Sketching on the iPad

I have had an iPad mini for quite a few years, and last year my family upgraded me for my birthday as my old one wouldn't update some apps etc etc.  I use it constantly for emails, blogging, keynote presentations, note taking etc, but I know I've never explored it's full potential.

When I was away in Christchurch, I was pretty chocka luggage wise, and so I didn't risk packing a sketchbook.  And it was a pain, I was coming across lots of inspiration and getting heaps of new ideas - as you do when you travel - but I had no way to start processing them.  So I stuck with taking lots of photos, and hoped that I'd remember the ideas I had.

Then I thought about my iPad. That tends to go everywhere with me, and I know you can use it to make great art (check out Susie Monday, a textile artist who makes wonderful art inspired by and with her iPad, and teaches it too) so maybe it was time to have a play with some apps.

The one I've found that I'm enjoying playing with is Adobe Photoshop Sketch. I think it was free, and if it did cost, it wouldn't have been much. I don't mind paying a one off reasonable fee for an app, but I don't like to get hooked into monthly or yearly subscriptions!

Here is my first ever drawing using the app, trying to get used to the different tools:

And then I did this one:

Which I'm quite pleased with. I figured out how to import photographs, 'trace' them and then hide them again.  Which you can see in progress below. Yes, I made my daughter pose upsidedown on a chair for me! This is an idea for a quilt that's been floating (sorry!) around in my head for a while, so it was good to get it recorded.

My artist friend, Helen, says that when you record ideas in a sketchbook and then shut the pages, they all have 'idea sex' and when you open it up again, you'll get a whole lot of new ideas. I wonder if this will work with a virtual sketch book?!

Have you used your phone/tablet/device as an art tool? Found any apps that you love? Let us all know so we can share in the arty fun!

Tīeke Imagined

Lynda Worthington is the editor of Embellish, an Australian textile art magazine.  A little while ago she contacted me to see if I'd be interested in contributing to a New Zealand themed issue of the magazine.  I said yes of course!

The magazine came out in June and I was super excited to see my quilt featured on the cover.

'Tīeke Imagined' is a small quilt (about 13" x 14") I made in response to my (fruitless) search for the NZ Saddleback bird, Tīeke.  

New Zealand has many unique native birds, many of them endangered as they all evolved without mammalian predators like rats and stoats.  The Tīeke is one of those birds, and now that NZ has rats, stoats, cats, and dogs, they are struggling to survive.  About 40 birds were released onto predator controlled islands out in the Bay as part of Project Island Song.  We've taken our boat out several times over the last year or so and I've gone walking on the Islands in search of Tīeke.  So far I've heard them, but not seen them.

 Photo borrowed from Wikipedia 

Tīeke Imagined, textile art by Charlotte Scott, SOLD

I used silk organza, stencilling, layering and free motion quilting to construct my quilt.  If you'd like to know more about the techniques, I wrote in depth about the process in the magazine article.  There are also other great articles in the magazine from New Zealand and Australian artists.  You can find Embellish on their website here.  You can also buy it in New Zealand through Minerva.

And I'll let you know if I ever do see a Tīeke!

More Herons, and a tease of Ungainly Grace

There is another heron quilt I didn't include in the last blog post.  It was one created for the SewEzi Aotearoa Quilters Flight Challenge, which is being exhibited as part of the Great NZ Quilt Show, the first weekend of May, in Rotorua.

I got very good news yesterday that my quilt, titled Ungainly Grace (recognise the reference to the quote in the last blog post?), was chosen as one of the twenty finalists!  Yay!

Here is the drawing I started with:

It is a sketch from one of my own photographs of a white faced heron:

Unfortunately I can't show you the full quilt yet, but I can tell you it is 75cm square, as they all will be, and I can tell you that working in a square format is difficult for me! 

 I was discussing it with my mentor (Lisa Call, in case you are looking for a wonderful teacher/life coach) and she suggested that a landscape or portrait format has instant expressiveness without even adding the art.  Think horizontal = calm, portrait = power.  But a square makes you work harder to convey the feeling you want.  You can only work with the images and layout within the square, you can't rely on the shape of the frame.  Interesting.

I can also tell you that there was hand-dyed silk and much free motion quilting on my Bernina 440 domestic machine.  

There was also much thread tying in.  Ho hum.

And there may have been a last minute dash to sew on the label in my car on the way to drop off the quilt (not while driving - just waiting for carpooling!).

But I was very happy with the final result.  It is subtle and my aim was to work with tones and get them right rather than relying on colour to do all the work.  I think I got there, but you'll have to wait till the show to see if you agree with me.

For now, this is just a glimpse.

See you at the show!

Here is a link to a great blog post written about the upcoming show - I'm biased 'cause I wrote it!