Pathways

Sketchbook Challenge theme this month is "Pathways".  And I made a few sketchbook pages to share...

Pathway to my Age

materials used:  acrylic paint, sharpies

This is my birthday month and I always find that with turning another year older comes self-reflection!

 

Reflection on where I am and where I want to go.  What I want to do and how I've done thus far.  (Still have so many dreams and ideas I want to pursue!!!)  

The big 3-3.  Just in between those who say I am still a baby and then those who think I am ancient!  My opinion- 30's are a fun age.  Wisdom you wish you had in your 20's with the guts you have now.

My other page is titled "Toolbox for my Path".

We all use tools.  No matter what our medium of choice is.  But what about the tools in our minds.  The tools we use metaphorically to get to that next step.

materials used:  sketchbook and pencils

Shovel.  To break ground on fresh ideas.

Spatula.  To flip when ready.

Ruler.  To measure only when necessary.

Paint Brushes.  To swirl the colors of my mind.

Scissors.  To cut into manageable pieces.

Thumbtacks.  To keep those ideas in place.

using the tools in my minds' arsenal on this artist holiday,

hannah

Third Time's a Charm!

So, my friend, Jill over at Recycled Daze called this one months ago! AND she always get her copy of CPS before me, so she gave me a heads up of my publication!  Thanks Jill!!!
I am excited to share that my doughnut fabric I submitted for the Cloth Paper Scissors Fabric Swatch Reader Challenge was published in the July/August 2011 issue!!!!  To see where this journey began, click here.  Then you can see the fabric here! And below are the photos of the magazine!  This is my third reader challenge publication for Cloth Paper Scissors!  Very exciting to see your name in print, maybe even addicting??!!!!!

Front Magazine Cover

The challenge was to create about a half yard of fabric and cut it up into 8 9x9 blocks.  Send it in the CPS headquarters and they will send you back 6 other swatches and reserve 2 for the winners stack.  And as always they pick some of their favorites to publish!

Check here to see the swatches I received!

Doughnuts, bottom right!

You may read this on my blog quite often, but I get so much out of these challenges!  I mull over the idea, take a few jabs, push myself and then, only then, do I realize these challenges are making me stronger as an artist.  I am doing things artistically I wouldn't do at that time or experiment with those materials that I had been delaying.  And it's pretty fun too!!

not taking myself too seriously on this artist holiday-

hannah 

Task at Hand

I created a small work for a Quilting Arts Magazine Reader Challenge titled "Tag, You're It!".  The challenge was incorporating text into a quilt sized 8 1/2 x 11.

Materials used; pfd fabric, textile paints, black fabric pen, duct tape, black and pink thread, cotton batting and sharpies.

I tried using the pillow binding, as shown by Lyric Kinard  in her book Art + Quilt.  For someone who still has a lot to learn on the binding end of quilting, I really liked it, much easier!

Green duct tape!!  You know I had to do something funky, right?  I also added some black twine on the duct tape.

Here's a closeup of the bright pink thread I also used in this piece.

My artist statement is below;

Focus seems to be that word I whisper to myself as I begin a new project or sometimes when I have creative block.  I chose to use fluorescent green and black to bounce off each other, with just a hint of bright pink.  I could not just stop there though, I had to add a little bit of well, duct tape!  Matching neon green of course.  If you look closely, you can see that the tape covers the word already written in the fabric.  This represents the repetition one says to get through the task at hand.

Deadline is Friday for those who may want to enter!  Click here for further details... and see their new challenge (putting your greatest pet peeve in a quilt)!  

focusing on the task at hand on this artist holiday,

hannah

 

Blank Canvas Syndrome

     She stared blankly at the pages hoping an idea would stir within her.  She just wanted to let go, feel the movement of paint and the nubbin of colored pencils on paper at the command of her wrists.  She believed as she always did, that once more she could overcome this illness that plagues many a creative soul.  She quickly wondered how many battles she would need to fight to win the war on this debilitating sickness?  But as quickly as she asked herself, her response flooded her mind.  She would fight battle after battle to get her creativity into tangible artwork every time. 




I am an self-proclaimed advocate for Blank Canvas Syndrome (BCS).  I was once like you may be, not wanting to admit that a blank canvas is a scary thing.  So crisp, so clean, so untouched.  For me personally, I have found that BCS is overcome, once we begin to embrace that crispness and in turn embrace that we WILL make it better with our own ideas.  The blank canvas is better because of us, the creative souls who put it out there!  Those who ruin the crispness!  No not all are masterpieces, not all are worthy of the light of day.  I often tell myself that with each blank page, each blank canvas I ruin, I am moving one step closer to something awesome!

Now that I have that off my chest, here are some journal pages I wanted to share with you! 

Background colors; orange and pink.  I cut out words from magazines, mixed them up and put short phrases together that somewhat made sense!

1726, this was the ticket stub from getting my car worked on a few days ago.  Background colors; pink, white and a little yellow and green.

I believe in me.  I do, I really really do!  Don't you believe in you too?

Blue and Green pages.  Abstract.  This is also a journal for leftover paint and then I try to create different designs from the paint patches.

All pages were created with these materials;  acrylic paints, colored pencils, sharpies, scrap paper, and cut out magazine pages.

overcoming artistic fears on this artist holiday,

hannah 

Fabric Swatches

     This is always the fun part of being involved in a magazine challenge swap - getting to see who's work you received and who received your work!  In this case, we are swapping fabric swatches!  I sent off 8 9x9 fabric swatches of my doughnut fabric and just received 6 other fabric swatches in return!  (Cloth Paper Scissors keeps 2 swatches)

Without further ado, here are the fabric swatches I received;

SWATCH #1

This swatch was created by Margaret Sheppard McNaron using paint pens, stamping and sharpies!

I am guessing the background is a type of canvas material.  It's the softest yellow!  Nice colors and shapes!!  Love the teal lines with the soft yellow!

SWATCH #2

This swatch was created by Katheryn Brown using muslin, jacquard textile paints, jacquard neopaque paints and jacquard lumiere sunset gold matallic paint!

This swatch has lots of depth and the metallic paint is such a nice touch!  Love how the prints flow in and out through the fabric with soft edges!

SWATCH #3

This swatch was created by Bethanne, aka puppy4christmas at clothpaperscissors.com!

When uploading her fabric at clothpaperscissors.com she stated;   "I created drawings of two little girls with a whimsical flair, playing in the Apple Orchard just before fall turns to winter." 

She used yarn, fabric and puffy paint to create her scene!  Quite a unique 3-D fabric swatch!  I like how you used commercial fabric and made it your own!!

SWATCH #4

This swatch was created by Faye Dodd of Australia!  She used coffee dyed homespun fabric, paint crayons, lumiere paint, rubbing plates and stamps!

What fun to get a swatch all the way from Australia!  Love your color combination and the dancing fairies are quite cute!!  The shimmer of the green fans is nice as well!!

SWATCH #5

This swatch was created by Jill Booker using muslin, fabric and acrylic paints, along with commercial and handmade stamps!

This swatch is so dynamic with several stampings and a multitude of colors.  It seems each time I look at the swatch I find something new I didn't see before!  Nice use of colors!  Quite an interesting swatch!

SWATCH #6

This swatch was created by Audrey Karman using cotton muslin, lotus gel stamp, ink, water color and a water-filled spray bottle!

I just love the blues in this swatch!  It feels like a lotus sitting in a pond, yet it also feels a bit abstract with these beautifully blue ink blobs and traces of the fainted pink!  Very nice swatch!

Thanks Cloth Paper Scissors for hosting this fun fabric swatch.  I always seem to learn something new each time I enter a challenge.  And the bonus is meeting new friends to join us on this artistic journey!

saying hello to all my friends on this artist holiday,

hannah