Tag Archives: mccomas fiber art

And Now, A Word From My Student

Life has been crazy busy for the last year, leaving precious little time to blog, so I’ll let one of my students from the Festival of Quilts 2019, Birmingham, England, tell you about her experience. Take it away, Kim…

Having been quilting for a number of years I wanted to expand my skills and fancied having a go at a portrait quilt. At school I was useless at art – drawing – so my confidence level was really low. I wasn’t sure that I could do it but really wanted to have a go – do you know what I mean?

Looking through the Workshop list for the Festival of Quilts in August 2019 I saw a portrait quilting course by Lea McComas. Biting the bullet, I booked a place with severe trepidation. The course list duly arrived, and I began to feel really nervous. What if the tutor laughed at my failing skills? What if everyone else was so much better than me?

Putting on my Big Girl Pants I went along to the course.

Other participants were working on portraits of dogs, grandchildren, husbands, children friends etc. I had chosen to work on a portrait of my long-time idol – Donny Osmond (Husband and Dog assured me that they were not jealous at all)

So I spent a glorious two whole days working on my portrait, Lea being the most marvellous tutor. I will never forget bringing the portrait to life by adding the white of his eye. Obviously two days isn’t long enough to complete a portrait so there was some homework to do and slowly, slowly I plucked up courage to continue my project with lots of encouragement from Lea.

In October I went to London where I met Donny and showed him my quilt so far. I cannot tell you what he said about it as I was quite literally a gibbering wreck. I managed to get him to sign my label too.

Lea I want to thank you for your expert tuition, encouragement and friendship. To those of you who may not have done a course with Lea I really encourage you to do so – you will really learn a lot and expand your skill set.

Thank you Lea.

Kim Wood UK

Here is Kim with her Donny quilt. Some think it looks like she printed the image, but NO. This is a fused appliqué portrait. Want to learn to make your own? Take my online portrait quilt class.

Time for a New Pet Portrait: Got Kibble?

Upcoming Exhibition

Yes, I’ve actually found time to create new original artwork this summer. The last several

I’ll be in good company

months have been packed with travel, teaching, and the Border Wall Quilt Project, but I’ve still carved out some time to focus on several new works of art, including a new pet portrait. I’ll be a featured artist at the Creative Framing Art Gallery in Louisville, CO in the months of September-October, and these new pieces will be fully revealed at that time. If your in the area, please save the date: Sep. 7, 2018 for the opening reception, 6-9 PM.

New Pet Portrait in the Dog’s Life Series

For now, let me share a sneak preview of what’s to come. . . .

Some of my hand dyed fabric in the background

Detail of dog

I often find inspiration from my students as I travel and teach. In Ft. Collins, CO a student shared a photo of her, “Crazy dog!” I had to agree, he looked pretty crazy, but also endearing. With her permission, I’ve done a new, larger than life, pet portrait.

I find that animal portraits don’t demand the same level of precision as portraits of people. This is just one more way that animals are more forgiving than humans. In this piece, the fabric does a lot of the work. The edges are raw and fuzzy and add a bit of dimension. I’ve done less thread-painting to keep those edges visible. It’s more like thread-sketching, and it’s great fun when you have to balance a new work with another new project that has a steep learning curve and lots of moving parts.

Plan to come and see this piece in person. Come to the reception and see me in person, too.

Border Wall Quilt Project: Section 3 Under Construction

OH, and that other new project is the Border Wall Quilt Project. Follow the link or follow me on Facebook and Instagram to see photos of the individual bricks and the process. There is still time to register and submit your own bricks.

Vigil is Finished. See This Endearing New Work

It is exciting when a new work is completed. Vigil is finished and I’m thrilled with the results. It’s been photographed and added to the Genre gallery on my website. However, in this week’s blog, I want to share some of the details.

The lonely dog, a faithful companion, lies, waiting, and ever hopeful of the return of a loved one.

Vigil: Stitching the Dog

One challenge I faced in stitching the dog was to get the direction of the hair just right. Stella, the dog in this composition, is similar to my own dog, Bosco. So, anytime I was uncertain about the direction I should be stitching, I would sneak up on Bosco as he napped and use him as my reference. Of course, he would wake up and expect to be held and petted in return for his services.

Detail of dog hair

When you ask Bosco for help on a project, he is all in.

Vigil: Creating Depth

subtle value changes create feeling of depth

Another challenge was to give a sense of foreground and background. For this, I rely, as I often do, on value changes. It is very subtle, but the black fabric used at the lower edge is slightly lighter than the dark fabric used for the upper part of the composition. This subtle contrast was enhanced with the thread choices in the stitching phase. As a viewer, you may never consciously notice the changes, but the image will register in your mind as having depth. Also, creating a broader field of gray below the white band brings that area forward.

Vigil: Stitching the Background

Subtle changes in thread and stitch design hint at what’s behind.

A final challenge was to add variation and subtle detail to the very large dark background area. I wanted to give the impression of a floor with a wall in the distance, but didn’t want to get too specific on where one transitioned to the other, and also wanted to maintain the feeling of a dark abyss. For this, I employed a circular stitch design for the carpet, and an elongated vertical stitch pattern to represent the wall and then varied where I transitioned from one pattern to the other. I also used two threads in this area: a solid black in the area around the dog, and a variegated thread of very dark values as I stitched further away from the figure.

In the end, I think this resulted in a very sweet piece that will be hard to part with. However, plans are already being made to exhibit this piece. When things finalize, I’ll let you know. For now, visit the Genre Gallery of my website to see some of my other works. You may notice another new work, Cruisin’. I’ll be sharing the story of this piece in the weeks to come.

Moving from Fabric to Thread

Shifting gears, moving to the next phase, changing the focus; that’s what I’ve been doing in these last couple of weeks as I transition from the fusing stage of my project to the stitching stage. I find it helpful to take a break and clear my head so that I can look at the project with fresh eyes. So, during this period, an idea that has been floating around in my brain for several years actually came alive and demanded to be brought to creation. I’ll share that with you in a few weeks. It is a total departure from this project and did allow for the fresh perspective I needed.

Before going of on this side trip, the fused fabric foundation for “We Don’t Talk” was loaded onto my longarm machine. You can see here all of the layers and how they are placed. If you’ve done your own thread painting, you may know that it is always a struggle to end with a piece that lies flat. I’m always on the quest for a better solution. In the past, I’ve used a layer of raw artist canvas. This has been marginally successful, so, this time I will use 2 layers positioned under the batting so that the grains are perpendicular to each other. I’m giving it a shot, but the tradeoff is weight. This baby is going to be heavy for it’s size.

(2 weeks go by)

Thread, thread, so much thread needed. Just as with my fabrics, I like to create selections for each element in the project, and just like with fabric, I use my trusty value scale to make good choices. However, with threads, I usually put together sets of 7-10 threads: one each of the #1 and 5 values, and then two or three each of values 2,3,4. However, given the size of the figure in this piece, I may have 3-5 threads in every value. Here is what it looks like in my studio when the threads come out to play.

Hmmm, I think I’ll start on the face first. Check back next week to see the progress.

Finally, Finished Fusing

Yes, Finally, all of the body pieces are working together and creating the depth of field that I’m looking for. With the face in place, I add some hair.

Helmet Hair

Yuck, that hair looks a bit too much like a helmet, but I’ll fix that when the background is in place. I rehearsed several fabrics for the background and settled on a piece that I made a few years ago in a dye/print/paint surface design class that I took with Susan Brooks in Louisville, CO.

Periodically, I take a class that is out of my comfort zone, just to learn some new things and get a fresh perspective. That was Susan’s class. I came home with lots of interesting pieces of fabric with no idea what would ever come of them.

Dye class fabrics

more dye fabrics

How happy am I to find the perfect background in that stash of “experimental” fabrics.

Background ini place

Now, back to that hair….

This is better. Phase 1: Fusing is complete.

Body Work

I’ve reached a place with my latest piece where I need to finalize a color scheme before moving on. So far, I’ve only chosen fabrics for the flesh. As I put these various body parts together, I’ve got to fill in the other elements of the composition (ie. dress, phone, background, hair.) I use my Itten Color Star to work this out.

Color Scheme

This Color Star is my favorite color wheel for making these kinds of decisions. It comes with a full set of templates that let me block out colors I don’t want to use and let’s me get a better sense of what colors I will be incorporating.

The hair is going to include yellow and yellow-oranges, while the phone will be blue-green, and her dress will be blue.

No decisions on the background yet, I’m going to put the figure all together and let it talk to me (or perhaps text me).

This week I’m able to complete the body along with the hand holding the phone. I’ve dipped into my special stash for the phone. It is made from some hand marbled fabrics I picked up in Venice back in the 90’s.

A body to go with the hands

Placing the face with the body, I have a real sense of progress. I’m not sure about the darkness of the upper body, but I’m going to move forward. I’ll audition some background fabrics before I decide whether or not to replace the body with lighter values.

A face with the body

Talk to the Hand

The fusing has begun. This week I was able to put together the hand for “We Don’t Talk”. It is created from warm red-orange flesh tones that I hope will pop off the surface and give it a real “in your face” feeling. For greater realism, I’m working with 7, rather than my standard 5 values.

The hand

Next, the face emerges from those cooler red-violet fabrics. You can begin to see that there is a significant contrast in the temperature of these 2 features. I hope it works as planned.

The face

I’m liking the detail in the eyes and mouth.

Next week I hope to fuse the body and put the pieces together.

A New Beginning

After 8 months of buying a new home, selling an old home, packing, unpacking, FINALLY, it’s time to be back in the studio. For my next piece, I’m taking another break from the historical series I’ve been working on. This next piece addresses a contemporary social issue.

Waiting for a table

I’ve long been uncomfortable with a shift in communication that takes us away from face to face contact, replacing it with texting. Several years ago, I took this photo outside a restaurant, intending to use it for a piece titled “We Don’t Talk Anymore.”

In my day job, teaching high schoolers, I set aside a period of time each week for “Community Building” where we engage in an activity, purely for fun, that requires us to talk with each other. At the start of this school year, I’m aware of how uncomfortable this is for many of my new students. This is the inspiration for a new project.

Photo of Maya

Instead of the original photo, I’m working from photos I took of my step-daughter, Maya. In the interest of full disclosure, she posed for these photos. They were not candid shots. If she has actually done this to anyone, it hasn’t been me.

With the photo cropped, edited, and printed to size, fabric selection is next. Usually, I choose a set of flesh toned fabrics for each person in my compositions so that they have individual complexions. In this case, with this bold close up of Maya, I’m going to need to establish 3 sets of fabrics just for her. I want to establish her body on 3 different planes: hand in front, face in mid-ground, and upper body in background and in shadow. I’m hoping, by doing this, to pop the hand forward and give real depth and dimension to this piece.

I start by choosing fabrics for the face. It’s in the mid ground so I choose pinkish, red-violet fabrics. For the hand, I choose warmer fabrics in the red-orange range to make them feel closer. Finally, the main body is in cooler, violet fabrics. The cooler temps of these fabrics will push them back. The tricky part will be the arm that transitions from the hand to the body.

Check in next week to see this piece coming together.

Making Faces All Summer Long

As a school teacher, I love summer vacation as much as my student, maybe more. For me, it’s a chance to spend more time showing my fiber art, talking about my process, teaching my techniques, and of course, making thread-painted portraits.

This summer was no exception. Check out this photo travelogue”

Thread-Painting workshop in Colorado Springs:

5-day Summer Retreat in Lyons, Colorado:

Portraits on Parade

Fused fabric portraits in Wichita, KS:

A quick visit to Longwood Gardens with Cheryl Lynch after speaking to the Calico Cutters guild in Philadelphia, PA:

And a mini-workshop and gallery lecture in Brigham City, UT

But the fun doesn’t stop… There are more opportunities in the fall. Join me if you can:

Workshops in LaConner, WA and Fort Collins, CO. See my “Upcoming Events” for more details

Let’s Make Faces

Look what I did!

I hope you are enjoying a beautiful summer: picnics, camping, swimming, baseball…

But, when you are ready to come in, cool off, and do something creative, I invite you to join me in a portrait quilt class or workshop. There are spaces open in these locations:

CraftU Courses are once again open for registration:

“Fused Raw-Edge Applique” begins August 1, 2016.
“Thread-Painted Portraits” begins September 26, 2016
We made mouths

Buy both courses and receive 25% discount on the second course.

August 13 – Brigham City Museum, Brigham City, Utah.

Introduction to Thread Painting 1/2-day workshop,12:00-3:00 PM.
Gallery Gala, 6:00-8:00 PM. Artists talks and time to chat

Jo’s Self portrait

September 30-October 2, 2016 – Quilt & Fiber Arts Festival, LaConner Quilt & Textile Museum, LaConner, Washington

Preview Party, September 29
“Fused Applique Portrait Quilts” – 2 Day Workshop; Friday, Sept. 30 & Saturday, Oct. 1, 2016
“Thread Painted Portraits” – Sunday, Oct. 2, 2016

October 15-16, Jukebox Quilts Store, Fort Collins, Colorado

Portraits on Parade

“Portrait Quilt Workshop” Sat-Sun, October 15-16, 2016. Call (970) 224-9975 for more information.

January 19-22, 2017, Road to California Quilter’s Conference, Ontario, California

Thread Painted Portraits 2-day workshop, Thur-Fri, Jan 19-20
Fused Applique Portraits, 2-day workshop, Sat-Sun, Jan 21-22
Blue dog in progress