Skirmish On Insecurity Hill
A collection of posts following the process of making “Skirmish On Insecurity Hill.” Painted by air-brush, then stitched with both a mid-arm and long-arm machine.
1 – Welcoming the Unexpected
We’ve all had times when the original plan didn’t work. How did you proceed after facing the unexpected? Many artists happily embrace…
2 – Ready for an Air-Brush Adventure
I hope to duplicate the look of a spray-painted mural with air-brushing. My experience with air-brushing is limited, more because of time…
3 – How Difficult Could It Be?
Amusement carnival art may have a certain naivety but also a definitive “look” to it. Bright color, outlining, bold imagery often with…
4 – Dragon Pose
A carved wooden dragon traveled home with me from Thailand. It will be the model for the dragons I want to air-brush….
5 – Where Is My Knight In Shining Armor?
Even when I am not concerned about copyright infringement as I know that the final form will be a far cry from…
6 – The Fiery Breath of Doubt
Finally, I found my stand-in…Why, yes, of course this is me! I have often battled demons trying to crush my artistic soul:…
7 – Ready, Set, Go!
My composition is decided, airbrush equipment is in working order, paints and mediums are at the ready. What about the fabric? Cotton…
8 – Inks Or Paint?
Dabbling with different supplies is part of the fun of being an artist, but I really have to restrain myself in an…
9 – Where’s The Brush?
An airbrush is slightly larger than a pen, having an attached cup or bottle to contain paint and connected to a compressed…
10 – Air-Brush Process
Traditionally, the painting process requires masking – exposing areas to be painted while protecting other areas from un-wanted spray. Frisket (a thin,…
11 – Far From Intent
At this point, I’m totally into what I’m doing, even though I know I’ve strayed from my original concept. This is not…
12 – What Masks Are Made Of
To work on the dragons, I’ll need to protect what I’ve already done. I need to make some small areas of color,…
13 – When Pig(ment)s Fly
I protect my work area from overspray. Lots of newsprint pinned up around the general area as it is surprising how much…
14 – Belly Of The Beast
Just love that chartreuse color! I had wanted to use some metallic color on the dragon, but the pigment particles are coarser…
15 – Just Don’t Make Mistakes
As the name implies, super opaque white has pretty good coverage. I used some on the palette to make a brighter base…
16 – More Than Ready (To Un-Mask)
Taking the masking off the edges is fun because a clean edge is revealed and so much messiness is instantly cleared away….
17 – Simple (?) Solution
Making it up as I go, I’ve decided to layer the air-brushing and batting onto the right side of the backing fabric….
18 – Machine Nomenclature
I’ve been free motion stitching on my Handi-Quilter Sweet 16 machine. It’s a “sit down mid-arm” sewing machine. There is some confusion…
19 – The “What If” Stage
The stitching is about complete. Since I’ve done this on my mid-arm (a Handi-Quilter Sweet 16) I can easily take it away…
20 – Breathing Fire
I like the painted flames. Textile paint applies nicely to Evolon, a non-woven (and thus, non-fraying) material. I can cut all kinds…
21 – This Was Supposed To Be Simple!
The sharp edge between painted and not painted will be hard to cover up. I extend the painted area, attempting to match…
22 – Asking For Help
While pondering what would give my dragon quilt more life, I asked for help. SAQA MA/RI is an unwieldy name for the…
23 – Green Has Got To Go
I decided to cut away the green background and then I prepared my long-arm for the next step. I still had a…
24 – Artist Wins The Struggle
I had to paint some more cheesecloth but that went quickly. It was a novel experience to use this flimsy material and…