Photographing Your Quilts

At the SAQA conference, Gregory Case gave a presentation on photographing your quilts. It's not quite as simple as it may seem. Yes, it can be done at home with your iPhone, but that will not give you the results you want. 

Gregory emphasized that if you're sending this photo to a show to be looked at by the judges, this is your quilt's wedding photo - you want it to look it's absolute best.

He showed us examples of photos of quilts taken with an iPhone vs using a SLR in RAW mode. Not too surprisingly, there was a huge difference. Even using a SLR in jpg mode vs RAW mode was not as accurate in color or texture. So, first you need a camera that takes pictures in RAW mode. Yes, this is like giving a mouse a cookie.

If you get a camera that takes pictures in RAW, then you need software that processes RAW. Photoshop Elements is great for processing jpgs, but you need the full Photoshop deal for RAW. 

Now that you have your camera and software, you need to learn to set your camera to take accurate color, rather than the "pleasing" color it was designed to take. Cameras are designed for less colors, but oversaturated ones, so you lose a lot of detail. 

Since every step of the process requires a different device (camera, computer, printer) and each of those devices use a different way to read color. So if you want it to print the way it looks on your screen, or you want the judge to see it on their screen the way it looks on your screen, you need a color monitor which calibrates color between devices. And then there's the whole studio set up which needs a good amount of space and lighting.

There was a lot more detail in the talk, but to sum it up, if you want your photos to look professional, find a professional who knows specifically how to photograph quilts. You can get serviceable photos on your own, but it will take some practice, an investment in equipment and space. Sarah Ann Smith has a great tutorial for her set up. For me, though, as much as I love my camera, and even fiddling with Photoshop (Elements), I'd rather be spending that time on my art!

Speaking of Elements, that was the theme for the SAQA exhibit that we went to see during the convention, which highlighted SAQA's change for the definition of an art quilt. In the curator's essay, Jill Werner states, "Each artist was asked to interpret a chemical element from the periodic table. However, there was an additional twist. The artists were asked not to use the traditional quilt-making materials of fabric and thread (or at least to use them as little as possible)."
Here are a few of the pieces:

Wen Redmond, Lighter Than Air (Helium)

Trisha Hassler, The Irony Of It All Was Not Lost On Her (Iron)

Marian Zielinski, Beckoning Of The Night (Neon)

Mary Vaneeke, Samarium 62: No Relation (Samarium)

Kathy York, Seeking: A White Mitten In A Blizzard (Technetium)

Cynthia St. Charles, Zinc

Diane Melms, Chromium

I RODE THE ELEVATOR WITH YVONNE PORCELLA!

Yvonne is truly one of the quilting world's rock stars and one of the founders of SAQA. Here she is at the SAQA national conference talking about one of the quilts she was working on as SAQA was being formed. She has a great sense of humor and often had the entire room laughing.

The whole weekend of the conference was filled with informative workshops, lectures and even a field trip. The two break-out workshops that I took were photographing your quilts and being your own art coach each of which I will talk in more detail in other posts.

We also got a sneak peak at the new line of fabrics that SAQA has been working on. I can't show you any pictures yet, but they are fabulous! Very unique prints and colorways that I can see being used in everything from traditional to modern to art quilts. Guess I had better make some room in my fabric stash for when they are available to purchase. I'll keep you posted!

Next year the conference is in Portland, Oregon. If you're in SAQA, you should go. If you're not in SAQA, you should join and then go.

An Ode to My Scissors

The story that goes with my picture, and was going to be written on it (and may still), is about how much these scissors mean to me. In 1984, I was accepted to go to the National 4-H Congress in Chicago. This trip, for me, was HUGE. While we were there, we were given gifts by different sewing item manufacturers, but the gift from Gingher of the set of scissors was beyond anything i had expected. It came in a velveteen box with a brass plaque WITH MY NAME ENGRAVED ON IT. ehem. They were (and are) so shiny and sharp. I could not even have afforded to buy them at the time, but to have them presented in such a beautiful way meant so much to my teenage princess self. They are still cherished.

toilet paper and stars

 I'm taking a drawing class through our local art gallery. For the last class the teacher stacked some rolls of toilet paper, added some white balls and a couple of white tray things in the back. I've never used charcoal before. Class ended before I felt like I had really finished it, but I'm pleased with what i did accomplish.

 Did you know that quilting is not like riding a bicycle? I haven't worked on a pieced quilt in a long time - I had forgotten a lot! Also, fabric does not seem to obey the laws of physics.

I have enough to make 12 stars. The plan is to make 4 twin size quilts, each with different settings and background fabrics. These blocks will finish at 30".

I've also cut out fabric to make this quilt. It's something that can be portable and I can leave it packed up for working on at my WOW meetings (a group of the bestest artsy women!) or other sew togethers.

Will

I'm part of a wonderful Art Quilt yahoo group and many of them pick a word of inspiration around the beginning of the year as inspiration for the rest of the year. Last year my word was Schmutz a Yiddish word which means dirt or filth, but to me also means extra stuff - clutter in the house and studio, things hanging around that you don't love or use and also just too many embellishments on a quilt. Don't get me wrong... I like and use embellishments but sometimes more is not always better. You know what quilts I'm talking about, right? So last year my quilts were unadorned. Simple, essentially whole cloth quilts painted with acrylic paints. No applique or beads or ribbons. I also applied it to our house, trying to keep the decor simple and uncluttered. Still working on that.

This year I've decided my word is Will. I Will work hard, I Will put time into my art, I Will eat right, I Will exercise. And not in the Someday I Will sense of the word, but in a more present tense. So, um, maybe the word is Am. I Am working hard, etc... but then i'm probably overthinking the whole thing :)

The Will I am thinking of is some of the Planning Ahead Will, but also the will of Diligent Purposefulness.

 

Also, my dad (who passed away a few years ago) was named William. He went by Bill, or Wild Bill, or Sully even, not Will, but close enough :)

Apparently it's a week of inspirational quotes:

John Cage:

“When you start working,
Everybody is in your studio-
The past
Your friends
Enemies
The art world,
And above all, your own ideas-all are there.
But as you continue painting,
They start leaving,
One by one,
And you are left completely alone.
Then if you’re lucky, even you leave.”


I find this to be spot-on... do you have this experience when you are making art?

You Can Blow Out A Candle, But You Cannot Blow Out A Fire

Is the title of of the latest piece, which is coming along. It's finally moving ahead because I decided to try to sneak in a small piece to finish and mail out before christmas. So, of course, this piece that I had been working on over the last many many months starts YELLING at me to work on it, ONLY it. Silly, eh? Even sillier is that I feel grateful that it's finally talking to me. Do I show you a picture? It is far from finished, definitely in an awkward stage. ok, here's a bad snapshot from the webcam:

It did give me a chance to realize that the small piece is not the right piece for the person it was intended for, so there's that.

Yesterday I had a lovely day with my WOW group of women. We mostly chit chat and do our own little show and tell - I spent most of the day cutting papers for a Judy Neiemeyer quilt - not really artsy. But they helped me with fabric choices and how to deal with one fabric that stood out from the rest. It's a safe place to bounce ideas off of each other and show off works-in-progress. I am ever so grateful to be part of this group!

It's December?!!

 yeah, um, that was more than a week, wasn't it?

I have been working on some Quilty stuff - playing with paint and color (the green wrinkly stuff is tape). This one is coming along slowly, but it's getting there.

I'm also working on a traditional quilt, well 4 of them actually, for use on beds (imagine that). It's not like riding a bicycle - there's lots of stuff I've forgotten - so those are also going slowly and not always in the forward direction.  

After Thanksgiving, I brought my daughter back to school and on the way home I stopped at two Art Quilt exhibits. One in Clifton Springs, NY at Main Street Arts which was lovely - lots of bright colors and sparkly bits... I would feel very much at home with that group! And I also stopped at the Schweinfurth Art Center for the Quilts=Art=Quilts exhibit. Gorgeous. Plus, there were quilts by people I had taken classes with: Carol Trice and Maria Shell; one i had taken classes from: Wen Redmond and a friend who dyes gorgeous fabric, Mary Ann Gallaher, her fabric was used in one of the pieces! Sadly, no pictures were allowed, but there are photos on each website. Go if you can!!!

My husband, son and I went to London for the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who convention! 

 We met up with Alex and Kevan and were lucky enough to have dinner with them even! (If you find yourself in need of Who memorabilia, THIS is the place to find it)

I so want to make a copy of Idris's dress - I took a lot of close up pictures. One of the costume designers was nice enough to turn it around for me so i could get a good look at the back. All of the Who people were super nice and generous with their time and talent. They seemed to love showing off their work to the audience and being appreciated and adored for their work!

 We sat in on a panel with 5 of the original Doctors, !!!TOM BAKER!!!, Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy. It was fun to listen to them reminisce.