Monday, February 29, 2016

Guest Artist Feature: Sandra Messier, Quilter

Quilting is a hobby of mine, a favorite pastime, a passion -- begun at a young age and developed over fifty years.

What inspires me to quilt? Joy -- the joy found within the process of creating a quilt and the nostalgic memories of learning to sew beside my beloved Grandmother.

These cherished memories of sitting at my Grandmother's Singer sewing machine --  smelling the fabric finishes, dust and machine oil -- the faint scent of fresh cut grass and the plum tree in bloom wafting in on the gentle breeze through an open window -- the feel of my Grandmother's gentle presence and her soft words of instruction and encouragement -- bring me JOY.

Creating at my own machine evokes these memories and offers me the opportunity to feel my Grandmother and express her love for me and sewing through my quilts.

It is my pleasure to  share with you  some of my favorite quilts.

 4 Patch Variation 





This charming quilt was pieced in the late 1990's. I made it for my daughter's bed to compliment the white picket fence headboard her father had made for her. Well, life rolls along and it wasn't until 2015, three homes later and a daughter now in her twenties, that I unearthed this hidden treasure and had it quilted.

It felt wonderful to handle the quilt and work with it again. The slightly dusty aged fabric scent tickled my nose and my memories -- of my young daughter playing while I worked on this quilt.

Pink -- the color of unconditional love and nurturing -- the color that attracts my eye in this quilt. A gift of love to my daughter.

Sunbonnet Sue 

        

The delicate simplicity of the Sunbonnet Sue, a popular quilting design from the early 1900's, has always appealed to me.  Prior to beginning this quilt project a refresher course in hand appliqué was necessary as was increasing my "stash" of 1930's reproduction fabrics. Tasks joyfully undertaken. As I hand appliquéd each block I envisioned "Sue" tending her flower garden creating a story, in my mind, for each.

Green is a restful color -- signifying life, growth -- the color of my garden; therefore the perfect balance for the offsetting 9-patch blocks.


 Intricate Quilting Design




1930's Strip Twist Quilt      


I selected this pattern to develop my technique in consistent seam allowances, pressing and block assembly. 1930's reproduction fabrics seemed the perfect fit --  I had fun creating this playful quilt -- I like the movement the blocks create and how the colors pop!

Yellow is a cheerful color -- bringing me satisfaction -- of happiness and hope.

Double Wedding Ring Table Runner



Ah, the challenge of the Double Wedding Ring quilt; a design not for the faint of heart.  I have long admired this quilt pattern, with its many tiny pieces and multiple curves,  and was eager to attempt one. I wisely decided the best approach was to begin small and use the blocks to create a table runner.  Amazingly it wasn't  the daunting task I let myself believe it would be.

Selecting a red and white color palette was a new experience for me. Red is an energizing and exciting color -- and I love the result. I will use red again with confidence!


Appliquéd Butterfly Quilt   



Several years ago a dear friend shared with me an antique Butterfly Appliquéd quilt she inherited. It was made as a wedding gift for her parents by her grandmother. What a lovely tribute. The movement of the butterflies and the sentimentality of the quilt reverberated through  me as I handled the quilt and listened to my friend share her memories of this quilt. Instantaneously, I knew  that I would create one -- and began my quilt two years later.

Soon after seeing my friends quilt I began supplementing the 1930's reproduction fabric "stash".  And, also, researching  butterfly templates. I selected a butterfly template  with softer edges and a more delicate appeal than the original. Many months went into the creation and hand appliquéing of 54 plus blocks -- months of wondering if I'd totally lost my mind to undertake the project -- months of daydreaming -- months of contemplating the ease and joy of a butterfly flitting in the sunshine from one flower to another without a care in the world.

Purple -- the color of imagination and dreams -- a perfect choice for the border fabric!

 Butterflies flitting in the garden!



Dresden Plates



In the upstairs of my Grandmother's home was a linen closet that contained, to my child's mind, many wonderful treasures. It was truly a special occasion when my Grandmother would let me explore the contents of this closet. My favorite treasures were her Dresden Plates which I inherited at her death. She knew they were my favorites and always let me handle them. 

To this day I appreciate the fragile, delicate fabrics and the knowledge that she created these beautiful pieces with her own hands. My love for the 1930's fabrics no doubt seeped into my soul from these childhood experiences -- from my Grandmother's influence -- a privilege that will always be dear to me.

Quilts speak to me -- the soft but vibrant colors, the faint scents of fabric finishes -- the peace and joy found in the process, in the day dreaming, the memories evoked and in the gifting of my quilts to family and friends -- they touch my inner being, my heart.

                       
A close-up of original 1930's fabric





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Friday, February 26, 2016

Luminous - Real Time/Full Length Painting Video

Hello all, I hope that you have had a great week so far – it’s Friday! While this post may not be long on word count, I do have the full-length/real time version of my abstracted landscape, “Luminous,” complete. This video contains audio/ visual commentary where I walk you through painting this work, including what I was thinking while I was painting, the composition/structure, color palette/mixing, and my ideas about painting in general!



"Luminous." Artist Charles Wolf. Acrylic on Canvas, 16 x 20 in.
Charles Wolf Studio © 2016. All Rights Reserved.


You may remember that I shared the “Hyper Time-lapse Video” of “Luminous” last week, without audio or visual commentary (you can watch the Hyperspeed version by scrolling past the full-length video below), so I am happy to also share the in-depth form today!



This painting is available for purchase on the Official Impulsive Artistry Studio Etsy Shop here: 



List of Materials/Color Palette

Drop Cloth (recommended)
Water Bottle (cut in half)
Water
Easel (recommended)
Acrylic Paint
Paper Towel
½ inch Chip Brush
1 inch Flat Brush
2 inch Flat Brush
3 inch Flat Brush
Medium Round Brush

Alizarin Crimson
Cobalt Blue
Cadmium Yellow Medium
Yellow Ochre
Mars Black
Titanium White


Luminous – Full Length Video with Commentary



Charles Wolf Studio © 2016. All Rights Reserved.

Luminous – Hyper Time-lapse Video with EDM



Charles Wolf Studio © 2016. All Rights Reserved.

Thank you so much for watching! As always, have a fantastic weekend and we will be back on Monday with a very special, amazing, new Guest Artist Feature that I am incredibly excited about! Don’t miss it—be back here on Monday!


—Charles
 

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Wednesday, February 24, 2016

"Dawn," Acrylic Landscape Sunrise + Hyper Time-lapse Video!





Hello Everyone,

A happy Wednesday to you all! Today’s post features my latest landscape painting titled “Dawn.” This work combines the color palette that I have been using for my abstracts with a more realistic and objective painting style. I actually painted this piece this past weekend and have been waiting to share this work with you all until today—and now I finally get too!

Several of the painters that I follow, on sites like YouTube and Google+, have recently been painting works containing mist, which I decided to attempt myself. This is not the first time that I have tried to paint mist: a few months ago I created another painting that just didn’t work out – for a number of different reasons. If you would like to see that painting, I did include a photo of it in my article about "fear of failure" in life, linked below:


My Inspiration for this Work

A couple of times each week in the early mornings, I will take my wife to her work so that I can have the car during the day and complete some errands. I should note here that we only have one vehicle between us right now, which works well for us, because, as you can probably guess, I work from home and don’t need a vehicle on most days. Anyway, here in North Carolina the hills surrounding Raleigh, where we live, are covered with a mixture of deciduous trees, now bare in the winter, and a host of pines. As the sun rises, the mist flickers through the forest with a similar effect and grey/blue color hew as seen in “Dawn.” 

I originally intended to actually paint a cityscape above the tree line in the painting, but decided against this once I saw how the composition was unfolding so well. I suppose that I will have to paint another similar work and include some skyscrapers!



Dawn. Acrylic on Canvas, 16 x 20 in. 
Charles Wolf Studio © 2016. All Rights Reserved.

Buy this painting at here at the Impulsive Artistry Etsy Shop:

Dawn Etsy Shop Link 



Here is the acrylic color palette that I used to create this work:

Mars Black
Titanium White
Alizarin Crimson
Cobalt Blue
Cadmium Yellow

Painting Video

Below is the hyper time-lapse video of this artwork, where you can watch me paint this piece from start to finish (under 6 minutes) with EDM music. I will be sure to include a full length/real time version of “Dawn” with audio commentary for those who may be interested in watching that in a future blog post!



What do you think of my new landscape painting? Should I paint a similar work with the cityscape included? Do you have any questions about this work that you would like to ask? Let me know in the comment section below!

Impulsive Artistry will be back on Friday with another blog post, until then, have a great artistic and creative day!


—Charles

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