The beach-memory quilt I’ve been working on is almost done. To provide just  a bit of “pop” in the finishing, I’ve decided to create some border strips in teal and orange.

Colors – same as what is in the quilt, but more intense. Opacity – deeper than most of the quilt because I’ll use muslin instead of the watercolor-like sheers in the rest of the quilt. I want a playful graphic, not something representational. The informal quality of glue resist seems like a the right solution.

(Just a digression for a moment: Artists are problem-solvers. That’s what the whole artmaking process is about. How can I make this work? What can I try next if it doesn’t work? So, pursuing artmaking is not frivolous at all. There’s a lot of cognitive stuff going on in a studio practice!)

OK. Back to the story. All the supplies are gathered: Paint, water, the strips of muslin, my little painting sponge.

First I created a pale base color: one in pale orange, on in pale teal. I let those dry.

Then I free-form stamped some circle shapes with washable glue.

Every resist medium has its own character. Using glue as a resist creates loosely defined shapes. And the occasional drip and blop add interest. After the stamping, the glue has to dry.

Step three is an over-print in a different color. For these pieces I kept it in the same hue. Deeper orange over lighter orange and deeper teal over lighter teal. Let that dry.

Then I dunk the strips in water for while to let the glue soften up so I can scrape it off.

I wanted a little more depth on these pieces. So I added a layer of spatter to each and then some additional small shapes stamped in the same color family.

Here’s a corner of the quilt. I am only going to have the strips visible on two sides to create a corner and an anchor for the whole piece. The teal bottom strip is a little wider than the side strip in orange.

I enjoy using corner accents on large quilts. I did something similar in these two quilts.

If you are interested in seeing details, or more information on these two quilts, they are on my website. Click the link:

Art Quilt - MAGIC SOCKS

Art Quilt - OVERLOOKED

And – since I began on the subject of beach memories – I created a new small collage this week depicting scurrying shorebirds. These are among my favorite beach memories.

This is “Evening Outing for Three.” It’s on my website here: EVENING OUT

I hope that you are staying well and that creativity is in some way soothing during this strange pandemic time.

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
—Bobbi
bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

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