This week I returned to the project I began in May: tree patterns formed by pattern and light.
(If you would enjoy going back and reading what came before tonight’s blog, you can find it HERE.)
At the beginning of the week, here’s what I saw on my easel.
At this point, I’ve accomplished what my original experiment was for: creating light patterns in the very background and having them show through transparent color overlays. Inside the color blocks, I’ve used my tree stencils as a negative. That is, I put the tree down on the surface and painted around it. What you see as trees are voids where the paint was blocked out.
What does it need now?
Because it’s so bright and light, with such intense color, I feel like I want some shadow, or darkness.
And, because all the images so far have been created as negatives, I want to add some positives.
Time to stencil the positive tree images.
I laid them out on the quilt surface to determine placement.
And then I painted them. (I used a foam roller and just a very light touch of paint.)
These less-intense trees will be a middle layer: between the background trees and the to-be-created foreground. To make that foreground, I painted some sheer fabric purple.
You can see that this yardage is very lightweight, and also semi-transparent, even when painted.
A few notes about paint on sheers:
You can see from the loose, watercolor-looking edge of the paint, I was putting it on pretty wet. I spritzed the fabric some. I dipped my brush in water before each big stroke. It was a fast and loose process.
If I were to use this fabric for collage or other purposes, those intriguing bleeding edges would be wonderful design elements.
But, for this project, I will be cutting out the fabric into tree shapes.
The stencils are now tracing patterns. I’ll draw around them, cut to the shape, and collage them with matte medium onto the surface of the quilt.
Once glued in place, I will have added shadow to the lights and added positives to the negatives.
After that, I’ll hang it up and let it speak to me, to see what comes next.
. . . . .
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
How I keep in touch:
BLOG POSTS - once a week: Mostly about what I am creating in the studio. If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail, please subscribe here: I post and send by e-mail each Sunday evening. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL
NEWSLETTER – about once a month: Mostly news of exhibits and my way of introducing new work. You’ll get FIRST LOOKS at new artwork and members-only discounts. You’ll hear from me about once a month. NEWSLETTER