Gulp! Lack of Creativity

Recently, I scheduled an artistic play day with a friend. It was to be my first decent stretch of creative time in many months. However, when I sat down to play, I was unpleasantly surprised to find that my creativity and ideas were sadly lacking. Yikes! What happened? After a little thought, I realized the cause. I simply had not been exercising my "creative muscles." I had been focusing on very tangible tasks, and neglecting the time needed for artistic pursuits.

Since I wanted to quickly reverse this situation, I began to mentally search for a quick project that would allow plenty of experimentation. I decided to make some collaged cards. It was great fun pawing through my papers, fabrics and embellishments, as I allowed ideas to slowly materialize. This activity definitely recharged my creative batteries, and reminded me of the necessity of time spent in this way. From now on, I hope to always have a quick project at the ready, and to routinely spend time working on it. Just like my physical muscles need exercise, my mental ones do, too, and I want to keep them in shape!

Online Classes

The Double Reverse Appliqué class is winding down, and the students have done a great job with this versatile technique. If you'd like to see what we've been up to, I've added some more examples to the Double Reverse Appliqué Gallery Page.

I'm really excited about my next online class, called Design Your Own Nature Quilt. I love teaching this class in person, largely because of the thrill the students get from mastering the design principles. Although this class requires no artistic skill, it does require some artistic courage! Details here.

Upcoming Events
- Melbourne, FL, through July 19th, Art-chi-Texture exhibit at LoPressionism Fine Art Gallery.
- Ft. Myers, FL, August 19 & 20, Lecture Playing with Fabric, and workshop Design Your Own Nature Quilt
- Punta Gorda, FL, August 21 & 22, Workshops Intant Art Quilt and Double Reverse Applique, and lecture Playing with Color

Next online class: Design Your Own Nature Quilt, starting August 15th, 2008.

See Teaching and Events schedule for more details.

New Work

Here are the cards I mentioned, above. As you can see, I collaged a variety of fabrics, papers, old lace, and other embellishments. I applied most items with glue, but I also added some stitching for emphasis. I really enjoyed making them, and expect to do more.

Short Lesson: Better Late than Never (excerpt from Adventures in Color online class)

Have you ever finished a quilt and not been entirely happy with it?  I have!  What then?  Is it likely to look better if you quilt it anyway?  No!  Ultimately, you’ll be happier if you take the time to make a correction.  After all, you’ll spend much more time viewing the results than you will making the alteration.

If the error is a color one, there are several ways to deal with it.  Certainly, you could "unstitch" the offensive color and replace it, but this is a major pain! (I've done it and I don't recommend it.) Thankfully there are easier options.

Usually, a color only needs to be altered, rather than completely replaced.  If that's the case, there are several good alternatives. If it truly needs replacing, however, I suggest appliquéing new pieces over the old. This is MUCH easier than picking out seams and replacing pieces!

If the color only needs to be altered, I often do so with one or more layers of tulle. Lakeside Citrus shows an example of this. The shadows on the oranges were created with blue tulle.

Glossary:  Tulle is the fine netting that’s used for bridal veils.  It comes in a huge array of colors, and is pronounced just like the word tool.

Using tulle to adjust colors is very easy to do.  Simply cut a piece of tulle that’s bigger than needed, and pin it into place.  Using a clear monofilament thread and a short stitch length, stitch around the shape, just inside the desired finished edge.  Finally, trim it very closely.  Because it’s extruded plastic, it will never ravel!

Another way to alter the color is with a variety of artist media:  paints, markers, crayons, etc.  Wet products, like paint, can even be applied after piecing, if a dry brush technique is used, and the adjacent pieces are masked with tape.  I had to do this with my quilt, Cut Glass.  The original fuscia fabric was too intense for the other colors.  To remedy the problem, I dry brushed some white paint onto the already-sewn fuscia pieces.

Cut Glass, very close detail
© Ellen Lindner

NOTE: If your quilt will be washed, test art materials for color fastness before using.

I hope you will make time for your own creative activities, and...
Enjoy the adventure!
Ellen

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