Adventurer

As artists, we all leave our mark, and I was working with monoprint when this challenge came up. And doing monoprinting is a way of making marks. I chose this image of Saga Oseberg at sea, with wind in her sail. I have been working a bit with the original Viking ship Oseberg since my final piece for my City of Guilds course, I just love this ship. Saga Oseberg is an exact copy of the original, made with old tools, no modern machines. Even the Graffiti carvings on the old one is copied, and the quilted boat shape in the background is one of these carvings.
Since my last two pieces are green, I decided Not to use green in this one. I decided to go black and white on this, with a little contrast colour. Another of our old Viking boats, Gokstad, had shields in black and yellow, so I ended with this golden yellow. Hand-quilted ship, and machine-quilted background. Greta.

'drop-cloth quilt'

This is my last piece for Latitude. I need more time to concentrate on my coursework, so that's why I decided to leave this group. If I commit to something I want to give it 100%, and with having too many commitments, I just cannot do that. I wish you all lots of fun and success and will certainly be following the group and the blogs of individual members and of course you're welcome to visit my blog as well.

I always work on a work-surface, covered with a piece of white fabric, usually a cheap cotton. Over time this 'drop-cloth' gets covered in stains and marks and when it's getting a little too full, I change it for a new one. It's always a joy to start with a fresh-looking work-surface, but it never stays like that for very long! :-)
I always keep the used 'drop cloths', as they tend to end up looking very interesting and I can still find some use for them.
I'd thought of several ways of interpreting 'leaving your mark', but couldn't decide on one. At one point I was going through my fabric stash and came across one of my drop-cloths. I cut out a section, which had a print of one of my Rembrandt thermofax screens on it, left there after I printed on organza, in which case you get two prints for the price of one.
I've been working with my 'Rembrandt theme' for a while now. When making my fabric Rembrandt portraits, it was so fascinating that, even though he died four centuries ago, he still seems very much alive when studying his self-portrait so thoroughly. He sure left his mark!
So I thought the combination of using my drop cloth, on which I've left my mark and the print of one of Rembrandt's portraits on it, would be a very good interpretation of the theme 'leaving your mark' and this is the result.

Leave Your Mark

 As a wildlife rehabilitator  I hope to leave a small and gentle mark in the fields and forests that surround me.  This piece speaks of the illusive animals with whom we share our environment and the wonder that we experience when our paths cross.

Hand dyed cotton, machine stitching and hand embroidery.

by Heidi Wulfraat

Playing

Lately, I've been working with monoprinting, and my favorite so far is this, of my favorite Viking boat Saga Oseberg, an exact copy of the Oseberg ship, newly built in Tonsberg.

Picasso's mark making

It was great to meet up with Vivien and in such a great location. After she left, I went to see the modern art gallery and this picture by Picasso seemed to made up entirely of 'marks'.

Connecting New Zealand with New York

Today, art and the internet made it possible for two members of our group -- from opposite sides of the globe -- to get together and enjoy an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Julia from New Zealand and I (Vivien from the US) met today and went to the Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity exhibition.  I think we may the first of our far-flung group to meet and we had a great time.

The exhibition was incredible and both our brains were on overload from all the beauty and facts thrown at us.  I know I'll be reflecting on it all for a long time.

Julia and Vivien at the Met

Aren't the benefits of modern life cool?

NewChallenge

Hi, our next topic is

Leave Your Mark

From earliest times people have left their mark on stone, bricks, walls and fibre. Sometimes we know nothing about the person and sometimes their lives are well documented and we have an insight into their imagery. I had the joy of finding cave paintings as a child, they are present all around the world as are beautifully ornamented buildings. Pathways, foot prints, hand prints and the written word all leave their mark.

What mark do you choose to make and leave on record.







 

 

Hope you all enjoy the next challenge.

"I wish you HAPPINESS every single day!" by Lyuda

The first thought after announcing the name of the next theme was: “WOW! So many options!”.

But these options make it too difficult to choose just one. So, I've decided to write down (as some of us also did) things which happen every day and list looks like this:

• Sunrise- sunset
• Day – night
• Food
• News
• Household chores
• Favorite things
• Love to different things
• We get older
• Beauty of the day: flowers, sky, nature
• Happiness – sadness
• 24 hours – seconds, moments

What to choose? That is the QUESTION!

I like to make positive quilts; I like to use bright colors. So finally I decided to choose “happiness, 24 hours, moments”.

After choosing words I made colors’ choice. Happiness for me is only bright rainbow colors.

Next step was to draw draft. 

First I've wanted to make 24 squares as 24 hours but it didn't feet in 15 inches. Finally I decided to use circle for 24 hours as time go on and on.

The circle was made as spiral from rainbow colors and is divided in 24 segments which symbolize hours and time.

White and black beads symbolize good and bad moments which happen every single day.

Thin threads which end the circle are the time which disappears without being seen. 

I weaved background from different scraps to show that our life and every day consists from pieces of joy, happiness, sadness…

And finally “I WISH YOU HAPPINESS EVERY SINGLE DAY!” 

Tidal flats

Every single day the tide comes in and out, people walk their dogs and people fall in love.
The graphic image really appealed to me, and I like the way the light reflects on the water and the sand flats that appear as the tide goes out. I only added the people to give a sense of scale and to highlight man's insignificance in the wider scheme of natural forces. It is mainly fused applique and I intentionally chose to use satin stitch to accent the curves and the graphic quality.

Hope

 

                                                     Every Single Day
                                               Hope by Margy Johnson

There are many things that happen every single day. Headlines and the news come at us continuously and every now and then you find a positive article, plants grow, birds fly, life continues with it's joys and pains. I wanted to capture hope; its what the flowers represent, all that potential and hope encased in a small seed.
 It was interesting scouring the news papers to find positive headlines and pictures to build up the first layer of the quilt and create a record for that period of time. Matching up fabrics and then threads, all had to balance and co-ordinate to complete the picture

 

 

Daily Tasks - Vivien

I had a great idea when Heidi announced the challenge.   I worked, consulted with friends, worked some more, and failed.

Unfortunately, I worked so long and hard that I left myself with little time to create a new piece.  Fortunately, I rediscovered velcro at the sewing shop and a new idea was born.  In my piece, Daily Tasks, I have a number of labelled medallions secured to the surface with velcro.  Some are in the center, representing the tasks I have on my "to do" list today.  Others wait on the outside frame because it's certain that I'll be transferring them to the center at some point soon.   I can rearrange the medallions to meet the demands of most of my days, though I realize that some tasks are missing, such as gardening.  I suspect that's because I created this while snow was still on the ground.  I suppose there's always room for more to do.

I hope I'll remember always to put the Be Thankful medallion at the top of the list.  And, in the event I drop the ball and forget to do a task, I gave myself an Oops! medallion, too.

Daily Tasks - Vivien

"OMNIPRESENT" - Deborah Wirsu

The concept of something that occurs, or that we do 'every single day' proved a great challenge for me.  At first, so many different ideas raced through my mind - from daily activities or events to concepts such as birth and death, growth and decline, which occur every day, somewhere, sometime.

After discussing this theme with a friend, and tossing around several possibilities, eventually the concept of 'omnipresence' settled in my mind. Omnipresence, to me, represents 'presence everywhere, at all times' - therefore - every single day.

My friend (of the aforementioned discussion) has long wanted me to create a quilt based around the Fu Dogs (Lion Dogs) that guard the entrance to many Asian temples and monasteries, but after weeks of shuffling paper and designs, nothing was falling into place that satisfied me. In the end, after sifting through and seeking inspiration in photos of my Asian travels, I arrived at the idea of using Buddha to represent 'every day', an omnipresent being, rather than for any religious interpretation. Wherever there is a statue or representation of Buddha, there is the suggestion that Buddha is present everywhere - simultaneously all-knowing and all-being.

Somewhere along the design process, I found myself drifting towards Manga style, which is a very unusual direction for me. However, I found that the simplified, cartoon style allowed me to represent the simplicity and tranquillity that I wished for this Buddha.

The traditional 'Om' symbol in the background is used to represent the physical, mental and conscious worlds. For me, as a musician, it also resonates simply as a sound or vibration - a part of one’s being.

The piece is worked in cotton fabrics with raw edge machine appliqué, using satin stitch and free-motion edge stitch. The background is free-motion quilted.The piece measures 15" x 15".

My other quilts can be seen on my blog.

Crazy days

Crazy Days

When I learned about our new theme the first thibg that came to my mind was crazy. As evryone who has taken care of young children knows, always expect the unexpected, be always prepared for any kind of interruptions. But a traditional crazy quilt was not what I wanted to do. So I decided to make a modern crazy quilt. I didn't want the quilt to look to busy so I choose light colours in green, blue and grey-blue for the block. I included a few orange strips for contrast and also for the interruptions that happen at any time. The quilt has a border as even when the days are kind of crazy we try to have a constant schedule for the children with almost fixed meal hours, TV-time, bedtime... I included a small crazy block and an orange strip since on some occasions like birthdays or other special days the schedule might be overruled. The spiral quilting in the crazy block represent the fact that time goes by like a whirlwind with children at home.
Fabrics: Batiks, cotton
Thread: 100% cotton (piecing), rayon (quilting)
Batting: 80% cotton, 20% polyester
machine piecing and quilting
Sabine

'every single day' collage

I tried several ideas for this theme but wasn't happy with any of them. As I make 'five minute collages' every day (as you can read here on my blog), I thought I could use them for my Latitude quilt. I thought of having a collage from my 'five minute collages' printed onto fabric by Laura Kemshall, but wasn't sure how long it would take to deliver and weather it would be in time for this challenge.
There had been a discussion on our Yahoo group on which materials can be used in making an artquilt and whether paper could be used. So I thought I could do something completely different and make a paper quilt. I chose nine of my 'five minute collages' and stitched them together. I used sturdy vilene as a batting and stitched all over the piece. It wasn't easy to control the stitching on this thick paper surface. I added a backing fabric, finished the edges with a zigzag stitch and added a hanging sleeve.

Tea - this flavoured water that does us so good

Tea is a great part of my life, every single day. The tea does me good, it makes me stay calm, relax, it helps me find a moment's peace. So I just had to do something with tea. I love the elegant japanese sign for tea, and I also wanted to bring in one of my teacups. I used photo-transfer for the cup, and stenciled the sign with Markal oilstick. The text was done with my embroderymaschine. The I machine-quilted the background with simple straight lines, some angular spiky shapes at the bottom and finished with seed-stitch and french knots. Simple binding in red framed the piece.

 And some close-ups

:

'Con anima' (with spirit) by Linden Lancaster

Every single day my life is filled with music…

This is a whole cloth quilt created with two layers, cotton and silk organza. Monoprinted and handpainted with thickened dyes.

This piece is intended to evoke effects of beautiful music; the feeling of oneself being lifted into a world outside of ours.

I used elements, such as the bird flying upwards, indicating the spirit, and a strain of music, which is escaping from its boundaries, to represent this concept. 

Unconditional Love Every Single Day

Unconditional Love Every Single Day

When I was thinking about our theme of Every Single Day, I wondered what would convey that feeling of endurance, of timelessness and yet be something of significance for me and for someone seeing it.

I remembered a photo that my brother Paul had taken of my parents watching the sunset at my sister’s house and I had my answer.

They met at age 18 and married at 22. They had been married 61 years when my father died of Alzheimer’s disease, aged 83. My mother lived another seven years and died last March just short of 90.

From the moment they met to their deaths not a single day passed that they did not believe that they had each married the perfect life partner.

Alzheimer’s took away my father’s ability to recognize my mother as his wife for the last five years of his life and yet he remained attached to her and would follow her around the house wherever she went. She cared for him until the disease made that impossible and he went into a small private nursing home.

This was the last photo of them together before he went to the home. For me it represents the last part of their long journey together, their lives mostly behind them, watching as the sunset announces the coming of night, still holding hands.

And Above Everything Mother Sun Shines

After evaluation of thoughts (and some other work) for the current theme ‘Every Single Day’ I settled for my inspiration from an old Danish song by a Danish comedian ‘And Above Everything Mother Sun Shines’. Though it is funny a line in the song it has meant much to me since my childhood. When times are tough or the sky is grey I often think of this particular line in the song and it seems to me to be the most true ‘every single day’ experience I know.

My intent for this piece was to show my interpretation of sunlight in contrast to the dark.

This is my third attempt and I decided to try a technique I have tried only once before. I made a wholecloth quilt with heavy batting.

After quilting I painted with acrylics.

Other designs can be seen on my blog.

Coffee and Crossword Puzzles Every Single Day

Coffee and Crosswords Every Single Day.

I feel more sharp in the morning  if I sit down, have a cup of coffee and finish a crossword puzzle.  I do this every single day.  Some puzzle results are better than others but the coffee is always good.

 The crossword puzzle image required a some thought.  In order to avoid a confrontation about copyright infringement I had several choices.  I could write to the paper editors and then also the crossword puzzle maker  or I could make my own puzzle image.   I created my image and then used TAP transfer paper to iron it to the white fabric. then drew my reading glasses, pencil and the cup and  fused fabric images of them to the background. A little watercolor pencil and acryllic paint provided some finishing details.  I noticed that  I had done the background quilting with lines quite close together.  The table has a nicely finished top and didn’’t need that sort of quilting, but that’s what I did.  An explanation might be that at another time I did a lot of weaving and maybe subconsciously I am trying to create the look of a tapestry.  I don’t  know.

I think that this is a very straightforward image of something I do every single day. Judy Haas

Sunrise 7:00, March 31

Artist Statement – Challenge #2

March 31, 2013

“Every Single Day”

When the next theme was announcement, my head was filled with lots of ideas.  I started with my regular daily routines of trudging to work, drinking my morning coffee, being faced with deadlines and rushing everywhere.  Then I thought that my first part of the day is waking up in as positive a mood as I can do.  Some may even say leaning towards perky; and presto, my quilt design was formed.  What makes me leap out of bed with a stride in my step?  The sun, and thank goodness it happens “every single day”.  The title of my piece is Sunrise 7:00 March 31. As the reveal date is March 31, the sunrise will be 7:00am where I live.

Techniques:                  raw edge appliqué, torn fabric being applied onto of the fabrics and attached with ribbon, needlepoint stitches, French knots

Fabrics and embellishments:      batiks, commercial cottons, beads, pearl cotton thread and ribbons

Size:  15 inches x 15 inches

Katie (Toronto)