Fabric painting with new and old acquaintances, August 2, 2015

Aloha,
 Last Sunday was a  lovely painting day with a few new folks,
and one lady that painted with me atleast a decade ago.

 She recognized my style of work at the Haleiwa Art Festival recently in July

where some other folks asked if i teach and so i handed them my sign up sheet.
Occasionally i will teach a class.

Sheryl, Suzie and Mei at art making in August 2015.

Upon their early morning arrival and before we  sat down to sketch and paint however,
we walked about the yard and took pictures of  trees and leaves, flowers and the orchids, oh the orchids!!!,  and the  mangoes in full summer blush in their colors of greens, red, orange and purple, and small flecks of white and hanging like ornaments from the tree's canopy.
All those devices that take photos and enlarge and crop for color, shape, and composition reference came out and soaked in the images of natures' beauty.
From these photos and my collection of floral calendars and  other inspirations,
 i asked them to make  quick sketches on paper of what they see/saw.
( looking and seeing are quite different to me as i explain,often),
and then to  make a few more sketches.
I see the mangoes and orchids  were on everyone's radar yesterday!

 

As a painter i feel that there is no better inspiration and information than the real deal.
 A photo is a wonderful reference but has not dimension nor fragrance to share with you.
One must remember many things when looking at the photo you took to inspire
 and later pick out what you need.
Some elements will not appear in sketch. Then there are addition and color changes.
leaves moved around as you compose a balance sketch.
 That is why this is such a good way to start a session
and why folks go on location
to the ocean, to Portugal (or any exotic place you can think of), or your back yard, to paint, to absorb, to really see and tell about what you experienced with out words,
 to  show me with paint.
And  they surprised themselves!

i also bring in leaves and flowers for the table for folks to look at and SEE.
flowers and leaves to inspire the eye and nose!

paint mixing on yogurt lids and test coaster below
 

Now
let's peek over the shoulders and see what is happening.

Suzie's plumerias, especially the one she later painted with a blue background
came out amazing!

 Sheryl's mango  photo to sketch to cartoon to paint testing with leaves samples is below.
Her fabric  mango came out lovely and went home with her before  my camera was ready.

then,
Sheryl sent a photo this morning of her painted yardage already
now heat treated, washed and ironed and folded. This woman was inspired!

Such yummy colors to inspire more arty fun!

 Every one's  flower paintings on fabric came out So Amazing ! 

here is one,

painted by Mei from a drawing she made from a photo she took.

Mei said she had never painted before. this is hard to believe as

her orchid painting looks lovely and came out Amazing!!

  i will make a photo of  her inspiration growing in the yard and apply it here!

Today i got a note from Mei saying," 

Thanks, Sonja! I do like to paint some more.

Thanks for introducing me to painting and I love it!!!

 And like to paint more! I didn't know I could DO IT!" 

 Mei

 trichoglottis brachiata

  I love summertime, summertime and the  many, many  orchids that are blooming now!

Theses above and below are the black orchids

 i posted a year ago in the post 

Ruby Ruby Ruby 

thank you ladies
  for spending the day with paint brushes in your hands
and smiles on your faces!
Mahalo to ALL the folks that painted all these 20  plus years with me
and were encouraged  to SEE!

Be well, See well,
aloha, Sonja

Now i will attempt to link to :
Creations - Quilts, Art, Whatever by Nina-Marie Sayre

Santo & Johnny, Sleepwalk, 1959

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rwfqsjimRM

Recently a person from my high school sent an email that talked about music,a poem actually.

 It got me a pondering music,again.

I love  new, old and ancient music from the Beatles to Bach and back again..the thing about music for me  is that  it is a time tunnel and when i hear some selections, i travel back in my memory to where i was, who was there, what i thought about dis and dat....and just for a moment my skin fits nicely once again.

"Sleep Walk" is one of those wonderful tunes that i love. it gives me chicken skin when i hear the first notes.  It must be the steel guitar that gets to me.And that haunting melody.  The steel guitar is so loved by Hawaiian musicians .
While i am in a musical mood,

Today was the birthday of jazz musician Louis Armstrong ( august 4,1901),  also known as "Satchmo."

Armstrong's most famous, and enduring, song is "What a Wonderful World" (1967), and claimed as his favorite. It is another wonderful song that almost seems to me  to be a prayer of gratefulness.

I love this song .I have  a post with that youtube if you check in my labels, down the right column with those wonderful quotes i so love, you can pull it up.

Louis Armstrong What a Wonderful World

  or you can just goggle it!

Happy Birthday Louie!

be well,

A fair to remember, The Haleiwa Arts Festival 2015

A fair to remember,The Haleiwa Arts Festival 2015!

MONDAY, JUNE 29, 2015 was the ORIGINAL  POST DAY

                      

Only weeks left  before the big white tents are up
at Haleiwa Beach Park 

for the 18th Haleiwa Arts Festival
July 18 and 19, 2015
(10am to 6 pm Sat and 10 to 5 Sunday)

Very soon the artisans will fill the tents with the colors and ideas of our imaginations
 for you to see and touch and consider.
Food, music, visual arts, stuff for kids to do, dance to watch are just some  highlights! this year the bagpipers were back!! they are wonderful

I imagine that many studios are humming with activity... mine is!

with finishing up a few requests as well as new works.

There is always a quilt or angel or bag that needs finishing, that final hand work or  sewing that has been saved for quiet time in a chair under a shady tree,perhaps.

 On sunny days,

I am painting up fabrics for my projects and always have some to share at the fair for those who see the possibilities in them  to compose their own art with.

This  war memorial is at the entrance of the park.

This  photo was taken on a beautiful Haleiwa day

This year, my booth is # 86, same area as last umteen years

I am near the entrance of the show, close to information  and community tents

according to map they sent recently.( where the tents actually go up.. is close.)

 Today I am finishing up two quilts, painting labels and  doing the hand work including threading needles which is somewhat annoying to my mature eyes. My mobile sewing  machine mechanic gave me a couple of those needle threaders that i have been loading up with 4 or more needles at a time to keep things rolling along.

Painting cotton fabric is a very large part of my preparations as many pieces are used in my finished work.Some great pieces are also tagged for sale.

 Here is a flowering bromeliad as inspiration for what later became a journal cover!

 

Sometimes just watching  the paint dry on fabric is one  highlight of my day.

This sort of pastime gives me pause to muse about what they might  become

while enjoying how colors and textures flow and  mingle, thusly

giving me "idea seeds" of what might be. Some of the above pieces actually were quilted and sewn into journal covers that i make refillable with those marble composition books and in 2 sizes.

I hope to see you soon.

come see the hand painted postcards among the many fine pieces i make!

Aloha, Sonja

Then my helper Ruby said........" sometimes selecting fabric just makes me so dizzy......"

6 COMMENTS:

Sherrie Spangler said...

Your painted fabric is beautiful! Good luck at the show.

JUNE 29, 2015 AT 10:40 PM

LA Paylor said...

as always Sonja, I'm with you in spirit. I hope this year's festival brings you many connections, and sales, and moments of sharing.
Ruby, you continue to be lovely and sleek, what a nice spirit you have. LeeAnna

JUNE 30, 2015 AT 10:18 AM

sonja said...

Thank you Sherrie and LeeAnna for good show wishes and kind colorful words !
And You guys really do get color !

JULY 3, 2015 AT 1:48 PM

Anni - My Creative Life and Mixed Media Books said...

Beautiful photos Sonja, love your dyed fabric, the colors are so wonderful.
Anni

JULY 15, 2015 AT 11:02 PM

sonja said...

thank you Annie! i so enjoy the process like painting fabric. And after it is dry and ironed ,washed, and ironed again, using it in my art work! There are always surprises!
i am so impressed with prompt card and the ideas you materialized, the board/card series games where super!aAd that your "arted" everyday shows discipline!

JULY 16, 2015 AT 11:41 AM

sonja said...

thank you to all that passed through my tent of my arts. #86 this last weekend
i hope to hear from the lady that picked out 6 bags and the stylist that chose the rainbow fabric, as we discussed!
aloha, sonja

JULY 21, 2015 AT 12:37 AM

today 7/25/15 I lost and found this post and found you can't ad any more comments here /it closed its feature do to my error. if you wish to comment do so on next post.  sonja

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www.HaleiwaArtsFestival.org

after the fair is over.......

Recovery from a weekend art show consists of some relaxing with feet elevated.
A rope hammock is best and the shade helps especially when breezes are blowing through.

This is important even if you have 4 feet, that your feet get some air time!!
 Then  to repack after unpacking  the bins and boxes of colorful fabric and hand made treasures, followed  closely by more feet's up and ice tea in hand. Then there is always stuff to catchup on like emails, laundry, and sleep, glorious sleep. so i do a little of this and some of that, retreating to a cool  spot with comfy chair now and then. This takes a few days, these days, to recover.

 I have consistently designed,  made, shown and sold my hearts' fabric gifts since my early twenties, in Hawaii since 1971 and show I  no sign whatsoever of stopping, only slowing down. I make slow art slowly. This last decade I have been very selective  to where and when (time to crank it down again!) to go out to respect the vintage child i find i have become.  She is wiser, funnier, kinder, greyer, shorter,..okay wider and  more easily fatigued and still at first, somewhat annoyed by  rude cluelessness of some people, then i find the humor in it all!

 Mostly, i am amazed and delighted with people that gravitate to my art in its color and style,

my style and that is what helps to feed my soul. i continue to practice my art of art.

 Kurt Vonnegut has a few sensible and quotable words on that.

(this is one of my postcards of fabric and paint and stitch, one of my favorite practices!)

SO,

A huge thank you all who walked through my tent last week end and had taken the time to notice, ask questions, and to purchase gifts for friends and yourself,
and  to express  your wonder and give comments of respect.

I am a gypsy on a life journey of color and fabric and am happy our trails crossed.
Aloha , Sonja

How long did it take you....pinkly sqaures quilt in progress

I don't know how often i am asked, 

How long did that take you to make that?

 They might be looking at a quilt perhaps ,one that i made. 

Today i am working on one, I am calling her "Pinkly Squared! so far.

 here is a shot of the backing using  some my splattered hand painted fabric, pieced

                                   back and  front squared off, showing quilting using variegated threads.

In  block closeup i use random stitching, what comes to mind for that area, quilted .
 No marking, just seat of the pants, on the spot choices.

You have seen this pile of color in other post if you are a reader,

 This is where i start with strips of color painted on cloth that have been trimmed and saved for just such an occasion. i use some batiks but about 90-95 percent are my hand paints.

The squares are trimmed up to 5 and a half inches here.

 i will add a long cabin strips on all  4 sides next

 Here the log cabin surround pairs strips have been added  to
front and back shot of the next quilt in the pipeline of my life.

 For my bindings i often like a fabric like this one, one that has been languishing on the shelf,
as an overall floral decorator type of fabric. i will add color to them.

Now painted in the  pinkish tones in the quilt body, now transformed,

now drying in the sun .

Here we are now watching paint dry....

So how does one answer such a question such as 

How long did that take you to make that?
I don't know how long.

It takes All the time!
I DO know my work takes many decisions and processes, many, many.

I  would prefer to tell you the Why, the story behind the ideas that propelled me to Here!

I don't know how long. I'm not sure it's finished Yet!!

Be well and enjoy  the journey!!

Sonja

Thoughtful Thursday , April orchids and other flowers and critters...

Some wonderful orchids are blooming here today. 

I took a walk this morning and found an abundance of color and gifts of nature in orchid form.

  Two very lovely oncidiums caught my eye this morning;  one a yellow /brown one i call dancing ladies that lives on the side of a huge mango tree. 

and also  the  yellow oncidium with her  many long wands full of many small yellow blossoms waving  in the breeze.  

Then the Dendrobiums took over.

 these two above and below
 are what we  all Hono Hono and they  are very fragrant 

Somewhat like a heavy honey fragrance to me.

  here are 3 dendrobs smiling at us

Don't you love this lime and purple combo on this little one!

Blue skies make me take out the camera!
"nothin but blue skies do i see!"

The Surinam  cherry tree has the blossoms and fruit in various stages of ripe, all at once!

 

They do not taste like cherries tho these lovely pumpkin shaped globes do pack allot of vitamin C.

I snack on them as i don't seem to have the patience to collect enough for a jam or jelly thou i do think the color would be divine.

.

This was my Easter card this year. 

                                                 Hen and chicks resting  in the composting box.
                                                              It must be spring! 
                                                        this is my  Thoughtful Thursday entry.

end of march madness and a string theory

Well, this is a board full of coasters drying in the sun inspired by the berries that form on this palm tree in the colors of all seasons. This paint session  is Autumn and Xmas colors to me. After I sew up a batch of  fabric coasters, I  spray them with water and begin index finger painting the dots  with textile paints until i am happy with  the way colors look to me.

below is the palm tree of inspiration.

Inspiration is Everywhere all around us

  i am a nature nut and go about taking photos of what I see that moves me.

i call this tree "summer fall winter spring" as sometimes berry clusters on the tree show me  color signs of all the seasons at once. When i was a kid there was a princess Summerfall Winterspring on the Howdy Doody show with that name. That name Stuck with me.

 Does that sound familiar to anyone?

Now,  how i play sometimes  with strings of my painted fabrics is to 

first to arrange them in a pleasing manner, a strata of sorts.

Of course any fabric you have and like works . 

I happen to have a wealth of painted cloth.

Then I sew them on a base fabric and trim.

i did a bit of wavy sewing on topside  and you can see on the back of the  waffle like cloth

I will make a composition book cover later.

Then i might do some quilting and hand stitching as well.

It all depends on mood and the materials at hand.

That is my theory.

I find often the composition uses all the colors and recalls a sunset or sunrise.

 Nature is most grand!

When the notebook is full it can be refitted  with a fresh one.

Be well, SEE well, Sonja

wordless wednesday- nature's valentine