Virginia Greaves
textile paintings
It Takes Two to Tango
213 years ago
Sometimes, it can be difficult to get on the computer in my house. I have been continuing to work and take a lot of pictures, but I can’t always get on my blog to share them. I’ll start with some catching up.
In my current piece — I have finished my first face and started on my second face. I tend to start with the faces and build the rest of the piece around them. I’ll explain that more when I start adding pieces around the faces.
These are the first two values in my second face.
This particular person has Autumn coloring so I went back to my wonderful orange beige paisley. This is a risky fabric to use but I love the movement it gives to the face.
Then the darker shadows begin to show more of the outline in the face.
I have started adding dark around the eyes to give them more depth.
Once the eyes have been added, the outlining is a subtle difference — but an important one.
The irises of the eyes are a dark green — although not quite as dark as this picture shows. The true color of the eyes are a light green — but then the contrast would be lost and the eyes wouldn’t be as engaging.
Once I’ve added the mouth, you can see more of her personality. Like the first figure, she also shows some gum in her mouth — and I’ve added the same experiment as before.
This is what she looks like on my design wall before I’ve added her hair. Her hair is much more complex than the last figure. She has long tresses down the right and left sides — and then a cap over the top. (Notice the color shift my camera made from a white background to a black one — the tones in the face look more gray now.)
This shows the first three values of her hair on the left side of her face. She has a lot of blond in her hair, although the deeper tones go into brown.
This is the completed left side.
The right side is more flowing — and with only three values, the pieces won’t fuse together as one large piece yet.
The darker values bring it all together though.
This is what they begin to look like on my design wall. The second figure still needs her hat but I’m putting off adding it because its color will affect the rest of the piece — and I want more elements added before I decide what to use. Her hair also drapes over her jacket which will be more obvious once those pieces have been added.
I wanted to point out that I’ve complicated my process. In order to create more complex pieces, I have one very large vinyl overlay — and many small ones. I use the small ones to tape onto my fusing sheet and create the smaller pieces. I can then assemble them back together under the large overlay.
Also, I have returned to a white piece of muslin for my base. Because the background of this piece will be dark, the faces need something light underneath them. A dark fabric underneath them would change the color of the fabrics on top.
I have also starting adding a watermark to my images. I don’t care for watermarks — but with the advent of Pinterest, many images of my blog have started floating free. Although many kind souls give attribution, there are still instances in which it goes unmarked. Promotion is always welcome, but for a visual artist, lack of attribution can be quite damaging. It’s also important for the servers to which my pictures are copied to have some idea of the original copyright holder. So I have turned to watermarks. Interestingly, I can find no quick way to add a watermark to all pictures already existing on a WordPress blog (the latest version) — that works. I tremble at the thought of adding them all manually.
New Duet
413 years ago
by Virginia Greaves
in Design
Once I finished Beach Guardians and tackled all of its problems, I started designing my next piece. I had several photographs that I liked, and I learned how to use clipping masks in Photoshop to take pieces from each one and put them together into a pleasing design.
This is another duet — a couple friends of mine. Neither of them read my blog so maybe I’ll get to surprise them with the final piece. I was tempted to show one of them my in progress yesterday — but I decided it was best to hold it back. I’ve found that there are only a couple of people I’m willing to show my in progress work to (well, other than my blog) — and sometimes even that doesn’t go well. Constructive criticism is always good — but sometimes when they can’t see where I’m going, the comments are not helpful.
I wanted to point out again the difficulty of angles when using a fusible. I could have sketched out what I wanted, cut off the excess, and then ironed it down — but sometimes that just leaves stretched out fabric that won’t sit down once the fusible is removed. So when I have something unusual — like this — I leave the excess, but I only fuse down the parts I need. (No use wasting fabric.)
Then I can go back and cut away the excess fusible. The end result is a piece that will lay flat when I take off the fusible.
This is what the first two layers look like. You can already see her smiling lines and a fairly good outline of her face.
Portraits always start to come alive with the darker shades though.
This is the fourth value.
And this is the fifth value — just a couple of places — and I’ve started to work on the eyes. I’ve been adding darker layers around the eyes lately to make them have more depth.
I’ve also decided that it makes a lot more sense to add that dot of white in the eye with a paintbrush rather than cutting out a tiny piece.
I took some liberties with her mouth. I’m not sold on it — I may change her teeth. I also gave her some really red lips. And gums — haven’t done that before. It was interesting trying to find fabric in my stash that would work for those things. I may lighten the red in her lips — I haven’t decided yet. (Most reds don’t work for the mouth — they have to be a rust red which can be hard to find in a range of values.) I also added the whitest white of her teeth with paint again.
And then there was just her hair to do. Hers is really easy hair — slicked back. I used all browns and the dark black — but found the lightest shade in my orange drawer.
This is her on my black design board. I put her up there to study while I work on the next face.
Lemonade
213 years ago
by Virginia Greaves
in Design
Sometimes you don’t end up with what you expected. Sometimes the world throws you a curve ball. And sometimes that curve ball hits the middle of your quilt.
I finished my latest quilt over a week ago. I put it in water to dissolve the water soluble glue I use in the binding and to prepare the quilt for blocking. I do not use any soap because I always worry about the blue marking pen coming back through the layers and becoming permanent.
After soaking it for an hour or so, I spun out the excess water and blocked it out with pins onto a design board.
When I went to photograph it a couple of days later, I realized that I had a problem. I always prewash my fabrics when they come home — with synthrapol — or blue Dawn dishwashing detergent which has synthrapol in it (very small amount because it’s concentrated) — in order to take out any excess dye. So it always surprises me when I have a fabric crock. That is one reason I throw in a Dye Catcher sheet when I soak a quilt at the end.
But there it was — the red of the mouth had bled into the teeth — and for good measure, also left a mark at the top of the head.
I washed the quilt again — soaking the mouth & other area with Shout. I also added Borax in the tub. Didn’t work. I applied Shout & Borax again — no change.
So I blocked it again to dry but then did nothing for several days. I considered adding a few swatches of white onto the teeth & sewing them down. If I use a MonoPoly in the bobbin, it’s virtually undetectable in the final quilt. But then someone suggested I use paint. I have fabric paint — I’ve taken classes in which I’ve played with it — but I’ve hardly ever used it in my work — certainly never for damage control.
But it was a good idea.
This is what the teeth looked like before the paint.
And this is what it looks like after. I only whitened the very top portion. The original was not a pure white — it had a little gray in it. I stuck with pure white. I also didn’t touch the patterned fabric in the lower section of teeth. Although the red hint isn’t ideal, we can chalk it up to shadowing. We certainly don’t want it to stand out as much as the lightest shade — it’s best left alone to recede.
This is the top of the head. Missed this entirely when I blocked the quilt. I’m sure it came from the quilt being folded over in the wash tub and this is just the section that was touching the mouth in the water.
And this is what it looks like after being painted. I used the white but mixed in just the barest amount of yellow since the fabric was a very light cream.
Improvement at least. Sometimes, when you only have lemons, you just have to make lemonade — and move forward.
Life Is Like A Song
113 years ago
by Virginia Greaves
in Design
Etta James died today. I’m listening to her song At Last — I don’t think anyone else can ever do this song the justice that she does. Here’s to everyone feeling as happy as Etta obviously was when she sang this song.
For the past two weeks, I have been quilting away on my latest piece. If there is one thing that I’m probably not very good at — it’s quilting. I don’t have a stitch regulator (but I don’t want one).
My greatest fear comes when faced with quilting one of my pieces. It’s the hardest mental block for me.
After quilting the faces and figures, the background is always difficult for me to figure out — especially an abstract like this one. I wanted to use something that would be provocative of how the water pools in the sand at the edge of the ocean.
My favorite place to go for inspiration has become Leah Day’s site The Free Motion Quilting Project. She has spent over a year coming up with a new and fresh quilting idea every day. Literally. She takes a small square and brings it to life with her stitching. She doesn’t have a large quilting machine — she doesn’t have a stitch regulator (at least I don’t think so) — but she has a home machine, a camera, and desire. Watching her stitch reminds me that quilting is about confidence. Yesterday, I didn’t have enough and I broke my thread countless times. Today, I was on a mission to finish and I quilted an incredible amount in a small amount of time — and I broke the thread only twice.
I started with Leah’s pattern called Mud Flats. I liked it on the drawing . . .
. . . so I started quilting in the lower left hand corner.
About the time I reached the top, I realized that this would have to loop around most of the piece. For it to look right, I would have to continue the pattern over the head of the figure on the left — over to the right hand side — and then down over the figure on the right.
Luckily this pattern is forgiving with fullness.
The rule in quilting is that you quilt from the outside in. No matter how much you smooth out the top when you pin it though, if you quilt something densely, it will stretch the cotton fabric enough to create a ripple. Sometimes you can quilt through it — and sometimes it’s best not to try.
I will confess to something. When I’m quilting a large complex piece and I’m done quilting the figures, I move the pins on the background, smoothing the fullness out to the edges. I know you’re not supposed to move the pins once they’re in — but I’ve found that I can save myself some headache in quilting if I will move the pins one at a time and smooth out some of the ripples that tight quilting have created.
This quilt was a challenge because I couldn’t quilt from the inside out. I quilted the heads/hair independently — and then I quilted the left arm of the left figure, the left figure’s dress, the interlocked arms in the middle, then the right figure’s dress and her right arm. I still ended up with fullness between the figures that I had to contend with when I started quilting the background. The space just under the holding hands was the hardest. Because of the position of the figures, most of the fullness could not be pushed out. Short of quilting it first, I’m not certain what I could have done differently to have avoided the fullness in this area.
Muscular Industry
113 years ago
With the children back in school, I spent all of last week finishing the appliqué on the 2nd figure and preparing the quilt sandwich.
After that, I always stumble. The blank canvas is daunting, and quilting is difficult to undo.
One of the criticisms of Just Call Me Jack that I received from a judge’s sheet from IQA Festival was that they found the quilted circles in his face distracting.
Knowing how to quilt the face is a hard thing. There are no rule books and many people try to avoid adding quilting lines to the face because they think it makes the face look wrinkly. However, an unquilted face sags over time, especially if the piece is closely quilted around the face.
I’ve had several people ask if I follow the muscles. The answer is yes and no. Our faces are not just muscles – we have more character than that. I use curves, swirls, and combination lines to fill in intersections. So I take instruction from the muscles but I’m also trying to give the impression of depth in the face.
But I wanted to see if quilting the lines strictly according to the muscles was a better option. I’m open to change. I need to grow in my work, so I took out my pencil and made a sketch on a picture of the appliqué so I could assess that as an option without having to commit it in thread.
To be honest, I’m not thrilled with it. This is more what I would do.
. . . And I like it better. The first is too choppy for me. I think faces need to have more flow. And I like the swirls. They give an impression of where light hits the outermost parts of the face — the cheeks, the chin, the nose, and sometimes the forehead.
For now, I like my style. Both of them seem reminiscent of face painting in ancient cultures, but the effect in thread will be more subtle. To me, quilting can give the illusion of things — take over where the appliqué stops. I’m working more with suggestion than is obvious upon first glance. The appliqué doesn’t always give you the needed visual clues — sometimes the quilting lines take over and finish the job.
Holiday Exchange
113 years ago
My Fiber Art Fusion group met last night for our annual Holiday meal. Imagine 13 artists crammed together in a dark corner of a popular restaurant giggling and laughing and eating. It’s so wonderful to be part of a group of people with such innovative interests. I got to catch up with Sharon Ahmed who I haven’t seen in ages — she has become a master Japanese embroiderer and has been asked to teach at the Japanese Embroidery Center here in Atlanta — only the fourth American to be given the privilege.
One of the benefits of going is an exchange. We are required to make a 5″x7″ piece and wrap it in a plain wrapper. We went around the table and everyone got to choose. We did it by the letters of our first name so I was last but everyone went home with a cool piece.
This is the fourth year I’ve been so I have a nice collection I thought I would share.
This year, I received this piece from Pamela Rishfeld. It is photo transfer with machine embroidery.
Last year I received this one from Vickie Lord. All that hand stitching really makes it shine.
My second year I received this batik wax piece from Diane Shulteiss.
And my very first year, I received this piece from Suzanne Freed. It makes me really miss the beach and the ocean.
And what did I do this year? In the past, I’ve done miniature portraits, but this year I decided to do something different and I made a snowflake.
I used a dark blue and white because I was thinking of indigo dyeing at the time. It is reverse machine applique and the smaller snowflakes are silver star sequins with pearl beads (it looked too blank without some extra embellishing — and small pieces are great opportunities to add beads).
I very carefully cut it out so I could have the reverse image of the blue snowflake to fuse on a white background.
And this is the back.
I’m thinking that I’ll add an O ring to the top & use it as a large ornament.
I wanted to use the dark blue on the back of the piece and quilt it with white thread so it would give an interesting back — but I didn’t realize until I finished it that it was now too dark for me to write on it — and I didn’t want to ruin the effect with a label — so I just embroidered 2011 on the front in white thread.
It’s What’s In the Background
013 years ago
by Virginia Greaves
in Design
As good as my figures look on my design wall, it isn’t their final home.
First I have to make them dresses. In the photograph, they are wearing red toile dresses — so I attempt to use a pink — which doesn’t work well with the red in their faces. In fact, she washes out entirely. I abandoned this fairly quickly.
I ended up using a seafoam green that evokes the color of the sea. This is what they look like pinned on my black design wall. Black makes everything look good. But I can’t always have a black background — these are children at the beach — not hanging in space.
The background . . . what to do for the background. At first, I buy a patterned fabric that I think will work well as a stand-in for sand — but it just looks so plain. Also, for the size of the figures, the pattern isn’t nearly large enough.
So I spent Thanksgiving break thinking about what would be best — and I opted for something abstract — and pieced — which is not like me at all — but it seemed like the best idea for this piece. I pulled about 12 fabrics in shades of white, gray, and khaki, cut them into 2 1/2 x 6 1/2 strips (finished 2×6 — which is a golden ratio) — and pieced them into strips from which I create the background.
And this is where the beauty of my new fusing system begins to come together. I can make the background completely separate — and then fuse the pieces in small groups.
The tricky thing about fusible is that if it is on a printed fabric, the fusible doesn’t bond well with the fabric. As you twist your project under the needle while appliqueing, the pieces will start to separate from the background, and it becomes a race to finish before you lose too many pieces. With my new system, I can create a larger and more complex piece without having to worry about too much moving around or coming off.
I started by just adding the arms. I fused them down and then appliqued them.
Then I fused down a dress — and appliqued that down as well.
The second dress is done after the first.
Headless children! No really — I have their heads done — they just aren’t sewn onto the piece yet. I am almost finished adding the head on the first piece. The second will not be finished until after Christmas.
The Madness Continues
013 years ago
by Virginia Greaves
in Design
The hair — I went a little overboard with the hair on both of these figures. I need to remember that I still have to sew it when I’m finished cutting it out. I’m appliqueing the first one now — but I still need to show the development of the hair on the 2nd figure.
There are seven values in her hair — going all the way from the lightest blond to a very black shadow. This shows the very light yellow.
The next shade is more honeyed.
The third value is golden.
The fourth is a great fabric between gold and brown.
The fifth value is the foundational brown.
The sixth is a darker brown.
And the final value is the black.
When I first started doing hair, I would not have thought I could go so far in my color range — from lightest yellow into black — but actually I think it gives a remarkable depth.
Keep in mind that this piece is all fused to a fusing sheet. I can now peel her off and move her head around at will. And I do. I put both heads on my black design wall and it gives a neat effect.
The Holiday Avalanche
013 years ago
by Virginia Greaves
in Design
It’s only the first week of December and the avalanche of holiday commitments is rolling heavy around here. Potlucks, cookie swaps, cakes, choir, clinics, exams, cooking, driving, cleaning, hosting — it’s enough to drive anyone from the studio.
But I have been working diligently lately. I was surprised to see that I haven’t written in over a month — but I have a lot of pictures to share. I’ve been working hard in the studio — although my time for the rest of the year is limited. It is always hard to have a work in process you have to stop and restart later — I always feel as if I lose momentum — certainly a lot of the enthusiasm for the piece.
In my current piece, there are two figures — something I haven’t done since my first portrait of my beloved dalmatians in Dalmatian Downs. I have shown you the first face — the second is more complex.
These are the first few values which give the outline of the jaw.
The next is a bold red print. It doesn’t look right here — but I knew it wouldn’t until I added in the darker values. Besides, the figures are at the beach and have a little bit of sunburn on their faces — so the red is appropriate.
Here you can see the red working better. Many things don’t make sense without the shadows. Unfortunately, you can tell I was eager to work on this piece as there is a deep shadow on them. I don’t usually work late in the studio and don’t have good light once the sun sinks low on the horizon — but I was anxious to see her personality come out.
This is the 2nd shadow.
And this is the final shadow. At this point, she really needs eyes.
And wow don’t these pop right out — they do to me. It’s a little startling without her mouth — so I add that next.
There she is.
Creating Magic
113 years ago
by Virginia Greaves
in Design
I always love creating a face from fabric. I use a lot of prints and always find it fun to see what works and what doesn’t.
This shows the first figure in my current piece with the first three layers. There is very little of the lightest layer. I love this beige rose fabric. My DH bought it for me years ago, and it was the inspiration for my first portrait with prints.
The next layer is bold — a red print. Even I’m a little dismayed at what it gives me at this point — but I know that I have to have the darker fabrics for it to make sense — and I decided to use the beige and red print because the figures are at the beach and have sunburns.
This shows the next darker value and outlines her eyes, her mouth, a little of her nose.
The next darker value emphasizes these — but it’s clear that it isn’t going to work for the mouth. She is looking down and has her face in shadow, but her lips this dark make her look dead — and she is a very young girl with a blush to her lips.
My first try is unsuccessful. I use the red and beige print as my starting point and build onto that with reds — but the cherry red is too much.
The more rust red looks better for her mouth. I have also added her two front teeth.
And then this shows the final face with the final dark shadows for the eyelashes and the red mouth. Because she is looking down, we don’t get to see her eyes — but her personality comes through her mouth.
The hair is difficult. Sometimes when I am drawing, I forget that I have to go back and actually cut all of this out. It took me several days to do her hair, but I think the end result is worth it.
She has brown hair with blond highlights so the first layer is a very light cream.
The next layer is more golden.
And the third layer is even more golden.
With the fourth layer, I found a wonderful fabric that sits between gold and brown.
After that, the first brown layer goes down and you can really see her hair taking shape.
The next brown makes up more of the dark underneath part of the hair.
A few black accents and she is finally done.
This is the first time that I’ve assembled a piece on a teflon sheet. I usually put the entire piece on white muslin but my pieces are getting too complex and large for that format so I’m trying the teflon with parts at a time. Working on the hair and all of those small pieces, I did start to worry that it would all fall apart when I tried to peel it off.
But it didn’t. It came off beautifully.
And this is what she looks like on my black design wall.
For me, this is the magic — taking something innocuous like printed fabric and making it into something realistic.
I’m not certain that I’ll leave her mouth like that. The two corners are a little large — but the overall picture was taken from above — so I think I’ll wait until more of it is complete to decide if I’ll change it or not.