I just love it when you send me photos. Really, it makes my day! I’m always thrilled to see what you are doing with Paintstiks, whether it’s something blissfully simple or a complex piece of art.
Last week, this photo arrived from Thea McCurry. I found it totally charming and was grateful that she allowed me to share it with the rest of you.
In her note, Thea said,
“Last summer, I took a class in using paint sticks to color in a muslin quilted pumpkin using only red, yellow and blue – I enjoyed the class so much, I want to try more similar quilted coloring.
I’ve attached a photo of my class project – and hope to do similar ‘coloring’ in the near future. I’m looking for similar ‘continuous line’ quilting designs.”
Now I was intrigued by the colors, because I’m quite sure she used the Matte Mini Primary Colors. As you can see, these are bright red, yellow and blue. So, whoever taught the class clearly did a good job on teaching color mixing to get these lovely autumn colors. I asked Thea for more information, and here’s what she had to say:
“I took the class at the Original Sewing & Quilt Expo in Pittsburgh from Helene Weber. She was an excellent instructor and I’d love to take more classes from her, but I don’t see anything in the current brochure about a class similar to this. I think she might have been an art teacher in a former life.
The paints were blended on a Styrofoam plate (pallet) and then ‘brushed’ into the fabric with a stubby stencil brush. The colors were thoroughly worked into the fibers with a circular motion until there was a consistent coverage.”
But wait ’til you hear Thea’s final tip. This is really a hoot!
“I especially like ‘setting’ the paint in the hatchback of my Prius – no sense wasting all that ‘free heat’ of the season!'”
Now that’s what I call creative thinking! I got a huge laugh out of this. I’m not sure I’m up for sharing my car with the smell of paintstiks, but I have to admit that a hot car would be the perfect “oven” for speeding up the heat setting process! Well done, Thea – and thanks for the chuckle!
I agree – it is a charming pumpkin display! I’m especially intriqued by the color mixing. I’ve never tried that with paintsiks but am eager to now! I mix my water colors all the time – and other media as well, so why not?
I really enjoy reading and seeing how people are using their paintsticks. use mine to touch up art quilt fabric, especially if I can’t quite find the color of fabric that I need. i also use them after I have printed an image/photo on fabric and need more depth of color. And, of course, I use them with stencils on various backgrounds like collars, jackets and art quilts. I need to order another set of iridescents for more bling on darker colored fabric.
I enjoyed Thea’s comments re: heat-setting her painting. I bet there are many art products we use that could be dried in our “summer” cars, then open all windows to fly down the expressway. Beautiful job, Thea, and fantastic ingenuity!
Since it’s going to be about 116 degrees in Phoenix tomorrow, I’ll get busy tonight and heat set them in the car while I’m at work!
thanks for posting my project, Shelly! Actually, the car didn’t have as much odor as I thought it would – and I still ‘ironed’ the piece to finish the heat setting process, just in case the car didn’t get hot enough 😉
I’m thinking I might try a dragon next.
Oh yes, Thea. Proper heat setting with an iron is still in order, but I do love your suggestion. You may as well do SOMETHING with all that summer heat! Thanks again for sharing.
Really loved the pumpkins and also the way they are mixed & blended,no classes here in the UK for anything like that. Especially liked the idea of ‘heat setting’ in the car. Think I will try it too, may be a dragon like Thea.
Hi Ann, I really loved seeing Thea’s pumpkins. I’m so glad she was willing to share with everyone. I’m still not sure I’m game for the heat-setting trick, but I can certainly see why it would work!