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Tuesday 27 October 2020

Storyteller Class with Renee Mueller

 I have been dabbling in an on-line art class by Renee Mueller. I love her romantic style and she has a gentle way of teaching as well. The class was called Storytellers and the idea was to tell a story about something in your life using her techniques as guidance.

I was way out of my comfort zone and decided to just try and copy what she had done to learn the techniques before I set off on my own. As you can imagine, there were seriously talented painters in the class but I kept going, being kind to myself because I am just learning. I also had a very limited supply of paints and pastels and as all shops are still closed and buying anything on-line can take weeks to come, I just used what I had.

This is a little charcoal drawing we started with. My first ever charcoal portrait.


Then we did some abstract collages. We learnt to put masking tape around the watercolour paper to protect the edges.


I actually really enjoyed doing these. Looking at what others had done, I realised that I am a bit too heavy handed with the paint though. I need a lighter touch.

Then we had to paint a flower.


Once again, I was too heavy handed, but it was my first time.

The next and last thing to do is to paint a portrait!! I had been procrastinating about doing it and waited for at least a week. Finally, I thought I might as well try. 


I absolutely love watching the UK show Portrait and Landscape Artist of the year. I have always been in awe of their talent and now I really respect them.

The upside to this year has been time to dabble in some other areas. My life was always so busy and I didn't have much spare time. Apart from the horrible stress of it all, I have had some time to play around.

I have also realised that I am overrun with quilts, especially now that they are all back from exhibitions. I will only make small quilts from now on. 

Mmm, maybe my next series will be portraits, not painted ones but in quilts. I would love to master faces and people. That's an idea!

Bye for now,

Linda

Tuesday 20 October 2020

Crazy Christmas Decorations

 I joined a Crazy Quilt Christmas decoration swap and made the commitment to make 3 decorations. I have been working away at them in the evenings in front of the TV. I have made them double sided and made them in three colours, red, green and white.









They are only 3 inches wide and will be a circle shape. They actually look better than they appear in the photos for some reason.

Now I have to work out how to make them into decorations. I am planning to cut some circles out of foam core board and wrap and lace the decorations around it. I think that they will need some weight, so I'll have to add a tassel or beads hanging from the bottom. I know why I don't usually do this sort of thing- it's sort of fiddly!

My quilt was selected to be in the Oz Quilt Network- Australia Wide 7 Exhibition. The tour is about to start and they made one of their advertisements using my quilt. I think it looks good.


Bye for now,

Linda

Tuesday 13 October 2020

Table runner quilted

 Last month I did a one day class via Zoom with Carole Lyles Shaw, you can read about it in this post. It was an Improv piecing class and I did a table runner because I wanted to learn the technique and not do a big quilt.

I am happy with the decision because I have already finished it.



As soon as I had completed the binding, I took a photo on our table.


It will be interesting to hear what the family say when they see it!

When we first went into the Covid lockdown in April, I did an online class with Tara Axford and it involved going on walks and looking at nature. I took a lot of photos around the neighbourhood and started to appreciate our Australian Native plants. So much so, that I went and bought some for our garden. It is Spring now and they are starting to get flower buds. 

Last weekend I went to inspect the garden and found a little Eastern Spoonbill loving our Banksia Ericifolia. I was thrilled, I had never seen one in our garden before.



I am looking forward to seeing our other native plants flowering, Maybe I might see some more little birds!

Bye for now,

Linda