Posts Tagged “mini art quilt”

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I finished working on the Klee inspired painted and stitched art work that I worked on for a recent commission. My client had indicated that she wanted to mat and frame this piece, which I think will look fabulous! Just to get an idea of what this might look like once it leaves my hands, I created a mat in Photoshop and placed the art work inside.

Meanwhile, it’s been a crazy week here in Denver! What have I been up to? I am the marketing and PR co-chairperson for a fund raising auction at my daughter’s school. Check out the blog that I put together…Steele Auction. Last year, the auction raised around $50,000 to help bridge the gap between the school budget and some of the activities and supplies that the teachers and parents would like to see the children have at school. The auction is coming up this Saturday, February 3. Needless to say, my attention has been turned away from my art work towards auction activities.

I have also been preparing for an interview for a substitute teaching position with Denver Public Schools. The interview is tomorrow AM.

As to my husband’s job interview in Steamboat Springs, we haven’t heard anything, despite assurances that he would be notified one way or the other. He did follow up with both an email and phone call, but no response. We’re pretty sure that means he didn’t get the job. I’m relieved, there really is a lot to Denver that I love that I would miss if we lived in a small town. The thought of moving doesn’t sound very appealing either.

Tags: mini art quilt

The original as downloaded from the internet

I thought an orange batik would be the perfect fabric for the base and I learned a new technique…staple the fabric while I’m painting so that it doesn’t curl or buckle

The beginning of the painting

The finished painting

My final rendition, stitched and assembled
I ended yesterday’s post by mentioning some other artists who were also symbolists like Klimt, including Norwegian artist, Edvard Munch. So, I decided I definitely needed to do one of his pieces. His painting, The Scream (1893) is such an iconographic piece and is still so recognizable today!

I learned a little bit though…I always thought it was a self portrait of the artist in a manic state. It is in a sense…this is what he wrote in his diary “I was walking along a path with two friends—the sun was setting—suddenly the sky turned blood red—I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence—there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city—my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety—and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.”

It was during this time that Munch’s sister was interned in an insane asylum. Someone has also linked this time period with the eruption of a volcano on the Island of Krakatoa, whose volcanic ash caused intense red sunsets all over the world. Another interesting note is that he rendered several different versions of the painting in his lifetime. And, from time to time one is stolen and then recovered again!

I find all this info really interesting…what information are we passing on in our art?

I will be posting this one for sale on Etsy…I’m still undecided on the Klimt one.

Tags: Edvard Munch, fabric postcard, mini art quilt, the scream

Painted Background Fabric

The beginning of the painting

Finshed Painting

Finished Quilted Fabric Postcard
Whew…I really procrastinated on this one, and I’m not sure why. I think, I was challenged by how I was going to do this one, so I stalled. Once, I started painting, however, I liked how the progress was coming along. And, now that it’s sitting here in front of me, I really like the outcome, if I may say so myself!

It’s not an exact replica, but close enough. This is 4.3 x 6 inches, painted, quilted and assembled into a fabric postcard.

I have to run to my daughter’s swim lessons right now, so this will have to be it for this afternoon.

Dec. 14th update: Since I didn’t have enough time to write much yesterday, I decided to add a little more to the post…mainly background info on Klimt. He was 1 of 7 children born to a poor family in Austria. He attended Vienna School of Arts and Crafts from 1879-1883 and was an early member of the the Austrian Symbolist group which was an off shoot of the Romantics (think Casper David Friedrich, John Henry Fuseli. Other symbolists include Odilon Redon, Puvais de Chavannes and Edvard Munch.

Klimt was publicly criticized for his almost pornographic and sensuous paintings. While not pornographic in a modern sense, the phallic symbol is alive and well in a lot of his work…just look at The Kiss, it’s there!

His drew inspiration from ancient Greek, Minoan and Byzantine art work and engravings by Alrecht Durer. After reading this, I ticked off a number of my own favorite artists, Redon, Friedrich and Munch. And, Durer is the bomb when it comes to printmaking! I think I have to pull out my 19th C Art History book after I sign off!

After I made this mini replica, I must have stared at it for at least 30 minutes or longer. The figures merge, yet they are dileneated by the patterns on their clothing, he has large geometric masculine shapes in black, gold, white, copper and she has smaller round shapes in all of the above colors with the addition of red, blue, and green. I might not have noticed if I hadn’t studied the painting and painted a copy. It got me thinking about shapes, colors and the idea of frequencies. I’m going to explore that theme in more detail on a larger scale in my own work!

Tags: fabric postcard, gustav klimt, mini art quilt, the kiss