Saturday, April 27, 2024

creativity this week.... quilt challenge with a yellow parasol, mixed media, and watching paint dry... and a story for you



 The Guardians 

a painting, just a quick painting to see colors dance with each other on paper, moving, spreading, blending and creating lines. 

I might be superfluous in the process

I lift the paper, let water guide the lines as it will, amazed at the life in a painting. I think of how life moves and blends and resists too, how the colors so pretty on their own, look when next to other colors and that each living thing has it's own colors, and how each living thing changes a bit when it's near another.

will they blend or clash? Does it matter really? What if we patiently wait to see instead of rushing to judgement? What if we look for the beauty in each one? 

What if all the colors are our favorites?  

I look at my painting and see things I didn't purposely paint, I see the magic show up. 

I see faces, on the left a man's nose and mouth, center a woman and below her a crone in profile, on the right is a swirl of energy they can use to protect. 

The painting is small, merely 4" X 6" and innocently painted with no motive in mind, but look at the richness created by getting out of the way and letting the art make itself

 Judy sent me a wee notebook at Christmas and I keep it next to the computer... this week I did morning paintings, including parrots inspired by a bosso nova video playing at the time...

and a message on another video... I stopped the video on this scene... one I needed to see

sometimes our eyes see shadows that tell us it's three d but how to paint it? I tried...

I like that when I tried to paint the frothy surf with white posca pen acrylic ink. It splurted a big blob, so I dabbed in the nib and spread it, and dotted it, and moved it thinking it might be ruined. It looks great but since it's a happy accident can I reproduce it?   (shrug)

We are getting to the quilting, keep going! 

 
Joy's table scraps challenge this month was to make something with yellow scraps and include umbrella
I pulled out this book of patterns and copied the paper piecing parasol.

It printed a tiny picture on the pattern, so I tore it off the paper, glued it down, then painted around it... to get in the mindset to do my quilts

I didn't know how it would all do with watercolor, but I liked the way the torn edge accepted the color, and then inked in some bits. 

The fabric umbrella"  but kind of plain...

finished at 7" and so sweet I want a real one!

I love pretty paper parasols, especially one with sparkly dangles, so beads to the rescue


oh, so pretty in person

I went on to make three. yellow, pink and purple, and they will hang from my summer mantel


I may have dismantled a necklace for this top carved metal bead

How I love the fabrics in the pink one. 

This is what they look like after sewing around the outside edge and turning right side out before quilting


Tiny golden balls adorn this one, another carved one on the tip top. You should be able to click on all images to enlarge them

thank you to my friend Joy for suggesting this challenge... 

a few stories written (one included in Thur I Like post HERE  )  physical challenges threatened to derail me, but making art heals too.

 linking with

https://thejoyfulquilter.blogspot.com/2024/04/april-2024-table-scraps-challenge-link.html


design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts

https://songbirddesigns.blog/

finished or not

https://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

https://beadwright.blogspot.com/


11 comments:

Duke said...

Love the umbrellas. They are so pretty and colorful!

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Love the parrots and your fabric parasols. Brilliant to add the beads!

The Joyful Quilter said...

So much goodness in this post, LeeAnna. LOVE all the artwork from the week and your beaded parasols for the TABLE SCRAPS Challenge turned out beautifully!

grammajudyb said...

Who could stop at just one lovely umbrella/parasol! And then you added to their charm with all the beads. So beautiful. I like umbrellas too. Nobody carries them here, except me now and then. I remember being in NYC when I was a senior in high school. I saw so many people using umbrellas. It was a joy for me then.
Glad to see you using the little notebooks. One can never have too much paper or fabric, I say!

Pat at Bell Creek Quilts said...

your umbrellas are super cute!

Kathleen said...

I always love seeing your creativity. What fun a few strokes of paint an its own intermingling make! The umbrellas are so beautiful - little pieces of fabric and gorgeous embellishments. Back to the real world for me this week...a little more unpacking today after church and a little yoga party and hope to sew tomorrow again!

Astrid said...

Love your paintings and your umbrellas are super cute!

JustCallMeElle said...

I love the beading on the parasols! So much fun.
Oh - I did manage to buy that sunflower FPP pattern. (I think it was from Eileen Sullivan)
Cheers! Ellen in MD

Frédérique - Quilting Patchwork Appliqué said...

Wow, what you've done with those little scraps of paper and a few drops of paint is wonderful. And you've found the right words to express how I feel about relationships at work ;)
I love your quilted and beaded umbrellas too, so creative!
Thank you for sharing <3

Trillian As said...

I love your parasols. They bring you summer.

Jennifer Fulton Inquiring Quilter said...

Those parasols are simply adorable! Love the beaded touches. I also love your paintings this week, especially those faces. So cool! Thanks for sharing on my weekly show and tell, Wednesday Wait Loss.
https://www.inquiringquilter.com/questions/2024/05/01/wednesday-wait-loss-378