If you visit my blog very often, you might have noticed that I haven’t posted as frequently as I usually do. I’ve had a few things going on, so I’ll try to catch you up in the next few posts on anything that might be interesting.
My Etsy shop is looking a little depleted lately. My last sale was four quilts that will be going into Oregon’s new state hospital, I felt pretty proud to be includedย in the art choices for itย So that’s a nice thing to share.
My Etsy shop is looking a little depleted lately. So what that means is I need to get busy and make quilts! That is just what I’m doing, making quilts and loving it.
I’m currently experimenting with what may prove to be a useful tool to generate a little creative inspirations.
I’ve been playing around with Photoshop using some of the special effects edits and have had a few results that I liked enough to put into my future projects folder. One that looked like an old photo negative. The colors-seem reversed. It looked like good art quilt material. So I tried it out, made one. I thought the result was interesting, I’m going to try a few-others.
Above Top-Here’s the art quilt, it isn’t capturing the photo effect.I found it hard to duplicate the thousands of tiny drops of colored ink that made up the photo.
Reminds me of Neo-Impressionist Seurat lots and lots of colored dots make up the picture. In this photo edited dogwoods, printed with zillions of tiny drops of-colored ink.ย I’m intrigued with the idea, easy to do with paint, but thread?
Here’s another which gives a clearer view of the tiny drops of colored ink that create the image. I’m thinking about this idea, how to achieve this effect on an art quilt.
Notice how many different tiny drops of color here?
About Myself & My Approach
Art has always played a role in my life, in one form or another. by my teens I had narrowed my focus to painting. I decided I was going to become a serious painter. I joined the Las Vegas Artist's Guild at 15, the youngest member at that time. I was completely out of place, I tried to go unnoticed, a mute fly on the wall, with a big smile pasted on my face.
I've continued to paint most of my life.
After a move to Oregon years later, I was introduced to quilting and fell in love.
I was introduced to quilting & fell in love.
In time I missed the creative freedom painting made possible.
Then I discovered mixed media fiber art, I was home.
MY APPROACH TO ART
It's the creative process that holds the greatest attraction for me. Starting with a tiny seed of an idea; vague and blurred around the edges, I follow where that leads. There are often many changes and adjustments along the way. The result can often be surprizing.
My approach is an instinctual one. Generally, I do little pre-planning. I make creative decisions, choices, directions as they present themselves.
This approach can lead to quite a few changes in the direction.
I love that element of surprize!
Sometimes I have one that I especially like, I can't wait to show someone.
At that moment l feel like a six year old, running home from school, a drawing in hand, excited to show Mom. At those times. I'm smiling like the Cheshire cat.
Iโve had some of my work published in several magazines. which is exciting. But the most gratifying thing is having clients be really happy with their purchased art quilt.
Word press https://barbaraharmsfiberart.com
Etsy shop-sales https://barbaraharms.com
Contact: inquiry barbaraharmsfiberart@icloud.com.com
Personal Links
View more posts
2 thoughts on “Photo Editing Programs- New Tool For Designing Art Quilts?”
Hi Barbara,
I’ve been learning to use Adobe Illustrator for use in quilting. I want to use it to make a collage of our little town. You can turn an object from raster to vector object which then allows you to resize it & maintain the line quality. It also enables you to easily combine object from different pictures. I suppose one could keep a library of vectored objects, if you have favorite objects. I also use it to clean up & reprint my Zentangle drawings. It’s not an easy program, though, & I have to relearn it every time because I just don’t use it often enough. Another cool use is, once you have a line drawing for a quilt, you can try different colorations, much more easily than coloring with pencils or paint. I’m working on a water lilly pic that my husband tool. I’ll be able to use a shadow of the flower in the background, fracture it, or enlarge it in proportion to the rest of the picture. Pretty fun, huh? I wish someone taught Illustrator for Quilters.
Your work is beautiful & inspiring – thanks for sharing it.
Thanks Heidi, It sounds like you know a lot more about photo editing. I’m just dinking around with my Adobe Photoshop Elements and seeing what happens.I’ve never used Adobe Illustrator, it sounds interesting and fun.
Barbara Harms Fiber Art 
Hi Barbara,
I’ve been learning to use Adobe Illustrator for use in quilting. I want to use it to make a collage of our little town. You can turn an object from raster to vector object which then allows you to resize it & maintain the line quality. It also enables you to easily combine object from different pictures. I suppose one could keep a library of vectored objects, if you have favorite objects. I also use it to clean up & reprint my Zentangle drawings. It’s not an easy program, though, & I have to relearn it every time because I just don’t use it often enough. Another cool use is, once you have a line drawing for a quilt, you can try different colorations, much more easily than coloring with pencils or paint. I’m working on a water lilly pic that my husband tool. I’ll be able to use a shadow of the flower in the background, fracture it, or enlarge it in proportion to the rest of the picture. Pretty fun, huh? I wish someone taught Illustrator for Quilters.
Your work is beautiful & inspiring – thanks for sharing it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Heidi, It sounds like you know a lot more about photo editing. I’m just dinking around with my Adobe Photoshop Elements and seeing what happens.I’ve never used Adobe Illustrator, it sounds interesting and fun.
LikeLike