How a Belly Dancer Triptych is Created

It starts with a moment that moves you,

and the thought, I have to make this into a quilt

You take your poor quality pictures and crop,

edit, play with color and value to come up with 3 images of the dancers

Posterize them to accentuate the values in Elements

Make them black and white

Do it again

And again

Print them to desired quilt size, tape together, you like it

but, realize it is not enough

Print color posterized on 8.5” x 11” paper

Print original photos in color on 8.5” x 11”
and think...

Use a light box to trace each figure from original picture on clear plastic,

then trace in the values using the posterized pictures

Scan clear design, print to desired quilt size, and tape together

Print on white 8.5” x 11” paper

Color in with colored pencils, old school style, to figure out colors and values

Spend a lot of time figuring out the right fabrics for values

Trace onto tracing paper

Tweak some values and number on template, flip

Get to work with Wonder Under, trace, press, cut, assemble,

press to hold, repeat, repeat, repeat…

Realize, this is going to take a long time,

but know it will totally be worth it in the end

This is just the beginning.

AQS, Des Moines, Iowa 2009

Here I am proudly standing next to my piece, Patience.

AQS from above.

Yes, those are bras in the above picture.

We got a kick out of this.

SOme of my favorite pieces:

This was a really cool three dimenional piece.

Side view

Patience

It is 35" W by 46" H
The back

I am quite please with how it came out.

Dancers piece

This is my latest piece, inspired by the fun of dancing. Here it is appliquéd and pinned, ready to be quilted.

I used Wonder Under for the bodies, and Elmer’s School glue for the rest. Neither seemed to adhere the fabric as well as I would have liked. If anyone has a tip for that, I would love to hear it. I ended up putting in a ton of little pins to make sure it all holds together for layering and quilting.

The three forms are done with polyester satin and metallic fabric, one silver, gold and bronze. I can’t wait to have fun quilting them.

First I applied black, then the blue and pink.

I started with drawing it out with sharpies on muslin, using different colored sharpies to create the various areas of musical waves

Here is a pencil sketch based on the original muslin drawing that I printed from a picture and used colored pencils to get an better understanding of the colors and waves.

Here is my Studio/Living/Dinning room mess from the project.

Heavenly Bodies

This was for a challenge called Hevenly Bodies, I call it, Cupcakes are Heavenly.

Latest Project

This is my latest project, It is based on the male figure used for the Hoffman Challenge, A Quiet place (39”x 38”), which is currently traveling.
This is the beginning stages of piecing it together using a piece of muslin over the sketch. I tried a new technique, instead of using Wonder Under I used Elmer's school glue. This piece is 48" x 36" in size, a little bigger that A quiet Place.

Close up of the head, I decided to not go with a green eye, I will be adding a brown eye which I plan to embellish with beads.

Here it is pinned and ready to start quilting...

Emotional Body Pieces

The Emotional Body

These two pieces are about how a woman looks at and perceives her mirror image, the difference between reality and what she decides to accept as reality. She may spend time looking in the mirror, often wondering, “Am I sexy?” “Am I beautiful?” She may look in the mirror and see something beautiful that no one else sees, perhaps something she will save for someone special. Or, she may struggle to find even one beautiful aspect of her body. Who knows if the image in the mirror is reality, or if the woman herself is reality? From a young age, the image in the mirror tells her who she is, and she must choose to listen, or turn away and ignore it.

As a woman ages and she looks at herself in the mirror, she may see sagging boobs or cellulite flesh that disgust her in more areas than she remembers. Confused, she doesn’t feel that way until she looks in the mirror. This sagging, cellulite person she sees in the mirror is not the person she thinks she is, until she looks at her reflection. She sees parts of her body weathered by time and is shocked by who she feels she is, and if others see what the mirror sees.

When did the best friend to make funny faces at become so judgmental?Now who does she believe she really is, the woman in the mirror, or who she feels she is?

I Wonder Quilt

This is my latest project. It started for the Kinsey exhibit, art exploring sex, gender, sexuality, eroticism, reproduction, romantic relationships, and/or the sensual human figure.
https://www.indiana.edu/~kipics/jas2009/
This is the sketch done on tracing paper.

The image is made by appliquéing the shapes with Wonder Under.
Once the body is applied, I added the backgroundThis is my "studio" living room. It is a cozy place to work.
Next will be finishing the quilting.