Bird Quilt

Latest cotton quilt, measuring 47" wide x 67" high featuring wool-punched birds, free style quilting, digital blue jay photo prints on cotton percale, larger original images printed by Spoonflower, various commercial fabrics, machine stitched.  Front, detail and back featured

Elsa At Goleta Beach, 1960 - Three Monotypes

Taking my Lindstrom Machinery etching press on its first run, our San Anselmo printmaking group got together to do some initial experiments with Akua intaglio inks and liquid pigments, making monotypes with polycarbonate .030 and PETG plates printing onto dry Rives BFK 100% cotton French mouldmade paper. Doing drypoint on the plastic plates didn't seem to result in strong enough line work, so I hand inked later. Damp paper would probably have worked better.  The Akua liquid pigments also didn't work as well as desired either, so the prints were finished with pastels, which worked beautifully.  More experimentation to come!

More E.A. Autrey Original Art

Top to Bottom:
1.  Five Autrey Girls photograph with wax mustaches
2.  Bottles pastel
3.  Candle pastel
4.  File Cabinet watercolor
5.  Still Life with Fruit pastel
6.  SB Research watercolor (very old)
7.  Self Portrait etching
8.  Self Portrait pastel
9.  Self Portrait woodcut
10. Singer Sewing Machine watercolor (very old)
11. Still Life with Paintbox oil
12. Still Life with Pitcher oil
13. Trees etching
14.  Various etchings and one ceramic tile
15.  Various pastels

Embroidered Blue Birds

Above are six new felted blue birds, created for a bird quilt in the works.  These birds are based on my button bird and friends poster (as seen in the bird print with moon).  Each bird is made by machine punching hand dyed Falkland wool top into Kaufman Kona cotton cloth, then adding machine and hand embroidery. The wool, apparently, was grown on sheep in the Falkland Islands.  I bought it from Twisted Filament's Etsy shop.

More Portraits, Christmas Card Art and some Amber Art

More discoveries, cleaning out E.A. Autrey's condo.  The fact my father kept every sketch I did of him, and every self portrait I did of myself and sent him as a Christmas card, is quite wonderful.  Discovered art includes the following top to bottom:
1.  Pastel portrait of E.A. I did in 1985
2.  Old ink and pastel sketch done in 1995, including some heads drawn by Jean L. Autrey.  Although this is not a new discovery, as the image was previously published, I now have the original!
3.  Conte crayon sketch of E.A. I did in 2003
4.  Self portrait sent as a Christmas card in 1981
5.  Self portrait sent as a Christmas card in 1987
6.  Bad self portrait as "The Camellia Queen" send as a Christmas card in 1985
7.  Fabulous self portrait of Amber as "The Dahlia Queen," done by Amber on the back of "The Camellia Queen"
8.  Close up of a terrific drawing done by Amber in 1985.  What a talent!  I wish she'd do more art.

Newly Discovered E.A. Autrey Art

Moving E.A. Autrey into assisted living, means going through nearly 94 years of accumulated stuff and trying to decide what to keep and what to toss.  As I am a pack rat like my father, I'm squirrelling much of it away at my house.  Above images are mostly newly discovered art.  From Top To bottom:
1.  The Piano oil painting, done in 2009 at age 78, was already hanging in my kitchen, but the sketch of it below is new.
2.  Plant watercolor, 1985
3.  Self Portrait, 1977
4.  Photo of vase (with self portrait reflection) and Raid
5.  Pastel sketch of candlestick and blue glass vase (hand blown by E.A. in another class)
6.  Toy in wagon, reminiscent of E.A.'s sister Reva's paintings, 1988
7.  Candelabra and blue glass vase, undated
8.  Table and chair, 1988
9.  Still life with duck, 1985
10.  Still life with ivy, 1985
11.  Still life with paint, 1985
12.  Still life with shelves, 1985
13.  Bucket, 1985

Queen Tut Silk Quilt

Latest, very time consuming, quilt finished!  Measuring 48" wide x 66 3/4" high, this lounge-worthy original design is composed of all silk fabrics with a cotton flannel backing.  The light and darker brown silks are from a Thai silk spread purchased by Elsa and Rick Zisook in Thailand - now cut up and reused by me.  The central "watercolor" quilted section is composed of eight separate pieces of silk, some originally retailing for close to $300/yard, purchased from eBay (for much less than their retail price) in a box of assorted silk samples.  These eight silk samples were cut up into 768 1" squares, then sewn together on Pellon 820 Quilter's grid fusible polyester.  Stitch in the ditch quilting applied to the top portion of the quilt, but the bottom was finished using two separate stencil designs.  It was hard getting the entire quilt through the small space on my Bernina B215 sewing machine, but I managed it without breaking anything.  I love my machine!!