Yellow Bird

5x7"

January 2026

After dinking around with watercolor for the first time in over a year, I began dabbling in this so-called technique of squeegee painting.  This is where a medium - in my case acrylic ink, is scraped across the surface of paper with a tool of some sort. I bought mine at an estate sale.  I had some inks, but the bulk of my colors came from my sister - the depository of all art supplies.

I made some larger works first, which I may or may not showcase here, but decided that since I was just dinking around a smaller size would be more achievable.

A little background on my recent evolution as an artist: In 2021 I began dabbling in watercolor.  Up until quite recently I would only use words like dabble and dink to describe my art-making.  But a funny thing happened on the way to the forum: I began to produce artwork that was really good.  I mean, really good.  And this was such a surprise and revelation that I proceeded to get all in my head about it, quickly becoming addicted to the dopamine hits provided by social media comments and likes. And the pressure to keep surprising myself became poison.  So I stopped painting for a while.

Returning to the beginning of this year, which is when the pressure to create became greater than the pressure to surprise myself, I got my watercolors out and began making works based on colors and patterns and texture.  And they were fun to make and no pressure.  But I felt that I was making art that was not unique to who I am - I follow a bagillion accounts on Instagram that are people making just this kind of art.  And while we all find those process videos inspiring and entertaining, I knew I was capable of something more like me.

But how to go there?  Start painting birds again, but this time without pressuring myself.  I changed medium from watercolor to acrylic paint markers - a gift from my daughter which I initially thought I wouldn't enjoy that much ( especially since I had just invested a bunch of money in a set of prismacolor alcohol markers).  

Then I found the scraper at an estate sale and knew I wanted to try squeegee art.  My backgrounds became fertile, colorful places onto which I could make marks with a variety of implements, and placing a bird in the midst of all that pattern was the clincher - that and giving my birds a gold dotted halo because why not?

This series is not nearly as crazy-making as my watercolors were, and I approach each one with a sense of play and experiment.  This has allowed me to crank out a large portfolio of which I am quite proud to share with you and the world.  I think it is apparent in the work that I am having fun, finally, and that I have come home to where I belong, doing what I was created to do.

 

 Writing About My Work

Yesterday I started putting my recent collection into individual resealable clear plastic bags - the kind that greeting cards sometimes come in.  It was a nice chance to take another look at all the pieces I have created this year and notice how my work is evolving. 

Although I am enjoying the current look of the work and the process I use, I am always craving novelty and growth.  I was able to see how I've made some small changes that feel like I have improved the final product.

One big change is that instead dragging the ink in straight lines horizontally and vertically, I have started curving the lines.  I also allow the ink to sometimes leave trails as I go across the page - this happens when I don't put sufficient ink down to make it from one edge to another. 

I'm looking at a framed piece I own by calligraphy artist Timothy Botts which is hanging in my studio, and I see exactly those same effects in his background: curved lines and trails of insufficient ink.  I never noticed that before!

Another change, or evolution - is that I am decorating the backgrounds so much more than I used to.  I remember, in the early pieces, I would think to myself, "That's enough," after adding a few marks here and there.  Now I keep going and although it might seem busier, I think it really adds more interest and texture.  Plus, creating surface design just makes me happy.

I seem to have favorites in each of the sizes I'm working in.  I wont list them here because I don't want to share every thought that comes into my head.  But after putting most of the work into plastic sleeves, I'm feeling like I could work more in the 9x9 size. I think I really prefer the square shape at the moment.  I recently bought some 11x14 bristol, which I could easily cut down to 11x11, so that might be in my future, also.

I need to upload all the scanned photos of my work, and get scans made of the last four 5x7s I finished last week - and then I can post photos of what all I have been talking about here.  But as part of my homework, I have been assigned writing about my work, so here I have done that. 

Regeneration

Regeneration

33" x 35"

Hand Dyed and Commercial Cottons

Fused and Machine Quilted

$250

For most of the quilting, I used black thread.  But for the center where the arcs didn't intersect, I decided  to see how white thread would look.

I like how it kinda disappears.

This is a new way of quilting for me.  I really enjoyed both the process and the result.  I will be doing more of this in the future.

Blogging from my Phone

I seem to have a lot of down time at work, so I thought I'd try a little experiment.



Now I just need to figure out how to get my words where I want them in relation to the pictures.

But as you can see, I have begun the quilting. The going is slow as I really need to concentrate while I'm doing free motion, and that can't happen when there are people in my world.

But I'm pleased so far.

Top Finished

After having a run-around morning, I had several hours all afternoon to work on the quilt.
I finished to branches on the right side of the tree and then had the daunting task of cutting the pattern for the "crown" or top of the tree.

I wont lie to you; it took me about 45 minutes to cut this out, and I wasn't even done then!  I still had plenty of little fiddly bits to go in and remove.  But it wasn't an unpleasant thing to do.  I was listening to NPR podcasts and just working away.  

And then, suddenly, as if by magic, I had the fabric piece cut out and the tree was finished.

Just kidding.  That took a long time, too.  

Then I ran into a problem.

Without thinking about the consequences, I fused every branch all the way down to the pattern.  I could have just fused the branch to the trunk, but I just had to see how close I was to the original drawing.  And then, when it came time to transfer the fabric to the quilt, it frayed as I was pulling it up from the backing paper.  I had to go REAL SLOW, and then I had to trim some of the frayed bits away.  Live and learn.

But all is well that ends well.  And now I just have to put a back on it and quilt it.  

I had a fuzzy intention of making a quilt every month, but now I have two quilt tops that are unfinished and I think I will readjust my goal and try to finish both by the end of this month.

My cousin Celeste asked a question in yesterday's post:

What kind of fabric are you using for the sun rays that makes it appear transparent? I love that effect.

I am using all hand-dyed fabrics by Melody Johnson, of course.  These are getting to be in short supply, so I will be making my own very soon.  But it's merely a matter of using lighter values that gives the look of transparency.  

Playing Catch Up

I had a small illness last month that caused me to have a break in continuity in my blogging.  And then it felt like I was playing catch up for so long!  But I'm well and have made some progress that I can't wait to show you!

I have finally finished filling in the background.  I think it was not too difficult, but would have been easier if I was working larger than 18x24"  Also, since I had to wait for the correct fabric colors until I could see my sister, I started filling in the background in a sort of random way.  It would have been better to start with the sun (or the middle) and worked my way out from there.  

But whatever, I am very pleased with the result.  The colors make me very happy, although they are a bit brighter in this picture than in real life.  

This is just a reminder of my inspiration photo.  

And so, now to fill in that fiddly tree.

For this part, I am actually building right onto my drawing.  I don't think it will matter if the marker lines transfer to this fabric as it is so dark.  

I have been doing a branch a day, roughly.  It's no so bad, cutting out these curlicues, as I thought it would be.  I'm at that point, seems like it happens at lease once during the construction process, where I have to ignore that little voice of discouragement and keep plodding on.  We've all been there.  I've been there before and I know it will happen again.  Useless little voice.  Why don't you go play somewhere else?

WIP Update

I have been very diligent all week, getting up an hour early to work on this quilt every day.  As you can see, I have almost completely filled in the swirly clouds.  I had to wait a bit for my sister to make a visit to town and bring me some more lovely pastels, which have been added and are exactly what I needed.  But I was thinking the finishing of the top would take place this weekend.

And here it is, Sunday night, and I haven't been in the studio all weekend!  I guess my goal is not going to  be reached, what with Downton Abbey coming up in a couple hours and I still have some laundry to do.

But probably this week will see me completing at least the sky, if not the whole top.

Not being a big pastel loving person, I sure am pleased with the colors in this quilt.  I guess there is a time and a place for every color, right?

I'm also thinking this quilt would be excellent made large.  Right now it's about 18x24."  Manageable, but not too dramatic.  I just may be making this again.

This is a partial explanation why nothing got done this weekend.  My daughter's school put on this production, only 1 in 4 schools in the nation chosen by Disney to perform it.  And she was in the musical, of course.  So we have been to see it every night.  It was wonderful, the cast and everyone did a great job, but I will be glad for my daughter to get her life back.  It was a ton of work!  But worth every minute.

Here's a bird picture:

Chloe blending into the background, almost.