THEME: Beautiful Girls, Beautiful Gowns

I love creating images of beautiful women wearing fabulous dresses. There is nothing like stepping out for a special occasion knowing that you’ve absolutely “nailed” your look. Because there are so many beautiful batik fabrics available, I expect that I’ll keep returning to this theme over and over. These pieces really seem to resonate with my customers, especially for use on notecards.

#ARTGOALS

One of my main goals for 2020 is to expand my connections in the professional art world so I can increase exposure for my artwork. Earlier this year I made the first move in that direction by applying to an online art competition where the prize is having your work promoted to their broad audience in a feature article. Since the process is so competitive, I didn’t expect to win but thought it would be a good learning experience that I could apply going forward. You can imagine my surprise when I got an email Thursday morning telling me that I’d been selected as one of the featured artists!!! Although I can’t provide details at this time, I wanted to share this exciting news with all of you who have been so supportive of my journey to becoming an artist. I will be sure to post my feature when it is published.  

FAQ: "When Are You Going to Start Selling Your Original Art Quilts?"

I have been so encouraged by the number of people who have expressed interest in obtaining my original artwork to add to their personal collections. Although they have been disappointed that I am not prepared to sell originals at the present time, I have found that the following explanation has been helpful.

Since I am just starting my journey as an artist, I do not yet have a large body of work available that is required in order to be considered seriously by established galleries and art venues. For them to be willing to “invest’ in promoting my art, I have to be able to demonstrate how I develop ideas, how my artistry and technical skills have grown over time, as well establish my level of productivity. To that end, my current focus is on building a portfolio of 25-30 pieces representing my best work with the goal of having a major gallery showing sometime in late 2020 or early 2021. Retaining ownership of my original artwork until that time is a key piece of that strategy.

Following the gallery show, I will come up with a long-term plan for selling original work that will be communicated on my website and social media.

FAQ: It's A Process - What Goes Into Making My Art Quilts

I am often asked about how much time it takes to complete one of my art quilts. The first answer that always comes to mind is “As long as it takes to get it right.” I don’t really track the amount of time that goes into any piece I am working on, but complex pieces with multiple characters and detailed backgrounds take longer than those with single figures and simple backgrounds. I just keep working until I am satisfied with the result, but the process I follow is the same for all:

Ideation: I begin with a concept that I translate into a rough sketch. Drawing is not my thing, so I don’t try to get everything perfect. I just want to get the key elements down on paper (# of figures, positioning, background elements, etc.).

Design: This is a critical step where I literally make “paper dolls” of the figures, wardrobe, hairstyles, and background elements and work out all the details of the piece. I do this in paper because it is much less expensive than fabric. I literally move the paper pieces around until I like the overall arrangement. Once this is done, I “audition” a variety of fabrics until I come up with a combination that I think works well together. When the fabric selection is finalized, I cut out the background and all of the elements of the composition.

Construction: Putting the quilt top together requires working in layers from back to front. That is, elements that are in the background must be placed before those in front of them. For each layer, I need to be conscious of what will show through to the layer on top of it. I also need to think about the thickness of the piece so that it will fit through the sewing machine. Using a combination of hand and machine stitching, I then sew down all of the elements of the composition. Next, I layer the quilt top with cotton batting and a backing fabric. The final construction step is to fill in the background of the design using a hand-sewn rice stich. This is a very old quilting stitch that was used to hold quilts together before sewing machines were invented. It is so named because the stitches look like grains of rice. I use it as a tribute to my ancestors who made their quilts by hand.

Finishing: I finish my quilts with a binding in a complementary fabric and a label with my handwritten signature. On the back, I sew a Tree of Life charm that is a symbol of my interest in family history and genealogy.

$1000 for HBCU's!!

So excited to share the results of the “soft launch” of my art business over the holidays. As some of you know, I began this venture with the intention of donating 15% of sales to HBCUs and charities supporting higher education for African-Americans. Thanks to the enthusiastic reception to the initial marketing efforts, almost $1000 was added to the donation pot in just five weeks! Thanks so much to everyone who has added my artwork to their personal collections or purchased notecards to share with friends and family. Looking forward to launching my website and online store in January.