Last week I was beginning a new project which will be built on tree patterns.
This week: same project. But I’ve gone from blank colored fabric to color and pattern working together.
In my artmaking, I like to think of things in terms of conversations. One color talking to another color. The underlying story or message talking to the artwork surface. The same image on two different fabrics talking to each other.
Here are color and pattern conversations hanging on my easel earlier this week:
Working in a limited palette, I’m creating varied fabrics that will work together and complement one another as the underlying layer of the tree-based composition.
COLOR:
As shown above, I’ve worked in a variation-on-a-theme approach to create color variety and unity. (Just a note about olive greens: They begin with yellow plus black. They can be wonderful and subtle or garish and ugly. The olive you can create can also be a base to transform into variants, as I’ve done in this project. It’s a wonderful world of color mixing and experimentation!)
PATTERN: I’m creating tree-limb patterns with screen printing, using two screens from my working stash.
Screen printing is a great way to get images with photographic detail. These screens were made from an original photo I shot and cleaned up. They depict a very nice pattern of limbs. You’ll notice I have two versions. One screen prints the positive image: the limbs. The other screen prints the negative image: the background behind the limbs. Used together, they create diversity and unity across the composition.
SERENDIPITY: As I was creating these patterns, I wondered about the big picture. What color could I overprint that would tie all these parts together but maintain their liveliness? I was leaning toward blue-black. Then, this splotch of deep blue-green appeared on the back of one of my fabrics.
It had pulled off from a vinyl drop cloth I had on my worktable. And I think it will be the perfect color.
Now I have parts. The next few weeks will consist of putting them together. The finished work will be created in three panels (so I can handle the stitching,) with the finished size 46”H x 76”W. I’ll need to do all the quilting before I do the final surface painting so I can be painting on a dimensionally stable surface.
I look forward to being part of these conversations.
. . . . .
MY UPCOMING MUSEUM EXHIBIT:
For all of us: focus each day on the good
that needs to be done in the world.
Be part of doing it.
Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
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