is 9 by 6 inches on cold press Arches paper

I will sorely miss these Open Studio sessions, the people at the association and especially instructor Cheryl Bryan. It will be hard to find another group like it in my new home. I’ll check in with Cheryl periodically, in the spirit of Apprenticeship.

painting

Friday Finish: Dash for the Splash

Posted on March 21, 2025 by Laura Kate

A baby sea turtle, hurtling its little body toward the safety of the sea. This watercolor painting was made as a donation to the 2025 6 by 6 art sale for my local art association. The reference image was found on Unsplash – so many years ago that I lost track of the photographer.

Friends, I know that I have been inactive for three weeks. Life has been full of other stuff. But the turtle painting marks the start of what I hope will be a steady flow of new objects on Daily Fiber.

I liberally applied masking fluid with a toothbrush for the wave action, and with a tiny brush for the white shell markings on the turtle. Pigments were yellow ocher, burnt umber, burnt sienna, Winsor Green blue shade, alizarin crimson, ultramarine blue and white gouache. A few Micron pens stipples were added to suggest motion.