Palm Canyon Colors

This series of blog posts describes the process I used to make the commissioned Palm Canyon art quilt shown below.  Today’s post describes how I decided what colors to use in this piece.  Prior steps are shown in my previous posts.

Color Plan and Palette

Once I have the sketch finished, the next step is to figure out my color plan. I usually take a line diagram of my sketch and make about 5 or 6 black and white copies of it. Then I pull out my watercolor paints and start applying color to the copies, experimenting until I get something I like. I paint directly on the copier paper. This is just a plan to figure out what colors I want to use. It’s not intended to be a watercolor painting.  This plan guides my fabric selections and makes all the next steps go faster. I keep it on hand through-out the top construction process.This is the color plan I came up with for this piece.  

It's interesting to see the finished color versus the plan. Nevertheless, this was my guide for fabric choices throughout the process.

The next step is to start pulling fabrics that correspond with the colors and values shown. Sometimes I will have a color that is close to what I am after but not quite right. I have found that adding a layer of tulle or organza can tone up or down a fabric and get me the value I am after.

This is the palette of fabrics I pulled for this quilt. Fortunately I had most of these in my stash. I did have to buy some new fabrics, but that’s ok. I suffered through the difficulty of fabric shopping.J

Next post is my construction method. Thanks for visiting my blog!

Palm Canyon Design

The Palm Canyon landscape art quilt shown on my previous post was commissioned by a woman very familiar with the location. She rides her horse into this canyon and finds a wonderful sense of peace and solitude. There are specific features in this area that she wanted in the art quilt, such as the waterfall, palm trees, hillsides, rock formations, etc. She is also a geologist and wanted a cross-section of the the subsurface to be depicted. In particular she wanted some of the rock folding and faults to be included.

She sent me a link to a college geology Professors website that was very helpful. I went back to school a bit to figure that aspect of this quilt out. Having previously worked in the environmental field was also very helpful! This is a photo of a road cut in the area that shows the folding and bending of the soil layers that has occurred. I can see great design lines in this photo!

I have been to the Palm Canyon area and had an idea of what the area  looks like, but I did some Internet research to get some reference photos for the design.  These are some photos of the Palm and Indian Canyon areas that I found on the Internet that helped me figure out how to depict the important features for this quilt.

This is a photo showing my messy design process. I go through several sketches when I do a design, refining again and again until I come up with my final plan.

And this is the final design. It includes the oasis, waterfall, palms, trail, rolling hills, jutting rocks and other features that this area is known for. The subsurface also shows folding of the rocks and soil layers that has occurred over the eons of time, and some faults. The drawing got the "okey dokey" from the client, so now its on to the color plan. That will be the subject of my next post.

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Palm Canyon Landscape

A few months ago I completed a landscape quilt that had a town, farm and other human developments on the land, and it had a cross-section that showed the subsurface below the land. This fiber art piece was called "Transects in Time", and it was made for someone who works for the Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) of California. This is a state agency charged with protecting the waters of the State of California. A photo of the art quilt was put in the State RWQCB newsletter. I was contacted by another person who works for the RWQCB and commissioned to make a landscape quilt also showing a cross-section of the subsurface. This is the finished quilt.

Palm Canyon 

 The area depicted is the Palm/Indian Canyon near Palm Desert. I will be giving doing some more posts showing the making of this piece in the next few weeks. I was happy with is and so is the owner. :-)

Shannon's Parrot

I'm always on the lookout for budding artists, and here is one to keep an eye on. This is Shannon with her pretty pink parrot. She used pastel chalk to make this art work.  I am very impressed with the use of complimentary colors and the shading on the parrot and perch. Great job Shannon!

Shannon's Parrot

My Cup Ranneth All Over The Patio - finishing touches

The finishing touches for this piece include beading and binding. I wanted to use beads to depict the bird seed that is overflowing the cup, running all over the patio, and feeding the doves.

Here you see the top with beads laid out in their intended locations. It took a little bit of moving them around, but that is what I wanted. I put some marks on the top to remind my self of what I had in mind, because as soon as you pick the piece up to sew a bead down, they all roll off.

So the next step is the stitching and that's what I did.Here are some close ups showing the beads stitched down.

To finish the edge I used a satin stitch with thread the color of the dark areas on the doves. Here it is with the satin stitching on the edge.

And that's it for the posts for this piece! Thanks for visiting my blog!

Recycled Art Show - Monte de Oro Winery, Temecula

This weekend there will be a Recycled Art and Fashion Show at the Monte de Oro Winery located at 35820 Rancho California Road, Temecula (951-491-6551). My art quilt shown here, which I call Second Chan-City, will be in this show. I made this using the following recycled materials – two men’s ties, a man’s handkerchief, lace fabric from a woman’s blouse, and left over hem facing. If you are in the Temecula area try to check out this show. The hours are: Saturday, April 26, from 6pm to 10 pm and Sunday, April 27, from 11 am to 5 pm.

Basting and Quilting on "My Cup Ranneth All Over the Patio"

Well I'm going to try to get the rest of the posts for this piece done so I can move on to another project that I have been working on. I only have a couple things left to post about so it should be quick, I hope!

Truth be told its been rough few months. I lost both parents in the space of about 5 weeks. Other things in my life have taken a back seat during this period. It is something we all go through and although the loss is painful, I have been incredibly blessed with two very good parents. But they didn't condone moping around, so I'm not going to do that. Onward and upward. There are art quilts to be made!


For this post I'm going to talk about how I did the basting and quilting on this piece. I have recently started using "Bo Nash" bonding agent (its an adhesive powder) to baste small quilts. It seems like a time saver and so far I have had no shifting of the three layers while quilting.

The first thing I do is lay the batt down on the ironing board. I sprinkle some of the Bo Nash powder over it, trying to reach the edges and center without making a big mess. I don't seem to need too much.

Once I have sprinkled the Bo Nash, I lay the back down on the sprinkled batt, and then press the back. The ironing melts the adhesive and the two sides stick together.

If the piece is longer than the width of the ironing board then I do it a section at a time. I sprinkle Bo Nash on just the section on top of the ironing board, then lay the back over the sprinkled section and press. Then slide the batt and back so the next section is on top of the ironing board. Lift the backing fabric to expose the batt, sprinkle, lay the back down, press, and move on to the next section. It works pretty well on small to medium size pieces.

After the back is adhered to the batt, the next step is to flip the batt/back over and sprinkle the other side exposed side of the batt. Then I lay the top on the sprinkled batt and press again. Its like shampoo, rinse, repeat. In a few minutes you're completely basted. The biggest risk is not making a mess with the sprinkling of the Bo Nash.

That blue fabric was just a demo. This is the fabric I used for the back for My Cup Ranneth... piece. I like my backing fabric to match the front of the quilt.

After sandwiching it was on to the quilting. These close ups give a view of the quilting stitches I used.

I love swirls! I put them in every quilt.

OK so the next post will be the finishing touches! Thanks for visiting my blog!