Category: In Progress

Work in progress

You’re Never Without a Camera

Post author By Barbara Harms Fiber Art
Post date July 25, 2017
No Comments on You’re Never Without a Camera

On my walk one day last month looking up I saw delicate pink blossoms with sky blue behind them. Glorious cherry blossom time! Thanks to my smart phone I could snap off a few pictures. It is so easy to do with the smart phones most everyone carry.
Another perk of always having a camera with you? Think of all the opportunities for selfies, we take them ever where we go. How fortunate we can chronicle every moment of our lives!
I’m sure we have all found it convienentt.Thanks to my Smart phone I took a few pictures, I started a new art quilt. Here are a few photos.

img_2250-1 — The silk painted and ready tours.

1-I’ve finished painting all the silk, Some pink that I’ll use to make the blossoms. I eventually made zillions of blossoms ( a wee exaggeration [but it felt like a zillion). Also the blue sky and limb colors I was ready. Let the appliqueing begin. like like

2-At this point I’ve finished appliqueing everything onto the background and have begun thread painting.

Here are photos of progress

It’s coming along..

Tags art quilting, art quilts, art quilts for sale, cherry blossoms, contemporary art quilts, fiber art quilts, wall art, wall decoration, wall hangings, wall quilts

In Progress Nature Quilts Recent Posts Silk Paintings Stylized Flowers Art Quilts

It’s been months of work on this large new commissioned quilt and I am just about finished. I’ve gotten a lot done since my last post about it and will show you a few of the most recent pictures and my next post I show you the finished quilt.

It’s around 50″ wide. The fabric was painted, then appliqué was done, covering almost the entire quilt top. Finally the extensive thread painting was completed. I’ve nearly finished the quilting. Almost at the finish line and leaving for Australia to rest in it’s new home, the office of the psychologist who commissioned the piece.

Tags art quilts for sale, fiber art quilts

In Progress Nature Quilts New quilts Recent Posts

A Look Over My Shoulder, Work Continues On My Latest Commission.

Post author By Barbara Harms Fiber Art
Post date September 29, 2016
1 Comment on A Look Over My Shoulder, Work Continues On My Latest Commission.

img_1074-2 — I’ve made some real progress at this stage, as the photo reveals.

I’m posting a few pictures along the way, as I work on my latest art quilt commission. Feel free to look over my shoulder if you’d like to follow my progress along the way. As I mentioned in my last post, this art quilt was commissioned by a psychologist in Australia. The subject she chose was an exotic tree called the Royal Poicaat. It was completely unknown to me, but that was about to change. I scoured the web searching for photos and any details that I could find. What I found was a gorgeous tree.

Looking at so many images of this unfamiliar tree. I wanted to feature some of what I felt were it’s most interesting traits. Rather than doing a whole tree which would not show a large enough view of these traits. I choose instead to show several branches drooping down from the upper right side showing some of it’s curving limbs, amazing flowers and the leaves that looked like fern fronds.

.A few sketches to get a feel for this tree.

More pictures later as it comes along.

Tags art quilts for sale, fiber art quilts, quilts

Blog posts In Progress Nature Quilts New quilts Recent Posts Stylized Flowers Art Quilts

I Never Knew, So Many Wonderful Things Waiting To Be Discovered

Post author By Barbara Harms Fiber Art
Post date September 6, 2016
No Comments on I Never Knew, So Many Wonderful Things Waiting To Be Discovered

If you’ve noticed I haven’t been around much, lately. I’ve been keeping mighty busy working on a new commission from an Australian psychologist. To

She has given me a very interesting project. My client wants a large art quilt with a beautiful Australian tree called a royal poinciana as the subject.

I’d never heard of it, so the search began.What I found was a gorgeous tree! When in full bloom it is covered with masses of bright orange/red blossoms. The flowers are so pretty!

This tree has some interesting characteristics, of course the first being those fantastic flowers. It has long twisting limbs, curving in many directions. Those limbs can form unusual shaped trees. Then there are the leaves, which look like fern fronds.

The next step was drawing some practice sketches to get a feel for the tree

I decided that I wanted to place the focus on those beautiful flowers. When the tree is blooming, great bunches of these red/orange flowers cover the tree. I have a few branches hanging down from the right side. This tree is just beginning to bloom.

At this point in working on this art quilt, it doesn’t look like much….yet. Often created work when seem mid way, will look much different completed

.I’ve made a lot of progress on it more than I’ve shown here.

If you’re interested I’m going to post a few progress photos as it moves along.

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September 5, 2016Leave a replyEdit

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I feel like a pendulent 4 year old. I want a Oompa Loompa!

Post author By Barbara Harms Fiber Art
Post date April 5, 2015
No Comments on I feel like a pendulent 4 year old. I want a Oompa Loompa!

Not long ago I posted this, I feel it is worth repeating, to explain my next post concerning my current status.

I feel like a pendulent 4 year old. I want a Oompa Loompa!

Remember Willy Wonka, the “real” original Willy Wonka? Don’t get your panties in a ruffle J.D. fans. I love Johnny Depp too, who wouldn’t? But I think we all know that there was only one Willy Wonka, and we all know who he is. don’t we?

In the movie, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory there was one particularity lovely child, you might recall, the adored Varuca Salt.To refresh your memory here are a few classic Vurcua quotes.

Veruca Salt: Hey, Daddy, “I want a Oompa Loompa! I want you to get me a Oompa Loompa right away!

Mr. Salt: All right, Veruca, all right. I’ll get you one before the day is out.

Veruca Salt: [whining] “I want an Oompa Loompa now!”

Veruca Salt: [singing] I want a party with roomfuls of laughter, Ten thousand tons of ice cream. And if I don’t get the things I am after, I’m going to screeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEAM.

Veruca Salt: I want it now! What’s the matter with those twerps down there?

Veruca knew what she wanted and she wanted it NOW!! I have to tell you I’ve felt a little Veruca-ish lately.

Tags art quilting, Art quilting websites, art quilts for sale, Barbara Harms, web site for the beginner, Website building

Blog posts In Progress New quilts Older Posts- Silk Paintings Stylized Floral Gallery The internet Tutorials Uncategorized

New quilts? Bring em on!!

Post author By Barbara Harms Fiber Art
Post date March 1, 2015
No Comments on New quilts? Bring em on!!

Barbara Harms Art QuiltIMG_0032 — More sil painting added and her is being appliqued on

My web site is set launch the end of the week. I love that word, launch!

I want to have lots of quilts to launch, so I’ve been working

"Entire quilt view Red Egret, Barbara Harms

“Red Egret” An art quilt depicting a red egret at the water’s edge.

A commissioned work ” Stained Glass”

https://asianartandquilts.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/img_3207.jpg

https://asianartandquilts.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/barbaraharmsfiberartegretquilt.jpg

Red Egret Fiber Art Barbara Harms

make lots and lots of quilts. That is easier said than done. Here’s a few, in various stages of work. I hope to be finished soon.

The first one closest to completion a silk painted red egret.

The colors in this silk are just wonderful. Wish I took time to write down my color formulas but no, it’s always a little bit of this and a bit of that, maybe a bit more of this ,,,you can follow my drift.

Tags art quilts for sale, Barbara Harms, Barbara Harms Art Quilt, quilts, Red Egret Fiber Art Barbara Harms

Abstract and Geometric quilts Blog posts In Progress Older Posts- Stylized Flowers Art Quilts Uncategorized What's new?

Do You Dream In Color?

I’ve been working on this art quilt off and on for quite a while. I vacillate between ” This is too insanely wild” and “Oh I’m just having a little fun”. I ask myself “If I ever finished it, would I have the nerve to put it in my shop?” I haven’t got a clue, but in the meantime, I still just having fun.

Tags abstract art quilt, Applique, art quilt, art quilting, Barbara Harms Fiber Art, Contemporary art, floral quilts, quilts for sale

Blog posts In Progress Internet Nature Quilts New quilts Older Posts- Stylized Flowers Art Quilts The internet Uncategorized What's new?

That’s a Wrap, Hollyhocks and Ladybugs

Post author By Barbara Harms Fiber Art
Post date September 17, 2014
4 Comments on That’s a Wrap, Hollyhocks and Ladybugs

Barbara Harms Fiber Art red holly hocks art quilt

I’ve been working busily on my hollyhock quilt and now it’s finished. I’m a bit disappointed that it’s over, it was a really enjoyable project. I need to catch up on a few things and then officially start on my next commissioned quilt. I say “officially”, when in reality, I’ve been bouncing ideas around in my mind , long before today. I’ve done a few preliminary sketches, playing around with possibilities. I can already tell that I am going to find this an interesting project.

This red hollyhock art quilt was a commission. Commissions present an interesting challenge, I think it’s a beneficial to take a step back, and work on a theme that may not be your usual approach or subject matter. It might be stepping out of what has become your comfort zone. For a commission to work, you need to translate it into your own interpretation of the subject. This was an easy quilt to capture my interest and spark my own enthusiasm. It is a theme I enjoy working with. I love doing stylized flowers, and hollyhocks? Well goodness yes! That was a bit of a coincidence. My client loves hollyhocks, she even has their images on her business cards. When she received her quilt, I enclosed in the paperwork one of my older business cards, it also contained a wonderful image of hollyhocks . When this fact had first occurred to me, I had to laugh, we were a good fit, my client and her artist.
I’ve posted some pictures of the progress along the way. Now it’s finished, here’s the finished red hollyhock quilt. It has it’s title now, “A Bug’s Eye View”. As I worked on the finishing touches, my husband stood there looking at the nearly finished quilt. He decided it needed a little bug in it. Humm…

It is a floral art quilt, I added a slightly contemporary spin, a little non traditional approach to a floral theme. I chose to give the flowers and stalks a disproportional profile. As my husband observed, this is how the large would appear, seen through the eyes of a tiny bug, dwarfed by it’s hugeness. I thought it might work, a cute little ladybug, that you would barely notice. But first, I needed to run the idea by Karen, the lovely lady who had commissioned the piece, how would she feel about this? She liked the idea and so my little ladybug became a part of this quilt. And that is how the red hollyhock art quilt came by it’s title “A Bug’s Eye View”.

You’ve seen the progression, here is the finished version. You may notice that the ladybug is missing, she truly was a last minute addition. I had already taken the final photos.

But after she was added into the picture, as I stared at the quilt, evaluating it, I realized that she was indispensable. She needed to be right where she is, looking up at the great big world from the ground, viewing a group of red hollyhocks.

I added texture to the leaves, they are not just visually dimensional, but have actual texture and dimension.

Barbara Harms Fiber Art a fiber art quilt with thread painted hollyhocks — Closer view of quilting

Barbara Harms Fiber Art modern art quilt — One of the thread painted hollyhocks

Tags appliqué quilts, art quilts, art quilts for sale, Barbara Harms Fiber Art, fabric wallhangings, fiber art, hollyhocks, home decoration, wall decor

Blog posts In Progress Nature Quilts Older Posts- PHOTOGRAPHY Stylized Flowers Art Quilts The Garden The internet The internet, A Shrinking World and connecting Hollyhock Lovers Everywhere! Uncategorized What's new?

A Whole Lot Of Flowers!

Holly hocks thread painted and ready tp applique

I’ve started a new commissioned art quilt. It features red hollyhocks, which makes me pretty happy! I must confess that making a quilt with lots of flowers is one of my favorite things to do. I’m already making some headway. Due to a large amount of detailed thread painting that needs to o be done on a rather large quilt, this will take a lot of labor and time to complete. No complaints there, I love doing what I do.

The first step involved thread painting all my holly hocks, which I’ll cut out and applique to the backdrop that I’ve already painted.. The quilt will be a large size, so that means I’ll need lots and lots of hollyhocks. I don’t want to skimp on the amount, I want my stems to be full of flowers.

On a quilt that size, making so many has been a long process. Each one takes quite a while to complete. Each one is an individual and slightly different from all the others. They are after all, going to be the star of this quilt. All the focus will be on my hollyhocks, so no cookie cutter holly hocks allowed!

I give some thought to every flower before I begin it. I think that if I rushed from one to the next, in a great hurry, they’d end up being duplicates. Little clones of each other.

What I found in making these little babies was. if I wanted each one to be a individual, I needed a big variety in the shades of red to give character to each flower.

Thus began the great “red thread quest’ I was on a mission, find the shades of red I wanted and needed. You may not have realized this, but red colors can vary greatly and still be considered “red”.

There are blue based reds, then there are orange based reds and and a lot of ground inbetween. I wanted several different orange based reds, with out their being an actual orange. I needed a colors starting with dark, then lid shade and finally light.

It’s funny, that with each new project you begin, no matter how many spools of thread, or amounts of fabric that you own, there will always be at least one or more necessary colors that you don’t have, but you must have for the integrity of the design . I repeat this unbelievable truth, there will always be at least one missing color. Ask a few quilters or seamstresses you know, they’ll say the same. You begin scouring the fabric stores and buying yet more fabric or thread.

I have a massive stock of thread, I do a lot of thread painting and need it.

When I say that I have a massive stock of thread, I think there is no way to envision it, so I must provide a visual aid, to preserve my creditability. So expect pictures, these are not my complete stash, but I just got sick of photographing it all.

I can’t fathom that out of my entire collection of thread, massive as it is, I couldn’t find the exact shades of red that I wanted…

I’ll give you a tiny look at some of the finished hollyhocks, There are many more. Now I invite you to just wander through the photos and be amazed at the impossibility of a missing shade out all of this!

A little trimming around the edges and they’re ready to go.

DO YOU BELIEVE ME NOW?

Oh please, do come and check out my new website, http:barbaraharmsfiberart.com.

This blog will be connected there, I have a store and a portfolio is included. so you can see it all in one location if you like.

In Progress Recent Posts

Time Lapse Art Quilt Progress check 1

Post author By Barbara Harms Fiber Art
Post date January 27, 2014
No Comments on Time Lapse Art Quilt Progress check 1

I started this on Jan, 19

Today is Jan. 27th

Here’s where I am at. It may show, but a lot of work has been done.The hollyhocks and stocks have a lot more detail added. I’ll thread paint over most of them, so the real detail will be added then, Doesn’t it seem funny to paint a picture on fabric and then cover it up with thread painting? It adds depth, dimension and detail.

hollyhock quilt progress /27 — Very long tall stocks, hard to get them.

Tags art quilt, Barbara Harms Fiber Art, Contemporay art, quilts for sale, Barbara Harms Fiber Art, original art quilts for sale, fiber art, hollyhocks, make art quilt