And Now I'm Doing Textile Art!

Watercolor Painting on Fabric! And MORE!

My creative drive has taken on a whole new life - and it's an odd time of year to suddenly want to be alone in the studio with music and a ton of art supplies! Thankfully, just before this latest creative splurge of energy, I finished all the shopping, wrapping and mailing of Christmas gifts to various family members!

I began by drawing a series of very simple birds, making cardboard templates, and tracing them onto fabric. Next, I painted the birds - having paper towels under the fabric to absorb the excess paint - don't want watercolor permanently adhering to my art table, if I can prevent it! Then, downstairs to the sewing room where I ironed each bird to make the watercolor paint permanent. And finally, I drew on each with black thread on my sewing machine, leaving the threads dangling - I rather like that, for some reason!

Then it was time to select fabrics to compliment each bird. These two fabrics were donated to me from fellow fiber artist, MaryLou Pepe. She gave me a whole bag of natural fibers for these upcoming projects! Thank you, MaryLou!!!

Below, I'm testing several fabrics for these two little Tufted Titmice.

Here are a few of the others I'm working on.

These two little lace-winged birds are made with Angelina Fibers - I have to be super careful not to iron them or they will melt!!!

I'm not so sure about the composition below - the birds need more embroidery to make them pop out of the background of trees. It's a work in progress.

Last, but not least - and also incomplete...

Some of the artists who have inspired me are: Emma Siedle-Collins, Cas Holmes, Debbie Irving, and Tara Badcock. Look them up, if you are also interested in this type of free-form embroidery/quilting/artistry!