A Peek at My New Sketchbook

One of my dear art friends, Catherine Russell, made this gorgeous journal.  She created it with layered strips of painted paper towels, stenciled white spirals and red marks surrounded by a striped washi tape border. The cover has a wonderful, knobby texture.

 Inside I spray painted stencils with gesso and added water-color washes over the pages.  Some pages had some gelli plate prints on them.  I like how the gessoed stencil shows through the paint on the right.  I learned this technique from Jane LaFazio.  Go to her Tutorials on the sidebar and open the one from May 16th entitled "Blog Hop Giveaway".

 We visited Portland Nursery a few weeks ago and I sketched the items nearby- gecko, fountain, plant and hydrangeas.  The large leaves are from a gelli print and the white flowers from the sprayed gesso.  It makes a great resist. Although the spray can clogged up and I had to resort to painting the gesso onto the stencils.

Here's the figure of another sketcher.  The gesso shows up on her outfit and hat.  The green is from a gelli print.  I like the softness of the colors and contrast of the sketches, a departure from my usual style.

I'm off to the Focus on Book Arts Conference taking a five-day workshop with Tim Ely and will have more to share next month.  Hope you are enjoying summer.

Wonky Log Cabin Quilt Project

Fifteen signed up to participate in a quilt block exchange.  We make up fifteen packets of fabric and give one to each person.  She creates a 12½x12½ quilt block with the fabric.  Each month we make two blocks. Here's the first two blocks that I finished today for June. The one below is for Diane. She gave us gorgeous 1½ inch strips to use.  I added a few fabrics for contrast.

Z'anne's quilt block is quite different.  Her quilt has a more Western look.  I added the maroon fabric for more contrast.

I'm looking forward to creating a couple new blocks each month.  In December, I handout my fabric selections and will receive back fourteen completed blocks to make my quilt.  It'll be great to receive them in January when I'll want something warm to curl up under and read.  Another name for this quilt pattern is "Drunk Love in a Log Cabin". See Denyse Schmidt's finished quilt HERE.  Elizabeth Hartman created the Wonky Log Cabin blocks HERE.

Thanks to everyone who came to the Village Gallery of Arts in Cedar Mill.  I sold all four of my 6x6 inch pieces.  It was a fun challenge and I think that I need to find another one to keep me creating.