Herstory News!

A while ago, I posted that I had gotten accepted/juried into the HERstory book and possible exhibition.  Well, not only did I get into the book, but my Hattie McDaniels quilt was featured in Quilting Arts October/November issue, and my Misty Copeland quilt was on exhibit at the International Quilt Festival and in the Houston Chronicle!!!  I am so excited! 

Quilting Arts:

Houston Chronicle:

IQF-Houston:

Accepted and Completed

Back in April of last year I applied to have the opportunity to create a quilt for the theme "Fly Me to the Moon" in honor of the 50 year anniversary of landing on the moon.  There were a lot of different categories to choose from--including specific missions and astronauts, but I chose to go in a familiar direction: Romantic Moon.  Anything that has to do with "amore", is alright with me!  My specific inspiration was the song, "That's Amore" by Frank Sinatra.  You know..."When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie....." 

I was accepted!  So I initially thought of a couple strolling together under the moonlight. I wanted to take it a step further, so I thought about a younger couple, and I had some of my middle school students pose for a picture in our courtyard.  I based my quilt on the notion of new love and the images of my teenage students.   Once I created the quilt, I had to send pics and wait to see if my piece would be accepted........

YES!  I was accepted and my quilt will be included in a book to come as well as a traveling exhibit!  I can't show any pictures of the piece itself, but it was based in part on this photo:

IQF Houston 2015 Recap

So the quilt show has come and gone, and it was an amazing experience!  I not only had two quilts in the show, but "Daddy's Little Girl"  also was featured in the International Quilt Festival: Quilt Scene magazine, and I got to record two mini videos about both of the quilts for "Go Tell It At The Quilt Show"!

 

 

My "Daddy's Little Girl" quilt in the IQF-Quilt Scene 2015-2016 Magazine

"Daddy's Little Girl", part of the Quilts: A World of Beauty exhibit (Digital Art Category) at the IQF-Houston 2015

"I Believed! You Achieved!", part of the Celebrations Exhibit at the International Quilt Festival-Houston 2015

Yippee!!

One of my favorite sources of inspiration for my art is my photographs.  I chose these two photos to base two new works upon with the sole purpose of entering them in the International Quilt Festival. From the moment I took the picture of my husband and daughter, I knew it was going to be turned into a quilt.  It is from three years ago.  The other is of my cousin at his graduation.  The theme for the exhibit for that one is celebrations.  I just remember how proud my aunt was of him, and immediately thought of this moment when I saw the theme. 

 

This is the biggest quilt show in the world, and it is so inspiring just to walk through the George R. Brown Convention Center every fall to view all the latest art in the form of the quilt.  I am so excited right now because I just got word that one of the quilts, "Daddy's Little Girl", got accepted into the show!  I won't hear about the other one for a few weeks, but just to get in with one is like the best honor ever!  I can't show the quilts right now, (show rules), but believe me, I will be a "postin' fool" when that show gets here Halloween week!

The Sisters Quilt

I have been wanting to do something with my mother and her sisters for a long time.  I finally was able to take my own picture of them together, to make some art with them as the subject.  They just weren't cooperating with my requests for pictures.....

So anyhoo, I drew their likenesses in a cartoon style and painted and quilted it.  I also added my grandmother and one sister who weren't present.  They are no longer with us, but I still wanted to include them in "The Whitfield Girls"!

No Greater Inspiration....

There is no greater inspiration than L-O-V-E!  Recently I had the opportunity to witness and participate in the union of one of my best friends. 

 

 

See that's me on the right, then the left! (By the way, Martin Johnson is a gifted photographer, and he took that photo.  Looks like a postcard doesn't it?!)  Anyway, I was so inspired by the beautiful scenery and atmosphere, I needed only to pick the right moment to base a new artwork on.  I chose this moment:

Can't you feel the love?

With that said, here is the final product, as well as it displayed at the reception.

It is 20" x 20" big. I hope they love it!

Black and White

Although I haven't posted in a couple months, I have been busy.  This is my first commission in a while. For the most part, most of my art has been gifts to others.  However, I was approached by someone who wanted something original for his fiancé for Christmas.  Although I had done plenty of photo inspired fiber art, I had yet to just do some in black and white and have it remain that way.  That presents its own set of challenges, but I think it came out nice.

Here is the painting I did on fabric based on the photo:

Here it is once I did the quilting:

Finally, here it is as it was presented to the client, framed:

One thing I really like about it was that in the background, although it looks like random stitching, it spells DREAM.  I didn't want it to smack you in the face....I wanted a little subtlety.  (You see it now, huh?) The client said that my rough draft drawing reminded him of a dream.  I was also really inspired by a quote I found by Dr. Seuss: "You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams".  They are such a cute couple anyway, and so is their love story.  No details on that from me though!

Quilt Festival!

The International Quilt Festival in Houston has come and gone.  There were four great things that transpired:

 

1) I had the pleasure of attending for two days, and I took classes from two fiber artists that I greatly admire: Hollis Chatelain (www.hollisart.com) and Frieda Anderson (www.friestyle.com) .  Overall, I was able to get some good ideas on how to approach my quilting in terms of design, and I got some more practice with free motion quilting motifs. 

 

2) I had the opportunity to do some shopping, and I actually only (mostly) bought the things on my list.  I was not wooed by all those tempting deals that always seem to be coming at you from every turn. This very well could have been because I had no spare time to wander.  Hmmmm, we'll never know!

 

3) I was so inspired by all of the spectacular artworks, both traditional and contemporary, and

 

4) I myself had my own fiber art exhibited there.  It was such an honor!  I cannot wait until next year when I plan to enter numerous works in several categories.  I am getting started now.  (But more about that later!)

 

 

 

Here I am in front of my "Jumping The Broom" quilt.

It was juried into the Traditions exhibit.  It was very interesting to see what traditions were interpreted in fiber.

 

This quilt is based on my favorite wedding photo of my husband and I jumping the broom.  Jumping the broom is an old tradition in African-American culture which dates back to slavery.  During this time, slaves were not permitted to legally marry.  It became a tradition to "jump the broom", to symbolize sweeping the past behind you and starting afresh together.  This display showed a couples love and commitment to one another. 

I also had another piece in the "What's for Dinner" exhibit.  My "dinner" was Pizza and Green Salad.  Back when my husband and I had the time and moolah to go out to eat regularly, we would eat pizza every week at our favorite pizza joint.  While we were waiting on the pizza to be served, we would always get a salad first so that we wouldn't feel like we were eating too badly. 

"Pepperoni, Please!"

The exhibit was set up really nicely!  Each entry had to be a placemat of the same size, 15"L X "24"W, and they had an extra long, decorated table set up with each of the entries placed along the perimeter. 

 

I especially loved the entries with the crawfish boil, the sushi, and the placemat with the spilled milk, mac and cheese and French fries with the title "I Do It!, I'm Two!" because my two year old daughter says that all the time!

Practicing on friends

I am really enjoying manipulating photos on Photoshop to create fiber art.  I am still just a beginner though, so I decided to make a couple of medium sized art quilts for friends to get some more practice with some of the program features.  These are my works in progress:

This has been a tremendous learning experience so far.  I have started the quilting on one so far. I did not know that I could print overlapping tiles when printing my projects.  That really helped me put them together more precisely.  Man, I sure wish I had figured that out on my "Jumping the Broom" quilt.  Oh, the time and frustration that would have saved...........

Quilting Arts

Quilting Arts Magazine recently had a reader challenge entitled "Friendship and Devotion".  I don't read the magazine as soon as I receive it most times, because I want to read it when I have time to sit and take it all in.  (Having two little ones certainly takes up a large portion of my attention, of course!)  So, there wasn't much time for me to get something done.  Luckily, I immediately thought of an artwork I began years ago, that was just sitting in my closet with no home.  It was about the size it needed to be as well.  What was the problem? You see, it was inspired by friends who are no longer friends with one another.  So I took a look at it, and changed it up just a bit to fit the current status. Then I appropriately called it, : "Frenemies"!  Here is a snippet of it.....

I don't want to show the entire thing because...da da da dummmm....It was accepted as a finalist in the challenge!  Hopefully you will be able to read about it and see it in the February/March issue of Quilting arts!
 

What have I been up to?

All this year I have been participating in exhibitions opportunities.  Since my last posts about the quilt festival, I have been very busy.  My Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) quilt sold for $150 again this year.  I was a little worried that it wouldn't sell because the design looked so simplistic.  Believe it or not, there was some thought and effort put into it.  I am very thankful that I was able to help raise money for SAQA.

In other SAQA news, the members from Texas had an opportunity to participate in a traveling trunk show exhibition entitled "A Texas Experience".  At first I thought about the Alamo, but wasn't really inspired by that.  It seemed too stereotypical.  The deadline seemed to creep up on me, and I decided that I wouldn't have enough time to get it done.  Then the deadline was extended, and I remembered that I wanted to do a small series about cowboy boots a while back.  The problem was that I didn't own any and hadn't taken any pictures of any.  Coincidentally, the next day, my fashionable co-worker strutted by in her brown cowboy boots accented with purple stitching. I convinced her to let me take her boots on a little trip outside to photograph them.  I then took one of the photos, manipulated it on Photoshop, and stitched over it like crazy!  Here is the result:

"A Cowgirl Necessity"

Happy Daddy Day!

I decided to create a piece of art for my husband for father's day.  I like the way it turned out for the most part.  I love the way the quilting on the face turned out!  I usually shy away from that.  Anyhoo, my hubby was pleased. 

Fiber Portrait Class

Here is the example for my Fiber Portrait Class.  I have done this several times before, but usually I simplify the face and do free motion quilting on it.  No quilting this time, but more details on the image.  This is the year of experimentation and learning experiences.  I really like this one, too.  I am already planning others. 

Deltas Complete!

I have finished my first Delta artwork.  I rather like the way it turned out overall.  It is just 12" X 12".

"Delta Divas"

Painting's all done!

I have finished the painting step.  I decided to change some of the colors of things for more interest and variety in the characters.  I am often asked why no faces?  I don't know...When I did the initial sketch they had faces, but I think I like for the characters in my artworks to be anyone who views it rather than a particular person.  Yes, I am capable of doing faces, but I guess this is my signature. 

Now I need to quilt it.

New work in progress

I am a member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.  However, I have been wanting to do some artworks based on historically African-American sororities in general.  I have already completed a few based on my sorority, and plan to make more.  However, I came across a picture of an aquaintance who is a member of Delta Sigma Theta, and asked if I could use it for an artwork.  I have had this picture for about a year.  I decided that it would be the subject for an artwork for an upcoming show in Atlanta:  The Square Foot Pin-Up Art Show.

Here is the first step:

 

 

Now for the paint!

More thread art

I decided to make another run at the Thread Art technique, this time doing a picture of a friend for her birthday.  I am more happy with the way this one came out. 

Thread Art

I have done a few photo-based artworks in the past.  I have painted some and used some fabric inks, too.  I ran across a class called Thread Art on Craftsy.com, which created art from photos in the way I had in the past, except that it used colored pencils.  I had never used colored pencils on fabric, so I decided to take the class to expand my horizons.  I was inspired by a photo of my daughter and I. 

Here is the end result:

I was pleased with how it came out overall--especially for my first attempt.  There are a few things I would change for the next one though.

Let's keep it goin'!

I am trying to knock out some of my UFOs, and here are some of my finished pieces. As usual, they are based on some photos that I took earlier this year.  I am really excited about these because I am offering them for sale in my Etsy shop.  Well, actually I am offering custom fiber art in the same style. 

"Our Embrace"

Tiffany's Signature Pose

Crystal the Diva

I placed!

A few weeks ago, I participated in the Annual Azalea Quilt Show sponsored by the Quilt Guild of East Texas.  It was the first show I have ever entered.  Imagine my excitement when I got 2nd and 3rd place in the Art Quilt category.  First place was won by Nancy B. Dickey.  And I must say, her quilt was spectacular!  Next year, I definitely know what to expect!