Pat Findlay's Studio Time

  This week I've felt better than I have for some time.  I have more energy, and what better use for it than studio work. Both of the "Chandelier" quilts have been sandwiched, ready for machine quilting, as has a smaller pieced charity quilt that has no name. As well, I've been busy with my EPP.  "TulaNova" is now on the last row around the outside.  Rather than putting each piece on as the parts are put together, I plan to make all 20 individual sections before stitching any of them on.  I'm also searching out the next project for my EPP.   Then, after competing the above, I realized that my scrap drawer is full again.  A couple of days of piecing using the "twosie/foursie" method of piecing.  What a nice way to spend a lazy day, in the basement dodging the heat.  Needless to say, my work table and sewing machine are a complete mess.  

  I'm finding that I can make 4 single page or two double page collages a day.  I've been working with over 40 Gelli prints I made as part of a play day with two friends.  We did quite a lots of value prints using multiple colours, but only one for each print. It's those value prints I've been working with, but as I feed my obsession with these collages, I find myself becoming more and more critical of the result.  Time to move on to something more satisfying.  I'm becoming intrigued with the effect a prepared substrate has on how the collage is built.  I want to figure out how to make more cooperative backgrounds., as well as using more than one hue and its shades and tints.  I've given this a lot of thought, and want to be able to work on a substrate larger than 81/2' by 11".  I would be sabotaging myself if I tried to do this with the Gellipad, as many of the techniques I have in mind wouldn't work with the Gellipad, and trying to manipulate th...

  Over the past month I was quite busy with life, lost my camera, found my camera, and was knocked for a loop by a viscous summer cold. Thinking I was over it-(after a week and feeling a little better)--I did too much trying to catch up with myself, and disappeared down the rabbit hole again.  Now my husband has it and is twice as sick as I was--and that's pretty bad. Today, I managed to get into the studio for about an hour, and not feeling like possibly ruining fabric, I used a couple of the sets of prints  I took off my Gellipad recently, to make collages in honour of World Collage day yesterday.  I had also attended a collage-making Webinar with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, yesterday afternoon that I really enjoyed, and wanted to try a couple of tricks she showed us. This effort was really to try out the techniques I've learned over the past while.  All collages are in one of my sketchbooks, but I'm wanting to feel comfortable enough to try working on water colour ...