Create a background - Step 4

Choose your color range, then start auditioning fabrics on your design wall. Your reference photo, a good-quality color print in the size you'll be doing the final portrait in, is a useful tool for the background color selection process. Other tools in this process are a color wheel and a reducing glass. A reducing glass does the opposite of a magnifying glass, making things smaller so you don't have to squint or stand far away to get a sense of the finished portrait. Another good tool is a camera, which acts much like a reducing glass.

I've heard that the best quilts are those that catch the viewers interest from a distance, from the middle range, and also up close, so the extremes of "big picture" (focal point, contrast) as well as details (stitching, embellishment)are equally important.

In my background I've used batiks, satin, silk and tulle in complementary colors, and cut into strips to create texture and give visual weight to the figure.

The strips are laid on a foundation of muslin. I've used a liquid fabric stiffener on the muslin to avoid needing a hoop for the heavy freed-motion embroidery I'll be doing later. I find hoops restrictive to the creative process. I've also used Mistyfuse on the back of the colored strips to avoid puckering. I'll let you know how this works out. The down side is the possibility of too much stiffness and a lack of that "quilted look" once the 3 layers are quilted.

Time to put the first layer of stitching on the background!

Cutting out the portrait using photo as pattern - Step 3

The fabric I chose for the dog's face is a plaid and a floral print, to give a whimsical look to the portrait. Feel free to use solids if you prefer a more realistic look, or go wild and use nontraditional colors! How about a pink pug!

Rocky, my boy, chose to help the process along by settling in on the work in progress.

Pet Portraits featured on Quilting Arts magazine's blog

http://quiltingarts.com/blogs/pippa/archive/2010/04/06/quilting-cats-and-dogs.aspx

Use your pet's photo to make a pattern - Step 2

Use your color print to make a black and white copy that you will use as a pattern to cut ears, snout and other fairly solid-colored areas of your pet's face. Make sure the color and B&W prints are identical size, not smaller or larger than each other. This will make thread painting easier later on as you will use the color copy as a map for your free-motion embroidery later.

Rocky the pug's pattern consists of just 3 colors: fawn fur, black ears, snout and eyes, and orange kerchief.

When cutting the pattern, don't be too concerned with decisions about whether an area falls into fawn versus black, for example, because your later thread painting will blend these areas using multiple thread colors. This process is surprisingly forgiving because a photo is the basis for the design.

How To Make A Pet Portrait - Step 1

Choose a photo of your pet that makes you happy. Wiley, the Boston terrier, looked up at me with a look that said, "Love me!" His expression was not a perfect "portrait" shot, but rather an expression of his intense, give-me-attention-now! presence. This photo ALWAYS made me laugh, hence my choice for a portrait.

Audition your photos on your design wall, a must for every art quilter. Crop and enlarge the photo to the size you plan to use in your art quilt. I crop closely to show the most facial detail on my 8.5x11" piece of real estate.

Pictured here are two photos of Rocky, my pug, on the right in a portrait-type shot, and on the left with his head cocked, bandana on, and one snaggle-tooth curling his lip..much more character in this shot, and IT MAKES ME LAUGH so I chose it for my art quilt.

You will see two sets of fabric pinned to the board for audition. On the right a print and a woven plaid, on the left are black and tan solids that match Rocky's fur. For a realistic, photographic look, you might choose the solids. For a whimsical look , take poetic license with your fabric choices. Ivy, the Boston terrier on pink background above, has a polka dot face, black floral print fur and a plaid collar. Batiks would also make a good choice.

Marketing your art

Just back from Racine in a 2-day workshop, "I'd Rather Be in the Studio" with Alyson Stanfield (http://www.artbizcoach.com/). For any artist wanting to sell more of your art..that's all of us, right?.. Alyson can tell you how. Most of us artists operate on a shoestring, and Alyson understands that. I came back charged up and ready to use the many free and inexpensive tools available online to share my art with others. Alyson offers artists many ways to learn what she has to say, even free ways! Wishing all you artists a successful journey in sharing your art with more and more people!

OUR FOUR-LEGGED BEASTS

Who do we turn to for unconditional love, a wet kiss or sweet purr at the end of a rough day? Our cats and dogs are always there for us, and I ask myself what I wouldn't do for my own beastie, Rocky the pug.
Rocky was a street dog, found roaming on the South Side of Chicago. He had to fight for every scrap, and still runs to garbage cans even though his life is plush. He fends off his attacking tail, that we've named ykcoR (Rocky backwards), with ferocious growls and snaps. He's had several owners and been back to the rescue organization twice. When I first met him he was supposed to be my third foster pug. I would keep him for a while until someone came along and adopted him. My first two foster pugs went to their forever homes after only a month, but one look at Rocky, bald patches on his skin, swollen red feet and mange in his ears, and frankly not such a pretty face like most pugs, I knew he wasn't going anywhere but HERE. Yes, a "failed" foster parent, I adopted him and worked with an integrative vet to quell his skin allergies, and with lots of training and consistent rules and regs, he began to get the picture that this home would be forever, he would get two squares a day, long walks and always sleep in a warm place. He's turned around in just one year, and was the star performer at his agility class!
My love for animals started long before Rocky, and that's a story for another time, but pets
and indeed all animals, have inspired me for a long time, so portraying them in my art was a natural next step.
--- Martha