Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Redwork embroidery quilt block - Finished!

Finished off my redwork quilt block last night! It's fun to see my design done in embroidery. Next up I'll be making hand-painted wallpaper with it and a few other designs.


Monday, March 15, 2010

Redwork Embroidery Quilt Project

For the Midwives Collective's upcoming members' show (June 2010), in addition to our own personal works, we're doing a collaborative group project: a redwork embroidery quilt. Each of us is going to produce a single block. Then my mom and her friend are going to piece the quilt together and finish it off for us (Thanks Mom!). The pictured red fabrics are the other fabrics that are going to be used in our collaborative quilt.
This quilt will either be auctioned or raffled off during our show. 100% of the proceeds will go to benefit Midwives For Haiti.
The design I'm using for my own block is taken from an original repeated design Sarah and I are producing for our collaborative installation for the Midwives members' show. My current designs are based on the stylized florals of Richard Hoffman.


Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Visions of Things to Come


Once both Lamina (my solo show) and Bedazzzzled (Maurene's solo show at the Midwives Gallery) open, Sarah and I have much to concern ourselves with. June is the annual Midwives Collective Members show, and this year's theme is "red", whatever that may mean to the artist. Sarah and I are working collaboratively on this project. Last night we had a great meeting where we agreed on some key points and ideas, scheduled a few weeks' worth of workshop days, and set goals for the coming weeks. This is going to be good.






MARCH 26th is SOLO SHOW - LAMINA

Ok, so it's really happening. It was a bit touch and go when we were figuring out dates and such but it's on for March/April. There's an opening reception on March 26th, which I'm hoping will be decently attended. Must thank fellow artist Darla Jackson for approaching me and setting this all up. :)
The deets:
Barefoot Doctor Community Acupuncture Clinic
618 E. Girard Ave Fishtown, PA 19125

March 13 - April 30,2010
RECEPTION: Friday, March 26th, 6-9pm


This is a detail of one of my new pieces for this show.

Back of postcard with info (click it for much bigger view)

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Wedding Inspiration

Our venue is the Valley Green Inn in Wissahickon Park. We're planning things for May 2011, when everything will be lush and green.


Some inspiration and possible purchases or DIY projects. All photos link back to where I originally found them.

I like bunting flags. I made a bunch of Christmas ones for myself and a friend this past year. They're so easy to make, to personalize and effortlessly adds color and interest to a setting. They're also super cheap to produce!


This is a photo of a particular favorite bouquet that Brendan bought me last Summer from our farmer's market flower people, Triple Tree Flowers. They're going to be our florist. We're planning a trip to their flower farm for this May.


Petal paper cones for post-ceremony celebration. These are super easy to make too and can be personalized with any kind of paper and ribbon or whatever details. I've seen ones where folks take their "wedding logo", print them onto cardstock, cut them and tape or glue the logos to the cones, making them super personalized and thematically cohesive. I like the idea of having folks throw petals instead of rice or something. I wouldn't mind getting petals in my hair, but I'd definitely not want bread crumbs or rice or something like that getting on me.


I'm excited about these rustic wood cake stands. Even if I find a felled tree and slice off a few logs and level them, it'd be perfect. The first photo links to DIY directions. So simple and stylish, while super cheap to make.



I found this invite online. It was kind of serendipitous because a few weeks before I found it I thought that the perfect invite for our wedding would be something based off of a planter's wheel (these wheels have the months of the year on the outer ring and the window shows the corresponding plants that should be planted when). Since Brendan and I are avid gardeners, this sort of design is in keeping with who we are. I also really like faux bois and woodsy things (obviously) and when I saw this invite, I thought to myself how it was like this couple (who has their own design company) was looking inside my brain! They did a beautiful job and I have reverse-engineered this invite for myself, after asking them permission that I could basically rip-off their idea. They were super nice about it and flattered that I thought the design was so wonderful. Click on the image to see their design website and more about their one-off wedding invites. So perfect!


This is an album made by this Etsy artist who lives in Latvia. I've contacted her about making a larger format album for our own wedding & honeymoon photos. What a beautiful keepsake this will make! And of course, in keeping with the wood grain & nature theme.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Argyle w/ Poppy


Argyle w/ Poppy
Originally uploaded by Elizabeth J. Smith
Ok, did a quick overlay of a poppy that I'm painting in with gouache. The repeat is far larger than my 11"x14" sketchbook. Will have to continue design into true repeat onto other sheets of paper. But this is just one idea for a floral overlay that I have.

A Floral and An Argyle

The photos below aren't the best but it's some progress. For our MWC members show (theme is RED, be it the color itself and/or some emotional/psychological meaning of the color, or even the absence of it), Sarah and I are going to collaborate. We've tried to collaborate before, and haven't quite gotten there, but this feels different. We both have a long-standing fascination with the Turkey Red patterns popular in Europe in the 1890's as well as the redwork embroidery that was popular at about the same time (the red embroidery floss was dyed with the colorfast Turkey Red). For our collaboration, we're planning some sort of installation that celebrates this particular red and the patterns on patterns of the fabrics that were popular in the fashion of the time, possibly doing wallpapers. We worked once before on a wallpaper installation together, for Sarah's solo show "The Hesitation Waltz", where she designed a donkey wallpaper. I taught her the basics in repeat structures, helped her transfer her pattern onto the paper and helped install things. It was a good experience.

This is actually my first attempted argyle. I can't believe I've never designed one before. I am planning to layer on some sort of floral pattern over the argyle structure.


This is a simple "checkerboard" repeat with abstracted florals in a medallion setting. Not sure if I'm going to keep the grid or not, but will try different variations for fun.

Monday, March 1, 2010

WIPs - Beetle Paisley & Other Florals

Spent most of last night painting and drawing. Current beetle paisley done in "Turkey Red" color scheme popular in 1890's Europe:


And currently I'm working out other possible florals to use with this color scheme:



I have a self-imposed deadline for these and some more designs by this Sunday for a possible collaborative project for a June show. And thankfully I can design these things pretty fast (thanks to my college Print Design prof Michael Olszewski). The above florals are influenced by 18th-century designer Richard Hofmann's decorative florals.