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On New Year’s Day I did my yearly ritual of finishing off my 2012 journal and starting one for 2013.  The book is a printed weekly calendar that has one week spread horizontally across a two-page spread.  I tend to write in it at the end of each week, reflecting on things that went on during the week, maybe adding some photos, copies of drawings, some memorabilia, a show I got into, something published, and whatever. It gives me a good sense of what I’ve done during the year and helps me focus on what I’d like to do in the coming year.

Every time I try put away a yearly book, I start pulling out and looking through older journals, including various sketchbooks. That gets me hungry to do more sketching/painting. In that regard, I also start looking through my books. And there is was: One of my all-time favorite drawings books — Successful Drawing by Andrew Loomis.

If you have any interest at all in drawing, and if you don’t have this book, you might want to consider checking it out. The 9×12 159 page book is loaded with illustrations by the author, who is also considered one of America’s leading illustrators.

The book starts with a chapter called The Fundamentals.  In part he writes, “Drawing is vision on paper. More than that, is is individual vision, tied up with individual perception, interest, observation, character, philosophy, and a host of other qualities all coming from one source. It cannot, and to be successful should not, be anything else.” I found the chapter an interesting read because it clearly applies to more than just drawing. “The knowledge of our craft must be pooled, as it is in the sciences and other professions, each of us absorbing and in turn contributing. … There is much material which the student can apply to his own work without reference to any particular style or technique of mine.”

“When drawing is convincing to the intelligent perception of the spectator because of its rightness of form, texture, space, and lighting, and at the same time appeals to his emotions, the artist can depend upon a favorable response.”

The goal of this book is developing your skills to elicit such a response. The  book covers what he calls the Five P’s — proportion, placement, perspective, planes, and pattern; and the Five C’s — conception, construction, contour, character, and consistency.

There are no step-by-step instructions in this book, and it’s not for a total beginner.  Instead, the major focus of this book is understanding the use of perspective primarily in figure drawing with solid information on lighting.

I’m glad that in the process of putting away my 2012 journal, I rediscovered this book on my bookshelf. I’m already re-reading parts of it and getting back into refining some fundamentals. While the book is pricy at $39.95, you might be able to find it used, and Amazon sells it at a good discount. I included the link above.  Happy drawing!

I have some very cool friends, including Beryl, who is an amazing artist.  This week I visited with her, and lucky me received some very, very cool presents!  In addition to some art supplies that had my mouth watering, she gave me these lovely items:

Made by Beryl Taylor

Close-up of Beryl’s work

Another close-up

Beryl makes the most amazing fabric paper; she truly started it all. This is thick, strong, and will make a fantastic journal cover!

A close-up

Another close-up

Two more pieces of unique paper Beryl made

A close-up

I just love her work!

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Some of the images I took while in NYC with Benedicte.  I love the contrasts, reflections, lines, and so on.  So many ideas for artwork, too!

Art Sparks is doing a blog-hop of holiday tutorials. I wasn’t able to participate this time around. However, please visit these sites as there are some very cool free instructions from some talented ladies!

Dec 4 – Lyric Kinard, Snowflake Pinwheel Ornament
Dec 5 – Tracie Lyn Huskamp, Chalk Board Tags
Dec 6 – Judy Perez, Speculatius-St. Nicolas cookies
Dec 7 – Jill Berry, Mini Book Ornament
Dec 8 – Traci Bunkers, Star Garland
Dec 9 – Lisa Engelbrecht, Easy Gilded Letters for Cards

Currently Lyric’s and Tracie’s tutorials are live.  I’ll add the actual link for new each new tutorial as they are available!

Good news: Blurb extended their 30% offer through December 3rd, and I’m thus extending my offer, to!

I’m offering 10% off on the PDf version of my book, An Evolution in Stitches, Paint & Pixels from now through midnight, December 3rd.  Because the book has 106 pages, the Blurb version of the book, while very nice, is expensive.  I’m happy to share a code that will give you a 30% discount off of that price.  It not only works with my book, but with other Blurb books too.  However, you need to act fast as it expires December 3rd.  Use this link to get more information.  Also, please note that I do not have any control over Blurb or their pricing, and I cannot offer any refunds on that book.  Thanks for your understanding!

While at Quilt Festival in Houston a few weeks back, I came across my all-time favorite seam ripper!  I had no idea it was made by Havel‘s.  I was there chatting up with some friends when it suddenly caught my eye!  Yipee!!

To explain: I bought my original seam ripper many years back but managed to break the plastic case (yes, overuse).  Even so, I continued using it.  It was an enormous help on my Blushing Triangles 3 quilt, which is now in the National Quilt Museum in Paducah (the image above is a close-up of Blushing Triangles 4, which uses the same type of quilting).  After putting in many hours of quilting, I realized I heavily stitched a large section of it going in the wrong direction.  However, a larger section was already finished (large than what is shown above).  My choices were to the scrap the piece and start again, leave it and hope no one noticed, or take out the area and restitch it.  Because that seam ripper works so well, I decided to take out the stitches using the blade itself (since I snapped off the plastic).  It was a laborious process that took several weeks.  Even so, that blade, or as it’s properly called, “the Ultra-Glide Curved Blade Seam Ripper by Havel’s.” helped me to remove those stitches without once cutting into the silk.

You can see the original blade sitting on the packaging to the right of the new seam ripper in the top photo.  I’ve kept it on my magnetic pin cushion for years while I tried to find a replacement.  While I bought some others, nothing I’ve tried works as good and I continued to use the blade by itself.  I am SO glad that I found my favorite!  I also see on the Havel’s website that they have a “heavy duty” model here,  but, even cooler, little ones, perfect for stocking stuffers, here!

If you do any kind of stitching and ever need to remove stitching, you will save yourself a lot of aggravation by using this tool!  It’s very inexpensive, too.  I have no affiliation with Havel’s other than being a VERY happy user!

I also got some new scissors.  I love the serrated edge (which you can see if you look very closely).  Yummy!!  You can find out more about their fabric scissors here and embroidery scissors here.

International Quilt Festival Quilt Scene is in bookstores now.  My quilt, “Monarch: About to Fly” is included in a selection of work from the Quilts: A World of Beauty show.

I also have work in the Winter 2013 issue of Art Quilting Studio, which will be in bookstores on December 1st.  It’s a lovely issue with lots of great work by artists such as Sandra Meech, Gerrie Congdon, Arlee Bar, Ludmila Aristova, Natalya Aikens, Rayna Gilman, and others.

I’ve had some email asking why no posts lately.  I was away at Quilt Festival, and then home in central NJ dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.  I’ll be posting more soon!

I’m thrilled to have two pieces that were juried into the Art Quilts Year XVII: Integrating A Paradox show in Chandler, Arizona.  My pieces included are Another Journey and Lost In Illusion (both of which are included in my online gallery). And I’m thrilled to share that I learned in late December that Lost In Illusion was a Chandler Center for the Arts $5,000 Purchase Award winner!  For more information, see the Chandler Center for the Arts website.

8 that Create: Sue Bleiweiss, Jane Davila, Jamie Fingal, Gloria Hansen, Leslie Tucker Jenison, Liz Kettle, Carol Sloan, Kathyanne White

Exhibition Admission: $8/$4 members & groups of 6+; children under 12 Free
Hours: Mon – Thurs 10am-4pm; Fri – Sat 10am-5pm; Sun Noon-4pm

Opening Weekend Festivities start Friday, October 12; 5-7pm Preview Reception. Enjoy music, refreshments, and a silent auction.

For more information on the View, click here.  For more information on 8 That Create, visit the blog or the main website.

“Fashion Lines” by Gloria Hansen

This is the second piece I made for the show which is based on a torn images from fashion magazines that I collaged, photographed, manipulated, and printed onto silk fabric.

A close up.

My piece shown in the post card is called “Yesterday’s Vogue.”

Nurture Your Creative Spirit, by Vikki Pignatelli

Do you ever find yourself needing a swift kick in the get-your-creative-mojo-going pants?  If so, pour yourself a nice cuppa tea and curl up with Vikki Pignatelli’s latest book, Nurture Your Creative Spirit, Wisdom and Insight Learned Through the Art of Quilting, a book she wrote with the encouragement of her students. Although, fair warning, it will take more than one cup of tea to get through this book!

Vikki starts the book with how her artistic style developed from fingerpainting to art quilt making, including why she calls herself an “improbable quilter.” The bulk of the book, however, is the intertwining of the personal stories and symbolism behind her beautiful quilts with the traits that nurture creativity — such as determination, persistence, humor, flexibility, patience, courage, curiosity, etc. — and with creativity itself. In her stories, nothing is off-limits, including how her personal storms, such as her husband Denny’s diagnosis of kidney cancer, affected her quilt making.

In a section entitled “Have Faith In Yourself,” Vikki talks about a question she was asked during a lecture about why she uses fabrics other than cotton in her work. It never occurred to Vikki not to use other fabrics, which made her realize the person asking the question simply hadn’t been exposed to the idea of using other materials.  She reminds us that we have no restraints, either as artists or as the spiritual beings we are, other than those we place on ourselves.  She encourages us to be fearless and embrace creative opportunities.

I returned to this book again and again, with a post-it note pad, pen, and highlighter in hand, unable to take it all in during one sitting.  Vikki includes pages throughout the 152-page text-heavy book for your personal notes and encourages you to answer questions such as why do you make art? Are you feeling satisfied and enjoying your creative journey? Are you growing both artistically and as a creative human being? Do you put passion in your artwork?  What stops you from being productive?

Vikki Pignatelli is a woman of many talents: an award-winning art quilter, a teacher, an author, a designer, the founder of the national Sacred Threads Quilt Exhbitions.  Her warm writing style is like listening to a good friend who is open and honest and unafraid to share her personal journey. Her introspection and insights are humbling and inspiring, and her hope is that you see yourself in her struggles and triumphs and recognize and nurture your own artistic journey.  She states her purpose “is to motivate, encourage and strengthen the creativity and self-confidence within each individual,” and this book, written from the heart of an artist, does just that, regardless what your artistic medium.

$29.95 available from VikkiPignatelli.com.