En Plein Air Quilting

My artist niece, Coleen (Claire Bleu), as we call her accompanied me home from sewing retreat in SC. I was so glad for her company for the 9 hr. drive home. She had a hankering to do some en plein air (French for in the open air) painting, and in this case fiber art painting. I was eager to learn from her with fabric so we worked together on separate “paintings.”

First she sorted my fused fabric scraps and snippets by color.

She drew her outlines onto her fabric canvas and I photocopied my picture to get templates for my picture.

This was supposed to be a 3 hour project, but it ended up being more like 3 days of fun, not work!

Claire’s picture depicts our farm including the hog barns, shop & pump house, and grain bins. Somehow she made it beautiful, just beautiful!

I’m anxious to see her project with the thread painted on it and all finished up.

During the day, Claire Bleu painted on this portrait until 5:00 when it got too dark to see good. She worked on the fabric painting in the evenings and at night.

All too soon it was time for her to go home. Her brother Gabriel was going to GA for the weekend, so she went home with him.

Be sure you check out her website Coleen Barnhart. I think you will like her paintings.