Today’s Inspiration: Travel

I am posting each day of the Quilting Arts TV blog hop with a personal message about inspiration and creativity.  Today is the last day in the series, and today’s blogger is Susan Brubaker Knapp (bluemoonriver.blogspot.com), the new host of Quilting Arts TV



Today’s Inspiration is Travel.  I was born with a wanderlust.  I’ve been fortunate that I get to indulge in travel from time to time, while still being a responsible adult and fulfilling the responsibilities of home and hearth.

I can say that travel literally changed my life.  When I was in college, I signed up, more or less on a whim, to spend a semester in India. To the best of my knowledge, our group was the only American student group officially in the subcontinent at that time, and to say we had adventures would be an understatement.

I fell in love with the country, the beautiful and gracious people I met everywhere, and the gorgeous silks and handwoven khadi cottons I discovered and brought back home.
 Merged with the Pennsylvania Dutch aesthetic I grew up  with, the experience formed the basis for my initial and ongoing artistic practice.
I had the opportunity to return to India a few years ago, revisit some of my old haunts, and have some new adventures.  I did a series of blog posts you can access at the tab at the top, or by clicking here.  When you have a bit of free time, why not sit down with a beverage of choice and explore the country with me?
 
I’m certain you have enjoyed your travels around the blog-o-sphere with all the artists featured on the Series 1400 Quilting Arts TV DVD

You can learn more about it on the Quilting Arts TV Website.

I hope you will tag my blog by whatever method works for you—there’s options on the right, under my profile-- and revisit my site often.  I don’t post by a regular schedule, but I do post when I feel I have something worth saying and sharing, and I would love to have you along to share the journey.

And as always, thanks for reading and posting.

Today’s Inspiration: Photography

I am posting each day of the Quilting Arts TV blog hop with a personal message about inspiration and creativity.  When you’re done reading here, pop on over to the featured artists of the day to enjoy their blogposts.  Today’s bloggers are: Cheryl Sleboda (muppin.com/wordpress/) AND Jane Sassaman (janesassaman.com/weblog) AND Julie Creus (http://todera.blogspot.com)

Today’s Inspiration is Photography.  In this, as in most things, I am an autodidact. My training consists of taking lots of photos, in a multitude of situations, using varying degrees of technology, and learning from them all.  I do a lot of editing, separating the wheat from the chaff, and it’s safe to say that easily accessible digital technology has been a game changer for myself and myriad other artists.

I practice photography several different ways.  I have a Canon DSL camera and some good lenses that I use to take the studio portraits of my finished work.  It was a steep learning curve, but I now produce photos I can use for my website, exhibit entries, and magazine submissions.

I also have a Sony cyber-shot that I use to take a lot of the in-progress photos of my work that find their way into my blogposts.

But by far the camera I use the most is the one in my iPhone.  It’s always handy, and takes very good pictures.  There are a wealth of apps you can use to customize the way you take photos—I currently favor Camera+ and ProCamera—and how you edit them—Snapseed is my favorite.

A few years ago I began experimenting with attachable lenses for my phone, first a Diffcase set, and currently an Olloclip.  They have allowed me to explore the intricacies of the macro world, and the distortions of the fisheye view.

I take my (almost) daily photos with my phone to train my eye.  Some of the imagery may show up in my work, but I mainly use it to remind myself to be present in the moment and look around at the world. I also enjoying sharing them on my Flickr feed, as well as Twitter and Facebook.  I can’t solve all the problems of the world, but I can put a spot of beauty out there each day.
At the other end of the photo technology scale is my work with cyanotype.  It is one of the oldest forms of imagery, discovered in 1842.  You can read the history here on Blueprints on Fabric, where I order my pre-treated fabric (no affiliation, except as a satisfied customer). Despite, or perhaps because of, its simplicity and direct application, I find it to be a fresh and exciting art form, and I use it extensively in my work.

I discuss using photos as inspiration with Susan Brubaker Knapp in a one of the episodes on the Quilting Arts TV DVD  Susan also uses photography in her artistic life and in her work, with beautiful results.

Read more about it, including the PBS schedule, on the Quilting Arts TV Website

Tomorrow’s featured blogger: July 25: Susan Brubaker Knapp (bluemoonriver.blogspot.com)

Up next: Travel

Today’s Inspiration: The River

I am posting each day of the Quilting Arts TV blog hop with a personal message about inspiration and creativity.  When you’re done reading here, pop on over to the featured artists of the day to enjoy their blogposts.  Today’s bloggers are: Lyric Kinard (lyrickinard.com/blog) AND Margie Ullery (ribboncandyquilts.blogspot.com)

Today’s Inspiration is The River.  I’ve lived near the Susquehanna River for most of my life.
 
As a child I had an uncle who owned an island in the river.  One year when the river was very low, he drove a old Farmall tractor across to the island, and did some hobby farming there.  It seemed like a magical place to me.

I was in college, working a summer job in Harrisburg, PA, when Hurricane Agnes dropped torrential rains that turned the normally placid river into a raging force of destruction.  I saw firsthand the power that the river possessed.

The Susquehanna still seems magical to me.  I never tire of visiting it, in its many moods.  

Some time ago I began dreaming about the river, and started a series of quilts that incorporate needlefelting with wool and silk fibers.

I demonstrate my technique for needlefelting on the Quilting Arts TV DVD.  I hope you will try it and adapt it as your own, reflecting your own environment.

Read more about series 1400, including the schedule, on the Quilting Arts TV Website

Tomorrow’s featured bloggers:  Cheryl Sleboda (muppin.com/wordpress/) / Jane Sassaman (janesassaman.com/weblog) / Julie Creus (http://todera.blogspot.com)

Up next: Photography

Today’s Inspiration: The Garden

Hello and welcome!  Today is my turn to be featured on the Quilting Arts TV blog hop. The theme of Series 1400 is all about finding creativity and inspiration, so I have been posting each day with images and prompts about my personal inspirations.  Today’s inspiration is The Garden.
My earliest memory is of helping to plant a vegetable garden, poking pea seeds into the ground.

Gardening has been a lifelong priority, both for the food and flowers, and for the sheer delight and satisfaction of watching things grow.  So it’s only natural that my garden has been a recurring theme in my art quilts.

I use a variety of surface design methods to put imagery onto fabric, including cyanotype;

heliographic prints:

and digital prints:

While I’m outside, digging and pruning and weeding, I keep a sharp eye out for the native wildlife that visits my garden from time to time, which led to the creation of my Flora and Fauna series.

I collect animal skulls, photograph them, make cyanotype prints of the images, and incorporate them with vintage textiles and heliographic prints.

They are quite cheerful works for the most part, celebrating the lives of the creatures that share my environment.

Part of my artistic practice involves taking (almost) daily pictures of my environment and posting them to social media.  Most are taken using my iPhone with a clip on macro lens.  I love the different perspective that is revealed in the macro world.

You can find my photos on Flickr, my Twitter account, and Facebook.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this overview of my work, and will check back often to see what I am creating. 

As always, thanks for reading and commenting, and be sure to hop over to the other featured blog for today,  Rebekah Meier (rebekahmeier.com).  You can see my episodes and the work of all the talented artists by purchasing the Quilting Arts TV DVD

Read more about the series, and the PBS schedule, at the  Quilting Arts TV Website

I shared the experience of filming my episodes for Quilting Arts TV on my blog back in March—see it here. There are links to previews of my episodes here.  And I’ve added a QATV tab on the blog header to make it easy to read back through all the QATV related blogs.  Enjoy!

Tomorrow’s featured bloggers:  Lyric Kinard (lyrickinard.com/blog) / Margie Ullery (ribboncandyquilts.blogspot.com)

Up next: The River

Today’s Inspiration: The Woods

I am posting each day of the Quilting Arts TV blog hop with a personal message about inspiration and creativity.  When you’re done reading here, pop on over to the featured artists of the day to enjoy their blogposts.  Today’s bloggers are: Carrie Bloomston (suchitysuch.blogspot.com) AND Catherine Redford (catherineredford.com)
 

Today’s inspiration is The Woods. As a child I spent a good bit of time roaming around and playing in the woods, and basically, I just never stopped.

I go hiking whenever I get the chance, and the woodlands and wild places of Pennsylvania are a never ending wellspring of inspiration for me. My work is not overtly political, but it has an environmental subtext. I am doing my part for the preservation movement by quilting paeans to the large and small wonders I find in the wild.
The woodlands filter our water and our air. They provide habitat for the flora and fauna that comprise our biome.
And who isn’t improved and inspired by a walk in the woods?  It gives us time to slow down, to observe, to be still.
When you are back from your walk, keep that happy vibe going by watching your Quilting Arts TV DVD

Get more information and check the PBS schedule on the Quilting Arts TV Website

Tomorrow’s featured bloggers:  Me! (suereno.blogspot.com) AND Rebekah Meier (rebekahmeier.com)

Up next: The Garden

Today’s Inspiration: Process and Technique

I am posting each day of the Quilting Arts TV blog hop with a personal message about inspiration and creativity.  When you’re done reading here, pop on over to the featured artists of the day to enjoy their blogposts.  Today’s bloggers are:  Sarah Ann Smith(sarahannsmith.com/weblog) AND Karen Gloeggler (thejaneaustenquilt.com)

Todays Insipration is Process and Technique.  I make art that’s meant to be displayed on the wall, so in theory I could use any medium for my surface design work and get my message across with oil paints or watercolors or other types of works on paper.
But I work with fabric  because I love its materiality, its flexibility, and its propensity to evoke emotional responses.  I like the way fabric feels and responds to manipulation. I find that my favorite technique, cyanotype printing, is much richer and vibrant on cotton or silk than on paper.  I feel the same way about screenprints and the other types of monoprinting I use to put imagery on fabric.
  I like cutting textiles up and then sewing them together in new arrangements.  I like layering them, and stitching on them by hand or machine, and seeing how the texture changes and enhances the designs.
  It just never gets old for me.  In the rare cases where I am feeling creatively blocked, working with fabric, cutting and sewing simple shapes, is always a springboard to breaking out of the rut.  For me the craftsmanship and the design go hand in hand, with each elevating the other.
And what better way to learn some new and exciting techniques than to watch talented artists demonstrate their favorite processes?  Check out the Quilting Arts TV DVD

And visit the Quilting Arts TV Website for information on when it airs on PBS stations.

Tomorrow’s featured bloggers:  Carrie Bloomston (suchitysuch.blogspot.com) AND Catherine Redford (http://www.seminarandsew.com/)

Up next: The Woods