Art Quilts in Display

I'm finally having a public exhibit if my art quilts! Friday, April 17,2015 from 5-8 pm, I'm the last on the list. I took a few art quilts to my art league meeting just to provide I did indeed make them, I'd kept saying I did so I thought I'd prove it. Anyway, the president of the art league said I needed to do a show, so here it is, next Friday. It was originally slated for February but that art walk got canceled because of bad weather. Let's hope the weather cooperates this time. It is storm season in central KY.

This should be fun anyway. I'll have about 22 quilts of various sizes displayed. All are for sale. There are some hand painted silk quilts included along with the appliquéd & pieced ones. If you're in the lexington area, come down to nicholasville, one county south & join the fun.

Reviving Dried out Alcohol based Markers

I learned a trick to revive markers that are dried out, especially those expensive ones. This works on alcohol based markers, haven't tried watercolor markers yet. Anyway, pull out the nib of the marker with tweezers, take rubbing alcohol, denatured alcohol or maybe even vodka might work, using an eye dropper, syringe or pipette, drop a few drops of alcohol into the hole of the marker where the nib goes. Replace the nib, and shake. You may have to wait a little while for the alcohol to soak in. I let mine sit overnight. When I tired it the next day I had a marker that worked again. Can't say this works for all kinds, I have Copic and Prismacolor markers, but it works for these. It beats buying another $8.00 marker. Some of these higher end markers also have ink refills available. This is just a short cut to refresh a dried out marker. Eventually you will have to refill it with ink. :)

A New Quilt

Okay, the test post went through successfully. So here goes one with a photo to test that feature.  This is a hand painted silk quilt called The Elements of Nature. I will have this and about 20 others displayed in my first solo quilt show! it will be Friday evening, 5 pm - 8 pm on April 17, 2015 in Nicholasville, just a short drive south from Lexington,  the show is part of the April Art Walk sponsored by the local art league every other month. I will be set up in Adam Zerooigians law office across the street from the courthouse. If you happen to be in the Lexington Ky area that evening, for the Keeneland races maybe, stop by & see the whole show, 

I've also got an article coming up on a new art website called Creativeroom4talk.com. I'll let you know when it's up. 

A New App

Had to use a new app for the IPad blogger. The old one threw an error and refused to allow me to post anything. So here goes. This is only a test post to see if it works. Please understand that I have to learn how to use this app yet, so if the post looks strange, you know I'm still learning it. 

Options for Silk Painting

Theoretically, when painting on silk, the stretched silk should lay flat to prevent the paints or dyes from running down the silk. Most of the time the frame is suspended between 2 saw horses or laid on a table. There is another way to do this. I use a watercolor easel which tilts to lay flat. The advantage of this is that, once the painting is finished, simply fold up the easel & put it away till next time. This is a real plus if you are cramped for painting space. The easel has brackets to hold the frame, whether it be wooden canvas stretchers or PVC pipe. The tilt will adjust from flat to upright for in between painting times, then back to flat to paint. On many models the height also adjusts. I have also found these easels are less expensive than regular studio easels & take up less space in general. Here are some examples.

Another view. Notice the long arm to place the frame on,it's horizontal.

And here's the painting,still in progress.

New Quilt Tops

These are the newest quilt tops I've recently finished. The smaller one is from an issue of American Quilter magazine. I decided to only make 2 quilts a year since the finished quilts are piling up around the house, I don't need to add to the pile so much.

In other matters, I adopted a family if cats, 2 kittens, about 8 weeks old & their mom. I wanted a black cat since my black Persian died last year. Things just seemed off without a black cat in the house ( I have a white one), all I could find at the time was the kitten, I didn't want to break up the family so the local shelter made me a deal on all threesome I took them. I already have 4 other cats, all elderly, so with a total of 7 & kittens to boot & 2 dogs, my house is a zoo of sorts. It's fun but crazy. I chose it so I must deal with it. The kittens will grow, at least I can train them to be proper house cars & the mama cat is very laid back. It'll all be fine,and the balance is restored.

The Tarot Project

Below are two new paintings. They are the first two of 22 of the Major Arcana of the Tarot. For some reason it came to me that I should paint my version of the Tarot deck. There are many versions of this oracle, so I thought I'd throw my version I to the mix. Each image is in itself a piece of art, check out the different decks available to see the art of each card. So, why not do my own paintings that depict the qualities if each card. There are 22 of the Major Arcana and 56 of the minor arcana, all four suits, making a total of 78 cards. Obviously this is going to take a while ( to paint all 78 images). So follow along, if you wish, to watch the progress of this project. I very seriously doubt that it will available as an actual tarot deck ( I could be wrong, hope so) I'd be happy to have a solo show of the project. These paintings & those that follow are in acrylic and are about 11" x 14" in size, they will be either on canvas or on watercolor paper / board.
Stay tuned, there will be more, And let me know what you think. I enjoy the feedback in the comments, it helps me grow as an artist to know what you think of my work.