In January this year, my creative life changed when I purchased the new iPad pro.
I bought the largest screen and the largest memory iPad that I could. Then came the wonderful apple pencil. It really has taken me almost all of the year to work through the applications that work in my favor.
The main one I use is Adobe sketch.
I wanted to do a drawing of all the things I’ve seen, touched, love and have experienced here in Antigua. Most of my quilt images originate from my photos… but then some from my imagination.
So what better to do than to attempt to combine all of those things.
This is drawn on the iPad using colored pencils. The excitement of drawing in the iPad is that I can just press a button and rub out the parts I don’t like.
It’s almost 3.00 am. At home I could get up and with coffee in hand wend my way across the brick courtyard to the studio. But here in Antigua Guatemala we have just one large room so it’s a bit difficult to do my usual thing of getting up early and working without disturbing husband…
My passion is thread painting. (using the sewing machine to create an image with thread) and not having a cat I practice taking photos on my friends cat. She is patient and sits with a fixed stare as if to say. ‘Just take it’
During my time home I need to complete 5 quilts and I’m well on the way to doing that at the moment. I find that working on a number of genres at one time works well for me. I don’t get bored with one quilt… and at the end I finish 5 quilts at once… (well there is a possibility that I won’t) It all depends on babies, family, babysitting, another visit to the skin specialist and the need to stop and sigh every now and then.
Let me just say that studying the work of others is about reverse-engineering. It’s like taking something apart to see how it works. It gives me a better understanding of how I can do things.
My personal view is that every person that creates something is an artist. An Artist is a collector of imaginings and experiences. They are selective and only collect the things they enjoy the most and it really depends where you put yourself to receive those things… you’re not necessarily going to get the experience or be influenced if you are home on the couch.
Traveling and working in Mexico is an absolute joy. This blog shares the excitement of color and Texture in Mexico.
How do you select the colors for a realistic quilt? That could be thread or fabric.
Do you have a special technique?
Well, I’m going to do it again and give away a technique I discovered recently.
I spend hours on the plane, while I’m watching TV and even in bed designing on the ipad. (by the way I think every quilter needs an ipad) My mind is constantly challenged and technology has increased my desire to challenge myself even more as a Textile artist… I don’t think I should say I’m a quilter as such.. I’m an artist in textiles I love it. Its stimulating and challenging thanks to Technology.
