Drawing Practice

 The theme for the Waverley Art Quilters this year is Back to Nature. We have a different topic every month to research and draw. Our topics for the last couple of months have been Insects and Birds.

I have enjoyed working in my sketchbook and I think I am improving with my drawing. At least it makes me do it, otherwise there is never enough time no matter how good my intentions are.

Here are some of my insect drawings. I like using a fine liner pen but I sketch lightly in pencil first until I am happy with the result.

Our most recent topic has been birds and I have found them much more challenging. I wanted to start adding some colour to my drawings. The book is only A5 size and because the drawings are not very big, I have tried using water soluble coloured pencils when I have added colour instead of paint. I've tried Derwent Inktense and Derwent Graphitint pencils.

For the yellow bird below, I bought a mini class from Design Matters TV, about drawing birds with watercolour pencils. Mine is very ordinary compared to Linda Kemshall's bird, but I have to remember that this is new to me and approach it with a beginners mind and not be too hard on myself.

I don't spend a lot of time on my drawing, but I do enjoy them. There is still a couple of weeks until our next meeting, so I think I'll try drawing a few more birds to try and get better.

Bye for now,

Linda

Quilting Arts magazine- Issue 114

 I was thrilled to have one of my quilts featured in a Quilting Arts Magazine article about Contemporary Quilts in the Oceania region. I have been buying this magazine since issue one and have always looked forward to receiving them in the mail.

Quilting Arts Magazine issue 114

My quilt Grief was used as the title page of the article.

Here are some of the other pages in the article.

I know or have met most of the artists in the article and they are all so talented, it is lovely to be featured amongst them.

A couple of my quilts are in touring exhibitions at the moment. Reef Revelations is in Kyabram with the SAQA Oceania Distance and Diversity Exhibition.

Reef Revelations

My Ocean Dance quilt was selected for the Oz Quilt Network- Australia Wide 8 exhibition and is currently on display at the Warrick Gallery in Queensland. If you click on the Oz Quilt Network link there is a You tube video of all the quilts in the exhibition.

Ocean Dance

I suppose that I had better start making some more quilts.

Bye for now,

Linda

 

Victorian Quilters Showcase 2022

 At the end of July we had the Victorian Quilters Showcase and it was very successful. After being cancelled in 2020 and a virtual show in 2021, everyone loved having a normal show again this year. As usual it was held at the  Exhibition and Convention Centre in the city and it was very well attended. We weren't sure whether people would come or not but attendances were back to about four years ago and the shops did really well, so everyone was happy.

We had the award presentation on the first day and here we are setting up the rosettes.

Best of Show went to Robyn Coots for her beautiful applique quilt called Dresden Dancing.

Dresden Dancing by Robyn Coots

I didn't take a lot of photos but here are some that I liked, although the standard was so high this year.

Fuego by Ramona Resurreccion

Fuego is Spanish for Fire.

Nirvana Nouveau by Jan Frazer

William the Echidna by Karen McGregor

The next quilt was a tiny miniature. 

Winter Wonderland by Carole Bosna

The next quilt won Runner Up in the pieced section as well as Best use of Colour. It was called Waves around the Atlantic because Shirley hand pieced the quilt while she was on a holiday cruise.

Waves around the Atlantic

I didn't have a quilt in the competition this year but we also had prize winners from last year's virtual show so my Connections quilt was on display.

Connections-The Teenage Years by Linda Steele

The Profile a Quilters this year was Annette Packett, who had at least 20 quilts on display.

Annette Packett

Annette had such a variety of quilts on display but I especially loved her art quilts featuring trees.

Art Quilts by Annette Packett

I have been the Convenor of the show for a few years now and it is a huge job, one lunch time I had a walk outside the venue for some fresh air and took a few photos. It was a lovely sunny winter's day and I loved the reflections on the Yarra River by the Seafarer's Bridge.

The Seafarer's Bridge

Our beautiful raffle quilt Amethyst Star by Mariya Waters and Desley Maisano was won by a Victorian Quilters member.

Amethyst Star by Mariya Waters and Desley Maisano

I have had such a busy year and not really had much time for sewing or art making that I have decided to step down from being Showcase Convenor. I have enjoyed the experience but I really want my life back where I can be creative again and not be sitting in front of computer spreadsheets.

Bye for now,

Linda

Waverley Patchworker's Meeting

 Last week, I was called upon to run the Waverley Patchworkers monthly meeting because the President was away on holidays and the Vice President was injured after a fall. 

It was a very eventful meeting. Not only were the President and Vice President unavailable, the guest speaker had to pull out because she was unwell!

I haven't been President for a few years and I felt a bit rusty but then I had to be guest speaker as well! What a night.

When we arrived at the meeting we found that the area around the hall was packed with people and  there was no parking anywhere because the Emerge Lantern Festival was on.

I took a few photos because I started to think that the meeting wouldn't be able to go ahead because of the parking situation.

It was a cold night but luckily it wasn't raining.

By some miracle, members started trickling in after finding parks in the side streets.

Most of my Art Quilts are hanging in the Kyabram Exhibition so I did my talk on my Crazy Quilts. I hadn't been guest speaker there for quite a few years and so people seemed to enjoy hearing about my quilts.

Here is the last crazy quilt that I ever made, A Time for all Seasons.

A Time for all Seasons by Linda Steele

I'll be back in Kyabram on Wednesday and that will be the last time that I can attend because I will be very busy running the Victorian Quilters Showcase. Our first in-person show since 2019.

Bye for now,

Linda

Backgrounds and Textures

 On the spur of the moment, I signed up for Jane Dunnewold's Backgrounds and Textures on-line class. I know, I am too busy and have enough to do, but a friend signed up and I did too!

I have some of Jane's books and have watched her on You-Tube and she is a very thorough and encouraging teacher. I have actually done most of the techniques before but the course is reminding me of the techniques and it is something I have wanted to do more of lately.

We made our own stamps using cardboard at first, she is encouraging us to use what we have rather than spend more money on supplies.

Some of them worked better than others but I don't want to go down the rabbit hole of making more and more stamps, I'd rather see what works and then make some that suits what I want to do in my work. We were painting and stamping onto the gelli plate first and then taking prints from there.

The stamps go really well on paper., but I was happy with the results on fabric as well. On fabric, you have to be sure to get the right amount of paint. I was also experimenting with textile paint compared to normal acrylic with fabric medium added to it. I think that the stiffness of the fabric was only slight with both. I'll have to try sewing on them to see what the real difference is.

I made some more collage paper using deli paper, because I discovered when doing some collage recently that I really like thin, transparent papers.

They don't look very good as big pieces but they come alive when cut or torn into smaller bits. I've also done prints using normal printer paper, I love the different textures.

We also learnt how to draw an image onto the Gelli plate using acrylic paint pens and then printing the image. Here is my little butterfly on the Gel plate.

Here is the butterfly printed onto paper with a background as well.

You can see that the gel plate resisted the paint pen a bit but I could now paint another layer the butterfly. I am not sure if I'd use this technique though. I could have just drawn the butterfly onto the paper in the first place, but maybe it would give a different look. I suppose that means you would have to do further tests and compare the results.

I decided to try the same technique on fabric, I forgot to take progress photos but here is the dragonfly printed on fabric and I have thread painted over the top.

The background is paint, I don't think that I'd like to quilt it, but I'll try.

The reason I have experimented with butterflies and dragonflies is that the topic this month in the Waverley Art Quilters is Insects.

That's what I've been up to, as well as driving to Kyabram for the exhibition, I'll be back in Kyabram this Thursday as well. 

Bye for now,

Linda

Kyabram Exhibition 2022

 My exhibition is on again at the Kyabram Town Hall Gallery. This time I have my art quilts on display along with the quilts from the Waverley Art Quilters.

Coral Reef Triptych by Linda Steele

It's a lovely space with proper gallery lighting and the people running the gallery are wonderful to deal with.

I've run the Waverley Art Quilters for about ten years now and they are a wonderful group. I encouraged them to display a large wall hanging each as well as our challenge quilts.

Here are some of their larger quilts.

Here is another photo of some of their work.

We usually study an artist or a topic each month and then make a small work inspired by our studies. Some of that work is on display. Here is the display about Windows.

Here is another display. The quilts on the left are inspired by Marimekko and the quilts on the right are by Val Jackson, one of our group who worked in a series.

The exhibition is on at the Kyabram Town Hall Gallery in Kyabram, Victoria, Australia.

It is open 10am - 4pm Monday to Saturday until 29th July.

I'll be there on Thursday 23rd June, Thursday 30th June and Wednesday 6th July.

It is so wonderful to find a gallery that supports textile artists and I hope they get a good attendance. There is a lovely patchwork shop next door and cafes for morning tea or lunch.

Bye for now,

Linda

AQC 2022

A  couple of weeks ago I flew up to Brisbane with my friend Jill to AQC (The Australasian Quilt Convention). It's the usual story, it didn't go ahead in 2020 or 2021 and it's usually held in Melbourne, where I live. Apparently the venue couldn't guarantee that it would be available because it has been a vaccination centre. I usually work with the event company to organise and hang the quilts etc., so I was glad to go up and be a visitor for a change.

The weather was lovely and warm and the theme was celebrate, which is exactly how everyone felt after so long.

It was so good to catch up with quilting friends from all over Australia once more. There was a cocktail party the first night.

Here I am with my friend Jill, ready to enjoy our time up there.

I also caught up with my friend Julie Haddrick and we loved that Brisbane skyline, it added to the party atmosphere.

Women come from all over Australia to do classes, shop and look at quilts. Jill and I weren't doing any classes, we shopped and went to a couple of lectures, enjoyed the gala dinner and caught up with friends.

The quilt displays at the Convention are mainly art quilts, which are my favourite, so I love the show.

There were many different exhibitions. The challenge was called 'Going Green'. I didn't get a chance to make anything but I loved seeing everyone's ideas.

The winner was Harmony in Green by Rachelle Denneny.

Second Prize went to They're Bagged by Kathryn Harmer Fox.

I also liked Nature's Resilience by Raylene Richardson.

Another Exhibition was The State of the Art 2020.

First Prize went to Water Course by Brenda Wood.

Second Prize went to Pam Hill for Blue Space.

The SAQA, Beyond the Mirror exhibition is in Australia too and I was so pleased to see the quilt, Becoming one with the Night by Bobbi Baugh.

 My friend Sue de Vanny had a display of her quilts up there and she was doing a floor talk every morning at 11. We went along the first morning to help encourage a crowd and ask questions! Here she is mid-talk.

Gloria Loughman also had a display of her quilts, it was so good to see them again, we also enjoyed her lecture. Here's Gloria's famous Boab Tree quilt.

I also love her Fern Pool quilt.

Fern Pool by Gloria Loughman

These are just a few of the many photos that I took. I also went out to dinner every night with friends and visited the Art Gallery and Museum.

It was a big shock to come home to Melbourne's winter weather.

It has just been announced that AQC is returning to Melbourne in April next year, but it was so lovely to have it up in Brisbane for a change.

Bye for now,

Linda