Category Archives: Garden and Nature

New Painting Fabric Leaves Class

Just a quick post to say… I’m excited to announce that I’ll be teaching at Visions Art Museum in June!

When Autumn Leaves Start to Fall: Hand painted Leaves with Ann Scott Monday June 24, 2019 10:00 am – 1:00 pm Location: Visions Art Museum 2825 Dewey Road, Suite 100 San Diego, CA 92106
$35 VAM members$50 nonmembersplus $5 Class Kit payable to Instructor
Fall into some fun by making unique fabric leaves that can add a special touch to many projects. Students will learn to “paint” leaves on fabric using wax pastels, water, and a round artist brush. They’ll learn about the wax pastels; their properties and characteristics. Supply list available upon registration.
Registration open now!
For more information or to register, call the Museum! (619) 546 – 4872

Fabric Play

I was thinking about making some winter cards so I was playing, with sun-printing (again) using leatherleaf ferns and Setasilk and then painting with Neo Color wax pastels. The first three are from the same large piece, I’m floating a card stock “window” over it to find an area I like.

I’m not sure where I’m going with those but I know the Neo Color pastel poinsettia is crying for some thread play. The pine cone was really an experiment and it’s just okay. I may have to fix the stem because the branch looks like a stem shadow (more pine needles?). I should have done a wash around it too; I don’t like the white area on the right. Maybe that would be a place for some white (tone on tone) embroidery or maybe free motion quilting.

And below is a poinsettia card I made for my aunt. I posted a card similar to this in the past but this one is a little different in that the leave/petals hang beyond the edge. I like this one better and I think my fabric quilled beads with French Knots make the perfect flowers.

As I was writing this post my daughter gave a little holler saying “Sky!” and if you know anything about my family you know that is the signal to go upstairs and out on our bedroom deck. It was to see this…

Always makes me want to paint fabric!

Taking a walk…

One of my “kids” had an appointment and the other was going to the zoo to take photographs so I tagged along. I walked through Balboa Park which is where our world famous zoo is, stopping at the reflecting pond, it was nice to see this artist painting.

It was a beautiful day and the flowers were blooming pretty.

Speaking of flowers; here is a detail peek of my painted quilt (lighting not so good, sorry). See a reminder of what it looked like before it was a painted quilt.

Now That Was Surprising!

Last post I was writing about lizards copulating in the garden. Today as Kona and I were hanging out on the deck she became very alert at some noise coming from the side yard ivy. I heard it but couldn’t figure it out until I spotted it running past the shed… An iguana, at least two feet long! It was thirsty (it is pretty warm here today) and found the waterfall very quickly, ate some of the Evening Primrose (hope it’s not poisonous!) and some romaine I gave it, posed on the top of the waterfall and then moved down and perched on top of my garden bench under the tree (sorry, bad photo). Then he moved up into the tree, they are really fast! No one here was brave enough to catch it and what the heck would be have done with it if we had! There are dogs in the two yards that abut ours near that tree so we are hoping it doesn’t head that way. A couple hours later it was no longer in the tree. I just hope it doesn’t surprise me next time I’m out there!

Last post I also showed a bit of a quilt I have been working on. I had a pinched nerve so was slowed down for a couple days but I finally got it quilted (wool batting, lots of quilting) and blocked. Here is a photo of the back. Next I’ll paint the front and then post a photo (with an explanation), unless it is terrible in which case you may never see it!

Spring Surprises

We’ve lived in our house for over thirty years and though there have plenty of alligator lizard sightings this is the first year we have spotted them copulating – three pairs in two day! It looks like quite a violent act and can last for hours. Luckily kitty didn’t notice the pair next to the BBQ on “her” deck! I have a good photo of that pair but seeing as the females head is in the male’s mouth I have decided to spare you and instead post another MeAnndering (on paper) piece, Kona supporting me in my art, and a piece that is under the quilting needle right now. Don’t let the patchwork fool you, I plan on painting it (more about that in a later post). How is the weather where you are?

When the Wind Blows

We have had some Santa Ana winds recently, which are always scary because we are so prone to wildfires. Our Redbud tree has been wind stripped of most of her leaves. I walked out the other day and on the patio next to the tree saw this circle of leaves and asked my husband if he wanted me to put them in the greens recycle can and he said “I don’t know what circle of leaves you are talking about.” He thought I made it, I thought he made it, we knew our adult kids hadn’t made it, and so it has been determined that the wind made it…that or there are some leaf elves hiding out in our garden!

I’m not a trained painter but enjoy trying my hand at it on fabric, which I believe is even more challenging than painting on paper. I see a lot that is not “correct” about this leaf but the shadow area, at least, will go under my quilting machine needle and hopefully I’ll be happier about it then. One thing I know but too often forget – Painting a drying leaf, in little bits of time, over a few days is not a good idea. Drying leaves change!

I think I work better in the abstract… it is more forgiving (or is it that I’m more accepting?!) and I find it much more relaxing. The below leaf was painted using Neo-Color II Wax Pastels and water and will have more quilting around it. Both of these leaves were painted on a scrap from my A Clear Necessity quilt (which is scheduled to be exhibited at the New England Quilt Museum in 2017).

I don’t know why it is but I just have a thing for leaves! How about you?

Something New and a Little Green

I was gifted an herb planter set for Mother’s Day (from my Mister), and even though they were in a sunny window, it wasn’t going well until I placed them outside in the (filtered) sun. At first I thought – In jars without drain holes, bad idea but… Now they are very happy and I don’t feel like a plant killer! Hopefully the cilantro (the one I most wanted) won’t bolt.

I’m not a watercolor on paper artist but because I made the mistake of leash training Kona, I seem to be spending more time out on the kitchen deck, so I decided to try my hand.

I admire anyone who can paint Plein Air… I’m intimidated by it!

herbs watercolor — Painted on Watercolor Postcards stock (it’s tiny)

Back in the studio where I feel more confident… Here is a little detail of my most recent Photograph on Fiber series piece. It will be on display at the San Diego Quilt Show August 30 (evening Preview Party) through September 3, 2016. After the piece professionally photographed I’ll share it on the blog.

still moring detail — Hand painted whole cloth, stamped using hand made stamps, and machine quilted.

As I was writing this about twenty green parrots flew over… such a perfect ending!

Composition

I walk every morning and take quick shots with my phone. I’m happy when I catch a bit of nature in a neat composition. I spotted this face down, soft yellow flower and didn’t really see anything else at the time but after viewing the photo on the PC I noticed the texture of the walkway and the stress crack that has collected tiny bit of plants and dirt. All that texture sends me to a happy, inspired place!

And sometimes the inspiration is right in my own garden as with this Golden Dewdrop/Duranta erecta, flowing through our fence.

I’m participating in the most recent Visions Art Museum Member Challenge and I can’t help but think that the cascading Duranta erecta inspired my composition. The theme is “Surface Design” which, to me, could mean so many things, unfortunately I didn’t have enough time to create a new fabric. Since I have been the fabric coiling queen lately I decided to make an art quilt using some of the coils… It is titled Fiber Flow and it will be on display at VAM from July 16 – October 2, 2016, along with many awesome art quilts and textile pieces.

Revisiting Earth Day

Back on Earth Day my Mister and I took an early morning walk through the Balboa Park Cactus and Rose Gardens. It was a soft gray sky morning, which made the walk much more enjoyable.

I photographed many neat plants but this agave really caught my eye and my imagination… I see a baby bird opening its beak for a feeding.

Here is an unusual “cactus” that I hadn’t seen before.

My sister-in-law correctly identified it as being a Euphorbia. I learned it is Euphorbia grandicornis, Cow’s Horn with pink flowers and that it is not actually a cactus but from a the beautiful, interesting, (and poisonous) Euphorbiaceac family of plants (thanks Wikipedia).

And here is a little cactus landscape I designed for one of my classes. This piece is built on and sewn to Timtex The cactus and rock elements have been sewn to felt for more definitions. In this piece the sky is the only fabric I painted.

If you don’t live in San Diego but ever plan to visit, I would highly recommend Balboa Park, it is a wonderful place to explore and spend time and a great place to find inspiration!

Watercolor and Flowers

I was looking through my art supplies and discovered an old box of watercolor tube paints that may have been my dad’s or maybe mine from high school!

They were pretty far gone, seeing as they were made sometime between the 1960s to 70s, but I managed to get some out of the tubes and decided to paint a little painting. It has been a really long time since I painted watercolor on paper and I’m rusty to say the least. It is very different from painting on fabric, which is more my thing but I’m happy with the painting. I think I may try to work it into a printed fabric design.

Now my creative juices are flowing and I’m ready to water down my textile paints and paint a watercolor on fabric… Looking at that painting makes me want to layer it and add detail using thread play and quilting. Would you rather paint on paper or fabric?

Fiber Designs by Ann

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