Virginia Greaves
textile paintings
For the Love of Fabric
118 years ago
by Virginia Greaves
in Inspiration
My daughter had a friend stay over last night, and at about 10 o’clock — when I was getting bleary eyed and ready to fall asleep — our little guest discovered my sewing room. I found later that she had taken some of the leftovers and placed them on the tree I have been working on — and when I found her, she was squealing over my garbage can. Both her & my daughter had taken scraps and were gluing them to paper — to make a “quilt”. I immediately pulled out more scraps of fabric & ribbon, and they had so much fun. Both of their personalities shone through in their final pieces, and I found them both so inspirational, I decided to share them here.
The tree on this one was a threadpainted piece that I made for a quilt and then decided to not use. It ended up in my scraps and she claimed it.
I Am the Vine, You Are the Branches
018 years ago
by Virginia Greaves
in Design
I started this blog to journal my ongoing work — and it has been harder than I thought. When I work, I crawl into my head (so to speak) and forget about everything else. My mother, a painter herself, used to talk about it — so perhaps I have inherited this from her.
I spent most of last year working on portraits in single colorways — very instructive — but I have found a desire for lots of color and knew that I needed to take a break and do something more freeing. I happened to have a drawing on my design wall that has been there for a couple of years — and over that time, several people have seen it — and many of those people have recently inquired as to why I have done nothing with it.
When my children returned to school in August, I made the design larger and transferred it to vinyl. There are other ways to do this, but I find that fusing with this method allows a lot of spontaneity. Before I could really start, though, I had to have a color palette:
I went through my fabric stash and laid it out on my cutting table. I covered most of it — so that I have had to push it around in order to make templates from the design I have underneath it. Also, as I have been working, I have started pulling more and more fabric from my stash — my hidden goal may be to use a small piece of everything — but I love the flow of the color through the piece.
This is what it looked like September 6th:
and this is what it looked like this morning:
I have started on the left most branch and am about halfway down. It is fascinating to see it develop. When I am done, I plan to applique black onto the background — and I may discharge the black — I haven’t definitely decided yet.
Art Quilts XII
118 years ago
by Virginia Greaves
in Admin
I was so excited yesterday to find out that my quilt Faces in Cloth II was juried into Art Quilts XII (http://members.aol.com/sdihowell/artquilts.htm). I have not entered into this exhibition before, but I have decided to spend more time entering art quilt only shows. Last year, I discovered that none of my quilts were eligible for entry into AQS/Paducah because they fall between 24 and 40 wide — and AQS has no category for this size. I made a portrait quilt over 40 inches — but it felt wrong and I was doing it for the wrong reasons — so I have been putting my energies into other areas. Art Quilts XII seemed like a great place to start, and I am ecstatic to be included.
This is my 2nd start at a blog. I had a rough start with WordPress but I think that I have all of the kinks worked out. This month, I also had 2 quilts juried into the World of Beauty exhibit at IQA/Houston — Faces in Cloth IV & Faces in Cloth V.
This is my first time to work in a series and I am learning so much. I am currently taking a break from portraits but hope to start another in the coming weeks.
I will also have a 3rd quilt in Houston this year — I just finished my quilt for the non-juried Journal Quilt exhibition. The rules prohibit me from sharing it publically until the opening on the Oct. 31st — but I have the pics ready to go when that day comes.