Sunday, September 30, 2012

Studio Colors

A very Roy G Biv set of fabrics.
I have several projects in the works at the moment. Quite colorful, I must say.
Work has already begun on the Indigo Challenge fabric for the October installment of the Searching for Roy G Biv Challenge. What a tough color. I pulled out some indigo ikats for a look.


I went online to see what Indigo looks like. Seems the spectrum color and what we think of as indigo dye are a bit different. This Challenge fabric may actually turn into a real challenge!


I'm also working on another set of  Peace Flags. An artists' trade is in the works. I'm quite excited, as the artist, Mary Jane Dodd, the initiator of the Flags for Peace Project, creates amazing, thoughtful works of jewelry...or really small sculptures to wear (in my opinion).

Other projects include samples for the book proposal...a set of place mats using my kitchen fabrics and black and white and black and tan fat quarters for my gallery, Potomac Fiber Arts Gallery. The next show at the Gallery is called, Black and White. This is the first time I will be entering some of my printed fabrics. I'm curious to see how the fabrics will sell. I'm planning to submit three packages of fabric with four fat quarters each  and am trying to figure out pricing. Ersi will be happy to know that the black and tan fabrics will be dyed in coffee before being printed.


It seems that I have lost a couple of your comments. Rather than being sent to my gmail account, they have been hiding out in some secret corner of my blog. So I am sorry if you haven't seen your comment posted and will try to be more diligent about checking. One comment in particular I was sorry to miss from Susan who posted a great selection of blues at her blog: http://swightr.blogspot.com/

Also, just a reminder that I have a gift offer celebrating my 200th post. Be sure to check it out!

Saturday, September 29, 2012

200th



This is my 200th post! I can hardly believe it. I started blogging just over a year ago. Looking back at those early posts, I feel like I've come a long way...especially from that first posting the day after the remnants of Hurricane Isabel hit our area. The highlight (if you want to call it that) was my photo of a dead raccoon!

I have two people to thank for getting me a bit more up to snuff in the blogging world. One is Lesley Riley, my coach and mentor, who said that I needed to get back to blogging on a very regular basis. The other, is the woman I like to call the Blogging Qu(d)een. That is none other than Jennifer. She kindly answered my often simple and sometimes bizarre technical questions. She gently reminded me about blogging etiquette. And she has continued to be a cheer leader and frequent commenter on this blog. Thanks Jennifer for all your help.

 To celebrate getting this far on my blogging journey, I am offering a little gift. It is a Peace Flag. It was one of my sample flags from the Flags for Peace Project. I hand painted the background cotton fabric, hand printed the flag and added some hand painted details. The flag is ready for hanging with a little sleeve at the top (that was hand stitched). The size of the flag is 7" x 10". For those of you new to this blog, the symbol on the flag is a hamsa (sometimes called a Hand of Fatima). It's a protective symbol. This particular hamsa has great meaning for me as it was one I designed for a good friend, who recently passed away. You can read more about it here.


To win this special little flag, all you have to do is leave a comment at this post. I will be doing a drawing for the winner on Sunday, October 14th.


Thanks to all who have been following along. I've enjoyed your comments, observations and encouragement. It's wonderful to make new friends and to share what is closest to our hearts...art!


Now back to the studio to do some more printing....

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Coffee Anyone?


Very early this morning, I was laying in bed but my brain was up and about. Perhaps you've had this happen to you...your body says, Just go back to sleep for a couple of hours! But your brain is starting to think about the next project...How many products in the kitchen could change the color of fabric? Wouldn't that make a great chapter in the book? You could call it Kitchen Kolor (okay, well maybe that's a bit much!).

Well, it just so happens that today was an unusually warm day for the end of September. The hot coffee I offered to my Doll Bee just wasn't selling. So this evening I thought, okay, here is an opportunity to throw a few pieces of fabric into the coffee to see what kinds of browns I can get. One bowl has just the coffee. The other the grounds with a bit of water.

I'm sure there are some of you out there who have much more experience with this. So here are a couple of questions...How long have you left fabric in coffee to dye it a nice brown? Also, how permanent is a coffee dyed piece of fabric? Would love to hear from those of you with a bit more experience in this department.

Tomorrow will be my 200th blog post. I'm going to offer up a little free gift. More about that tomorrow.


Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Book Proposal First Steps

Printed with incised foam using different tools*.

 Just had my monthly call with my art coach and mentor, Lesley Riley of Artist Success. I've worked with her on and off over the last couple of years. She has pushed and prodded and I've sometimes resisted but have always come to the eventual realization that she is moving me in the right direction.

Printed with incised foam using different tools*.

My goal with her has always been to write a book. I wrote a rough draft of the book proposal and Lesley and I went over it today. She was really happy with it. I'll just need to do a bit of tweaking here and there. I'm nervous and excited! I'm looking forward to tackling the final proposal and getting it off.

Printed with incised foam using different tools*.

I know that this book will be a lot of hard work. I know there will be times when I'll wonder why I ever thought I wanted to do this. But I also know, in the end, I will be happy because it's been a desire of mine for a very long time.

Step one ...completed!

*You can read more about how I made these fabrics by reading the most recent issue of Julie B Booth Surface Design News. See the Newsletter Archives in the right hand column.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

And the winner is...


 Congratulations, Joan!

You have a choice between these two flags:



Please email me to let me know which of these you prefer and I will get it off to you.

Thanks to all those who played along this month. Next month's color is INDIGO. Now that's going to be an interesting color... The next Searching for Roy G Biv Challenge is on Thursday, October 18. I hope more of you will play along next month. I'm already thinking about the Challenge fabric...

Ersi just posted some BLUES for all to enjoy. She's sorry that she missed the deadline but she's been quite busy with the Flags for Peace Project with her group over in Spain. Enjoy her Mediterranean BLUES and take a peak at the amazing flags from her group!

Friday, September 21, 2012

Peace: Honoring a Friend




Today is International Peace Day. Here is my contribution to the Flags for Peace Project.

These are dedicated to my friend Martha. She was a woman of peace.



Hope you take a moment to think about peace today.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Searching for Roy G Biv Challenge: BLUE










The winner of the drawing for the Challenge Fabric will get to choose between these two Peace Flags.






 To join in the fun just post up to five BLUE photos on your blog, website or Flickr page and leave a comment here. I will continue to update this post throughout the day with a link to your photos. If you do not have a blog, website or Flickr page and still wish to play along, I will be happy to post your photos. Leave a comment with your email address and I will be in touch.

The Challenge will continue until midnight, Saturday, September 22nd Eastern Time USA. Drawing for the Blue Challenge Fabric (which is a Peace Flag this month in honor of International Peace Day) will be on Sunday, September 23. Remember to be eligible to win the Peace Flag, you must play along.

Also be sure to visit Jennifer's blog for more BLUE.

Fiona at Paper Ponderings has some glorious BLUE paper cranes from Peace Park in Hiroshima.

Jo Murray has a lovely painting of BLUE pears on her site (and some hilarious ceramic pieces).

Lisa at arzigogolare has just posted the most amazing series of blue photos...BLUE as a reflection...BLUE as a shadow...they are breathtaking!

Here are some BLUE photos from Joan...looks like she's been getting around!

Approaching the Grand Canyon

Lake Powell

Las Vegas


Flowers from a vendor in Italy




Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Man-made vs. Nature: Surface Design


Just put the finishing touches on Issue #5 of Julie B Booth Surface Design News. The focus this month is making marks.

Reviewing some photos from Maine, I couldn't help but notice that this snail was up to the same thing!



Issue #5 comes out this Saturday, September 22. To receive this free online newsletter you can sign up at the top of the right hand column.


Each month, I'm always up to something (surface design related, of course) in the kitchen!

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Busy

Two sets of Peace Flags

Despite the lack of blog posts, I've been busy...

Working on the Peace Flags...


Getting ready for Roy (Blue this Thursday)...

Blue vases
One of two choices in Peace Flags for the Blue Challenge Fabric
...and creating new fabrics for the project in Issue #5 of my online newsletter (Julie B Booth Surface Design News). Issue #5 comes out on Saturday, September 22. This month's project focuses on mark making and I had a great time creating the block designs and printing the fabrics.

Mark making block sampler
Sign up for the newsletter is in the upper right hand column of this blog and you can take a look at past issues by looking through the Newsletter Archives.

Now back to writing the Newsletter.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Roy Reminder: Singing the Blues


We are one week away from this month's Searching for Roy G Biv Challenge...focusing on the color BLUE. What a great color! So many possibilities...turquoise, azure, cobalt, lapis... I remember all the great names of blues in the Crayola Crayon box (the BIG box, of course!)...cornflower...midnight blue...

What an inspiring color, I'm looking forward to inspiring photos!

For Challenge rules, click HERE.

As usual, I will have a Challenge Fabric giveaway. As many of you know, I've been working on my Flags for Peace for International Peace Day on September 21. It seems fitting that this month the winner of the fabric drawing will win a Peace Flag (a blue one, of course). But...you have to play along to be eligible to win.

So...start singing (and photographing) the blues!

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Remembering 9-11, Thinking about Peace


Today, I printed the Peace Flags.

I printed the first Peace. just as President and Mrs. Obama were observing a moment of silence at 8:42 A.M.

9-11 is always a somber day.  I'm sure everyone can remember where they were that day. I remember getting a call from my husband, who works on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. He told me to turn on the T. V.--a horrible accident had just happened--a plane had crashed into one of the Twin Towers. Still on the phone with him, I turned on the T. V. in time to see the second plane crash.

As the morning progressed, the news kept getting worse. The plane hitting the Pentagon. Another plane on its way to Capitol Hill. A second call from my husband and I was in a panic...Get out of there! He let me know that he was on his way, but it would take a while, the traffic out of D. C. was bad and he was driving a colleague home.

We have family in New York City too and in New Jersey. I was thankful as we all touched base. They were all safe.

I was even more grateful when my husband walked through the door.

I feel so lucky. I know others were not so lucky.

I will be forever thankful to those brave souls of Flight 93. If it hadn't been for them, my husband might not have walked through the door eleven years ago.


  As I work on the Flags today, I realize how important it is to continue to work towards the goal of Peace.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Peace Process


Here's what I accomplished on Saturday. I'm continuing to sew up (by hand) the Peace Flags today.
Hope to do some printing tonight.

I decided to go with this typeface for Peace. I think the italic does a nice job of complementing the curves in the hamsa.


I added a period after the word, Peace. Not totally sure why and I may still remove it. I guess it seems more declarative...like I really mean it.

Tracing the design.
Transferring the design.
Carving the design.


What do you think...period or not?


I picked a bright palette.

Ironed with hems pinned and ready to sew.
Here are the ones I've completed sewing so far. I have enough to make two sets, though I might only sew one up for now. Notice that I am sewing up two of the blue...if you've been following the Searching for Roy G Biv Challenge, you can guess that a Peace Flag will be the blue challenge fabric this month (September 20).