sketch of the day... on fabric

flower sketch  10"X 8"

It's not very seasonal but it was a sketch of the day, done with portfolio paint sticks on fabric.
Recently I led a workshop for my friends using paint sticks and texture sheets on fabric. One of the exercises was to draw orbs free hand blending colors. The next exercise was to draw a simple flower shape, to see how to control stretch of fabric while drawing straight lines. Then they were to start drawing their own compositions.

A friend gave me a little scrap of the striped fabric, when I got home I saw how my little demo piece looked on it. In order to keep the stripes going I had to do some fussy cutting and stitching.

I wanted to do some quick simple quilting. I started with couching the metallic fuzzy pink around the image. Then stitched repetitive lines with pink then red, rayon threads. I finished by stitching the border lines with sulky hologram metallic hot pink.

You can still see the texture plate through the stitching.

When you teach a technique, you end up with a lot of samples, and unfinished bits and pieces. Often they get thrown away. With my goal of a sketch a day this month, I was happy to turn this into a finished quilt.

Is it a plumeria? A poinsettia? I don't worry myself with reality. It's a flower, bright and pretty. I like the blue and green done on fern texture sheets giving the flower a place to rest.




 It was fast to paint, I'd say 5-10 minutes. It was fast to quilt, I'd say less than an hour. I bound it with black, done on machine.
I have no idea what to do with it but it was lovely to work on, and I like that the border fabric was a scrap given to me by a friend.
I have learned so much about drawing this month. I am no longer unnverved by a blank white page. I start making marks, add to them, move fast, enjoy seeing an image develop. I have turned three of my sketches into quilts so far this month, and will share the others soon.