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…