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Archive for Meditation Gardens

“Dalton’s Garden” – Another Meditation Garden Art Quillt Completed

October 25, 2012 / Nancy Smeltzer / No comments

“Dalton’s Garden”, a beaded art quilt whose image came from tapping into his energy field is now completed. The 16″ x 20″ (40.5cm x 50.6 cm, without the frame) employs a lot of his favorite colors and thunder clouds in the background, of which he is quite fond. By saying the commands in the middle of the Transition Portals – Meditation Gardens page (in bold face) on this blog site. With practice, you too, will be able to enter his energy field by looking at this photo and saying the commands over and over. The second one… “Move through the garden, begin the Flow” is especially effective for this particular image.

This detail shot shows how I solved the problem of the light blue batik background. I used 3 different sized beads, a flat pale aqua rondelle, a size 6 seed bead sewn flat, and some darker blue size 10 seed beads. I sewed the pale aqua rondelles down individually first and used them as the main element on the blue batik fabric. Next the size 6 seed beads were sewn down flat and then horizontal rows of the darker size 10 seed beads filled in the gaps. I used the mottled effect that was already on the blue batik fabric to decide where to sew the beads, and left some of the original fabric still showing. The result, to my eye, reminds me of the rough texture of coral reefs and since Dalton lives in Florida, that seemed to be appropriate.

Here is the final detail shot of the sky and the thunder clouds that I was afraid that I would cover up too much with buttons and beads. I’m pleased with the restraint that I used, and still was able to show my love of glitter and gleam. (I think that I’ve mentioned before that I must have been a crow in another lifetime… love the shiny stuff!) More of the gold chain maiile rings outlined with gold size 8 seed beads were added for extra shine. Dalton often speaks about how when he’s out driving on the back roads of Florida, he’ll be going through pouring rain, only to suddenly drive into an area of brilliant sunlight. I’d like to think that I’ve captured the best of both types of weather in this piece.

The images for these Meditation Garden Series of small art quilts come to me by tapping into the person’s energy field. Through my shamanic training and my long distance spiritual healing practice, that I’ve been in for the last eight years, it’s very easy for me to access a person’s personal energy no matter the distance. I’m having great, good fun doing these smaller pieces. Keep checking back in to this blog, to read as more and more of these Meditation Garden pieces are created.

What are some of you favorite sources of inspiration? How have you ever used energy that’s not easily explained in your own art medium?

Why not leave a comment as to your thoughts on this posting. Please take a minute, fill out the form below or by clicking on the “comments/no comments link” at the top of the posting, and then share your ideas with the rest of us. We all grow when we share our thoughts and impressions, so why not join our growing community of those who appreciate art quilts and textile arts. We’d love to hear from you!

You can see more of my art work on my web site at www.fiberfantasies.com (be patient as it loads; it’s worth it), www.hearthealing.net and can find me on Google + , Facebook (for Transition Portals) Facebook (for Fiber Fantasies), and Twitter.

To find out how to buy my art work, please check out “How to Buy my Art Work” in the “Pages” section to the right of this blog.

Category: Meditation Gardens / Tags: art quilt blogs, beaded art quilts, contemporary art quilts, embellished art quilts, Meditation Gardens art quilts, Nancy Smeltzer, visionary art

What I Learned While Making This Art Quilt -“Dalton’s Garden” (3)

October 18, 2012 / Nancy Smeltzer / 4 comments

I’m often asked questions about how I think when I’m creating my art quilts, so I decided to start documenting some of the things I learn as I go along for a future book. I learn something new with each and every quilt, and “Dalton’s Garden”, one of my Meditation Garden series, is no exception. This series, based on my ability to tap into a person’s energy field, allows me to become “one” with the materials and play with the energy as ideas come into me. The result is a place where that person would want to energetically meditate and play.

In the last two postings about this piece, I’ve mentioned that the black and white harlequin ribbon in the upper right was crooked. I was able to easily dislodge it from the surface about as far down as you can see in this photo. I then found some black and white ribbon roses in a local craft store. By alternating them on either side of the vertical length of the ribbon, I was able to disguise the slight crookedness that was still left. (There was just too much already sewn on top of the ribbon further down its length to take the whole piece up.) Also, part of the problem when cutting into grosgrain ribbon, as I did for that section, is that the more that you handle it, the more likely it is to unravel. By having to minimize the need to rip out stitches, I was able to decrease that chance of the ribbon unraveling just by adding on those ribbon roses.

There are a number of aluminum chain maille jump rings in several colors out on the market now in craft shops. I like to use circles in my work (probably that button thing I’ve got going.) In the past, I have fastened down the circles with large stitches of 6 stranded embroidery floss. Here I choose to use 3-4 stitches of quilting thread in as close of a color as possible to that of the ring, and then encircled each ring with shiny, size 8 seed beads in a similar color. I’m really pleased as to how they surround the main portal in this shot, and suggest alternative windows to access the scene, or perhaps bubbles of laughter…or both!

I’m also pleased as to how I handled the horizontal clouds in the purple blue batik fabric. In the past two blogs about this quilt, I’ve talked about how I was afraid that I would cover up too much of the beautiful “drips” of dye. When my eyes are only a foot away from the surface on which I’m working, it’s easy to get caught up in the fun of the beading process. This time, instead of sewing right on top of certain areas with beads of similar colors, I sewed right above those areas in more blank spaces. This was especially successful with the dark areas that are so critical to have these clouds say “thunder clouds”. In those spaces, I sewed very large dark purple size E seed beads flat against the surface. That way you can see the different colored interior of the bead better than when they’re sewn with the sides showing.

In the water at the bottom of this piece, I used two colors of the aluminum chain maille links. The dark green ones were encircled with a dark green, size 8 seed bead that had an amber center that makes those circles glow much more than they do in the this photo. For the purple chain maille links, I only has a more “flat” color of seed beads to encircle them, so those areas don’t glow as much as the green. The green lily along the top edge now has some flat, dyed shell beads that I’ve used to add shine along that surface. Underneath them, I used concave bead caps that have green pearls sewn in the center to accentuate the gold embroidery that came on the lilies. A problem that I need yet to solve is how to treat the lines of gold embroidery running the length of the lilies. My first inclination is to use size 10 seed beads ( the smallest I can still see to thread a needle that will go through them and fabric) and trace some of the lines running down the lily. Another problem I have to resolve is how to handle the bright aqua backing fabric. There are very subtle areas of slightly darker areas, and I think that I’ll used the edges of the batik swirls to suggest where and how to bead.

Working in any artistic medium is all about problem solving. How do I add this? What do I already have that will make this area work? How can I make my work stand out and speak with my style or voice? Answering all of these and similar questions are just some of the issues each artist must ask and then, in my opinion, listen to what their heart has to say about an answer for that moment. Perhaps in the next piece, the answers will change, but then, that’s what makes creating art so much fun…what’s going to happen next?

What have been some of your biggest discoveries been about your own medium? For myself, I find that I often learn more from other disciplines than I do from the one with which I’m most familiar, art quilting, so I’d really like to hear yout thoughts.

You can see more of my art work on my web site at www.fiberfantasies.com (be patient as it loads; it’s worth it) and can find me on Google + , Facebook, and Twitter.

To find out how to buy my art work, please check out “How to Buy my Art Work” in the “Pages” section to the right of this blog.

Category: Meditation Gardens / Tags: art created by tapping into energy fields, art quilt blogs, art quilts, beaded art quilts, contemporary art quilts. embellished art quilts, Nancy Smeltzer, visionary art

“Dalton’s Garden” Continues – Part 2

October 11, 2012 / Nancy Smeltzer / No comments

After securing the major fabric motifs in place with pins, the fun part for me begins as I start to root through my stash of buttons and large beads. In this full shot of this 16″ x 20″ (40.5cm x 50.5cm) art quilt, there is a line of medium blue glass buttons going horizontally across the top purple blue clouds. I like to use lines of repeated design elements to help to tie the composition together. You’ll be able to see more of my button choices in the detail shots below.

In this close-up shot of the sky, you can see how the medium blue glass buttons that I was talking about above accentuate the flow of the lines of the clouds. As I said in the first posting about this art quilt, I wanted to try not to cover up the beautiful lines of the purple blue clouds as they made the perfect cumulonimbus storm clouds that Dalton so loves. To the lower left and right of the central orb shaped portal, are two different kinds of the Czech glass buttons that I blogged about previously. Here. these two around the orb are backed with dichroic foil. I love how they change colors as I move the piece around as I’m sewing on it, or the light changes as the day progresses. In this shot, I still haven’t straightened the top of the black and white harlequin ribbon in the upper right of the photo. Sometimes, at this early stage, it’s hard to commit to just working with one style of button or bead as the ideas are coming rather fast at this stage. I get really anxious to try out a new idea regarding how a particlular color or bead would look, and I get easily side tracked.

In this detail photo of the bottom of the art quilt, I’ve outlined the green lily with some large size 6 seed beads. I wanted to add a nubby edge to the outline of the flower. Since Dalton would not be playing in an ordinary garden, the shrubs around the edge of the blue and purple fabric in the bottom center are simulated by green rectangles with lime green lines. I’ve also employed some of my favorite design motifs of dyed shell circles, here colored in lime green. Instead of attaching them through the two small holes that are at opposite ends, I prefer to overcast them with 6-8 large stitches of embroidery floss to hold them in place. These shell circles come strung on plastic thread and can be bought in a number of different craft stores here in the States.

Pretty soon, at this stage of the construction process, the quilt sandwich will be cut away from the bottom piece of muslin. It was attached to the emboridery frame to make it easier to keep the sides squared. Once removed from the backing, the whole piece will be sewn onto a stretched piece of canvas 16″ (40.5 cm) x 20″ (51 cm). Doing that will make the whole piece much more stable and easier to fit the firm, stretched canvas into the final frame. (I don’t like to do too much sewing onto the canvas itself, as it’s too hard on my hands to sew thorugh the stiff canvas.) Here is the back of one of those canvases which shows the inner strip of wood that helps to stabilize the whole rectangle and to make the corners true 90 degree angles. The problem with doing this method however, is that it’s hard to sew around the inner strip of wood, which is about 1.5″ or 3.5 cm wide. I need to be careful before cutting the piece away from the backing fabric to make sure that I don’t bead too close to the edge of the piece. If I do, then the edges won’t fit easily under the overhang of the decorative frame. This time I may try to stitch the quilt sandwich down thesides to the canvas, as I ended up not being able to sew much anywhere near the outer edge of “Keith’s Garden“. The top outer edges of the embellished top, because of that innner extra strip of wood on the back, ended up being decoupaged lace motifs. They were too stiff, however, because of the lamnating liquid I used for the lace to easily sew through without really poking my fingers. (I hate to use thimbles.) Keep reading in future blogs as to how I solve that problem of treating the edges of these Meditation Gardens.

What construction problems in creating your own art forms have you encountered and how have you overcome them? I’d love to keep a running list of suggestions and post them every so often.

You can see more of my art work on my web site at www.fiberfantasies.com (be patient as it loads; it’s worth it) and can find me on Google + , Facebook, and Twitter.

To find out how to buy my art work, please check out “How to Buy my Art Work” in the “Pages” section to the right of this blog.

Category: Meditation Gardens / Tags: art quilts. art quilt blogs, artwork based on energy fields, beaded art quilts. embellished art quilts, intuitive art, Nancy Smeltzer, tapping into energy fields to create artwork. Nancy Smeltzer, visionary art

“Dalton’s Garden” – the Beginning of a new Meditation Garden

October 4, 2012 / Nancy Smeltzer / No comments

I thought with this posting, that I would show you how I go about creating my art quilt Meditation Gardens. The images for this series is created by me tapping into a person’s energy field and then creating a visual representation of a place where they would be enthusiastic to energetically play and meditate. This one, “Dalton’s Garden” was designed to honor the new man who has come into my life, so creating the image has been pretty easy to do.(wry smile!)

The first thing I do before beginning one of these Meditation Gardens, is to tap into the person’s energy field and wait to be “shown” what place would be optimal for that person. With regard to Dalton, that was pretty easy, as we do a lot of energy work together. He lives in northern Florida now, and loves huge thunder storms, as the energy is electrifying and exciting for him, as it is for me, too. So instead of the usual sunny sky that I might put in other people’s gardens, he has some serious cumulonimbus thunderheads billowing in the background. I found a great purple blue batik fabric that looked as if the dye had run down the length of it. I cut irregular pieces of it and fastened them on horizontally to make the fingers of rain off in the distance in this scene.

The colored center section is made of three layers to make the quilt sandwich, the top embellished layer, the middle section composed of batting, and the backing fabric. Only the backing fabric, a white muslin extends outwards in these pieces. There, that fabric is attached to a frame with especially sharp thumbtacks that I got from the Canadian embroidery supply company, Berlin Embroidery Designs . Their web site is full of information and supplies for serious embroidery fanatics. The actual frame for this piece is larger than those sold by Berlin Embroidery, and came from another Canadian company, Hearthside Craftworks. They make beautiful floor embroidery frames that I lust after, but their simple 4 stretcher frame bars that I’m using here are elegant constructions of beautiful craftsmanship. Their dovetail joints fit perfectly tight so that you can get a true 90 degree angle for a perfect rectangle(or square). Both companies have wonderful customer service people, and while the shipping may be as much as the product if you’re not ordering very much, I found that it was worth it, as I haven’t found this quality of products for what I need here in the States.

Here, you can see more of the beautiful purple/blue batik that I used to make the rain clouds. I accentuated some of the horizontal lines with closely spaced quilting stitches to make the blurry areas that looked like rain puff out some from the background. I hope that I can restrain myself and not cover up too much of the fabric with beads as I often do. The same sun/portal orb that I used in the original Meditation Garden, “Keith’s Garden” has a similar place in “Dalton’s Garden”. (It’s just too good of a design not to use as the entrance portal to “come into the scene”.) The center area is surrounded by a gold frame about 1.5″ or 4 cm square, with a larger metal frame that is 2″ or 5 cm square. That larger frame originally housed glass squares that were intended to enclose some thin collages, but I chose to cover them with gold, metallic floss using a blanket stitch to cover the metal frame.

I love to use commercial ribbons to create stripes in my work, and there are a lot of fun ones out there in the craft and fabric stores right now. I used two colors of harlequin diamond ribbons to suggest garden structures in the piece, such as trellises. However, no matter how much I stand back and look at the piece, I find it amazing that there are often some pieces that I don’t see to be crooked, such as the top of the black and white piece in the upper right until I see the art photographed. One of my favorite art/science books is VISION AND ART – THE BIOLOGY OF SEEING, by Margaret Livingstone. While it’s rather pricey, it is one of my most valued books in my collection. The extensive photographs and illustrations go a long way to explain how our eyes are not cameras, but do a lot of interpretation of what we’re seeing. A real camera doesn’t have that option, (or flaw) so it only records what is actually there. Fortunately, the crooked top of the black and white ribbon in the upper right of this photo had not been stitched down too much yet, so when you see it in the photos in the next blog, you’ll see that it was straightened. Otherwise, if it had already gotten too much embellishment to rip out stitches, (which I HATE to do) I would have added some sort of motif, probably lace or big buttons, to distract the eye from the crookedness.

I am incredibly excited about the beginning of this new Meditation Garden, and the man for whom it was designed at least professes to really like it. (I guess what’s he going to say since the relationship is rather new!) The next few weeks will have more photos as the piece progresses, but in the meantime, you can still access the commands on how to use the energy fields embedded in these art quilts by going to the page in the right hand navigational panel,entitled Transition Portals – Meditation Gardens. There you will find the phrases to say to allow you to tap into the energy fields in these pieces.

How do you tap into your own creative energy when you’re working in your own art medium? Do you have a structured method to access your Muses or do you go with the flow?

You can see more of my art work on my web site at www.fiberfantasies.com (be patient as it loads; it’s worth it) and can find me on Google + , Facebook, and Twitter.

To find out how to buy my art work, please check out “How to Buy my Art Work” in the “Pages” section to the right of this blog.

Category: Meditation Gardens / Tags: art created by tapping into energy fields, art quilt blogs, art quilts, art quilts with buttons and beads, beaded art quilts, embellished art quilts, fabric wall hangings, meditative art, Nancy Smeltzer, visionary art

“Keith’s Garden” – A New Series of Meditation Garden Art

August 15, 2012 / Nancy Smeltzer / 4 comments

Who wouldn’t like to wander in a garden designed around their own personal energy field? This piece, “Keith’s Garden” is the first in a series of meditation gardens for you to use to use as a place of comfort and solace. I create them by tapping into the person’s energy field and “see” an image shown to me that would be an optimal place for that person to meditate, play, and thrive. This first piece utilized the energy of my good friend, Keith Allen Kay. Keith is an amazing healer and fractal energy mandala creator, whose view of the world is vibrant and colorful. His take on life is that all things are possible and his workshops are inspirational in that he instills in you a strong belief in yourself. I think you can see why I picked him as the inspiration for the first garden.

The image for this small framed art quilt,(16″ x 20″ or 40.cm x 51cm, without the frame) began with the gold center frames for the portal sewn onto to a golden orb of the sun stitched onto turquoise organza in the upper right of this photo. I chose that motif as Keith lives in AZ in the American southwest, so there’s lots of sun there. The next choice for the composition was the trumpet shaped lily, which I envisioned Keith sliding into once he entered the garden through the portal window. (Instructions on how you can energetically play off Keith’s amazing energy and experience some of what he does can be found at the page, “Transition Portals – Meditation Gardens” in the Page section on the right of this blog.)

In this detail shot, you can better see the sun orb behind the frames of the entrance portal to the garden. To the upper right of the portal is one of two small (1″ or 2.5cm) shi sha mirrors, circled by pearl beads, which make for even smaller entrances to the garden.Scattered throughout the sky are golden metal rings that have been fastened down to the surface with turquoise embroidery floss. They, coupled with three pale aqua glass buttons to the lower right of the main portal suggest other ways for energy to move in and out of this garden playground. Imagine standing in the middle of waves of such powerful energy. My local playground never had features like this!

Water features are often an important component of many gardens, and Keith’s is no exception. A shiny deep blue, purple, and subtle green organza shot through with metallic threads was used for the pond. Dark turquoise glass buttons suggest depth in the water, while green glass buttons and beads highlight the foliage off to the side. I can only imagine the glorious insects that would frolic along with the chirping birds in this glowing garden. Knowing Keith’s vivid imagination, I would just bet that more than one new species would set up housekeeping in these environs.

Art has been used for centuries as sources of spiritual inspiration, and to focus the human intentions inward as we strive for understanding and peace. By using the commands and instructions found on the page “Transition Portals – Meditation Gardens”, allow yourself to use this image, and the ones that will follow in this series, to center your energy, and find peace.

Note: You can find out more about Keith’s work on his Facebook page.

I REALLY would love to hear about how it was for you with regard to focusing on this image and how it felt for you to use the commands. Please leave a comment on your experiences so I can offer suggestions or tweak future offerings of art based meditations.

Why not leave a comment as to your thoughts on this posting. Please take a minute, fill out the form by clicking on the “comments/no comments link” at the top of the posting, and then share your ideas with the rest of us. We all grow when we share our thoughts and impressions, so why not join our growing community of those who appreciate art quilts and textile arts. We’d love to hear from you!

You can see more of my art work on my web site at www.fiberfantasies.com and can find me on Google + , Facebook, and Twitter.

To find out how to buy my art work, please check out “How to Buy my Art Work” in the “Pages” section to the right of this blog.

Category: Meditation Gardens / Tags: art quils, art quilt blogs, contemporary art quilts, embellished art quilts, Keith Allen Kay, Meditation Gardens art quilts, Nancy Smeltzer, quilts embellished with buttons and beads, visionary art

Buttons&Beads&Quilts!

Archive for Meditation Gardens

“Dalton’s Garden” – Another Meditation Garden Art Quillt Completed

What I Learned While Making This Art Quilt -“Dalton’s Garden” (3)

“Dalton’s Garden” Continues – Part 2

“Dalton’s Garden” – the Beginning of a new Meditation Garden

“Keith’s Garden” – A New Series of Meditation Garden Art

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