Something Different

In the midst of the color block appliqué frenzy that has been going on here,  I also finished another piece that is very different than my usual stuff.

13-1/4 x 12"

hand dyed and commercial fabrics,

fused appliqué, hand stitching,

machine stitching

©2012 Lisa Flowers Ross

I had paper cuts on my mind when I started this.  I was thinking what if I could do something similar in fabric.  Well, I put way too much time into this piece for the results.

For the first attempt I tried using fusible web on the back of the fabric, tracing the pattern onto the fabric and cutting it out with an exact knife.  That didn't work too well as the fabric was still fraying because everything is a curve.

On the second try, I used Terry Grant's liquid fuse method and cut it out with scissors.  The black is all one piece except for that center piece in the flower.  I thought I should still "finish" the edges of the flower and couched a black perle cotton thread around the edges with a zigzag stitch.  The piece was really too small to do this (but I did).

Then, there is a lot of hand stitches on it.  The center part of the flower has lots of french knots.  I should have also taken Terry's other suggestion of using paint dots instead of french knots.

Last, but not least, I finished the background with machine stitching.  There is a wider black border around the red one.  It's bright and fun, but I will not be doing anything like this again, unless it is 3 feet tall.

Color Blocks #3

Here is another of the small fused pieces.  I can't decide if I like it or not.

Color Blocks #3

hand dyed fabrics, fused appliqué

machine quilted

12 x 12"

©2012 Lisa Flowers Ross

Fusing

Since I did the first "quilt along with Melody" quilt, Color Blocks #1,  I have done a series of these small fused quilts.  That is good and bad.  It's good because they are fun and quick to make (especially good when I am working at the museum).  But it is bad because it is distracting me from some of the other artwork I should be concentrating on.

After cutting up some of the fabric for the first one, I had extra bits leftover which I just stacked on my ironing board.  Every time I would walk into my studio I could see them and I would just start playing with them, which would lead to the start of another piece.

I now have three and a half completed and one more on the wall to quilt.  I finally decided to gather up all the bits and put them together in a bag and put them away so I could move on to something else.

Below is the second completed piece.

Color Blocks #2

hand dyed fabrics, fused appliqué

machine quilted

12 x 12"

©2012 Lisa Flowers Ross

Before getting started, Melody had suggested putting the fusible web on several larger pieces of fabric so they would be all ready to cut beforehand.  I chose a handful or two of fabrics and fused maybe half a yard each.  It is a limited color palette I have to work with, which is why the series, so far, has the same color scheme.

Cutting Edge

For all of those in Idaho who get the newspaper and actually read it, you may have noticed an article in the Scene section today about the exhibit, Cutting Edge.   That reminded me that I went to the opening a few weeks ago and had wanted to write about it here.  But I forgot to get the artists' names.

I think this is one of the best exhibits I've seen in Boise in a while.  I am probably biased because I really like paper cuts.  Only some of the pieces were what you might consider the traditional paper cut.  The others explored using cut paper in different ways.

These first two pictures are artwork made by Beatrice Coron.  They are made with Tyvek, a sturdy non-tearable, easy-to-cut material made by DuPont which is used in construction, in envelops and other applications.  Coron's pieces are narrative and intricately detailed.  I enjoyed discovering the different scenes within each piece.  The small scale really draws the viewer into the piece and Coron's world.

The next photo is a woodcut, I believe.  This confused me a bit as it wasn't cut paper.  But the title of the show is Cutting Edge: Contemporary Paper.  I can see that carving the wood could be the "cutting edge" and it is printed on paper.  I'm sorry I don't have the artist's name for this piece (but you will go to the show and find out, right?).

One of the things that attracted me to this artwork is that all those white marks inside the circle look like hand stitches to me.  The concept of this piece is the viewer is in the bottom of a well and looking up toward the light.  A companion piece showed the view as if looking down into a well from above, a reversal of the other. The visual texture of these pieces is amazing.

This last picture is just a small section of an artwork by my friend, Amy Nack, called Whitewater.  She created six paper circles, each with a different pattern of cutting, that hang away from the wall.  By creating that space, Amy created extra depth - physical and visual, by allowing the viewer to see the shadows cast on the walls.

These are just a few of the artists and ways they used paper as a medium.  If you are in Boise, it is worth your time and effort to go see the show.  It is at the Hemenway Center on the BSU campus and is open until March 23rd.

New Look

I thought I would freshen up the blog with a new look.  Also new is a newsletter sign up form in the column to the left, if you are interested.

What do you think?  I think it still needs some tweaking.  Maybe I'll add a few things.

Broad Spectrum

I guess it has been a few days since I've posted anything.  Things continue to be busy here, especially since I have been working almost full time at the Boise Art Museum for the past few weeks helping to install a new exhibition.

Speaking of exhibitions,  our regional Studio Art Quilt Association group currently has an exhibition at the Ryniker-Morrison Gallery in Billings, MT.  The exhibition will be up through March 30th.  It will also travel to Denver and be on display during the Mancuso Denver National Quilt Show, May 1-3.

If you cannot attend one of these locations, Cynthia St. Charles, the organizer and curator of the exhibit, has posted some pictures on her blog.  There are 17 regional members with pieces in the exhibit, including myself as well as my friends, Kathleen Probst and Linda McLaughin.

Happy Valentine's Day

Here's a little bit of pink and red to brighten your day.  This is another in my series, Bits & Pieces.  When I am working on a project, I will have bits and pieces of fabric leftover that I just leave out on my table.  Sometimes I will take the bits and pieces and start playing with them to create another artwork.

This has parts from my Summer Breeze piece and some of my Color Fields pieces.  This one was a struggle.  It has been cut and sewn, added to, disassembled, resewed, cut into, rearranged, sewed again and finally completed with hand stitching and quilting.

Bits & Pieces VI

hand dyed fabrics, hand stitching

machine pieced and quilted

16 x 15"

©2012 Lisa Flowers Ross

$125

Metamorphosis

At long last, it is time for another Twelve by Twelve reveal (click the link to check them out).  It is the beginning of a new series of challenges and new size.  This first theme was Metamorphosis.  So many things to think about for that theme.

Here are my play-along pieces.  I did two and I think I need to do one more.  My idea was the changing colors of leaves in the autumn.  The first piece is more the beginning of the change and the second piece is the more advanced changing of color, to the point of turning into brown.

 Leaf Metamorphosis

hand dyed fabrics, hand stitching,

machine pieced and quilted

20 x 12"

©2012 Lisa Flowers Ross

Leaf Metamorphosis 2

hand dyed fabrics, hand stitching

machine pieced and quilted

20 x 12"

©2012 Lisa Flowers Ross

Valentine for Aids

I finally got myself down to Flying M to see the Valentine for Aids auction.  Tomorrow is the last day and bidding ends at 4 p.m.  Here are a few of the items to bid on.

 Artist: Rick Jenkins

 Artist: Molly Hill

 Artist: Mary Donato

 Artist: Amy Granger 

(Spots are reflections on the glass)

Artist: Josie Erskine

Quilt Along With Melody

Color Blocks #1

hand dyed fabrics,

fused appliqué, machine quilted

12 x 12"

©2012 Lisa Flowers Ross

Since I am not doing a specific activity every day for the month of February, I decided to "Quilt Along with Melody".  I regularly enjoy Melody Johnson's blog.  This month she is sharing instructions for projects you can make right along with her.

The first project was a small art quilt made using her fusing technique.  Above is the piece I made.  It is very similar to some of the pieces I made in my Spring Blocks series years ago . . .

Spring Blocks #3

hand dyed fabrics,

fused appliqué, machine quilted

8 x 8"

©2007 Lisa Flowers Ross

In a Private Collection

 . . . as well as my small Blue and Green series.

Blue and Green #1

hand dyed and commercial fabrics,

fused appliqué, machine quilted

6 x 4"

©2007 Lisa Flowers Ross

In a Private Collection

I want to do some more in the Color Block series as I have cut pieces leftover from putting together the first one.  I will also have more pieces after quilting along with Melody's other projects.

Valentine for Aids

Today is the first day for the Valentine for Aids silent auction at the Flying M Coffeehouse in downtown Boise.  The bidding ends at 4 p.m. on Feb. 12.  Go get yourself some art!

Art at St. Luke's - Eagle

I cannot believe it is February already.  Last year in February, I committed to doing a "plant-a-day" and have been thinking about doing something similar this year.  But I have not gotten my act together to figure out what to do or get it set up.  My mind has been concentrating on other things.

One of those things was getting some of my art together to hang at the St. Luke's Eagle Medical Plaza in Eagle, Idaho.  There is a hallway on the second floor that they have for an artist of the month.  I am the artist for the month of February and I installed my work today.

It is a nice, newish building (maybe a couple of years old?).  The artwork is on the second floor toward the back of the building on the left.  There are also some other artworks throughout the building.