Artistic Endeavors of a Restless Soul: 2012

Kantha Work

~ Paisley pattern ~

I do enjoy trying my hand at kantha work. While I have not studied in-depth about traditional way of doing it; for now, I am content with my contemporary approach towards it. And, I know there is a lot to learn. This is another little piece I tried recently. It is roughly by 11x11 inches.

I used three layers of this blue voile; tacked in place and then traced the pattern. I cannot remember from where I got the pattern; found it folded in a craft book.

[I am sorry for the quality of pictures]

I tried my best to incorporate colours that would complement the background fabric as well as each other. [reminds me that I need to buy more embroidery thread]

I finished it off with red voile edging. I did not know whether I wanted to include loops for hanging or just leave as it is so it could displayed in a different way; so for now it is like this. Maybe I will give it away.

Thank you for stopping by,

Until next project,

xxx,
Gaia

Cups of Tea !

Applique on gunny/burlap sack

I did another applique on a gunny sack. These coffee bean sacks are quite coarse as such little difficult sew. Nevertheless, it was fun to create this wall hanging.

... some thrift store material as the backing.

Let's all have tea !

one for you and one for me :)

Thank you for stopping by,

Until next time,

xxx,

Gaia

DiGiTaL ArT -5

Couple more of my IPAD art using the application 'procreate'. They did not turn out perfect but I do like the experience. I need to try and try.

empty or not ?

Old City Hall

Thank you for stopping by,

Until next project,

xxx,
Gaia

A prayer flag....

I stumbled upon this blog recently.The Prayer Flag Project

This is the flag I created, with a special prayer in mind.

I used my naturally home dyed fabric.This is once again all hand stitched. I appliqued the leaves of the peepal tree

decorative bells from an old necklace

"May you be well......

May you be happy...."

Thank you for stopping by,

Until next time,

xxx,

Gaia

Remembering Life

It has been ten years since my father passed away. He would have turned seventy two in December. I often think about him and wanted to create something special as a tribute for this tenth year.

I dyed some cotton fabrics at home; and this is the first time I tried my hand in a such experiment. I used few types of cotton in very small amounts. Few light in weave, in medium and a panel from an old cotton shirt which was very fine and soft.

Here they are after dyed and dried.
pomegranate skins, pods, turmeric mix and salt;

pomegranate pods, some ceylon tea;

couple of pieces soaked in henna; they turned out in a pale green. If I had kept them for a longer period it may have become more darker.

pomegranate skins only; few of them were grey so they turned out be a different version of a grey.

Top row; pomegranate skins
Bottom row; henna mix, turmeric and pomegranate skins, pomegranate pods

I sketched my imagination, then arranged the fabric pieces. I also used a piece of white cotton as the backing.

By using the running stitch and the back stitch I completed the piece.

For My Father.....

This is my interpretation of 'circle of life'.

Thank you for stopping by,

Until next time,

xxx,

Gaia

Landscape 2

I made another attempt on a landscape using applique/collage. This is a fun medium to work with... but I am running out of colours !

The picture I used as a guide this time is a painting I came across in 'American Art Review' magazine.

I pasted the completed piece on a 8x10 canvas.

I am giving this away to a friend's daughter who is celebrating her birthday at the end of the month. I hope she will like it.

Thank you for stopping by,

Until next time,

xxx,

Gaia

Applique - tote bag

I made a tote with the same pattern few months ago; you can see it here

The material I used for applique are from my bag of remnants ( I think it is batik,) and rest is from a thrift store.

I will be mailing this to a dear friend of mine who is an artist. Hope she will like it.

Thank you for stopping by,

Until next time,
xxx
Gaia

Experimental Landscape

Feels like autumn

This is an experimental piece I did inspired by the this painting that I saw in the 'International Artist.com' magazine.

As I would do with the painting, I tried to build the landscape adding layers of fabric. I have not used any kind adhesive to hold the fabric. I cut the shapes and held them with pins first and then ran the running stitch. I tried my best to make the stitches even as possible.

First I added the background colours;

Then middle ground layers; such as the trees,leaves

Finally the foreground. I did use the running stitch as the main stitch and some back stitch as well, also tried my hand doing some french knots for extra texture.

I do like the warm colours and the rustic feel of it but is it an applique or a collage??

Thank you for stopping by,

Until next time,

x.x.x
Gaia

Applique - Mirror ! Mirror ! ....on the wall

The wall where I have kept my dresser has been bare for sometime and I had been wanting to create a perfect match for the dressing area. Since there's no mirror above the dresser, this is the mirror that I came up with.....

scraps that I used in this project

Applique is done on a piece of calico. I chose to incorporate few things that I would usually keep on my dressing table or beside the bathroom mirror .