This week in the studio has felt very much like a work in progress.

Not just that I have some things I’m working on that aren’t done. But because the works are part of a bigger picture and it’s one that has not all unfolded yet.

I am keeping in the back of my mind my hope to create some new large works this year that take ideas I’ve developed for some time and add to those ideas, or take them in some new direction.

And I know I am interested in the concept of incorporating images of tangible objects: bottles, jars, vessels.

But I’m still working it all out.

So this week I’ve been working on some small “samplers.” I’m collaging onto canvas with a raw edge, and I’ll be float-mounting these in a shadow box style wooden frame.

Here are the beginnings.

Each collage has a photo transfer on fabric, and one or more glass vessels depicted, and some other fabric. I monoprinted the glass vessels on sheer polyester. I did stitching on all of them this morning.

Aside from the idea development, some other things I am experiencing/learning:

MULTIPLES: When I work on small pieces, I like to have a number of them in the works at one time. I’m not necessarily prescribing this as a rule for others, I just know it suits my working temperament.

PRESENTATION: When I work on small pieces I like to present them in a finished frame of some sort. I don’t do this with large quilts, which I like to see presented hanging on the wall as-is. For me, small pieces get lost without a frame presentation.

PREPARATION: I am oh-so-grateful-more-than-I-can-say-grateful for the investment of time I have put into printing methods that I can pull out of my tool box when I need them.

Each of these little works includes some screen printing. I have a small quantity of images that I like, return to, and mix together in different ways. They are now part of my working vocabulary. And the time I invested in printing each image onto a piece of clear vinyl was invaluable. (That’s what I have in my hand in the top of the picture above. The tree limb, printed on a sheet of clear, provides me with a method of visually composing the small collage. I can see through the vinyl. Then, I lay the printing screen right on top, lining it up by eye. It’s how I can see where the image will print.)

IDEAS EVOLVE: And I am learning again how ideas work. They grow. They change. They may be set aside for a bit. If meaningful, they will come back. I have used images of glass bottles, tree limbs and landscape photos in various ways in my work over years. I don’t always use all these elements. But my experience with each becomes part of my thinking as I re-address an idea I have worked with before. They come together in familiar ways – and they come together in new ways.

That’s it for now. We’ll see where all this goes.

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

 Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

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