First Friday Artist; Tammy Garcia

Tammy Garcia is an artist, teacher and blogger. You will find proof of her awesome-ness over at her blog. Between her ICAD challenge (index card a day) and 61 Paper Prompts, there's plenty to get you moving. For free. Her workshops are fabulous; she's a very generous teacher as you'll see from this tutorial. I'm thrilled to have her here today. Tammy's cheerful and accessible work will have you itching to make.

Here's Tammy:

Looking through my recent painting experiments, I found this happy page of flowers that had the look and feel of paper fabric. That’s why I am such a fan of experiments and playing “what if?” with my art materials. Sometimes the juxtaposition of this and that is just magical. So I developed this little tutorial to show you how easy it is to get this fresh color pop.

In the video you'll find the materials for painting, cutting and stitching the painted page to a background paper. If you haven't yet tried sewing paper, it can be the very best of addictions! (Editor's note: oh yeah!) 

Tutorial: Flower & Fade from Tammy on Vimeo.

Painting Materials

8x11" watercolor paper {i.e. Strathmore 300 or 400 Series}
Watercolor or gouache paints, in tubes or pans
Rinsing water
#6 or #8 filbert or round watercolor brush

Sewing Materials

8x11" background paper {i.e. painted watercolor paper, cardstock, bristol paper}
Scissors or rotary cutter {use a different pair of scissors/cutter on paper for paper,as it will dull your lovely fabric blades}
Sewing machine, standard needle, default stitch settings, straight stitch
Silk or cotton thread
When sewing graceful curves or straight lines, keep feed dogs UP and let the machine pull the paper through. (I never drop the feed dogs for stitching on paper. You get much better results just by guiding the paper around so play with this.)

You can stitch this flowery grid onto a loose art journal background and hand-letter lyrics or thoughts around the grid. I hope you have fun painting and stitching and I look forward to seeing your creations.

Back to Diana ... 

I tried my hand at Tammy's tute yesterday and it took me a little practice to get those flowers just right. I wound up simply pressing my filbert brush to the paper in each direction and after a bit it worked. So practice :) it does you good.

Let's share our results on Facebook. Just upload your image, share to Tammy's FB group and tag me. Have a grand weekend everyone.

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Comments

[iHanna]

Oh happy colours and great tutorial, thanks for sharing Diana & Tammy!

[Barb]

Thanks for sharing. The bright colors are really nice. Sewing the squares makes this a great journal page.
Barb
NC

[Wendy @ the Late Start Studio]

Tammy is one of the people who inspired me to start a blog . . . it may have been updated infrequently lately but that is about to change! She constantly gladdens me with her encouragement, energy and generosity of spirit and it really shows in her vibrant art.

[Tammy]

Hanna, Thank you for watching and for your kind words. Indeed it's a super happy technique!!!

[Tammy]

Barb, Thank you for saying hello! I'm thrilled that you like the technique and hope that you give it a try!!!

[Tammy]

Wendy, I remember the very first days of your blog quite well. I continue to be honored that I've made an impact of sorts on your creative endeavors and am inspired by your work and your photography!

[Darlene Campbell]

Definately a happy project and I so want a sewing machine added to my studio. Hopefully this year I'll get one.

[Tammy]

Hi Darlene! Thank you for your kind words! I think that you'll find a sewing machine a magical addition to your work space. ~ Tammy

[CS]

Just wondering what was the techniques used to create the background paper, is it another watercolor?

[Diana Trout]

It’s such an interesting background! I just forwarded your question to Tammy.

[Tammy]

CS, The background paper is a gelatin print with acrylics. Thanks for your interest!