Hello out there. I just noticed that it has been over a month since I last posted anything about my practice. Too much time in the isolation chamber I think. The silence can be like an extra layer of batting between brain cells.
Two of my pieces left their spots on my design wall this past week. They travel to new eyes with an invisible thread to my thoughts.
In vegetable gardening the term cut and come again means you harvest the outer mature leaves of lettuce, spinach or greens and let the inner leaves continue growing. I thought about that when I cut up a couple of my quilts this month. Disrupting and Disruptors are two quilts made from cloth
What are you reading? Recently I did a presentation for the California and Nevada Studio Art Quilt Associates chapter in which I mentioned that I read a lot in order to be inspired in my work. I am an eclectic reader and it shows in my work. Non fiction and fiction both have pride of place on my re
The Festival of Quilts in the UK has posted their online gallery of quilts. This year’s show is called Beyond the Festival of Quilts and has lots of online resources for quilters and artists. You can see my work in the art quilt section, just click here and scroll down. Take some time to scroll th
The work will go on view tomorrow in MoMA's permanent-collection galleries.
Kids and teens will love this Valentine's painting project made with watercolors.
Grids are elemental. They anchor, organize and subdivide space. They add order to chaos. They bring structure to cities. They show up everywhere: cages, tiling, supermarket shelves, architectural structures. So when I started this project I aimed to break the grid. I had two projects that were not s
Two sides, same person. I often work on more than one piece at a time. This month I have been working on two pieces. One is contained and precisely pieced, the other looks like Dr. Frankenstein took out his needle during a side show. She didn’t have the password started as an abstract compositio
Two of my pieces left their spots on my design wall this past week. They travel to new eyes with an invisible thread to my thoughts.
I use this mighty tool to deconstruct pieces that don't speak to me anymore. I look for those quiet ones that seem unbalanced, pretentious or unsuccessful. They hide in piles beneath my work table — murmuring. Some are sharing false narratives. Some seem to be trying too hard. Others just plain bore
I was talking to a good friend this weekend about the fact that I can't seem to finish things. I am full of ideas and come into the studio each day with a new direction I want to pursue. Exploration, imitation and experimentation all teach me what to do next time -- perhaps with a clearer eye to fin
Sometimes I have to unsettle the settled patterns of my mind. I start with no ideas, no burning need to communicate. I just have to get out of my head and into my hands. I grab the nearest slab of fabric, stick some batting into the fold and start stitching. Black and white satisfies the need for de
In vegetable gardening the term cut and come again means you harvest the outer mature leaves of lettuce, spinach or greens and let the inner leaves continue growing. I thought about that when I cut up a couple of my quilts this month. Disrupting and Disruptors are two quilts made from cloth
The other day I looked around and had a choice. I could finish a number of pieces that are still in process, clean the studio, create new work or drive into the sunset. I decided to let the stitch tell me what to do. There was quilt back laying around from a piece that never did get finished. So I s
Paula Kovarik had her own creative agency specializing in corporate and employee communications and is now a full-time textile artist.
Since I have devoted my last few posts to pop-ups, I’ve decided to put together a brief introduction to this magical bit of paper engineering. There are many fabulous in-depth resources to …
If you do one thing today, go to the Kickstarter project for Unforgettable: Bold Flavors from A Renegade Life, the biographical cookbook on Paula Wolfert's life.
"Quite why she is not more famous is difficult to fathom. Maybe her gender and style went against her?"
The 10 best 'stuck at home' craft ideas with the kids. Next to some math and science I also put things like music and art on our schedule. Ideas here...
trying trying again … I had this idea long ago that I could create floating globes that would hang in space and allow viewers to insert their heads into them for a different sensory experience. (See It didn’t work for another go at this idea.) For the past few weeks I have been thinking about me
I am reading Annals of the Former World by John McPhee. It’s not an easy book to read. It focuses on geological formations and geologists and time. Geologists read rock like we read books. McPhee travels across the United States with five different geologists who decipher the terrain as they trave
Grids are elemental. They anchor, organize and subdivide space. They add order to chaos. They bring structure to cities. They show up everywhere: cages, tiling, supermarket shelves, architectural structures. So when I started this project I aimed to break the grid. I had two projects that were not s
I am preparing for a number of shows in 2018 by gathering up all the pieces that are done and planning some that are not. I'm looking for pieces that go together and some that contrast each other well. The studio is covered in pieces that are unpacked, unrolled and stacked. The pieces represent over
When Kathleen Loomis sat down to write her book about designing quilts she must have had a lot of fun because this book is chock-a-block full of hints and happiness. She has taken a simple traditional block, the Rail Fence block, and turned it on its ear. Never will you see so many variations of str
Para este proyecto se utilizó BOOM con punto reversible y agujas número 10. Tejer un cuadrado, con 54 puntos y 108 hileras para lograr un cuadrado de 50 x 50 centímetros. #Repost @irismora....
The 10 best 'stuck at home' craft ideas with the kids. Next to some math and science I also put things like music and art on our schedule. Ideas here...
Paula Steel applies her professional project management skills making her quilts, designing quilt patterns and now authoring her first book.
The Paul & Paula blog is sending you into 2021 with lots of great goodies, finds and reads. And some extra resilience. Stay strong and healthy!
Seeing quilts made with Paula's fabulous fabrics are a real treat, and this past fall at Quilt Market was no exception. We celebrated 20 years of Paula designing fabric and showcased a gallery of quilts made using both More is MORE and her upcoming Piece & Joy collection. Today we're sharing a closer look at a few of these quilts. "Stripe-Adelic" by Paula Nadelstern "I fell in love with the Stripe-Adelic print the first time I used it in a quilt and a trove of cutting options was revealed more exciting than I’d anticipated. I could cut it randomly from left to right or symmetrically from the center out. I could attach it with fascinating results to a patch from its own colorway or to a different one. Connecting a strip of Stripe-Adelic to another fabric created fascinating results, often softening and camouflaging the seams. The result is a smooth transition from patch to patch and the illusion that there is no seam at all. This quilt is a simple Rail Fence." Close-up: "Tivoli" by Ricki Selva This quilt pairs mandalas with fussy-cut wedges to create a design with incredible depth! Close-up: "More Fabricadabra Butterflies" by Peggy True Based on a quilt made using Paula's Fabricadabra collection, these butterflies are made using fussy-cut sections of Fusion and Rabbit Hole for the wings, and Stripe-Adelic for the bodies. Little on-point squares of Mosaic make beautiful pieced sashing strips, and the same print is used in the border. Close-up: Click here to see more of the quilts displayed at Market made using Paula's More Is MORE and upcoming Piece & Joy collections. Click here to see the entire More Is MORE collection. Click here to read Paula's interview about designing More Is MORE. Click here to visit Paula's website and see more of her work. Learn more about her unique design strategies in her book, "Fabricadabra: Simple Quilts, Complex Fabrics" from C&T Publishing. Love It? Share It!
In 1998 Portuguese born artist Paula Rego created a series of work entitled Untitled. The Abortion Pastels. Rego created her work in response to a referendum to legalise abortion in Portugal, whic…
I spent the week making little marks. obsessively. They were small imprints that wanted out of my head. It felt like an unknown language, one that had deeper beginnings. Listening to interviews of world leaders, analysts, pundits and disruptors it came to me that we are all speaking in code. No one
Grids are elemental. They anchor, organize and subdivide space. They add order to chaos. They bring structure to cities. They show up everywhere: cages, tiling, supermarket shelves, architectural structures. So when I started this project I aimed to break the grid. I had two projects that were not s
The other day I looked around and had a choice. I could finish a number of pieces that are still in process, clean the studio, create new work or drive into the sunset. I decided to let the stitch tell me what to do. There was quilt back laying around from a piece that never did get finished. So I s
It is nearly time for this month's Saturday workshop! Altered Books. On the 23rd May in Boxmoor we will be making, starting and learning new techniques to make unique little works of ART from old, unloved hardback books. It is such a happy experience to see beautiful things emerging from the pages and seeing how everybody interprets the techniques that I'm showing them into their own personal artwork. This time we are going to be working with Acrylic mediums. Crackle paints, moulding paste, iridescent mediums and paints, and resin. We are also going to play with openings and put little doors with hinges into our books. Each person can choose to work to a theme or just to play with the techniques. Have a look through this blog for photos of Altered Books and there are lots on my website too. www.paulawatkins.co.uk if you'd like to see examples of this lovely art for. Here are a few more to show some of the techniques we will be playing with. This first one shows some of the different mediums used with iridescent paint effects, It also shows a window cut between the pages to showcase a vintage optometrist lens which has been treated with resin and wired between the pages. This little heat treated copper door has brass hinges and a fastening. It opens to reveal the vintage dresses hanging in the wardrobe by a chain and little wire hangers. The fairies on the other page a peeking in. This is a stitched panel on a book page using some of my collection of buttons and lace. As you can see, an Altered Book can be anything you want it to be. Let me know if you'd like to join us on this workshop or one in the future. We have such fun!
This is the second year I have done this journal project with fifth graders in Saratoga Springs. I wrote about it last year, but in less detail than I plan to write about it today. This workshop da…
Disclosure: Paula Roland sent me a free copy of her DVD to review for this post. Encaustic Monotypes | Paula Roland’s instructional DVD Encaustic Monotypes Painterly Prints with Heat and […]
I was talking to a good friend this weekend about the fact that I can't seem to finish things. I am full of ideas and come into the studio each day with a new direction I want to pursue. Exploration, imitation and experimentation all teach me what to do next time -- perhaps with a clearer eye to fin
The final resting sequence in yoga yesterday brought unsolicited thoughts that were inspirational. But then I forgot to write them down and they disappeared like swallows. Dang, I lost them again. It was something about catching details in the maelstrom. Luring the unknown into the known. Dreams do
