Beginnings

I enjoy the beginning stages of artmaking.

For paper collages, the very beginning is ripping rice paper from its full size sheets to the working size I’ll use on my monotype printing plate. This is a surprisingly pleasing and soothing task. I enjoy the process of tearing against my metal ripping bar. I like stacking up the sheets, ready for creating images.

For fabric artwork, the beginning stages generally involves some background painting.

I like this stage too. I begin to envision the layers that will come after the initial layer. I begin to get a sense of the palette.

I have a new art quilt in progress - in its very earliest stages. It will be based on images from a photo shoot I did on New Year’s Day. A small drainage stream near my home had some wonderful images of reflected trees. The picture above shows the paper color copies on my easel, along with a few other images I might like to incorporate. These pieces are ready to be transferred to muslin. Hanging them up helps me to begin to see patterns and consider compositions.

I have set aside fabrics that I think might become a part of this quilt. I’ll hang them up on my easel too, to begin to see how the parts might fit together. I’ll see the missing parts too, to determine what else I need to print.

This is a different quilt – one I just completed. I was further along on this one. Fabrics printed and selected, and photo transfers done. Now I’m seeing how it all fits together.

In all kinds of artmaking, there are parts of the process that are especially pleasing and inspiring, and parts that are more difficult. (And sometimes a piece reaches a point where it’s just a slog to get through it!)

Capturing the pleasure of the parts you most enjoy can help you stay on course when you reach the harder parts.

. . . . .

Coming Event: Studio Tour. My studio will be part of the “Off The Beaten Path” Studio Tour in West Volusia (the DeLand area,)  Florida. March 5-6. 10 am – 5 pm. If you are in central Florida I hope you will come visit. There are 11 studios to visit in the DeLand area. It’s free. You plan your own tour, going to what interests you. In my studio I’ll show where and how I work, and also have one-of-a-kind work available for purchase. (Including some super bargains.)

Coming Event: Shopping Opportunity  Several times a year I release a new series of matted paper collage artworks. The next new release date will be Wednesday, February 23.  I will send out a reminder e-mail, then send pictures of all the works the night before the sale goes LIVE on my website, then the work will actually be available on Wednesday evening. I have been so grateful in the past to the great response. (It gets pretty fast and furious!) If you are interested in receiving this information, you’ll need to be a subscriber to my monthly newsletter. You can subscribe HERE

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

BLOG POSTS  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

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A Favorite Chair Revisited

I am working my way toward completion of a large art quilt this week and wanted one more element to finish the storytelling in the work. A ladderback chair seemed just right.

I have written before about ladderback chairs. They are a favorite symbol for me. Depicted empty, they connote memory. Who was there? What do they remember?

And the first ladderback chairs I remember seeing as a child were in the dining room of a school friend, a home I associated with laughter and rules a bit less formal that my own home.

So, I like these chairs.

I pulled one of my trusty large ladderback chair stencils (I have several sizes) from the shelf and traced out its basic shape onto muslin. Then I collaged a mix of fabrics onto the muslin. Then I stitched them down.

Now I could put the stencil on the top, moving it around till the different fabric colors and patterns hit in the spots I want. Then trace the shape.

Then I cut out the shape of the chair.

My end product is a cut-out chair ready to place on the quilt, collage into position, then stitch into place and quilt.

I am very happy with this chair. I like the way the colors blend and seem to suggest light on a form.

Just one problem.

It doesn’t look good on the quilt I intended it for. I did try out the fabrics against the quilt background, and I did think through what the chair colors would be next to.

But, when I placed it, it was just too much. It disappeared  into the background. I could not tell it wasn’t quite right till I’d created it.

Shoot!

Time for some new chairs

My next plan is to create the chairs with more of an all-over brownish hue, and less pattern.  (I’m creating one lighter brown and one darker brown, just to be sure I get one right.) I hope the second time is the charm.

Since I don’t have a nice “Ta-daaa!’ finished product to show you yet, I’ve pulled out a few artworks-with-chairs from my files to show you. These works are all on my website, where you can find out more information about them.

SECRET GARDEN An art quilt I created earlier this summer
If you would like more information about Secret Garden, click HERE

HOLDING ON – LETTING GO  A smaller work mounted on a wooden box frame.
If you would like more information about Holding On Letting Go, click HERE

OVERGROWN CONVERSATION – An art quilt that also includes some detailed photo transfers of windows.
If you would like more information about Overgrown Conversation, click HERE

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

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

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Rediscovering Still Life

Earlier this week I was looking at some glass bottles on the windowsill next to where I sew.

They reminded me of some earlier still life collages I had created. Around 2010 I was seeking a new artmaking medium and decided to see where mixed media collage could go. I decided to take a simple image of a flower in a glass bottle and recreate it fifty times in fifty works of art. (A good friend agreed to look at them as they progressed, to keep me accountable.) The plan was to do one a week for fifty weeks. I ended up creating them much sooner. And I learned more than I could have imagined.

A few years later I did a set of six still life collages featuring glass bottles and other elements. They have all gone to collector’s homes.

So… maybe the time is right to create a new series.

I have some deep-cradle birch panels that I plan to use for mounting. (I’m all for letting “let’s-use-what-materials-and-framing-I-already-have-on-hand” be part of inspiration.) I will collage onto muslin. Above, I’m prepping the muslin: giving it a coat of watered down exterior house primer to serve as a gesso. This will stiffen up the muslin. Less puckering when collaging. Able to be stitched. Wraps the wooden board nicely.

I started with some sketches.

But, I allowed things to change as I worked my way through the composition.

Some things I especially like about still life depicting bottles:

Transparency. The points of overlap are interesting, allowing the color to change as the bottle shows other bottles or other shapes behind.

Materials: Both rice paper and sheer fabric can be monotype printed with patterns that are interesting in the interior of a bottle.

Abstraction: Creating a still life is actually an exercise in seeing shapes and creating patterns. My way of working is not so much to depict a specific collection of objects on a surface in a real space. Elements move around. This allows the shapes to suggest spaces as the work evolves. I’m working in a composition space of 12” x 24”. The work will either be tall and skinny or wide and short. This helps to keep me from getting stuck in seeing just a realistic space.

Mixed subject matter:  Along with the bottles, so far I have introduced a fish, some pitchers, little birds and a gear.  Squares and lines are also part of the pictures..

Palette exercises: I plan to print up some pieces in different palettes. My next one will be mostly greys with white and yellow. All this is great practice for when I tackle my next large work.

Here’s how this finished work will look mounted on the panel with muslin-wrapped edge.

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

PS The still life collages are experimental works-in-progress, and this was my first. So… none on my website yet. But, if this image appeals to you, let me know. It’s 12”W x 24”H, ready-to-hang, for $289 (tax and shipping in continguous US included) You would make my day!

BLOG POSTS: If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail,  please subscribe here:  I post blogs once a week. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL

NEWSLETTER: If you enjoy more detailed behind-the-scenes stories, as well as FIRST LOOKS at new works and members-only discounts, I hope you’ll become a Studio Insider.  You’ll hear from me about once a month.  NEWSLETTER

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Thank You, cream cheese and butter

As if we needed any further reasons to love cream cheese and butter…

The little cartons in which they are packaged are just right for hand-cut small stencils. The boxes are a nice thin card stock, with a bit of waxy or plasticized coating so they hold up to a bit of paint or other liquid. They cut easily.  And it’s just a weird little pleasure to open up the seams of the box, flatten them out and have them waiting for the work that requires a small shape.

These stencils are for small branch-like shapes that will be part of underground roots. I am using these as a positive shape. (That is, the shape I see cut out in the stencil is the shape that will receive the painted image.)

One of the great things about a stencil is that it can also be used as a negative. If I put this little limb shape down on the fabric and then painted over it, the paint would go onto the background, and the limb would show through as the color of the fabric underneath.

The cardboard stencils are opaque, so I use tracings of the shape to position over the place I will be printing. That way the stencils will hit in the right spot. Position the tracing, then put the stencil on top, then pull out the tracing paper (I usually use wax paper,) tape or hold down the stencil, then apply the paint. Experiment with different brushes, sponges and rollers to see what you like best for paint application.

Here’s how the little root ended up in underground rocks-and-root quilt:

I did not start out to be a fan of stencils. It’s just something that has happened as I have worked out many studio experiments and come up with surface design methods that work for me. So, a few things I’ve learned:

Using stencils helps you to think about positive and negative shape.

Using stencils allows you to create mirror-image shapes: Print from one side, then turn it upside down and print in the other direction.

Using stencils can help you to develop your own personal vocabulary of textures and shapes. I think it’s fine to use commercially produced stencils for learning. My preference for creating art is only to use my own hand-cut shapes. They will be uniquely mine.

Stencils allow a mix of precision and looseness. Get a tight fit between stencil and background, control the paint amount closely, and get a nice clean edge. Or, try sponge painting wet over the shape for a looser look.

These fabrics show the result of wet over-paintng, plus using the stencil to create a wheat paste resist in a pattern.

Creating artwork in fabric is important and very rewarding to me. I love the creative methods of high-tech, photography-based imaging that are available. I also enjoy very low-tech methods that allow me to mix things up.

And, of course, the excuse to enjoy a nice Everything Bagel with cream cheese!

PS – If you would like to look at more details of works I’ve created that use a lot of stencils, I invite you to browse the fabric-and-paper collages on my website. You’ll find a variety of color, patterns and subject matter. HERE

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

BLOG POSTS: If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail,  please subscribe here:  I post blogs once a week. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL

NEWSLETTER: If you enjoy more detailed behind-the-scenes stories, as well as FIRST LOOKS at new works and members-only discounts, I hope you’ll become a Studio Insider.  You’ll hear from me about once a month.  NEWSLETTER

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Wading into the River's Edge... Printmaking Pleasure

Yesterday morning… I just got lost in some monotype printing. Not much to say. I had gathered my materials the night before: some blank rice paper to print, some blank fabric to print, and some previously printed fabric to print over. I knew I wanted some grass-like images for a few new wetlands collages. And I let it roll…

Ink the plate. Press. Pull. Maybe press again. Re-Ink.

The original image. The ghost image. Press. Pull. Repeat.

Allow the images to appear.

This morning… Beginning the collages.

Yup. This is just how I hoped it would turn out.

I create new collaged works regularly. and post them to the Wednesday Collage Gallery on my website. This batch will be on m website later this week. You can see more HERE.

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

BLOG POSTS: If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail, please subscribe here:  I post blogs once a week. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL

NEWSLETTER: If you enjoy more detailed behind-the-scenes stories, as well as FIRST LOOKS at new works and members-only discounts, I hope you’ll become a Studio Insider.  You’ll hear from me about once a month.  NEWSLETTER

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One Thing Leads to Another

In the studio this morning… enjoying a printmaking session with acrylics and rice paper – I discovered one thing leading to another.

What led to the printmaking was a household project, some new planters for the garden. We cut a rain barrel in half, (to be used as a planter) then spray painted it so it would blend into the foliage and be more interesting. I created the stencils I used for printmaking for spraying the barrels. (If you look closely you can also see some interesting two-tone green patterns behind the white palms. I placed leaves and branches on the barrel and sprayed around them. The effect looks great close-up, but just didn’t have enough “pop” from a distance.)

So… now I had a nice new stencil pattern tempting me to do some printing.

1 I mixed up some green with my brayer, using phthalo blue and cadmium yellow. Nice bright green resulted, and using the brayer to blend kept the blending loose.  2. Then I brayered the color on the plate.

3. The first pulls I made off the plate were just for background color. No stencil yet. I made several sheets like this, each with a little different appearance of the green.

Stencil time.

4. I had cut this stencil out of a manila file folder. That’s thick enough to hold up for multiple uses and thin enough to lay down flat. With some darker green already on the plate, I pressed down the stencil.  5. One of  the sheets I had already printed with some background light-bright green is ready to press into the stencil. 6 Here I’ve printed from the stencil . I have a green palm on a lighter green background.

Look at the wonderful image that remained on the plate. That’s the ghost. In any kind of printmaking that uses a plate – either manual hand-printed as I’m doing, or when working with a press – after the image is printed, a ghost image remains on the plate. This is where one thing leads to another. The prints from these ghosts create some of the most interesting layers.

7 This is one of the sheets that already had two plate passes: one for the background, and another for the palm pattern. Now I’m going to print the ghost that was left on the plate onto this sheet.

Working with multiple plate passes for most of the sheets, I created a stack of paper that I think will create some interesting collage elements. (See how the theme keeps going. The printing isn’t the end. Collage next. One thing leads to another.)

This is a close-up of one of the sheets that I thought resulted in some great layers and textures.

As I was working through this printing session, I was reminded of a collaged work I created several years ago printing from actual palm fronds. It’s one of my favorites. I love the incredible detail of the palms that’s picked up by the hand printmaking methods.

This is a detail of one panel. The whole work is a triptych: three framed pieces each 24” x 24”. If you’d like to see more, it’s on my website HERE.

Thank you for reading.

I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

BLOG POSTS: If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail,  please subscribe here:  I post blogs once a week. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL

NEWSLETTER: If you enjoy more detailed behind-the-scenes stories, as well as FIRST LOOKS at new works and members-only discounts, I hope you’ll become a Studio Insider.  You’ll hear from me about once a month.  NEWSLETTER

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The job of little girls. Figuring things out.

This week my mind has been filled with images and thoughts of little girls.

In my studio, I am slowly working my way through a large work that places two little girls in an environment that’s like a dream or memory: windows, doors, archways  and buildings connect with one another in ways that that could not actually occur. The girls are in a place where they must figure things out.

At the same time, since I’m enjoying more reading than normal as part of my stay-at-home-experience, I have read two thought-provoking and stirring accounts of real little girls.

“Becoming,” Michele Obama’s memoir, is warm and rich in details and experience. A lot of the story focuses on her pre-famous days as a girl growing up in Chicago. Clearly, she was smarter than the average kid. Not crazy-genius smart, but smart. And competitive, and motivated, and – increasingly as she grew – capable. She grew in an environment where love and support and nurturing were poured into her with abundance, and she gratefully accepted all of it. A strong and devoted chorus of voices told her: You are important. You can do it.

As an adult, she was able to look back and see how that formed who she is and formed in her the desire for the same opportunities for all little girls.

“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” Maya Angelou’s memoir of her life up to aged sixteen, is a book I had read many years ago. It leapt off the bookshelf in a recent trip to our local used bookstore, an invitation to discover it again. What a wonder! Her story has so much to absorb.

Maya’s childhood was one of being thrown out into the world to make the best of it if she could. The chorus of voices she heard most loudly was telling her that she was not important and not anybody special. Somehow she discovered a love for books. That opened up worlds for her. She began the process of figuring things out and discovering her voice.

So, I’ve been thinking about little girls.

The two girls who inhabit my new (work-in-progress) art quilt are based on a family photo of myself and my sister when I was three and she was four. As the work progresses, I’ve been looking at them a lot. They have evolved.

(Just this week, when I thought that portion of the work was done, I collaged over the girls and changed them around). I repositioned their bodies and redid the drawing and shading.

Most of what’s left in this work will involve adding layers and depth in the environment that surrounds them. I’m working slower than usual and giving it time. I want to hear what the chorus of voices behind these two is saying. I’m still figuring it out.

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

BLOG POSTS: If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail,  please subscribe here:  I post blogs once a week. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL

NEWSLETTER: If you enjoy more detailed behind-the-scenes stories, as well as FIRST LOOKS at new works and members-only discounts, I hope you’ll become a Studio Insider.  You’ll hear from me about once a month.  NEWSLETTER

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People Ask...

People ask a LOT of very good and interesting questions when they look at my textile collage art.

But.. first — I just have to say some love about my own hometown. I exhibited this past weekend in DeLand Fall Festival of the Arts in downtown DeLand. (That’s where I heard the questions.) What a great weekend! I was grateful for a well-organized, artist-centered event, and perfect weather, and good crowds, and good sales, and  — especially nice —  an award of recognition. It was an amazing group of artwork in all mediums. I’m honored to be among them. And my art neighbors were funny, talented, interesting people, making for a weekend of enjoyable camaraderie.

So… questions.

Q: I’d love to hang a quilt on my wall, but how do I take care of it?
A: Just like you’d take care of any acrylic painting. No artwork should be placed where it will be hit by strong, direct sunlight. Otherwise, just hang it, dust it now and then, and enjoy. When an acrylic painter creates work, it’s paint and mediums on canvas. My works are paint and mediums on other kinds of fabric, along with some cutting and stitching. But, once it’s completed, as far as content and structure it’s not really so different from any acrylic work.

Q: How long does it take to make a large quilt?
A: Excellent question. I’d probably make myself crazy if I actually tracked the hours, so I don’t. I will work on a large quilt over a period of months. I have multiple works in progress at any given time. I can just say there are lots of parts: the thinking and designing stage, the printing of yardage stage, the cutting and assembly stage, and the textured quilting stage. After it’s all assembled, I usually add more collage and painting on the surface. It’s a good thing I enjoy all the stages!

This detail of “Because That’s Where it All Begins” shows several processes: photo transfer to muslin (the nest,) hand-printed fabric patterns, machine-stitched quilting for texture, and joining seams to construct the quilt.

This is the completed work – “Because That’s Where It All Begins”

Q: How do artists get into Festivals? Do they get paid? Are tents provided?
A: No. Artists make an investment to show in outdoor Festivals. Juried shows require artists to go through a selection process. Submitted images are juried by a panel of people knowledgeable in the art field to determine who will be able to exhibit. It costs to apply to a show – even if you are not accepted – and there is a booth fee to exhibit. (Depending on the show, generally $300-$500 per weekend.) This is how the Festival generates its income. Artists invest in a tent and display panels in addition to some way to store them and transport them to a show. In DeLand, set-up started at 5:30 am. The street was alive with the sound of clanking metal pent poles. By about 9am the show was set to go

Here’s part of my exhibit at the DeLand Festival

I’ve completed my three shows for Fall 2019. I’m ready for a time-off week and Thanksgiving and beginning the design work on some large projects for 2020.

Last week in my blog I was showing a collage-in-progress. Here it is. I was so happy that this one SOLD at the DeLand Festival.

“When You Hear the Song of Memory”

Missed the Festival? Feel like shopping?
I created a number of collaged works matted to fit a 20” x 24” frame. They were well-received, but some nice ones are still available on my website, HERE

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

bobbibaughart@gmail.com

BLOG POSTS: I post once a week. If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail,
please subscribe here::  BLOGS-BY-EMAIL

NEWSLETTER: If you enjoy more detailed behind-the-scenes stories,
as well as FIRST LOOKS at new works and members-only discounts,
I hope you’ll become a Studio Insider.
You’ll receive a newsletter about once a month.

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1 - 2 - 3 - 4 Collage-in-progress

Time for a little collage!

This is a festival-prep week for me. I will be in DeLand’s Fall Festival of the Arts this weekend. At my last Festival I was very happy to have a good response to the small, matted collaged pieces I was showing. So, I need more. (What a wonderful problem to have!) Since I will be showing a few large storytelling quilts in DeLand, I want the smaller works I show to be compatible, to look like part of a unified body of work. I have already created some photo transfers that I like. Now it’s time to put them together.

Starting with two elements

The window will be the dominant element in this work. It takes up a good deal of the space. So, the image will actually be about the window. Everything else is to accent the window and tie things together. Here, I’m collaging the window onto watercolor paper with matte medium. The blue transparent fabric on the left softens the image and implies water.

I use a brayer to get a good bond. The background piece is 140# watercolor paper.

I am weighting the composition with some heavier fabrics at the bottom. These two pieces are muslin that I created with acrylic paints, using stencils and resist.

I especially like this piece. Even though it’s a very simple pattern, when I painted the stencil I was working wet-into-wet, creating nice fluid edges on the shapes. I like the way this pattern can connote either rock-like forms or bubbles.

Now I want to add some transparent texture over the window to soften the edges and tie it in to the rest of the composition.

That’s as far as I got today. I will be adding some painted textures over parts of the surface, and possibly another recognizable object or two. I need to let thing s dry and look at it fresh tomorrow.

Stay tuned.  Next week I’ll post a picture of the finished work.

If you would like to see some of the larger quilts
I have created that use similar imagery,
I invite you to look through the gallery
 “Home is What You Remember”
On my website HERE

If you are near central Florida, please visit the DeLand Fall Festival of the Art this weekend. (Nov 23-24, 2019) It’s my hometown and I am very proud to be in this event. Downtown DeLand is a great place to visit, and there is an impressive group of artists exhibiting. See you there!

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
bobbibaughart@gmail.com

BLOG POSTS: If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail,
please subscribe here:  BLOGS-BY-EMAIL

NEWSLETTER: If you enjoy more detailed behind-the-scenes stories,
as well as FIRST LOOKS at new works and members-only discounts,
I hope you’ll become a Studio Insider.

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GRASSY INTRICACIES

In my studio this week, I’ve been looking a lot at close-ups of intricate grass patterns.

I use natural forms – roots of grass pulled from my lawn, small twigs and tall grasses – to print my monotypes on rice paper and fabric. This is one of the first images I discovered when I began printing monotypes by hand around 2011. I still enjoy the infinite variety of the patterns. And, along the way, I feel like I’ve learned to use the characteristics of the printing plate – positive, negative, wet, dry – to enhance the images I create.

Here are a few from works-in-progress in the studio now.

These grass shapes are in shades of deep-blue to gray. I like the way they suggest being underwater.

This grass-in-shadow pattern was printed on a satin-like fabric to achieve more intensity.

Printing bright green on sheer fabric so the white behind makes the color “pop,” and over-collaging with some sun-dappling shapes.

Collaging sheer grass pattern over a blush of sky color.

One of the first large collage-on-board works I created is “Living Deeply.” I was inspired by the vertical pattern of grass shapes. I created an underground environment of rocks to suggest a sense that these roots were reaching down deeply underground for… Water? Life?

“Living Deeply” textile collage (Detail)

In 2018, as part of my series “Home is What You Remember,” I created the art quilt “And All that’s Gone Before.” I was, again, inspired by the root-like patterns I had created with natural forms. The blue patterns all around, underground, dig into the depths of memories, and the roots reach to that. I enjoyed contrasting this with the photographic images of branches and twigs inside the house.

“And All That’s Gone Before” art quilt

A recent quilt that incorporates grass patterns is “What the Waterlilies Sing.” In this one, the grass-printed monotypes are black and purple, working as a pattern to pull all of the imagery together.

“What the Waterlilies Sing” art quilt (Detail)

The rest of this week is Festival-prep work. I look forward to exhibiting at the Maitland Festival Under the Stars November 8-10. If you are nearby, please visit and say “Hi.” I’m in space #168. (I’ll have some of my new matted monotype collages with me, as well as some larger pieces.)

If you’d like  more information about the works I’ve detailed, you can find them on my website:

Living Deeply
And All That’s Gone Before
What the Waterlilies Sing.

Thanks for reading!
I always appreciate questions and comments.
Bobbi

bobbibaughart@gmail.com

Magical Transparency

I’ve been looking at a small fabric collage in my studio this week, and seeing in it some of the magic properties of transparency.

In creating fabric and rice paper collaged pieces, there are a few transparency tools in my toolbox. First, is using fabric that is itself transparent. (Generally, I use polyester sheers.) Second, is using the acrylic paint in a transparent way – usually by mixing it with matte medium. Finally, printing wet is a watercolor-like way to get transparency.

Here’s some of what I’ve been looking at. This is a section of the collage that I rust-printed onto polyester sheer.

This section is made of several separate pieces collaged on top of each other. The transparent fabrics blend beautifully.

Next, I added an overlay of transparent acrylic over the rust-printed fabric, along with a section of monotype printed rice paper next to it.

I have to admit, this just makes me crazy with excitement. The warm orange adds a wonderful depth to the fabrics beneath it. When I am unhappy with this method, it is almost always because I mixed the acrylic too opaque. Here, I felt that I got it right. Even the interesting print marks on the rice paper show through the orange acrylic.

Here, the orange transparent acrylic is printed over a section of opaque muslin.

It does not have the same luscious effect as when printed over other transparent fabric. But, I think the effect is interesting, and works to create some variations in foreground-background.

This section of teal fabric was printed as a monotype, and I kept everything pretty wet.

Variations in wetness are in the printing plate, the fabric and the paint itself. Thinning acrylic with water creates a different effect than thinning it with medium.

Here’s the composed collage: “To find the breath for song.”

 If you’d like more information about this collage, it’s on my website HERE

I enjoy mixing my studio practice between creating large, quilted wall pieces and creating smaller pieces mixing paper and fabric. What I learn in each kind of work always opens up doors to seeing something new when I return to the other work.

COUNTDOWN! i’m looking forward to exhibiting in three outdoor festivals this Fall. To readers near Central Florida, I hope to see you there!

Winter Park Autumn Art Festival… October 12-13
Maitland – Rotary Festival Under the Stars… November 8-10
DeLand Fall Festival of the Arts… November 23-24

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

BLOG POSTS: If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail,
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Working backwards as a creative process

I am almost always a sketchbook-kinda-gal. I record ideas. I re-work them all different ways. I go back through the sketchbook. Then, when I am finally ready to put together a textile artwork, I create the pieces I’ll need for the work and create the piece based on my sketches.

Yes – surprise and serendipity happen along the way. But, for the most part, I’m following a plan.

But not in the new body of work that’s been occupying me in the studio recently.

To create abstract landscapes, I’ve created yards of fabric and rice paper, just going with what happens in the surface design and working for a rich mix of colors. Then – (which is the stage where I am now) – I gather the fabrics and let them tell me where to go.

I recognize and admire many other artists who work this way all the time. But for me it’s a new path – and a feeling of working backwards. And I like it!

Work-in-progress on my easel, stretched and taped flat to a plywood board

A little prep work first: I prepare my muslin base by “gessoing” it with exterior house paint primer both sides and stretching it out on plywood panels.  I’ve also glued a sturdy interfacing to the back. These panels serve as movable easels around the studio when multiple pieces are in the works. My goal is for these finished pieces to have a certain amount of rigidity when they hang. (Though they will be backed and have a pocket like any art quilt.)

Here’s how things have looked in the studio lately.

I’m going through the stash of my recently printed pieces to find ones that suggest a loose  landscape composition.

Fabric is adhered to the stretched muslin with matte medium, brayered to get a good bond.

Fabrics on my worktable. I just get lost in the soft washes of monotype printing created wet-on-sheer. And I love the way it contrasts with more intense muslin pieces.

The work on my easel (above) is further along. It also has some drawn elements. I’ll be adding a little bit of stitching to this.

So far—lots in the works. I should have some finished ones soon.-

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WOOF – just for fun, I’m exhibiting in a summer group exhibition of dog-themed artwork at Wendy Tatter’s Gallery on St. Augustine Beach. The opening is this Sunday, July 28, 4-8 PM. Drop in.

TRAVELIN’ – I have work in a few other juried group shows around the country. If you are near any of these exhibits, I hope you’ll take a look. (And send me some pictures!)

Endless Summer – Arts on Douglas Gallery in New Smyrna Beach, Florida
Exhibiting August 3 – 31, 2019.
Opening Reception  Saturday, August 3  4-7 PM

“America Is… “ - Touchstone Gallery, Washington DC
An all-media show of juried artwork
August 2 – 29, 2019”

“Perspectives” – An exhibit of work by members of SAQA Florida region
Exhibiting July 19 – August 31, 2019
LeMoyne Arts, Tallahassee Florida

“Fiber Fusions” – at the Whistler House Museum
August 24 – October 26, 2019
Lowell, MA

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

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Step-by-step: Watch a Florida river scene come to life

There’s a lot I enjoy about creating collaged artworks.

I enjoy the process of discovery – looking through the color-sorted bins of fabric and paper I’ve created to find interesting colors and patterns to put together.

I enjoy the variety of materials, and how they interact with each other. Rice paper, sheer fabric and opaque fabric all take acrylic paint images a little differently, so they are pleasing to combine.

I enjoy the ability to compose by moving things around. Collage work is very tactile.

And, once the parts are created, the actual process of putting a work together goes pretty quickly. I enjoy seeing a blank page turn into a finished work.

I took some step-by step studio photos this past week of a collage as it progressed. This is a Florida Wildlife piece, “A Morning for Reflection.”  It is 16” x 20”, sized to go in a mat that fits a 20” x 24” frame.

If you’d like more information about this work, and other similar collages, you can visit my website HERE.

If you’d like to watch step-by-step as it is created, here is a 2 – ½ minute video that shows the work in progress. I hope you’ll enjoy watching it come together:

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

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Same view. Different Things to See

Rainy afternoons and naps go together so nicely. Today I’ve been able to enjoy a bit of both.

Before taking a little snooze I was in the studio working on some still in-progress collages.. Since I last posted about this new body of work, I’ve completed several pieces. I’m using collage construction, with ragged-edge image on white gessoed muslin, turned with a clean edge, and constructed as an art quilt.

Things I am discovering:

The different characters of fabric are an important of the design process. Acrylics on muslin are opaque. Not so good for nuanced detail, but great for solids. Acrylics on sheer pick up lots of subtle washes. Great for transparency. Acrylics on rice paper pick up magic little details. So, mixing up the materials in one piece reveals lots of interesting little visual bits.

Collage detail - acrylics on muslin

Collage detail - acrylics as transparent shapes

Collage detail - acrylics printed on rice paper.

I am drawn to the wonderful tones of yellow created when yellow mixes with black. (I already knew I loved these hues. Just discovering it again.) That’s how I created the hues of the rice paper section above.

I like a sense of motion. One of the things I try to work through with collage is the solidness of compositions. The physical act of cutting things out and gluing them down can get a little too solid. I work to break this up with thinner, more linear pieces that imply motion, and details of hand-drawn shapes in black.

I feel at home when I have a horizon. While I enjoy the abstract nature of these compositions, they are not completely non-representational. Even when I begin with another intent, I create an abstract landscape. I see land forms or water and a sky above. I don’t know if I will evolve to see the picture plane differently or not. It just seems to be how my brain works – at least for now.

Completed Collage/Art Quilt - “Summer Dances” 38”H x 26”W

Today a collector purchased one of my smaller matted collages from my Web site. (THANK YOU, collector!)  This is “Shoreline Excursions.”

“Shoreline Excursions” collage on watercolor paper, 16” x 20” opening, for frame size 20” x 24” Sold

As I pulled this artwork from the shelf to pack for UPS, I took a look again. “Shoreline Excursion” definitely has recognizable objects in the little birds. Beyond that, however, I see a similar view of water and sky and distance that I am creating in the new larger works. I guess this must be what’s inside my head — because this is what comes out. (In addition to the fact that I really enjoy little bubbles!)

The abstract landscapes I have created so far are on my web site HERE. (I hope to be adding  to the  gallery soon.) Meanwhile, I have just started two large quilts that are COMPLETELY different from this abstract landscape series: emphasis on photo transfer, deeper colors, interior storytelling. I hope to share some of that process soon.

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

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Collage Confessions (And a few tips)

I am getting ready to work on some collaging in the studio over the next few days. I have worked on several large fabric quilted pieces recently, and I want to collage for a change of pace. (I began creating small paper collages regularly a little over a year ago, and I was delighted and surprised by how much I enjoy them, and how much I learn from them.)

 To prepare, I pulled out one I've already completed to look at its parts and think about what pleases me in this process. This is “Windows to a Far Region”

MAGICAL BOND I collage thin materials: rice paper and fabric. (When using fabric, it is most frequently a thin sheer fabric, which has many  properties in common with rice paper.) Bonding these to a substrate is like magic. It is the most exciting and rewarding part of the whole process. I slather matte medium behind and on top of the piece I am collaging and then press it down on the substrate. If it's rice paper, I brayer it for a good bond. If it's fabric I use my hands. (**Handy tip at end of this blog) Aaaahhhh! The piece being collaged just melts right into the substrate. Whatever image has been printed (usually monotype) just “pops” with detail. There I am looking at delicate effects I could not create any other way. 

LIKE WATERCOLOR The imagery reminds me a lot of watercolor painting. When I learned to watercolor, I fell in love with its lightness and translucence. I have always found liquid, semi-transparent watercolor paintings more appealing than opaque acrylics or oils.

AREAS BLEND More magic happens when additional layers are collaged over the base layer. Just as the base layer has a magical bond with the substrate, a second layer will magically bond with layer one. When I work with paper, I like to rip the edges instead of cutting. Sometimes the point of intersection becomes completely invisible.

INFORMAL EDGES When I monotype print onto fabric or rice paper, the edge of the image on the plate is one of the most interesting parts of the image. I have learned to keep these edges as organic as possible. The edge of a brayer mark on the printing plate, for example, will make a wonderful and interesting image edge on the finished collage. When it's time to create the collage, I spend time looking for those edges to place them in an interesting place in the composition.

SERENDIPITY: As much as I have gained experience with my printing and collaging methods, effects are sometimes created which are a complete surprise. The lighter white lines within these squares are an example. They were more of a discovery than a plan. But I sure enjoyed the discovery!

In addition to large storytelling quilts, some of my next planned projects in the studio are mixes of geometric shapes with organic, based on the collage experiences. Creating a few of these smaller works is getting me into the groove.

If you would enjoy looking at more collaged works, visit the collage gallery on my web site, HERE.

Meanwhile, just for fun...

I want to brag on a new public art project in my hometown DeLand. A group of fun-loving and creative textile artists are creating tree wraps for downtown palm trees. There are now three wrapped trees downtown. Terrific teamwork: the City of DeLand supports and helps and the public art committee of the Museum of Art DeLand coordinates. (I enjoy serving on that committee.)  I am not part of the team creating these pieces. Just a citizen who can enjoy them — and brag on them!)

**Handy Tip for Collaging with your hands: Artists who are wiser than I am probably already know this, but it was a hard-earned discovery for me, since I just can't work on delicate collage pieces in any kind of glove, and I have spent many hours trying to scrub acrylic medium off my hands. (It's very stubborn!) I use wax paper as a staple supply in my studio. I place the wax paper over the piece I am collaging and then brayer or rub with my hands to create the adhesion. It's nice and thin and you can see through it to see what you are doing. It does not stick to the collage. Just peel it off VERY carefully so you don't pull off whatever you just added to the work!  Happy creating.

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

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There's Blue. And then there's BLUE!

I used to think I didn’t like using blue in my artwork. I am very drawn to warm earth tones . I love terra cotta and orange. (And I actually do have a real aversion to pale baby blue.)

Then, I took a look at my body of work. There it is: lots of blue. And today, working on several very different projects in my studio, I rediscovered the ranges of blue I use, and my reactions to them.

This is a fun series I created several years ago. I am updating the presentation. I had mounted these on birch panels with a raw-edge muslin fringe, which I later concluded was quite a  mistake. They have lived on my shelf for several years. There are four in the series. I really like the soft watercolor-like images of the palm fronds and the backgrounds. (All monotype prints on sheer fabric.) So I’m adding a punch of very bright color as a frame. (These are also monotype printed, but on cotton muslin.)

This in-your-face very very blue is an unusual choice for me. It can overpower everything else quickly. On this lighthearted series of collages, I think it works. I’m enjoying these.

A few feet away on my easel is a work I’ve just completed that is part of my series focusing on home and memory. Again, there’s lots of blue. And, some is printed on sheers and some on muslin. But so different from the fish pieces!

(Detail - “Looking Through to the Memory”)

Adding finishing detail - “Looking Through to the Memory”

I’ve found my blue home when I mix phthalo blue with varying degrees of burnt umber, or — sometimes — raw sienna. This range of color is magical to me. It moves nicely into lighter, washy hues. It is wonderful when it’s heavy and deep. I also like this range of blues as a connecting color in landscape/nature-based works.

Looks like I relate to blue more than I believed.

Detail of another blue monotype in my studio now. I’m still formulating a plan for this one.

AN INVITATION: This weekend, I will be one of 22 artists in the DeLand area opening our studios on the Off-The-Beaten-Track Studio Tour, Saturday and Sunday 10-5. If you are in the Central Florida area, please accept this invitation to visit my studio. The tour website is FloridaArtsTour.com. That’s where you find artist information and a map. If you are not a DeLand resident and haven’t discovered our wonderful downtown, that’s another good reason for a day trip adventure. Explore art, meet artists, and enjoy lunch or dinner downtown. A perfect day!

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It’s the Little Things – Some Studio Printing Tips

I had a great morning session of hand printmaking this morning. I realized as I looked at the completed images how the rhythm of printing and having a successful session depend on some  little things. These become like familiar friends. As I set up I get in printing mode

Acrylics on my worktable: I set out the colors I plan to use for the prints. I love these quart jars of acrylic paints with the nice wide, easy-access lids. Several years ago an artist  friend told me about Nova Color paints from California. I have been using them since, and they are also my primary source for matte medium and gel medium. (I buy these by the gallon.)  I limit my palette of colors kept on-hand and mix all my printing colors from these basics.

My favorite mixing palette: I tape down a sheet of white paper to the worktable and tape a sheet of waxed paper over that. I mix on the waxed paper. It’s economical and disposable. (And I can also monotype print from the colors on the palette at the end of a session!)

Printing plate: I print by hand from a soft gelatin plate. The plate I am using currently is in a commercial size cookie sheet about 18” x 22”. I mix my own, and use a recipe with glycerin so it does not have to be refrigerated. I have been using this one nearly a year. I also have a commercial gelatin plate I use when I want to have two going at once. Each has its own quirks, and you have to experiment with amount of liquid needed and amount of pressure.

Materials: Generally, I print on muslin, sheer polyester fabric (shown) and rice paper. The more delicate printing materials (the polyester and the rice paper) pick up more nuance and delicate image from the plate. The muslin will print with a more opaque appearance.

Hands on! I use my hands to press stencils and relief materials on the plate and then press my printing surface into the paint. Yes, my hands get pretty messy. But I’ve tried gloves and just don’t like working that way.

Here are a few of the images I created this morning. I’ll be incorporating these into a new art quilt.

While I incorporate monotype printed pieces into all of my large textile collages and art quilts, I’ve also been creating some smaller paper-mounted monotype collage pieces this year. A sample is below, and you can see them on my website HERE    

“Beyond the Thunder” 16 x 20 Framed Collage 2018

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Thanks for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.

—Bobbi

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Life Unseen – Life Unexpected

I did some studio cleaning last week. And so I rediscovered a newspaper clipping I had saved in 2011.

It has re-appeared in my creative life at just the right time.

I remember being captivated by this little science snippet

“It will illustrate once again that somehow life finds a way to survive in the strangest and harshest places.” True for microbes. True for human beings. True for hopes and dreams.

When I first started creating textile pieces, I focused on natural scenes and images. What was most interesting to me was the concept of life beneath – life unseen – the mystery of what there is beyond the visible.

For the past year, as I have focused on works about home and memory, what interests me is much the same. What one sees from the outside is not all there is. Inner life is rich, textured, vibrant, layered, full of mystery.  It’s my hope that the works have spoken both to the reality of facades and the reality of resilience.

I have just begun the process of thinking through some new works. I am filling pages in my sketchbook. I am interested in images of water, and juxtaposing them with non-organic patterns and abstract shapes. It’s another way to get at the idea of there being more that’s real than what we see.

I have begun some transfers onto fabric of enlarged text from this news clip, to incorporate into the new pieces. Even if it becomes obscured , I will know it’s there.  “Scientists keep finding germs in places where they don’t expect.” We find life even where it does not seem it should be able to survive.

“Living Deeply” explores the unseen world beneath the surface. On my web site HERE

“Sometimes You Can’t See In,” (DETAIL) suggesting life that is hidden within the home. On my web site HERE.

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Working from the Outside in (Plus THE CHAIR – Part I)

Recently I decided to create some collaged works in a slightly new size: up from 16 x 20 to a 20 x 24 piece. It involved ordering some cut mats for a finished presentation.

I had the ideas, but just couldn’t get the wheels turning till I received the mats and saw the actual size. Then the ideas clicked.

It was seeing the frame. It was placing the concept in its picture plane.

I’m not sure if I’m sharing this as a handy tip or as a confession. Maybe it’s just a thinking-through of how ideas and compositions go together.

Arranging images in the composition

I don’t seem to come up with an image or an idea in isolation. When I start sketching or planning, it’s always the primary image or concept in context. As I sketch I work the object in the space, determining whether the overall composition should be vertical or horizontal, and how the image fits in that space. In addition to the focal object, what else will be in the composition? How will those parts interact? What’s the pattern of lights and darks?

As I looked back through my sketchbook, I saw that I always work out ideas by beginning with the perimeter. Or if I sketch the object first, I get a perimeter around it pretty quickly, to give it a place to belong.

I know that when I feel like I get it “right,” composition and concept are partners that reinforce each other. When I don’t work out the use of space as part of depicting the focal image, the piece will be lacking.

“Remember It In Pieces” is the finished work shown in progress above. It’s on my web site, HERE

And now for THE CHAIR…

This should be fun. I’m participating in a fundraiser sponsored by the City of DeLand: artists decorate chairs and they will be auctioned. Proceeds will fund public art projects in the City. The event is in January. I need to have this done in a few weeks. So, here’s the official “Before” picture. I want to use fabric. So far that’s about all I know for sure. Stay tuned.

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Monotype Printing on Rice Paper and Fabric… What a great Sunday morning of printmaking!

All week I’ve had some monotype concepts cooking on the creativity back burner. Today was the day to jump into some spontaneous monotype printing — mostly on rice paper, some on fabrics, and all with acrylic paints. Among the many things I like about printing monotypes is that the results are just about always useful, even when they don’t fulfill the vision with which I begin. I can incorporate rice paper into abstract collaged paper or textile works and art quilts. This freedom means I begin a several-hour printmaking session with a nice feeling of enthusiasm.

Today I am inspired by a grey-yellow-white palette. Two pieces I recently created in fabric for my “Home is What you Remember” series used this palette. It’s not a combination I have focused on much before, but I really enjoy it. Mixing yellow and black yields some wonderful olive tones. Adding the white brings them into a subtle range of celery to gold to cream. And the delicacy of monotype printing lets those colors hold detailed textures.

Another thing I like about hand printmaking: it’s very low tech, but not limiting. It is possible to make work that’s gaudy and un-artful printing by hand. It’s also possible to create work that’s interesting and well executed printing by hand. It’s never really about the method.  The same is true, I believe, regarding oil painting, acrylic painting, quilting or drawing with crayons. It’s not the medium alone that dictates the value or content of the outcome.

This morning I ripped to size 8 sheets of rice paper. I am experimenting with creating more of the overall composition through multiple hits of a sheet on differently inked plates. Acrylics dry so fast! It’s not hard to put a sheet back down for a second hit almost right after printing the first.

At the end of my morning I had created a nice stack of images. Now I think I”ll let these simmer for a few days in the creativity cooker to see what mark-making, collaging, sewing — or something else? — comes next.

And here’s a little gift: I am counting down the days till my solo exhibition at Arts on Douglas. It represents a year of concerted thought and artmaking. To celebrate, I’ve created printable note cards using images of some of the quilts in the exhibit. They are FREE and the download is easy. I hope you enjoy using them. Just click HERE.

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