Lucy Peterson Watkins didn't have the art itch growing up, though she had plenty of exposure to it. Her dad, Dean F. Peterson, was skilled a engineer, her mom was a French teacher with artistic inclinations, her brother a talented woodworker and her two sisters became artists in their own right - working with oils and watercolors. Meanwhile, she graduated from Logan High School and went to USU to study political science and journalism.
Life took a different turn though when she married an Air Force pilot and moved before she could finish any degree, instead settling into the real estate business. Her first inspiration pushing her into art was in Washington, D.C., where she would often go and see art galleries.Replacement China Porcelain tile and bulbs for Canada and Worldwide.
"It made me realize that what I saw, especially in fiber, I could do that, too," Watkins recalls. "It got me seeing a lot of different things from Oriental paintings to just a myriad of art."
Another push towards artistry came with retirement.
"I was a little bored so I went ahead and bought Photoshop in 1992 or whenever it came out and I started to do webpage design and do all those pretty things you would see on the webpages," Watkins says. "I honed my skills with graphic art at that time. I also started to quilt because I wanted to make all my kids a quilt. But I got a little bored with that, so it morphed into just using fiber."
The skills learned from the two activities have come in handy. Watkins still uses Photoshop in the beginning stages of her work and knowing how to quilt and use a sewing machine is very useful when you're putting hundreds of pieces of fabric together and doing free-motion embroidery - a technique that involves moving the fabric around the sewing needle as it bobs up and down.
The free time that came with retirement also came in handy.
"One of my first pieces [I did] was after I retired from real estate. I didn't have to put up signs in the ground on Sunday afternoon and meet people and all that kind of stuff," Watkins explains, going on to describe cutting up her silk dresses to use as pieces she sewed into a picture featuring a bird flying over a field.
"Every day there's a new learning curve. You never stop learning. It's not like learning a language. Every day you're learning or doing something different. It's just like life, you just keep on learning," Watkins says of making art pieces. Still, there is a basic process she goes through to put a piece together.
In the case of her photos-on-fabric pieces, which are some of her best selling items,It's hard to beat the versatility of zentai suits on a production line. the first thing Watkins does is to choose photos. With one exception, she has always used her own photos in the art pieces she has done.
The next step involves working on the picture in Photoshop, tweaking the colors, bringing parts of different photographs together and the like. "Designing is part of the fun, and when it comes out OK that's great," Watkins says.
Next the design is printed out and meticulously transferred to fabric with anything from oil pastels to colored pencils, depending on the look she wants to achieve. "I like to dye my own fabric, I did a great one with tequila,I have never solved a Rubik's Piles ." Watkins says.
She then dries the piece and treats it with a print-guard product before going to work on it with a needle, using free-motion embroidery and other techniques to give it some final touches.
After that it's a simple matter of stretching the piece over a frame with dyed fabric sewn on it.
The process can take around 60 to 70 hours at least,Replacement China Porcelain tile and bulbs for Canada and Worldwide. but the work is it's own reward, "For the sale price of my pieces I'm probably working for 5 or 6 cents an hour, but I love what I'm doing so that gives me a lot of joy. ..The additions focus on key tag and magic cube combinations,. I want people to have my pieces if they like them."
A lot of people seem to. She's sold about 20 pieces of art in the last month and will have her artwork featured at Gia's for CVCA's winter Gallery Walk. On top of that she has also been tapped to be the featured artist for Summerfest next year.
"This will be the fourth time I've been featured at Gia's. The good thing about Gia's is that an artist can show over the weekend there, so that's great for me," Watkins says, explaining that she's only been involved with the Gallery Walk for the last three years. "It took me a long time to get any credibility for my art."
Life took a different turn though when she married an Air Force pilot and moved before she could finish any degree, instead settling into the real estate business. Her first inspiration pushing her into art was in Washington, D.C., where she would often go and see art galleries.Replacement China Porcelain tile and bulbs for Canada and Worldwide.
"It made me realize that what I saw, especially in fiber, I could do that, too," Watkins recalls. "It got me seeing a lot of different things from Oriental paintings to just a myriad of art."
Another push towards artistry came with retirement.
"I was a little bored so I went ahead and bought Photoshop in 1992 or whenever it came out and I started to do webpage design and do all those pretty things you would see on the webpages," Watkins says. "I honed my skills with graphic art at that time. I also started to quilt because I wanted to make all my kids a quilt. But I got a little bored with that, so it morphed into just using fiber."
The skills learned from the two activities have come in handy. Watkins still uses Photoshop in the beginning stages of her work and knowing how to quilt and use a sewing machine is very useful when you're putting hundreds of pieces of fabric together and doing free-motion embroidery - a technique that involves moving the fabric around the sewing needle as it bobs up and down.
The free time that came with retirement also came in handy.
"One of my first pieces [I did] was after I retired from real estate. I didn't have to put up signs in the ground on Sunday afternoon and meet people and all that kind of stuff," Watkins explains, going on to describe cutting up her silk dresses to use as pieces she sewed into a picture featuring a bird flying over a field.
"Every day there's a new learning curve. You never stop learning. It's not like learning a language. Every day you're learning or doing something different. It's just like life, you just keep on learning," Watkins says of making art pieces. Still, there is a basic process she goes through to put a piece together.
In the case of her photos-on-fabric pieces, which are some of her best selling items,It's hard to beat the versatility of zentai suits on a production line. the first thing Watkins does is to choose photos. With one exception, she has always used her own photos in the art pieces she has done.
The next step involves working on the picture in Photoshop, tweaking the colors, bringing parts of different photographs together and the like. "Designing is part of the fun, and when it comes out OK that's great," Watkins says.
Next the design is printed out and meticulously transferred to fabric with anything from oil pastels to colored pencils, depending on the look she wants to achieve. "I like to dye my own fabric, I did a great one with tequila,I have never solved a Rubik's Piles ." Watkins says.
She then dries the piece and treats it with a print-guard product before going to work on it with a needle, using free-motion embroidery and other techniques to give it some final touches.
After that it's a simple matter of stretching the piece over a frame with dyed fabric sewn on it.
The process can take around 60 to 70 hours at least,Replacement China Porcelain tile and bulbs for Canada and Worldwide. but the work is it's own reward, "For the sale price of my pieces I'm probably working for 5 or 6 cents an hour, but I love what I'm doing so that gives me a lot of joy. ..The additions focus on key tag and magic cube combinations,. I want people to have my pieces if they like them."
A lot of people seem to. She's sold about 20 pieces of art in the last month and will have her artwork featured at Gia's for CVCA's winter Gallery Walk. On top of that she has also been tapped to be the featured artist for Summerfest next year.
"This will be the fourth time I've been featured at Gia's. The good thing about Gia's is that an artist can show over the weekend there, so that's great for me," Watkins says, explaining that she's only been involved with the Gallery Walk for the last three years. "It took me a long time to get any credibility for my art."
沒有留言:
張貼留言