Other stuff I did in 2019 and 2020

I had on my To Do list last year to write a blog post in Sept, then it became Sept + Oct, then it became Sept + Oct + Nov, etc..... So here I am in February 2020 July 2020 to summarize the last 6 11 months.

More art, lots of art, acrylic painting, watercolor experiments, some sketching, and there was sewing, lots of sewing, cutting, piecing, quilting, bookbinding, gardening, crochet, etc. ...

Here are some photos of my projects and much of my artwork is already posted on Instagram.

Christmas Card Art - Dec 21019

Scrap Queen Bed Quilt - July 2019 (just for the practice)

Queen Bed Quilt - November 2019

Project Linus Challenge quilt top - October 2019

Queen Bed Quilt - April 2020

Project Linus Crochet Challenge - May 2020

Coptic bookbinding - old construction paper - May 2020

Painted Canvas booklet - May 2020

Thanks for reading.
Aileen

Painting and Reading

What have I been doing since May?
Let's see...

First, I got sucked into the Instagram Vortex.  That's one of my excuse for not updating my blog. I've been posting photos of much of the artwork I've been doing over the past several months to my Instagram account and neglecting this blog. Also, because I really haven't been doing much besides painting or reading books all summer. 

Second, I went on a reading binge (yes, that is a thing, at least I do it from time to time). I have spent July through November reading all 17 books (15 novels and 2 books of short stories) in the Jim Butcher Dresden Files series. And some other books, fiction and non-fiction, 25 in all since May.

Third, I've been tired, a lot.  I can read, and do some art, and a few other necessary things every day, but not much else. I thought it was just my migraine problem and the horrible heat of this past summer, ( I hate summer), but I found out at the end of August I had a thyroid problem. I'm on medicine now so that problem should improve over time.

But I do manage to do some little bit of art every day, even if it is just one more layer on an acrylic painting or some watercolor practice.


Shown below is a collection of some of my art of Summer 2018:

 

Thanks for reading.
Aileen Biser

Summer Summary

Or "How To Be A Lazy Blogger".

So, I have been doing a few things over the last several months. But it's been a mixed bag of projects in different areas of interest.  So, because I haven't blogged about each odd craft thing I've been doing lately I decided to just post snapshots, maybe with a word or two, about each thing I worked on. 

Large Pojagi Cloth Panels.This large window gets direct sunlight several hours in the afternoon until sundown. Even with curtains behind the the pojagi panels there is still plenty of light coming through to play off the colors of the fabrics.

Small Pojagi panel. These were white on white fabrics stained with a diluted wash of acrylic ink which is permanent, still flexible and washable.

 

Mini Cloth Cover notebooks.

Mini (3 1/2" x 5 1/2") travelers style leather cover for Mini Notebooks.

A giant painting that I have been working on for a year and is not done yet! At least giant for me. It's actually only about 3' x 4' and the "canvas" is actually and old plywood crate lid. It's just one big experimental mess of color and texture. Fun.

 A couple little crochet bags from scraps of wool yarn.

 

A zipper pouch for pens and notebooks.

Some small artwork. A butterfly for an ArtSnacks Liquitex Cadmium Free art challenge.

Another butterfly for an ArtSnacks monthly challenge.

Some small painted canvas scraps to use as mini notebook covers.

One of the mini notebooks completed. The other two are ready for pages.

A big messy randomly painted cloth to cut up and use for more notebook covers.

 Still working on these.

And several watercolor "doodles" along the way.

Thanks for reading.
Aileen

Purple Collage - Fabric, Paper, and Acrylic Paint

Several weeks ago, after I cut 4" squares from over 100 different purple fabrics, I started work on a collage project.  

First I made paper collages of the purple fabric scraps. 

Then I started on the background canvas. I'm using trash trim strips of fabrics saved from various quilting projects as a texture layer on the canvas. I use gesso or acrylic medium to 'glue' the fabric to the canvas.

 

 

After a texture layer of scrap fabrics has been added I start adding more paint to create a multi-shade abstract background for the pieces of purple collage that will go on last. 

There is really a lot of texture here. But I'm not done painting. I really don't want the colors of the bottom fabric layers to show, just the texture. 

I plan to add more color to this layer and the texture provides nooks and levels to fill in with different shades of purple and colors. 

But the ultimate goal is to add pieces from the purple fabric collage pages for the final composition. 

Here I'm auditioning a possible size and layout for the purple collage pieces. These are 1 1/2" square and the edges have been painted dark purple. The background will have more color than shown here but I plan to have it light enough to provide good contrast.  We'll see how it actually comes out!

Thanks for reading. 

Aileen