Baby Isabelle Jackson's New Quilt

At the end of 2023, a new baby girl was welcomed to the extended family:  Baby Isabelle Jackson, daughter of my niece Rachel and her husband Court.  Happily, this gave me an excuse to create an original crib quilt measuring 49" wide by 53" high.  Some history:  In 2015, I went to India with two friends on a quest to discover fabric artists in the state of Gujarat.  Along the way we discovered the Rann of Kutch's wildlife santuary and stayed briefly at the Rann Riders Resort.  On a mini safari we saw many exotic (to me) birds including Painted Storks, a Snake Eagle, black-headed Ibis, Egrets and Greater Flamingos among others. I drew many of the birds once we got back from our trip, and created the bird fabric printed on the quilt back above.  Unfortunately I had only taken a little Canon Powershot G15 camera, which was not good enough for great bird photos. The beauty of applique is that I could use my photos as reference to create the stork image on the quilt front.  This was done by making an Adobe Illustrator image, which was then used as a template for the final fabric applique design.  Many of the quilt fabrics were purchased from Britex in San Francisco with a mix of soft whites, pastel pinks, cotton satins and more. The basic design was created with Electric Quilt's EQ8 software, then modified by accident, or intent, as the quilt was being built.   The memory of the trip, bird motif, and the quality of the different fabrics made working on the quilt another level of pleasure.

2023 Quilted Apparel Round-Up

 

A Day at Bondi Beach - video

Spent some quality time at Bondi Beach in Australia in October and spent the day taking photographs.  This one added a soundtrack of me playing Satie (not very well) with the addition of various other sound effects to tie in with the action onscreen.  I've done another one uploaded to Vimeo (vimeo.com/user1980254/)

which has a different soundtrack.  Let me know which you prefer.

Science Cowboy Digital Art

 

Daughter Amber Taylor wanted a digital painting of her Grandfather E.A. Autrey as a cowboy.  It was true he lived many years in Texas and owned and wore a Stetson but that was as close to a cowboy as he ever got.  He was a chemist, photographer, artist, rocket scientist and unique individual.  The top image is the final work.  It includes a photo of his face with mustache after the end of WWII when he got out of the army.  The body is from a photo of E.A. with friends after climbing Mt. Whitney.  The cowboy hat is from another Texas relative.  After the war, on the GI bill, E.A. got a law degree but when he moved the family to California he practiced chemistry professionally.  I've included a camera icon, various science icons and a few elements (Hydrogen, Oxygen and Californium) along with some drawings of violets.  I had so much fun cobbling the cowboy together I created a few other backgrounds including a fill pattern of a self portrait done by E.A. as an older man; an AI Generative fill pattern of black and white cows in a field (I wonder whose art got ripped off?) and a pattern I created as my latest fabric design.  More fabric designs are at Lucy Autrey Wilson Art Fabric, Wallpaper and Home Decor | Spoonflower

Photographing the Great Barrier Reef from Cairns and Port Douglas, Queen...

A great vacation with friends and family in Australia (despite the 15 hour flight to get there).  Highlights include two snorkel trips about 90 minutes out on boat to the Great Barrier Reef, one from Cairns and another from Port Douglas in Queensland.  

How I Discovered the World of Fabric Design

 

        I first discovered art quilts on a trip to the Dairy Barn in Athens, Ohio in 2013 for the Annual National Quilt exhibit that year.  Much impressed by this new (to me) art form, I started quilting.  At first, I was interested in building my fabric stash with fabric designers I was discovering, including some favorites such as Luella Doss and many of the Westminster Fabrics artists (Amy Butler, Martha Negley, Dan Bennett, Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably).  Some fabric designs I like are on Pinterest. (link)  I wanted to make my quilts more personal, however, so I started adding original pieces printed 8 ½ x 11 on cotton and silk fabrics with an Epson inkjet printer.  This was soon too limiting, so I learned to upload digital image files to Spoonflower.com (link) which enabled me to print my own designs on as much fabric as needed.  Now I could generate enough fabric to sew my own designs into custom T shirts, and quilted jackets,  as well as print more yardage for quilt backs. My first forays into T shirt design used a drawing done in art class of noses, mouths, eyes and ears, and some pen, and ink drawings I had done over the years of a variety of reptiles. 

Updating My Website to Showcase More Art - Check it Out!

 

I've added a new collection to my website.  Now you can find Collection #1 (All About Birds) and a new Collection #2 (Flowers in Art) by clicking on the small image on the GalleryLAW page.  Each collection features 12 images which are a combination of paintings (oil, watercolor, pen & ink), printmaking, photography, fabric creations, etc.  Link: Lucy Autrey Wilson Art | Exploring My Creative Impulses

Family Fun July 2023

Can't Help Falling in Love soundtrack (played by sister Susan on Cello with Cubase midi additions by me) is the perfect expression for how I feel about family.  With daughter Amber Taylor and family visiting from their current home in New Zealand, a delightful reunion with the entire Bay Area family occurred!

Cartoon Stories: A Circus Story in 10 Acts: Act V The Strongbug

Forgot to post this video so it is out of order!  Links to YouTube video, and is part 4 of a 10 part series of short videos.

Cartoon Stories: A Circus Story in 10 Acts: Act VI Bird Ballet

This video includes bits from 3 ballets:  The Firebird, Swan Lake and The Nutcracker and brings back great memories from my childhood when I was lucky enough to take classes from a Russian Prima Ballerina named Madame Maria Kedrina in the 1950s in Santa Barbara and to dance (only in the Chorus) in a number of ballets she put on at the Lobero Theater.  More on Madame Kedrina can be found in this Issuu piece done by the Santa Barbara historical society:  https://issuu.com/santabarbaramuseum/docs/noticias_30_3_fall_1984 

Circus Story Act IV: The Magician

Part IV now live!

Cartoon Stories: A Circus Story in 10 Acts: Act III TheJuggler

Act III!

Cartoon Stories Act II: The Talking Heads

Act II of a planned 10 act series of short circus animations featuring characters from a 2022 oil painting.  

Cartoon Stories Act 1

Part 1 of a planned 10 part series of cartoon circus stories featuring original characters created in an oil painting by me, and an original soundtrack featuring cello music played by my sister Susan.

Some new music now up on my website

Check out the 4 track sample, from the CD Fiddle Tunes and Waltzes, now available on my website.  Go to Lucy Autrey Wilson Art | Exploring My Creative Impulses and click on the new Music link at the top of the page.  

Devil's Dream - new video

My sister Susan and I had fun collaborating on a number of fiddle tunes.  Susan recorded them on her cello, and I added various digital tracks.  This one called out for a video that featured dreamlike imagery with a bit of humor.

Flower Garden - new little video with original soundtrack

My sister Susan recorded some little jigs with her cello.  I wanted to use some of the music, so I put together a little video of recent flower photos with older insect drawings and computer-generated fractals to go with the music.  I added a few Cubase loops as well.

Website has been Updated. Check it out!

https://lucyautreywilsonart.com/..  The new website has been updated!  Any and all comments welcome.  

East Bay Hills - latest video!

Hiking in the east bay from 2016 to March 2023.  Such a beautiful place!

I'm Moving

 Not physically, I'm moving my website from wix.com to a GoDaddy site.  Same name:  lucyautreyart.com.  More flexibility.  New site should be active by the end of this month.  Stay tuned.