Doing the Work

Here I am in the studio this morning. Sewing. Standing up.

It’s not that standing while sewing is all that unusual or a bad idea. If you get tired and shoulder-achey while sewing it can provide relief.

But I’m sewing standing up because this piece is big, and heavy, and hard to handle, and the tree I added is toward the middle of the piece where it’s a stretch to reach. This is hard work both for me and my little sewing machine, and quite a slog.

I am not complaining. I choose my materials and my working methods and I could have chosen to work some other way. But, well, you’ve got to make work in a way that interests you and that’s pleasing. It’s not about being logical.

I have great admiration for textile artists who create beautiful and sensitive small works, often including hand sewing. They can be just lovely. But it’s not who I am. I like to work big. And I like to collage.

So, sometimes, at least part of the creation process is just – work. It’s stuff I have to do to get to the end, or to get to other creative parts I enjoy more.

Artmaking is a wonderful mix of experiences. There’s the emotional longing to create. There’s the inspiration of putting an idea onto paper in a sketch book. There’s the challenge of decision-making along the way. There are the hours of solitude int the studio – just you and some music. There are tasks that are just work. And there’s the pleasure of seeing work develop before your eyes.

This afternoon I got to sit and sew for a while. This is a small portion of the same quilt. I have collaged its fabric layers and now I am using the machine stitching as a form of drawing, a loose outlining and defining of this young girl. Aaaah! Just artmaking pleasure. The piece is easy to handle. My sewing machine is not stressed out. And I can see the shape take place as I sew.

These are the moments artmakers live for.

The most not-logical project I have created was just about a year ago, at the beginning of pandemic seclusion, when I wanted to tackle a large, 4-panel quilt. I had a vision for using raw-edge panels and an intricate mix of photo transfers and other kinds of imagery.

It’s What Were We Supposed To Be. Here’s a detail.

If you’d like to see more, the whole 4-panel composition is on my website, HERE

I have a few new ideas for projects in the studio this week. I look forward to all parts of the process.

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

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Reaching for Stars

This feels like a week to be reaching for the stars. I have returned to this work-in-progress in the studio with enthusiasm and hope.

When it’s done, this work will be an homage to the suffragists of the early 20th century, whose work helped to get us here. For now, I’m in the fabric-creation stage and I’m dealing with the stars.

There will be a field of blue and a field of red. I want stars, but not white stars. My vision is for a hue- on-hue effect; royal blue stars on a dark navy blue background, and red-red stars on a deeper red background.

I decided to create these as resist prints using wheat paste. I’ll roll the wheat paste onto the stencils with a paint roller, creating the shapes I want to see on the final product. Then overpaint with the darker background color so the lighter shows through, after the wheat paste is washed off.

Here’s how it looked in progress:

First I painted about a yard and a half of each fabric: just solid color. A yard and a half of royal blue, and a yard and a half of red-red. (Cadmium red.)

Then, I cut stencils of stars and rolled in the wheat paste. At this stage, it looks like white stars on red or blue background. I let his  yardage dry overnight till the resist is fully dry and crunchy.

Now it’s time to overpaint.

Here’s the red fabric: solid cadmium underneath, with wheat paste stars in between, and a deeper red sponge painted over the hole surface, hanging on the fence to dry

Here’s a closeup of both the blue and red fabrics at the same stage. On the blue piece, you can see the royal blue under-layer, and you can see the outline of the printed stars, and you can see the darker navy blue paint over all of that.

Once the over layer of dark paint was dry, I dunked the yardage in a bucket of warm water to dissolve the wheat paste. To remove the paste, I spread the fabric out on my worktable and scrape it off with a spoon, then dunk it some more, then finally take it outdoors to wash off with the jet setting on my garden hose.

The result: blue on blue and red on red.

And now those fabrics are ready to collage into the finished piece.

Learning experience: Wheat paste is wet and goopy. It will destroy a card stock stencil pretty quickly. (I had not remembered this before I started, and I cut new stencils, not preserving them with medium before printing.) By the end of printing the blue, my stencil was mush. So, I quickly cut new stars to print the red. That turned out to be a happy accident. On the stencil I cut for the red I just drew freehand stars, a lot looser and less symmetrical than the blue. This worked out well, since the red fabric goes on the flowing flag and actually should be rendered with a bit of skew. I lucked out!

Another learning experience; Why didn’t I just print light colors on top of a darker fabric and avoid the whole resist process? Because the acrylic paint is not completely opaque. The darker underneath color would have distorted the over color. Only the addition of white creates opacity, and I didn’t want white in the final product.

More to come with this work in weeks ahead.

And now - oh boy! - one last chance to promote the FRESH FISH book

 The special promo ends February 1. It’s been such a pleasure to be part of this project and to design the book. SAQA is promoting it through the SAQA store for a SPECIAL PRICE of $15.95 each with FREE shipping. (With regrets, the free shipping special can only be for residents of the contiguous United States.) The book sales benefit SAQA Florida exhibits and programs. And (well, I’m biased) I think it’s a book you’ll really enjoy reading. The textile artwork and poetry complement each other wonderfully. To order the promo, order here www.saqa.com/freshfish

Your book should arrive about mid-February. If you want a book sooner, or if you live outside the contiguous United States, you can order on Amazon HERE

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

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Letting Each Color Do Its Work

I’m so grateful that it is a new year, filled with possibilities. I feel a great burst of creative energy

This week I have been working to complete the blue-trees artwork that has developed into an art quilt. It is making me think about color and how it works.

I try hard to use my colors intentionally.

Colors have purpose; I find my work is most effective when I let each color do its job.

Generally, I compose works with one dominant color. I work almost monochromatically through a lot of the creation. Then, I add accents and splashes of (usually) the complement or near-complement.

The dominant color in this work is blue. A blue palette with tree images evokes dreams and memories to me. Although I have added a lot more complexity in monoprinting multiple layers and values in the individual sections, the overall palette reads as blue.

This section is monoprinted with blue acrylic on rice paper, then collaged to muslin

This section is mooprinted with multiple colors on sheer polyester, then collaged to muslin

Using MOSTLY one color throughout a work provides unity. Using ONLY one color throughout would just be boring.

In this work, I love the splashes of orange and mustard yellow. Their job is to wake up the blue and make it more lively. (Complementary colors next to each other create a visual “pop.”) Here are the two sections from above next to an orange hue.

I created the tree with the complements of orange and blue. Orange was the underneath color. The tree was formed with a hand-cut stencil on a gelatin printing plate, with some organic grass pieces providing the texture.

Even where the blue overprints the orange, that bit of orange shows through and gives it some depth.

Here is the reverse. I have overprinted orange shapes through a stencil onto a blue background. But the magic ingredient here is not the complement, it’s a little bit of white.

If you put blue and orange (complements) NEXT to each other they each “pop.” If you put orange on TOP of blue, you get mud. The orange is not opaque unless there’s a bit of white mixed in. The white is what has transformed this pure orange into a cantaloupe—like color. White adds opacity.

I also used the opaque quality of white to create the window shape around the tree.

I am enjoying this quilt, but I am also anxious to complete it. My new year energy has stirred up all kinds of ideas of what to work on next.

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

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Artmaking from the gut

This image of abandoned row houses has stayed with me.

If an image speaks to you powerfully — if it stays with you after you’ve turned away from it — I think you should listen.

When I look at my own work critically, I find that I am generally most pleased with pieces in which I have some emotional investment. Deeper gut reaction can be the beginning of deeper artwork. So, I now have several large pieces (each just in its beginning stage) that have started with a powerful gut reaction.

Painting touchups on the photo I transferred to fabric

This one is about houses in a row.

I grew up in Baltimore and spent my earliest years in a row house neighborhood. This was not a slum and it was also not a fancy townhome neighborhood. It was the kind of neighborhood in which young families were in their first starter home. There were kids around. Each house had a small, fenced back yard that opened out onto the alley.

When I was in high school my family moved to Florida. I remember noticing right away that the houses and the neighborhood just didn’t feel the same. Florida homes don’t have basements. The interiors have different wall finishes and different windowsills.

Everything felt “off.”

This photo of rundown houses in downtown Baltimore just speaks to me. It has a beautiful subtle palette. I like the simple shapes. And it speaks of loss and decay. (I discovered it online, referenced to a magazine publication from 2014. I contacted them and received permission to use the photo in my quilt.) I will be adding a character (a little girl) to the story and incorporating other fabric elements alongside this photo too.

Mixing some neutral grey tones for touching up the photo

Recently I presented a program via zoom to a quilt group in California. Most of the talk was about thinking through concepts and ideas – all the things to do before creating an art quilt. (Or any kind of artwork.) To me, this is where there’s important work to do.

The image that speaks so deeply to me might not speak to any other artist. All OK. Some are inspired by a peaceful beach in the early morning, or a hibiscus flower with amazing hues, or a piece of family memorabilia. Also all OK.

What I think is important is to listen to that strong gut reaction to an inspiration. Then start figuring out what to do with it.

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

PS - Last week I was sharing some anxiety over our US election. Today… Aaaahhhh! So much better. I am filled with relief and hope for the future. Thanks to you for sharing your heartfelt responses.

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Grey, Grey, Soft Grey, Grey

Grey, grey, grey. That’s been my mantra this week In the studio as I’ve been working on a new abstract landscape.

I did some other work lately with very vibrant colors. I felt compelled to stay in a soft grey palette. But, I admit it’s hard for me because I’m often drawn to more color.

I started with an above-and-below composition, a blank space along the horizon line. I used grey-grey in the sky and grey with a slight green hue below. I liked the wash look and I was happy with the overall color. Not much composition yet.

I added a block of squares, introducing a little grey-blue. My thought had been that this would function as window. But it stayed on my easel for a number of days without suggesting what to do next. I made some paper sketches and some Photoshop sketches and didn’t like anything I came up with. And then I thought of my tree stencils, and ideas began to come together.

I blocked out an area to stencil a tree shape with the tree as a resist. I let the grey background show through the tree form and added a darker value to the background. Then I added in some looser tree forms with stencils and wetter sponge work.

Just a word about wonderful grey hues.

I almost never use grey from the jar, and almost never create grey by mixing black and white. The best studio resource I own is my detailed color wheel, which I learned to make a number of years ago as an exercise in an oil painting class. (I hated oils, so I did mine in acrylics.) The most wonderful greys and neutral tones occur when you mix across the compliments (in this work, blue plus orange) and then add either umber to deepen it, or white to go to grey tones. So much richness in the colors! And, since other parts of this work will contain blue, I know that when I mix the greys with a blue base, all the parts will speak well to each other.

I’m adding a little line work to this piece for visual texture. Almost done with the composition.

NOW IT’S TIME TO WORK ON FESTIVAL PREP!! I loaded up my car with my tent and display panels from the place I store them, and started today with washing tent parts and organizing all the “stuff” associated with an outdoor art festival. I’ll be exhibiting in three festivals October and November. This weekend is Winter Park. If you are near, I hope you’ll stop by and see the work I’ll have on display.

Thanks for reading.
I always enjoy questions and comments.
Bobbi

bobbibaughart@gmail.com


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Enjoying the big (tedious) reveal

I’ve been writing about a quilt I am creating based on Margaret Atwood’s poem, “Morning in the Burned House.” It began to take shape this week.

I am very much in experimentation mode. I love the poem, and I have a vision of how I want the finished composition to feel as an emotional statement. I have a hunch that working as a mostly whole cloth creation will be an interesting way to get there. But I really can’t tell until I’m pretty far along in the process.

This week I printed all the sections using acrylics and wheat paste resist. Here’s how the revelation proceeded.

At this point, I had already masked the fabric with wheat paste resist and painted over it to define pattern and design elements. I’ve soaked the fabric in water for a few hours to get the wheat paste softened. Now it’s time to get the wheat-paste-acrylic sludge off.

A plastic worktable cover helps. This will be wet and messy

I use large metal spoon to scrape off the bulk of the wheat paste. (Remember that by now it’s mixed with dried acrylic paint. It’s a plastic-filled gunky mess. Definitely scrape up all the sludge and dispose of it in a garbage bag, not down the drain.)

More patient scraping gets almost all the sludge off. After that, I took it outside to the garden hose to remove the remainder.

Now – for the first time in the process – I can see the composition taking shape.

Here’s a detail of the foreground – a kitchen table with checked cloth. I like the way the crackle of the resist gives this a look of age and texture. That fits the emotional tone of this work.

Next I’ll be adding the stitching, and working on surface design patterns to tie all the parts together. Stay tuned!

LOOKING AHEAD: I’ll be exhibiting in three Central Florida Festivals this year. If you are nearby, I hope you’ll stop by and visit.

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

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Going home. Going through the door.

Memories and stirrers-of-memory have converged in my head and in my studio this week.

Last week I blogged abut my work-in-progress based on Margaret Atwood’s poem, “Morning in the Burned House.” I received some thoughtful and insightful e-mails form readers about their own memories and the process of looking at them. The sense of being-someplace-while not-being-in-that-place resonated deeply with my correspondents. Experience. Memory. Loss.  (Thank you for writing and sharing!)

At the same time, I have been reading a very good book on writing, “Writing Down the Bones,” by Natalie Goldberg. Here’s a paragraph that grabbed my attention.

In the studio, I have begun sketching and working out fabric patterns for this new Atwood-inspired work, and looking at those smoky, misty ephemeral windows. They are powerful.

I was inspired to spend some time with works I had created this year. All of these are born from inner experience. They come from what I see when I look back on my childhood and the journeying beyond.

“Look Through to the Memory” 42” x 42” art quilt (detail)

“Adrift” 42” x 42” art quilt (Detail)

“Overlooked” 42” x 42” art quilt (Detail)

:Growing Unseen” 42” x 42” art quilt (Detail)

“This is the Way to Get In” 42” x 42” Art Quilt (Detail)

When I open the door to inside, these images are what come out. So, I am comforted and encouraged by Natalie Goldberg’s conclusion that creating with the raw material of who I am and what I know is just what I am to be doing.

If you would like more information on the quilts detailed above, you can visit them on my website. Click on the quilt title, Here::

LOOK THROUGH TO THE MEMORY
ADRIFT
OVERLOOKED
GROWING UNSEEN
THIS IS THE WAY TO GET IN

I did some work this morning on the work-in-progress based on the burned house poem. Here are the base layers being painted. Wheat paste patterns and more layers will go on top.

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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Three Projects Brewing in my Studio

Studio inspiration sometimes comes in spurts and sometimes In waves. I must be in a wave now. I have lots of ideas that interest me and lots of projects brewing. Here are three that are coming along in my studio this week.

PROJECT #1… The brown and black village: This will be the base of a quilt I am designing for a SAQA call for entries, “Aloft.” This is a 2020 traveling show, with entries due June 30.

The concept is two girls in a flying armchair in the sky over their village. Everything in the village will be dull, and the sky will be built of deep layers of brown. But there will be a magical element to the story – and that will be the splash of color. (I’m not ready to reveal yet.) I created a good batch of monotyped sky today, and I like the way it interacts with the opaque muslin of the village.

PROJECT #2…  “Overlooked.” Here’s the next stage of the girl in the garden with windows.  (I posted some about this piece on April 25 with more detailed photos of the sun-filled windows.)

 Now I have created the character of the girl. I was pleased with how her layers went together. There is an under-drawing on muslin, with some collage applique of sateen for her dress and sheer for the skin tone, and a little more top layer drawing with oil pastels and some acrylic washes. And I got her to blend in with the garden photos in a way that pleases me.

PROJECT #3… For “Perspectives.” This piece is what I’ve been working on for the Florida SAQA summer show. (Deadline June 1 for this one.)

 And, though I started it with plenty of time to get it completed, it has taken unexpected turns. I had a composition for this one and I followed the plan. But, when I got it all put together… well, it just wasn’t done. What I thought would be a completed work ended up feeling more like a background. The stage set, but no characters. So I’ve been living with it for a few days, and I just got the inspiration for the way to pull it all together.

 I’ll show more when it’s further along.

 (Re-reading this blog post, I realize that I have mentioned SAQA several times. For readers who are not familiar with this organization, it’s Studio Art Quilt Associates. From their website:

“SAQA is an international non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the art quilt and the artists who create them. We are an information resource on all things artquilt related for our members as well as the public. Founded in 1989 by an initial group of 50 artists, SAQA members now number more than 3,400 artists, teachers, collectors, gallery owners, museum curators and corporate sponsors.”

This is a wonderful organization and I am happy to be one of its juried artist members. You can learn more about SAQA at SAQA.com.)

THANK YOU for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi

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A Little Video... Art Quilt "Becoming One with the Night" step-by-step

I recently put together a little video about the making of this art quilt.

I believe that people appreciate a piece of artwork more when they know what goes into its creation. So, I have tried to address both the inspiration and the step-by-step process.

I remembered one particular part of making this quilt as I reviewed the images:

The underlying structure of squares in tension with the overpainted trees.

I remember that after I had printed and collaged all the individual squares, as I was laying them out in various patterns to finalize the composition, I almost didn’t go any further. I loved the squares. The colors were delicate and the patterns were interesting. I just wanted to look at them.

But, at that stage the piece did not accomplish the emotional goal I had for it. There was no reason for a character to enter the scene if it was just pretty squares. So I proceeded to the overpainting and the final composition.

Now, however, I know they are under there. It is one of the interesting aspects of creating textile works in sections. Even when the sections are not an obvious part of the final design, they are an underlying structure. They are in communication with, sometimes in tension with, whatever layers are on top. All of this adds depth and interest to the work, even when the viewer is not—at first—aware of their presence.

I enjoyed sharing this work in person with visitors during my recent studio tour. I hope you enjoy watching the video.

(The video should show below automatically.

If not, you can find it on You tube, 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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Working through the ugly stage… a work in progress

Maybe ugly is too strong a word.

I’ll go with “isn’t-working-for-me.” Yet.

There’s a lot I like about this work-in-progress. I think the sketch and composition are strong. I was inspired by a photo I had seen from a bird watching group. A single song bird among an intricate thicket of twigs and branches created a strong silhouette. I envisioned those twigs creating an abstract, linear background in which to discover the bird. I flipped the bird mirror-image to add another one. I like the addition of the leaves as solid abstract shapes. Here’s the sketch at full size on my easel (about 36”H x 45”W)

I also like the palette a lot. The background teal-violet of the washed-in trees was painted wet-into-wet on sheer fabric. I like the patterns and colors.

And to accompany the background fabric, I have printed new fabrics to put into the composition. The monotype roots pattern in shades of blue is especially pleasing to me.

Here’s what I have assembled so far (collaged and stitched) on my easel.

I am going to complete the stenciled images of the two birds and the balance of the twigs as I have sketched.

Then I think I will have to sit back and ponder this awhile. My hunch is that the branch and twig shapes I liked in the sketch don’t recreate sufficiently the complexity of what I loved in the photo. I can add more, finer twigs and increase the abstraction. I may also be able to relief print some organic twig shapes from the same bundle of roots I used to monotype print the two-tone roots at the bottom. (Those were done as stencils in multiple passes on a gelatin plate.)

And, somewhere, I’ll need at least a splash of something that’s not blue so this is not so monochromatic.

This is going to work. I am telling myself that, believing in what I see already working.

I’m just not sure how to do it yet!

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Three Simple Houses. And More.

Three simple little houses.  Child-like in their form.

But there’s a lot going on in these houses, and I want it all to be an invitation to enter the story and to bring to it your own memories and dreams of home.

What’s inside the windows? Some reveal the interior, some reflect back the outside world.

Look inside the houses. Trees and growth. How would they be a part of the narrative?

The background is filled with the colors of forest shadows, with a horizon line that’s askew.

Two houses are broken open. One is not.

Yet the houses themselves are filled with crayon-box cheerful colors and lively, dancing patterns and shapes.

Like real homes, these three structures reveal that inside and outside don’t always match and that stories are usually not simple.

The video shows my process of creating this art quilt. I constructed each house from fabric -- printing, collaging and stitching -- and then placed them in the background. As I worked it felt very much like creating a play: constructing characters, building a set, and then placing them together onstage.

I hope you enjoy seeing the process.

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Water + Home… putting together two powerful images

In my studio this week I have begun a series of smaller art quilts that are simple compositions combining images of home with images of water, and tree silhouettes connecting the two.

This feels completely natural to me. As I construct the house sections, piecing in reflecting waterlilies or photo transfers of rippling water intuitively seems just right.

And yet – logically – water and a home are not a good mix. Nobody wants to find water seeping in from a wall or roof. The term “underwater” regarding a home is not desirable. And severe weather can damage or destroy a home with water.

So, I’ve been thinking through what this is about. I think that what I like about water is its quality of hidden life. I find it mesmerizing to sit by a body of water and just look down into the surface. Below there is another world. Sometimes life forms are visible: fish, moving plants. Much of the life is microscopic and invisible. But it’s there.

At the same time that it is mysterious, water is soothing. Imagine the sound of moving water. Waves against a beach. Ripples and splashes over rocks. People are just drawn to the sound of water.

The series of art pieces I’m creating about home invites viewers to enter their memories and dreams of home. It is not intended to be a logical journey, but an emotional one.

The water forms inside are a vehicle to enter that emotional place of remembering.

Detail - Art quilt in progress

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Hmmm… Let’s give this one a try

I’m a planner. It’s just how my brain works. I enjoy the process of thinking through a project, visualizing it, working it out in my sketchbook, then saying “go.”

But I’m learning the value of listening, responding, and just trying something out as part of the artmaking work.

This may be a lot of what I like about collage construction. I physically move things around, try different combinations, and test if what I thought would work does actually work.

The try-it-and-see approach is perfect for testing color. Color surprises are some of the best things that happen in the studio. This weekend I worked on a new set of rice paper abstract collages, intentionally doing all of the on-plate compositions in gold-and-olive neutrals.  The addictive hues created by mixing cadmium yellow with either burnt umber or black work in wonderful and surprising ways with other colors. I had thought this piece would want reds and oranges for the next collaged layer. (That’s how I sketched it.) But what a surprise this teal blue is! I would never have planned that.

Try-it-and-see can be an emotional test too. In my current series about remembering home, some of the stories I am working into compositions are gut-punch-real to me. My inner reaction to an image can be very strong. That happened as I positioned this giant tree into the work in progress of the collapsed house. That was the plan from the beginning. (That’s how I sketched it.)  I wanted the house to be collapsing and a large tree growing up out of its windows. But, as I positioned the tree in the picture, and I felt how powerful it was, and imagined how it must be making the house crack and splinter as it grows up out of its center, I felt it to my core. This became an affirmation. The imagined story has a lot of reality and truth in it.

As usual, what I discover in creating art has truths beyond the studio. Discoveries await. We find them — sometimes — with a plan and — sometimes — by taking chances.

Deep Down Roots… Where do they Go?

Deeply rooted in our homes are memories… histories…stories…   (Video below)

This work has recently been completed. I finished up the binding and backing. This gave me a chance to look at it again and remember some of what I thought about as I was creating it.

I am interested in combining realities. First in this piece is the combining of photographic reality with patterned monotypes. The photo transfer appears inside the house (the closeups of twigs) and also in the underground section (the pattern of water). I created patterns of hand-printed fabrics to be a visual metaphor for the richness and complexity of all that’s gone before.

The use of the spatial plane has also been mixed up a bit in this work. This functions in one sense as a landscape; there is a horizon line and the house has suggestions of perspective.  At the same time, it’s a flat plane, not a realistic foreground-background. I view these roots and all the underground patterns like a cut-away view, as if we took a vertical slice of reality and could see above and below at the same time. Yellow sky above. Patterned blue textures below.

This cutaway view then also suggests the passage of time. The roots are not reaching down into a static moment now. They are reaching into all the history and story that compromise the home.

I remember that I started this work when I needed an emotional respite. Just before this, I had created a work that is quite chaotic. Trees grow up and uproot homes and the mood is dark, like a fairy tale story. I felt the need for a new palette and was drawn to thee colors as a soothing change. But, as it developed, I began to see that the complexity of the patterns created an opening to more meaning. Some family histories are warm and cherished. Some entail secrets and hurts. The exact nature of the past is not defined at in this work.

Like real life… It’s complicated.

Here’s a video with closeups and some insights into the work in progress.