ren's #28

Sunrise

12 inches wide x 16 inches high

This isn't finished yet; it needs a backing and a binding. I'm thinking of pillowcasing it so that the edges are just as they are here.
The emotion I was trying to get at is serenity. I wanted something calming for the start of the new year. And although the zinger is not really bright, I think it zings enough. Comments welcome, of course.

ren's Solar Flare

Solar Flare

21.5 inches high x 11.5 inches wide

velvet, cotton fabrics; cotton, silk threads; yellow colored pencil

I get lots of inspiration from this NASA website. Today's piece is a continuation of my solar series and, unlike the Solar Orbs from Challenge #26, which were supposed to be monochromatic but looked much more analogous, this one fulfills the monochromatic task much better, eh?

And value: hot white center of the flare, out to black-on-red velvet. I hope this is what the challenge meant us to do.

ren's Solar Orbs

Solar Orbs

11.5 inches wide x 17.5 inches high

Here's my study in yellow-orange and perspective. I didn't mean to have the rays go outside the orbs, but then when I got going in free-motion, it just happened. I'm not yet good at doing straight lines by free-motion, so this was exercise in that, too. I guess I should have photographed this on a dark background. SO much to learn!
Comments welcome!

ren's unfinished #25

Sunrays

21 inches wide x 30 inches high, approximately

fabric collage

So, here is my unfinished piece. Sigh. It will get finished, just not by the end of this week.
The theme is "Solar" and the colors are Yellow-Oranges and Blue-Purples. Of course, you see no purples yet; they will be laid on with thread later.

ren's non-challenge #24

Well....this is as far as I got: choosing the photo. Maybe, just maybe, I'll get to it next week. But it's not going to happen before the end of tomorrow. Sigh.

ren's challenge #23

This challenge came at an opportune moment: I wanted to experiment with some weaving and shading and was concerned that the result would be boring. Here is the thing. It fits into the "lack of focus" part of the challenge. I want to continue with the piece by adding a focal point, but it's not ready yet and won't be for a while, so I figured I would just post this version.

ren's deconstruction

This is the ugly crazy block that I had lying around.


This is what I ended up with, after adding some horrible-to-work with satin-like stuff and one piece of delightful-to-work with pink silk.

I don't know...what do you think?

ren's red crows

Red Crows

5.25 inches high x 11 inches wide

Well, here it is, unfinished but you get the idea. The fabrics are indeed denims, just not the traditional heavy blue stuff. I decided to stamp on the lighter stuff, much like I did for the art apron I had made from a set of overalls, according to instructions in one of the last Cloth, Paper, Scissors issues. These crows are a part of a larger hunk of denims; I was thinking of making postcards. Don't know if that will happen from the rest. Ah, well. This challenge is done. Looking forward to the next!

ren's rags

The finishing here still to be done includes some quilting and beading and figuring out a hanging device, but this is pretty much it. The overlay is silk organza with embroidery and beading from a silk dress that I had picked up at a church sale somewhere. The base is many of the labels that I had taken off the many men's ties that I have taken apart for their silk and wool.

I was keeping the labels in a little bowl, knowing that I would do something with them one day. And then this challenge came up and I immediately pulled out the bowl. I spent an entire day laying out the labels onto fusible batting, then ironed them down. I need to quilt and embroider over the organza to hold the labels in place for the long run.

I call this piece She and He in 1950. It is 14 inches high by 10 inches wide, so far. The hanging device might make it longer.

ren's fire

I am working on a series called "Love Torn:" with different subtitles after the colon. This unfinished piece fits well, I think, into the Fire part of this challenge. Its subtitle is Anger, which I associate with fire. When I was working on the ice piece, this was hanging on my design wall, waiting for finishing threads. I kept looking at it as the contrast that it is to the ice and thought that I would post it, too. I hope to finish it soon, although it is quite an emotional piece for me, so we'll see....

ren's 32 degrees Fahrenheit

When the challenge came out, the wind was blowing, a few rays of sun shone, and icicles were forming. It was 32 degrees Fahrenheit. And so this piece emerged.

I pulled out the couching foot again to attached the long strands of beads. What you can't see here is that the bottom portions of the beaded lines are loose, dangling, dropping their icicle droplets into the pools they make.

ren's falling leaves

After I was done with the first piece (walk in the woods), I realized that I had focused primarily on proportion in it. So I decided to take the leftovers and do something focusing on scale. This is it. Comment are always welcome!

#15: ren's "walk in the woods"

I took the cactus photo's proportions as the starting point and went from there. I was interested in using the Fibonnaci sequence so just about all the measurements started as 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, or 13 inches; then things happened and the end result isn't exactly those, but are what looked good to my eye.

I didn't think too much about scale, however, and have another piece in mind to focus on that. But I was able to work on this and finish it (REALLY finish it, binding and all!) yesterday. So here it is.

ren's Solar Wind

When the challenge was first announced, I saw this image in my mind's eye. And it's taken me days and days to execute it. The movement part was fairly easy to put down. The embellishments—which are not finished; nor is the piece itself—were to be things that I hadn't done before. I explored different stitches on my machine and then used a couching/beading foot to put the strings of beads down. And I did that using invisible thread. Whew! That stuff is really, really invisible, both the clear and the smoke. Now, I need to decide what, if anything, I want to do with the blues. And, of course, I need to finish the piece. I'm thinking of doing a pillowcase finish with fuseable web to secure all the threads on the back. Any suggestions are welcome.

ren's window

ok, here it is. after detroit this morning, for which I left yesterday, I am now in kentucky and won't see my sewing machine for several weeks. this thing isn't yet quilted or embellished; I expect to have trees and fences going up the hills and a flower box below the window, maybe. I think my greens are too close in tone, but that could be remedied with stitching. anyway, it's now out there. I'm looking forward to critiques!