Friday, April 23, 2010

My Fifteen Minutes of Fame


Actually, it’s closer to three, but I’m still tickled about it.
A little over a year ago, I joined “Art-N-Soul,” a local organization created by artist and entrepreneur Janet Tanguay, whose purpose is to support and promote area artists in all media.  Janet has recently developed a project entitled “Art-N-Soul Inc. TV,” where the experts at Cotton Hill Studios in Colonie, NY, produce a video of an artist in his or her studio and publish it on YouTube.  Janet asked me if I felt adventurous enough to be the first artist to be taped, and I was delighted.
It was a great experience from beginning to end; Janet and I prepared questions for the taping; the extremely professional crew from Cotton Hill “scouted” my studio to determine if the location would be suitable; and the taping took about 4 hours.
I’ve included the first 3 minutes of the video above; the complete version can be seen here, if you’ve got a little more time to view it.  Janet and the people from Cotton Hill did such a wonderful job of making me feel comfortable throughout the entire process – I can’t thank them enough.
“I’m ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille.”


Diane

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Art de Cure -- A Great Cause!

If you live in the New York Capital District area, and you like great art, and you love supporting a terrific cause, then you’ll want to come to the Art de Cure Gala on Friday evening, April 16, from 6PM to 10 PM.  This fantastic multi-media event will be held at The Endocrine Group, Suite 300, of the Washington Center Medical Arts Building, located at 1365 Washington Avenue in Albany.  Enjoy an evening of wine tasting, great food, entertainment, and both silent and live art auctions, with proceeds to benefit the American Diabetes Association. The event will also serve to kick off the opening of the Art de Cure Gallery, a permanent space housed at The Endocrine Group, where new art shows will be held three times a year and portions of the proceeds will be donated to the ADA.
Pictured above is “Feather Play II,” shown in one of my earlier posts, which will be part of the silent auction during the gala.  
 If you're interested in purchasing this piece, with a portion of the sale given to the ADA, just contact me at: 
Diane@DEsignedByDianeEvans.com
 If you’d like to attend the gala, please call (518) 482-1795 for more information.  It promises to be an exciting evening – please join us for the fun!

Diane

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

The Pen Is Mightier Than The Needle


I’ve heard it said by People Who Are Experts In These Matters that, if you want to get better at your art, you should learn from the best.  For me, that means turning to my library of copyright-free books and sketching.
Several weeks ago, I was sidelined by a sinus infection (nasty little bugger), and the only thing I felt like doing was drawing – I couldn’t even bring myself to sit at the sewing machine for five minutes.  So I pulled out two of my favorite design sources: “Floral Patterns,” by Pepin van Roojen, and “4000 Flower & Plant Motifs,” by Graham Leslie McCallum. 



I copied motifs and embellished them with my own details and generally tried to make myself feel as though I was producing some art from the snuggly comfort of my bed.
And, by gosh, between blowing my nose and using the neti pot, I had fun.  My plan is to turn some of these drawings into postcards – after all, the real fun is in adding the COLOR.



Diane

Sunday, March 28, 2010

I've Been Tagged!

I was fortunate this past week to have been tagged with a blogging award from Diane Wright, whose blog (click here) is wonderful.  Thank you, Diane!
[Beautiful_Blogger.jpg]
Now, here are the rules for this award:
1)  Thank the person who gave you this award.
2)  Share 7 things about yourself.
3)  Pass the award along to 5 bloggers who you have recently discovered and you think are fantastic!
4)  Contact the bloggers you’ve picked and let them know about the award.
I’m tagging the following bloggers to be fellow recipients of this award (click on their names to reach their blog):
So, here are Seven Things About Myself:
1)  I consider red a neutral color.
2)  I love deciphering CryptoQuips (coded phrases) in our daily newspaper.
3)  I always wanted to be a rock star; the closest I’ve come is cantoring at my church on weekends.
4)  I’m so reluctant to cut into my fabrics that many of them are sun-faded from being on the shelf too long.  I am working to overcome this.
5)  I backpacked through Europe when I was 21.
6)  I am a HUGE fan of “House, M.D.” and “The Good Wife.”
7)  I have a T-shirt that says, “Does Anal Retentive Have a Hyphen?” (It was a gift.)
Hope everyone has a terrific week – may the muse be with you.

Diane

Sunday, March 21, 2010

The Little Art Quilter That Could: The Construction

What I've Learned So Far:
1) No matter how hard you try, it is virtually impossible to cut fabric on your cutting mat if the fabric is the EXACT SAME COLOR as the cutting mat.
2) The iron is your best friend.
3) It is entirely possible to pin two pieces of a block together and also pin them to your pants at the same time.
4) Henry Ford knew what he was talking about: It is far more efficient to put things together using an assembly line.


This month has been a time of great learning for me. I decided to make one complete quilt top from my commission before tackling the other three, which are identical to the first. It was one of the great decisions of my life. There were so many bugs to work out and so many mistakes in calculation that, had I cut out all the pieces for all four quilts, I might now be ordering more fabric.
I made a chart (shown below) to determine the amount of fabric I needed by drawing diagrams of the layouts I planned to use for the pieces. This was time-consuming, but immensely valuable. However, I over-ordered the fabric by more than I had hoped, so I now have enough to make two more quilts. If I can just convince the nursing home directors to build two more facilities, I'm all set.

I’m now on track with the remaining three quilts, doing production work. I have even managed to channel Eleanor Burns: I am chain-piecing like a pro, and, when I’m cutting fabric, I throw the excess over my shoulder with carefree abandon.
Shown above is a picture of the completed quilt top; the suggestions that many of you gave to me regarding the best thread to use for piecing were greatly appreciated; I'm finding that the Aurifil 50-weight is moving through the fabric like butter.  So, on to the quilting!


Diane

Thursday, March 4, 2010

"All You Need Is Love"


When Colorful Art Girl posted the theme for March’s Postcard Challenge, “Words To Live By,” this idea jumped into the front of my mind and wouldn’t leave until I had completed the piece.  I rarely work on a white background, so I thought I’d give it a go – and now I remember why I rarely work on a white background: It’s rather unforgiving of stitching mistakes.  However, this is my year of Thinking Outside The Box, so I decided to persevere and ignore the little holes left by ripped-out stitches.
Everything is fused, especially the words, which were printed on fabric and cut out using tweezers to hold them (I was determined).
I was tickled with the result; I’d love to expand the idea to a larger piece and add embellishments to it – beads or hand embroidery, maybe.  I’m finding these postcards to be wonderful springboards to new and different projects.
Visit here if you’d like to join the challenge!  And, as always, thank you for being out there -- it's wonderful to feel connected to such a fabulous group of kindred souls.


Diane

Thursday, February 25, 2010

"Things We Love"


This was the theme for February’s Postcard Challenge by Leah Cottam at Colorful Art Girl, and it really was a bit of a challenge for me to choose just one thing that I love.  So I followed the first thought that came into my head and selected free-motion feathers.
The design is adapted from one of Mary Nordeng’s motifs in her book, "Extreme Makeover: Feather Edition" (I just LOVE this book), and I added some of my own touches to it.  I knew I had chosen the right subject when I realized how much fun I was having while quilting it.  What a great prompt for the month of Valentines, Leah!
My husband is in the kitchen this morning, and the aroma of chocolate biscotti and pasta fagioli is filling the house.  Talk about things we love . . . 
Life doesn’t get any better than this.
(Guess who’ll be getting the Valentine card . . .)

Diane

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...