Watercolor Poppies

(I know I always start out with some comment about the weather and I'm gonna do it again!) 

Today was Autumn perfection!  Sunny, crisp and cool - you couldn't have asked for anything better.   It's days like this that really make me love nature and appreciate all the beauty around us.

This photo was sent to me this morning from a friend, just north of Boston.  Absolutely gorgeous!!

So much so that I had to bring it in to the Studio tonight. 

Carrying on after yesterday's experiments... Remember those random red and orange blobs done with the silk acrylics?

Well they are now poppies!  My inspiration for these comes from the new style of watercolor/impressionist tattoos that feature geometric, avant garde subject matter.  There are bold splashes of color that don't necessarily "stay in the lines" when colored, if colored at all.  I absolutely love this style - be prepared to see more like it!

Roughly 15" tall

Tonight, the first step was to heat set with a dry iron at a very high heat.  I used a tefflon ironing sheet to prevent any extra paint from catching on my iron, but it didn't appear to have any bleeding. 

Next an outline in black.

Then added detail in complimentary colors. 

I had a lot of fun with this and am happy with the out come.  This was only an experiment so I don't think I'll finish quilting the back ground - but then again, I may change my mind in a few days :-) 

Coming up is a marathon week for my office but I will try my best to get the next experiment done and up!  I'm too excited to let it sit for too long...!

Enjoy the Fall and we'll chat soon! Cheers

Mood: Pleased!
Music: "Rasputin" by the Town Pants

Painting the Rain Away...

The Hubs and I have been insanely busy with home updates.  Boston is not exactly known for gentle winters and our poor little chalet needed some TLC to make it through a bit tighter and warmer than last year!  And the more we do, the prouder I get of our abode.

We had to say "Good-bye" to our 6 trees in the back yard.  Sadly they were starting to grow into our house and back porch foundation, while damaging our roof.  On the plus side, it has opened up so much day light into the house!! 

Brand new door and front steps!! 

And a window that looks like a quilt block??  Oh yes, this will be done!

Every new door deserves a new decoration, right?  A quickie project with wood letters, ribbon and paint!

During the week I work a few days at a bio-imaging lab and watch all the lab techs, in their cool white coats run all sorts of experiments.  In my over imaginative brain, I picture them doing something involving beakers and funky chemicals that create a lava-bubbling in bright purples and pinks.  Or at the very least a beautiful smell.  Reality is far from that, I'm sure.

But today I got to play "scientist" at home!  I'm very excited by a new found product put out by Luminarte.  These little guys are silk acrylic paints and are a lot of fun.  You can use them on wood, pottery, fabric, pretty much whatever you care to try.  In this case - muslin.

The link in Luminate will take you to Amazon, where you can find so many different colors available!

Today was experimenting how to get different effects on fabric.  I tried water, hydrogen peroxide and alcohol; tested the effects of pigment first then eye drop liquid on top vs. wetting the muslin and adding pigment.  I loved watching the dyes spread and change color the further out they went, really neat effects!

In total, each large "splotch" took about 5 minutes to full spread out, and that was with a very wet canvas.  My favorite effect so far is the alcohol on the brown pigment as it turns a blue green then yellow the further out it spreads.

Blending was also fun and very easy!  It essentially turned into water-coloring on fabric.  These are just the beginnings.  Once these dry and are heat set (in about 24 hours) we'll see what they turn into under the needle!!  (Sounds so sinister, doesn't it?!) 

More will definitely be coming!!

Be sure to have a drop cloth or some sort of backing that you're not afraid of damaging as these do bleed through.

I hope you all have some fantastic Autumn projects under way!  Come share them over on the M. Rose Quilt Studios Facebook page (link above!)  Let's see what everyone is up to!

Cheers!

Mood: Curious
Music: "Learn to Fly" by the Foo Fighters