Gold Foil & Painted Gold on Fabric

My local quilt shop has lovely batiks -- nice colors and designs. But the thing about quilting cottons is ... well, they don't sparkle or shine. I am all about sparkly and shiny. So, I got out a fat quarter of one of those batiks, fabric medium, jacquard sparkly powder stuff, foil, and foil adhesive.

First, I drew glue lines along the spine of the frond, then drew a few lines down the centers of the leaves. After it dried overnight, I laid a sheet of foil on it, rubbed it a little, and amazingly the glue was covered with shiny gold. Since I seldom want to stop with just a little shine, I mixed fabric medium with gold metallic powder, and painted that on more leaves. (It's a little hard to see in the photo, which I took with my iPhone and my hand must have moved a little.)

I like what I got and will use this technique again.

Pale gray twilight outlines the leafless black trees. I hear the blues coming from the living room where Bruce is setting up his ultimate iPod playlist. I sit in my studio, waiting for paint to dry and drinking a glass of champagne, looking out at wintry dusk. Barry is in Durango, and I imagine him missing Bandy and dreaming of his new Chum Bucket Red Karate Monkey bicycle, which is schedule to arrive any day now. We are reasonably happy, healthy, and productive. I am tremendously grateful for this life.

Art Journal

I am playing art with paper, paint, collage, crayons, pens, and pencils these days. I love working on my art journals for the same reason I love crazy quilting: the results are unpredictable and random. Unlike crazy quilting, however, the finished piece comes together very quickly.

The photo is a two page spread from one of my journals. I gessoed the pages because I wanted to use acrylics, then layered paint, stamping, and collage. For the collage I used an image from a Cherry Republic catalog, some torn strips from a linens catalog, and white tissue paper.

I know it isn't great art, but I am developing a finer sense of what shapes, colors, textures, and so on appeal to me. Lately, I have thought about using the art journals to explore what I'd like to put on canvas. How odd. I never imagined that I would like to paint.

Happy New Year!

Wishing you peace, love, and beauty in the coming year. And lots of time and energy to create. Joy and inspiration. Chocolate and champagne. Happy times spent with family and friends. The thighs you've always wanted. Only good hair days. Challenges. Naps. Laughter. The love of a good man (or woman, you choose.) Time to reflect. A sense of living your life well.