Peace in the in-between

There seems to be only one Christmas greeting inside me.

Peace.

From the time I was a middle school student in a Quaker school, listening to the faculty elders talk about peace amidst the Vietnam war, through the seasons of church-going hearing the Christmas story: “Good tidings of great joy. Peace on earth.” This is the part that resonates with me.

We are not always Merry. We ae not always Happy. But all of us have deep within, spoken or unspoken, the yearning for peace.

At the same time, here we are in an in-between time. Hope at the end of a long pandemic struggle, but not there yet. Hope in our country for new and better governing, but we’re not there yet.

Personal struggles of being in-between inside of people that I can’t know or imagine, except to know that they are universal.

In the hearts and the practices of artmakers (definitely including me) we have an ongoing sense of being in-between. We work on projects at hand. We find meaning and pleasure. But we sense we can do more, something different, something better. But we’re not there yet.

And for artmakers this is all one experience. The events of everyday, large and small, find their way into our heart and thoughts and affect what we create. In all this:

Peace.

Not because everything always turns out just Susy-Sunshine right. It doesn’t.

But because this is what there is to do.

If you are a creator, keep creating.

If you are an art lover, continue loving and appreciating.

If you are longing for the next step to be here: Listen. Look at what you are doing and see what it’s saying.

Amazingly and wonderfully, some things will unfold just by allowing time. Robins returned to our yard this morning, a simple delight I treasure, when our population of yard birds has diminished so much. I stood at the window absorbing all the birdbath splashing and jostling with a sense of wonder.

And, outside my front door, a little Christmas cactus is about to explode with blooms.

Without knowing or reading up on the correct care, this gift from last season was just placed outdoors in a spot other plants seem to like. Behold. It’s right on time.

And so, to readers, artmakers, art-appreciators, those in a good place in your life, those struggling, I send the only greeting I really know.

Thank you for reading.

Bobbi
bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

What greeted me this morning

A worktable filled with tree limbs. And shadows. And subtle patterns in teal. Splashes of pale mustard gold. Overlapped. Undefined. Waiting to be made into…. something.

Yesterday I spent time creating monoprinted fabric sections. I’m working on sheer polyester fabric. I’m working in color layers—all the pieces received the light teal background hit. Then all a splash of gold. Then all got a mid-value reversal: stencil-blocked tree forms on a darker teal background. And all received a hit of the darkest hues and value of some limb forms.

Same process for each. But, in the character of monoprint, each one is different.

These pieces are the product of the inspiration I wrote about last week. I’m still vey interested in the project, but I don’t yet have a plan for what to do next. (Except that it will turn into a large art quilt.)

Each individual printed piece still needs at lest one more hit – something darker, something with a more defined form. Same for all pieces? Theme and variations? I’m not sure yet.

And I’m beginning to feel like there should be some other, different, contrasting element to work in with these pieces, but I don’t know what yet. Maybe solid. Maybe strong geometric pattern to contrast with the organic limbs? I’m not sure.

I need to look at other works, do some sketches, spread these all out on the table more, and see what develops.

Meanwhile… here’s the other tree that greeted me this morning.

This one is the fruition of an outing into the Ocala Forest, a plowing through underbrush to find trees (not easily navigable going this year) and loading our sweet little choice into the car for the ride home. Last night we put on lights and family heirloom ornaments. Welcome to our home little tree.

Today I’m going to wrap some presents and enjoy a statewide zoom meeting with SAQA art quilt folks.

I send wishes for simple pleasures and creative endeavors to you and your home.

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

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Inspiration! Now What?

I’ve had a few wonderful hours in the studio this week working out options from a printed piece that has lit up all my lightbulbs of inspiration. This is a piece of monotype printed (plus thermofax-screened trees) on rice paper that was created almost completely by accident while I was working on other things. This is it.

I just love this little piece. It’s about 9” square. It has inspired me to plan a whole batch of printmaking later this week on fabric of various kinds plus paper. I’m trying to analyze its parts and see what made it successful.

Meanwhile, I decided to use this in a collaged composition, elements collaged onto watercolor paper, final product matted with a black mat.

At this point it’s easy to be loose and try out ideas. Nothing is glued down. All the pieces I have available as scraps are candidates for the tryouts.

Maybe a bit of yellow for brightness and some browns for earthiness?

Delete the yellow, add some rock patterns to the browns. Now I’ve introduced some brick red.

A transparent piece might work to bridge the gap between sections.

Graphic black and white patterns might be interesting additions, and relate to the black trees and the black mat:

Here’s what I’ve ended up gluing down. I consider this the background, like creating the stage setting. Ready for characters.

It’s probably about 90% done. What I envision now are some smaller painted, or drawn or stamped elements – adding a little bit of liveliness and a foreground.

Stay tuned!

If you enjoy looking at smaller collaged works like this one, I invite you to browse through the gallery called “Wednesday Collage” on my website. I experiment here with landscapes, water birds, and abstracts in a variety of palettes. Maybe you’ll find one or two that speak to you.   Happy browsing!

Visit the gallery of collages HERE

Thank you for reading.

I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

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Primaries. Mostly.

I’ve been looking at the work-in-progress in my studio. This morning I did a bit of stitching and now it’s up on my easel. Resting. (Actually, both the quilt and I are taking a breather. The surface stitching I needed to do is right in the middle of the piece, in a very thick difficult-to-sew section, and it was kind of like bear wrestling.)

This is the quilt depicting old row houses and the big sidewalk, which I’ve written about a few times recently. I’ve begun to add the character, a little girl.

I realize that I feel very at-home in this work. I am comfortable in its presence. So, I’m trying to think through how color is working here.

The quilt is dominated by the three primary colors: red, blue, yellow. These colors can feel very grounding. Every other color can be mixed from them. (with addition of black and white.) But here, I’ve subdued them from crayon-bright color.

Details from the work-in-progress

I remember once being in a painting class in which another student, whose work I admired, said she always mixes every color in a work with at least one other color in the work. Or, every color is mixed with a third, neutral color. This keeps the work in harmony and all the parts speaking to each other.

I realize as I look at my palettes that I work this way more and more.

The primary triad can look quite different depending on how much of this mixing you do. Here are some samples of fabric I’ve printed with acrylics, from my working scrap bins.

These colors are mostly pure hues.

These colors have been toned down, mostly with a mix of burnt umber.

These colors have been created from the primaries, mixed mostly with burnt sienna.

If you want in-your-face bold: mix less. Use more pure colors.

If you want more softness or to evoke an emotion: mix more. Use less pure colors.

Learning how you like to work with colors, and how you respond to them, is part of the ongoing work of studio experimentation.

My last opportunity to extend this invitation: TEXTILE TALK--- THIS Week!

I’m so excited about this upcoming opportunity to talk about my work, “Becoming One With the Night,” along with three other artists who are also exhibiting in the SAQA Global exhibit “Beyond the Mirror.” (Because SAQA is very professional and organized, we had a zoom practice session last week. That gave me a change to meet and hear the other artists. So, I’ve had a peek. The talk will be fabulous.

It’s Free. It’s open to everyone. It’s about an hour. It will be LIVE on Wednesday, December 2 at 2pm, Eastern Time US. I hope you’ll plan to attend. (Good thing it’s on zoom. Attendance for the Talks has been 400-600 per session. You won’t have to fight for a good seat!)

Save this link – this is how you get in:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_MRtTrviBTUy1333KJS4YsQ  

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

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Sidewalks. Memory. Inspiration.

Some riffs on sidewalks.

I watched my feet. It was late afternoon-dark and the cracks and protrusions could be surprising obstacles. I loved the outcroppings, the shallow cliffs filled with grass and weeds that were connected to  the large tree nearby, its roots extending out below and inside the territory of the sidewalk. Causing fault lines. Ruptures. In summer I would be without shoes and feel the warmth of the concrete on my skin. My feet were hardened leather. I can remember the sound of feet on concrete. A gentle pad. A pronouncement of place. I am here. Walking on this sidewalk.

In the fall I would be coming home from school from the bus stop shod in the required brown oxfords, the footwear of my uniform. I walked a different route then; the bus-stop-to-home sidewalks were not the same as my summer route. Yet they also belonged to me. I knew the cracks. I knew the trees. I could anticipate the count of my steps. The sounds. The feel of my feet scuffing paper-dry leaves. Smashing acorns like Godzilla. Owning the walk.

And now when I walk on concrete — my feet connected to the formed pavement  I am connected to those earlier walks. Those evenings. That young girl, that journey.

. . . . . . .

My current quilt-in-progress features a large area of sidewalk, filled with cracks and broken places, in front of the abandoned row houses. It is an empty image. But it’s an important part of the memories I am building into the work. So this has been a week of remembering – a getting in touch with the memories – while working to create the component parts that will be the finished artwork

Images of twig-like lines will appear as background. A stenciled brick pattern will be in the foreground. Here they are side-by-side on my easel.

. . . . . . .

You are invited: TEXTILE TALK

I’m so excited about this upcoming opportunity to talk about my work, “Becoming One With the Night,” along with three other artists who are also exhibiting in the SAQA Global exhibit “Beyond the Mirror.” (Because SAQA is very professional and organized, we had a zoom practice session last week. That gave me a chance to meet and hear the other artists. So, I’ve had a peek. The talk will be fabulous.

It’s Free. It’s open to everyone. It’s about an hour. It will be LIVE on Wednesday, December 2 at 2pm, Eastern Time US. I hope you’ll plan to attend. (Good thing it’s on zoom. Attendance for the Talks has been 400-600 per session. You won’t have to fight for a good seat!)

Save this link – this is how you get in:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_MRtTrviBTUy1333KJS4YsQ 

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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Words and Images

Yesterday I enjoyed presenting a (zoom) workshop in which we spent time talking about “How do you get there…?” For artmakers who desire to go deeper and have more depth to their work, this is an ongoing challenge. And sometimes a struggle.

(Many thanks to the members of Art Quilters Unlimited in Ft. Myers for the invitation. It was great to share with a group of motivated, curious and creative quilters.)

Everyone who creates art goes about this a little differently. Some journal. Some work sketchbooks. Some draw from music. Some write. Some do all those things.

I use my sketchbooks to practice drawing, to work out compositions and to remember ideas

As part of this discussion, I put in a plug for reading poetry. I find that when I’ve immersed myself in some good poetry, I start to notice things more acutely. I try to choose my words more carefully.

So I was very interested earlier this year when I read about an online exhibit sponsored by Arts Benicia in Califormia: “Get the Message” – artwork inspired specifically by words. They allowed song lyrics, poetry, prose or other works to be the inspiration. The application required artists to include the text as well as some words of explanation.

I loved this idea. I had one work that was specifically inspired by a Margaret Atwood poem and another inspired by a Mary Oliver poem. Both works were selected for exhibit.

The whole exhibit is visible online from November 14 – December 31. It’s an interesting mix of work. I encourage you to visit. (When you get to the home page, you can scroll down to thumbnails of the artists’ works. Click on the ones that interest you to see it larger and to read the words that inspired it.)

Here’s the link, and here are the works I entered:

THE EXHIBIT IS HERE:
 https://artsbenicia.org/get-the-message-words-and-images/ 

“Remembering The Burned House”

“In the burned house I am eating breakfast. You understand: there is no house, there is no breakfast, yet here I am.” From the poem “Morning in the Burned House” by Margaret Atwood.

Atwood’s powerful images of a fire and burned house are metaphors to convey intense loss and loneliness. A melted spoon. A melted bowl. Soot. No people visible. “Everything in this house has long been over.”

 “What the Waterlilies Sing”

“The old creek began to sing in my ears.”  Mary Oliver, line from the poem “Trout Lilies”

Oliver’s poem, about a very different kind of lily, came to mind when I photographed these waterlilies near my home. I love the concept of music from the water, and the healing power of its memory. (As, in Oliver’s poem, “There was a light that lingered, for hours,,, that made a difference.”)

I would love for you to read and savor each of these poems in their entirety. I don’t have reproduction rights to the poems and don’t want to violate the poets’ copyright. But, I have found them in other places online, and have printed the links here. Enjoy!

https://poets.org/poem/morning-burned-house

https://randomactsofwriting.wordpress.com/2013/04/25/wildflower-week-trout-lily-2/

PS… I really want to give a shout-out of appreciation to Arts Benicia for presenting this virtual exhibit. And to the other galleries I’ve had the chance to exhibit in recently – Visions Art Museum in San Diego, Touchstone Gallery in DC, BIG Arts Gallery in Sanibel, Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, NY -  what you are doing to find your audience virtually and to promote artists with accessible exhibits during the pandemic is WONDERFUL.  I am very grateful.

PPS… One final thought about reading. Recently I received some second-hand copies of a few bestselling novels in the genre of adventure/lawyers/espionage/good-guys-bad-guys. I’m about to finish the fourth. Then. Really. I must stop. In the same way that reading wonderful works – and poetry – deepens my soul and enhances my thinking, reading these turns my brain to mush. I wanted a little fast-reading and mindless escape, and I got it. I’m so glad I ‘m almost done, so I can find something else to be the focus of my attention.

Cheers. Happy creating.

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

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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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Which Approach?

I started this lovely, cool Sunday morning on the porch with the newspaper. First news. Then the funnies. Then the word jumbles.

I noticed that my puzzle-solving takes two completely different approaches. With some words, I see the scrambled words, sort of blink, and the answer comes all at once.

With others, I painstakingly go through a process of trying out each letter as the initial letter, looking for patterns. Sometimes that also leads to an “aha.”

I have volunteered with first graders learning to read. I notice both approaches there too. They have a whole list of rules and patterns to tell them what sound a word will have. An “e” after a “c” turns it into the “s” sound.

Of course the goal is to have those rules become intuitive. The more experienced readers, those who will sit with a book on their own, or who have had the gift of adults reading to them, grasp their words in a more all-at-once way.

Working on some small collages this week, I have had the same experience in visual construction. Sometimes I look at a few pieces and just know how they should go.

Here’s a collage-in-progress on my worktable. I ‘ve been working on this one this week.

Sometimes I feel completely flummoxed.

Then, it helps to walk myself through some rules one at a time to find the “aha.”

“You’ve got something big, now it’s time for something small. OK. You’ve got a dark-dark. Now where is your light-light? Are any parts fighting with each other? Have you made some connections?”

My experience is that both ways of thinking have their place.

Be grateful for the all-at-once grasp of an idea.

And allow yourself to rely on tried and true rules to get you there when it doesn’t come all at once.

Or, when inspiration does come all at once, but needs fine tuning and redirecting as the work progresses.

Finally – a stress confession. My inner being is way more stirred up than normal. I know it’s the election, and the combination of all that I am carrying inside about it: deep hope for change, belief that it’s possible, fear that it’s not a given. It is tumultuous, Scary. Unnerving. Important. And creativity-sucking.

I received this important reminder in an email I received just today from Empty Easel:

“But as artists, creatives, and visionaries, we are uniquely positioned to see the world in a different way than those around us. It's in our DNA—in how we think and live. And it's our right, and our privilege, to bring our perspective to the voting process.”

I send sincere hopes to all artmakers, art-appreciators and ordinary citizens for peace and the ability to forge on, whatever happens Tuesday. Stay well. Happy creating.

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

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I LIKE COMPOSITION BEST

I like composition best. I decided today while I was composing some small paper collages.

Yesterday I had a great printmaking session to try out some new stencils on a variety of papers.

I like designing and cutting stencils. And I like mixing colors. And I really, really, really like hand printmaking. I like the rhythm. I like the discovery. I like the spontaneity. I like seeing a pile of things I’ve printed in a short period of time.

BUT… Putting them together into composed pieces is a whole different experience.

Composing involves listening. Well, for me, not at first. I’m not a completely intuitive creator of artwork. I’m a planner. So I have sketches or ideas that I’m trying to accomplish. When I begin, I have a sense of where I want to go.

When I get the pieces I’ve created and begin to arrange them, the experience changes. I often find that what I’d planned won’t work. Or that it will go a different way. Or that I need to move things around a number of times till the pieces speak to me and say, “Yes. Stop.”

All of those things occurred as I worked today.

Setting out the parameters is pleasing to me. As soon as I’ve decided on the size and drawn my border, I can begin to envision the things fitting into that space.

I’ve got two side-by-side trees in this composition so far. The one on the left is printed on MASA rice paper and the one on the right is printed on tissue paper. That was one of the unexpected things. The tissue paper is so reactive to every little nuance on the plate that it picked up interesting shapes and values beyond the box drawn around the tree. So, I adjusted my plan to include those.

After this morning’s work here’s what I have: two trees plus a little splash of complementary color.

I’ll add more to finish it up, but not too much. I like the white breathing room. I’ll just have to listen to what it tells me.

SOME EXHIBITION NEWS
and AN INVITATION TO WATCH A GREAT EXHIBITION OPENING

I have been so honored to be a part of Visions 2020 at the Visions Art Museum in San Diego. The jurors selected 37 works to exhibit from 400+ submitted. This year the show has been virtual only. But, at a virtual wine-and-cheese tasting Friday evening, I learned that I was awarded the Miriam Machall Award for Beauty. (There were 6 awards total. Best of Show was awarded to Charlotte Ziebarth. The five other awards are In The Abstract, Color Artistry, Quilts Japan Award , SAQA award and the Award for Beauty.)  I was (still am!) thrilled and stunned. This is an exhibition of exquisite and inspiring artwork. The Museum has put together a catalog you can browse on your own and thirty-minute viewing of the 37 pieces in the show. I enjoyed seeing several in-depth visits. They are very well done. So, if you’d like to take a look, please visit here:

Exhibit Catalog 
 https://visionsartmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/QV2020catalog_Web_01.pdf

Exhibit Virtual Tour Slideshow
https://visionsartmuseum.org/quilt-visions-2020/quilt-visions-2020-online-gallery/

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

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What is the color of light?

This week I’m in the beginning stages of a new quilt dealing with the subject of light. (I will hope to submit this to SAQA global exhibition about LIGHT due at the end of November.)

Light is not so much a color as an experience.

Light is not s much a thing to depict as an effect on the things it touches – or does not touch.

Light is ethereal and changing.

I am returning to a favorite photo of vines and light and shadow viewed through the window of an abandoned house. (I shot this image in rural South Carolina.)

My vision is to create original printed and painted fabric to enhance the feel of that light and to serve as transitions from the photo to a section of darkness.

(I know. This is a pretty ethereal vision. But I’m all in now!)

I’m beginning with a translation – changing the experience of light into a hue. Working from the photo, I’ve discovered a pale celery-green with a tinge of golden yellow that I want to work into my coordinating fabric.

Here’s the palette set-up: Black + Yellow+ white.

Black + Yellow = olive green. Go heavy on the black and it’s deep olive green. Add white to that to get a range of  celery tones.

Black + yellow with a heavier concentration of yellow = mustard yellow. Add white to that to get a range of creamy yellow tones.

I’m going to sponge this onto muslin to get an all-over tone. Then the texture and pattern will be created by subsequent layers of a slightly different hue.

Just a thought about entering exhibitions: I find this very inspiring. I like responding to a specific theme, and I even like it when there are specific size restraints. (This one’s pretty open. I can be from 30”-46”H x 34-60”W.) But I have learned from experience only to enter exhibits in which the piece I create is one that would have interested me anyway. It should fit into a body of work or have other interest to me in case I am not accepted, or if the work comes back to me after the exhibit.

Just a thought about repeating elements from one quilt to the next: I’ve decided that I like doing this. I have returned to the photos of the vines in the windows for several works. Each time I use it a bit differently. Because it’s an original photo, I now consider it part of my working vocabulary, like a favorite hand-cut stencil or relief print bloc.

Here are two other previously created quilts that incorporate this photo:

This is the Way to Get In” This quilt was in Florida Craftsman’s Contemporary Fibers Show earlier this year and is now in the Q=A=Q exhibit at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, NY. On my website, HERE

“Something Else Will Grow There.” I created this as part of my  “Home is What You Remember” show at Arts on Douglas in 2018 . On my website, HERE

Just one more thought about Exhibitions: Sometimes they bring nice surprises. I was thrilled this week to learn that my quilt “Overlooked” (below) won FIRST PLACE at Material II Fiber Exhibit at d’art Center in Norfolk, VA.  (Whooo-Wheee!) The gallery made a nice video of judges remarks so I was able to watch watch on You Tube.. You could learn more about this quilt on my website, HERE

THE WEEK AHEAD: Early voting begins in Florida this week. I  signed up to volunteer as a poll-watcher. I’m looking forward to being a small part of the whole process.

Stay well. Happy creating.

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

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While Approaching the Distance

Today I’ve done some walking through the distance in a new work I just delivered to Arts on Douglas Gallery in New Smyrna. (artsondouglas.net)

There are some things I was pleased with in this collage, called “While Approaching the Distance.”

For readers who are artmakers, I hope you don’t mind if I talk through out loud about some composition basics. I know it helps me periodically to remember Art 101 kinds of things.

For readers who are art lovers but not artmakers, I hope a look inside some composition basics provides richer tools for looking at and appreciating artwork of all kinds.

THINGS FAR AWAY NEED TO BE LESS INTENSE: This might be a matter of being less distinct (like blurred trees in the distance of a forest), or it might mean a more subdued hue, or it might mean the medium used with less intensity. In this collage, I created the sky on sheer polyester as a monotype. That fabric almost always yields a softer look than muslin.

I also really like this piece at the base of the sky. It was a serendipitous event in a fabric-printing session. My plate was wet and the fabric was wet,  I pressed it on the plate and it created a nice loose imprint.

A BIT OF WHITE CAN BE MAGIC. I discover in my own work that I like most works that have some underneath white showing through. Perhaps because that’s the aesthetic of watercolor painting, and I love watercolor. The space between the sea and the sky  and the bits of white around the edge are important to this composition. (This is really written as a note to myself. I am so frequently tempted to fill up every little inch.)

THINGS CLOSE UP SHOULD BE MORE INTENSE The rocks and the dancing trapezoid forms in the foreground are the darkest values. I have not made a lot of difference between these parts. So, to me, they all function as a group. The black circles and the trapezoids are in the same plane. They are all in front of the ocean but related ambiguously to each other. I had fun with that. If I had wanted more depth within this area, some things would have to be even bigger and possibly overlapped shapes behind them.

COMPLEMENTS “POP” This work has a very limited palette – mostly blue and orange plus black and white. (The “brown” sand is actually and orange base that been subdued by mixing with blue.) Where the two main colors interact, there will be contrast and maybe a little energy. In the sky, the orange shapes – even though quite pale – are not hard to distinguish from the sky. In the foreground, the orange triangular shape interacts with the teal blue honeycomb pattern.

When I ask myself what’s important to me when I create a piece of art, I like the analogy of a favorite book. It’s my hope that one can return to it over and over again and still find something new. When I create storytelling works, the content and the memory will be a big part of that. With an abstract composition, it’s got to be all about the interaction of the varying elements.

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

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Above the water. Into the Water.

For several weeks a large quilt-in-progress has been in various stages on my easel. Now, close to its completion is among the most interesting stages to me.

I have filled the space with images of water.

Photo transfers of water.

Painted and printed fabric to suggest water.

Stitching to create motion and ripples.

And, up to this stage, it is mostly as I had planned the work to be. Along with the water I have incorporated some window images to draw the viewer into the experience of looking into water.

Without doing more, I found this work to be pleasing. There’s a lot to look at and I like the palette. But it wasn’t “there” yet. I love to sit next to a body of water, or with my feet in the water, and just look down. The experience of looking through the surface to what’s below is mesmerizing. It stirs memories and emotions.

If I want my finished artwork to recreate an experience something like that (and I do!) I will need to create some layers to look through, and have some things in the background to discover

Here is a detail of one corner to show some of how that’s working.

Depths below: The tree shape In the background was created by stenciling over the background fabric squares, allowing the shape of a tree to show through. I stitched its edges with a heavy thread so it would show up. Still, this is a very subtle shape, and one you might not even notice at first.

Images in front: The brown-toned tree has been physically collaged to the front of the quilt. It has a bit of thickness, so it actually appears in the front. (I may go in and do a bit more shadowing on its edges. This section is close to done, but not completely done.)

Messing with what’s possible; The tree and the roof of the house are interacting. In real life, a tree could not simultaneously be in font of and within and behind a house as it is here. This begins to create emotional layers. We know now that this is not real in the same way as a photograph is real. There are recognizable elements, but they move forward and back as in a dream.

This tree-window-water detail shows more of that layering.

I enjoy creating works with a storytelling component. I want the visual elements to stir up thoughts and memories, and provide a way for a viewer to insert her own stories. Different people will look at images of water and see different things, and feel different memories.

That’s the final layer, and the one I can’t predict. Interacting with the work is the purpose of creating it, and it’s the layer the viewer will provide.

………………………

One more poetry reminder: I am a volunteer with SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) Florida Region, coordinating the poetry portion of a book project. We’ll be publishing in early spring 2021. The book is  an artistic collaboration between SAQA textile artists and poets. We are encouraging ALL poets (no need to be a textile artist or a SAQA member) to submit short works about Florida underwater life, especially FISH.  DEADLINE TO SUBMIT IS OCTOBER 31. NO FEES. You can request information and timeline Here. 

SAQAFlaPoetryProject@gmail.com

That email will be answered by me, and I’ll get the information right out to you. THANK YOU!

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

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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

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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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Art about US – What unites, divides US

The folks next door may not be just like me. And I am not just like them. But we’re all folks living out the lives we know.

I am so pleased to be part of an upcoming exhibit curated by Touchstone Gallery in Washington, DC. It’s called “US – What Unites us, What Divides us.” I was accepted into one of their shows last year, and so I have a sense of the kind of work the gallery is interested in. It’s a top-notch gallery with great quality work; I suspect some will be pretty edgy, and much will be social commentary. A pretty good time for that.

But, as I thought about submitting an entry, I had to work with what work I had created, and I chose to focus on the simplest of common human experiences. We all come from a home or family of some kind, and it helps to form us. Good or bad. So, all of us have that in common.

Here’s a look at the work I submitted, “Sing the Songs that We Learned There.”

INSIDE – The focal point of this work is the variety inside each house. I mixed up colors and patterns to show the vitality of different lives.

UNDERNEATH – All of the houses have roots, and all of the roots go down into a common underground. As different as all of our lives are, we have that in common.

THE LITTLE BIRDS – Birds seemed like just the right commentators for this work. Are they the ones who used to live in the houses and now sing the songs they learned? Are they survivors? Are they like the Greek chorus, providing the commentary?

CHILDLIKE SIMPLICITY – I wrote in my artist statement that all of my fabric-imaging methods are simple and very low-tech. And that I delight in this. I believe artists can create either dull works or interesting works using either simple or complex art-making methods. It’s not about the method. I think the simple child-like house shapes as a means of expressing life complexity is an interesting choice.

The “US” exhibit will be a virtual exhibit (so ANYBODY can see it!) appearing on the website for Touchstone Gallery. It should be live to see on this Friday September 18. I can’t wait to see the rest of the art. I hope you’ll take a look too. It will be here:  www.touchstonegallery.com

Who knows what we will learn?

And, about learning: I am trying to educate myself about the parts of our country’s history that I have not studied well, and to understand the experiences of people different from me. Oh how I have loved reading “The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson.

It’s the story of the great migration of Southern blacks to the Northern cities of the US from the Jim Crow era through the 1960’s. It’s full of history and things to learn. And, because Ms. Wilkerson traces the stories of three specific families, it reads like a novel. I deeply recommend this one.

Till next time. May we all keep learning, And all keep creating.

The Quilt “Sing the Songs That We learned There” is on my website. If you would like to learn more, visit 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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Digging (and Stitching) into Rocks

Rocks. And Roots

A little digging in the garden is therapeutic. This week I pulled out weeds in a circular area around our big oak tree to make breathing room for some perennial peanuts, a nice little ground cover with yellow flowers. Then I mulched it.  I’m not crazy about stooping down and sweating. But I like digging in the dirt with my hands.

Last year we did some digging out of a garden right by our driveway and revealed this group of rocks and roots.

Maybe it’s better not to let artists do the gardening. Immediately I was running for my camera to capture the image.

I walk on it. I look at it from above. “Just” dirt. But, only a shovel-full below the surface and a foot off the driveway, this dirt revealed beautiful and complex interactions.

It’s the inspiration for my current large art quilt project.

First: the photos. I did a little enhancing in PhotoShop to add let the colors pop. Then I transferred the photo onto muslin. (My method is to work from laser color copies, on paper, from my local print shop. I transfer to muslin with gel medium.) I will blend the seams with paint once it’s all assembled and quilted.

The next major step in the piece has been the creation of a body of fabrics to complement the rocks. I want vivid color to give voice to the intricacies and vitality I discovered in this rocks-root-photo.

Now I am putting them together. Here I’m stitching into the photo of the rocks and roots. The backing is grey eco felt, which will be the backing of the quilt. I am using a heavy black thread to trace selective parts of the photo.

That’s as far as I’ve gotten on this project so far. I expect it to unfold over the next month or so.

I hope on this labor day weekend you are finding time for labor or tasks that are meaningful to you, and finding time for nourishing projects, and taking time to think of and thank people who work nine-to-fives (or more) to keep us all going.

Stay healthy and creative.

PS – Need to exercise the other side of your brain? How about writing a little POETRY! I’m a volunteer for SAQA’s Fresh Fish project, which will produce a book combining visual art + poetry on the subject of Florida underwater life, especially FISH. Give it a try. Might be fun. Or refer this to poets you know. It’s FREE. Anyone may submit poems. Deadline is October 31.

To get all the details, rules and timeline, request a prospectus here:
SAQAFlaPoetryProject@gmail.com

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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Printing a Forest

This morning I went into the studio primed and enthusiastic about doing some relief printing. I like to work in a series and I’ve been thinking about a series based on a tree.

I was in a park recently and photographed some tees. For now, I wanted to start with a wider one. I like its pattern of branches. It’s interesting with its leaves and Spanish moss. But I thought it would also be interesting simplified. So my challenge would  be to see how different I can make a series of collaged works, all starting with the same image.

Here’s my printing block. I carved it yesterday. This is about 9” x 11”. Because I’m printing by hand, I carved an E-Z Cut. (As the name implies, they are really easy to cut. But, being soft rubber, they would not hold up under the pressure of a printing press.)

I started with some blue and some burnt umber dark. I mixed it just a little. I wanted most of the mixing to occur on the brayer working across the plate.

Brayering the paint onto the plate and mixing the color at same time.

My first impression was onto white tissue paper. It’s perfect for picking up delicate nuances on the block. But oh-so-delicate. It wants to rip just by being looked at! (Note: this is not the carved block of the tree. This is another linoleum block I had, using for experimenting.) Now for some trees.

I printed onto brown kraft paper.

I printed onto cotton muslin and sheer polyester.

I printed onto rice paper.

And I printed onto a sateen fabric.

Printing onto Kraft paper

Printing onto sheer polyester

Printing onto rice paper

Some of the prints I made were onto pieces with some color and image already on them from previous monotypes.  (The picture above – rice paper – is printing onto a previously printed sheet.) Here’s one with the tree printed over a celestial sky that I think is interesting.

Sateen fabric. The celestial sky had alsready been monotype printed when I added the tree. This was a piece I had in my stash of printed fabric

Here’s some of the “forest” on my floor after most of the printing was done.

Next up… gluing!  I’ll be composing these into collages on watercolor paper.

This week’s good news; I’m oh-so-happy to announce that my quilt “This is the Way to Get In” was accepted into Q=A=Q (Quilt = Art = Quilts) at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, NY. The exhibit will be up from October 15, 2020 till January 9, 2021. It’s a show with an excellent reputation. This year 71 entries were accepted of 364 submitted. A nice affirmation.

“This is the way to Get In” Art Quilt 42” x 42” 2019

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 on Sunday evening. 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

Looking THROUGH – in a coupla ways

Several different studio projects this week are connected by the idea of looking THROUGH.

Looking through a transparent color complement
 I’ve started creating a new set of matted collages using hand-printed fabrics from my bins of quilt leftovers. Recently most of my collages have been based on landscapes. I wanted to play with squares and rectangles – just shapes – in a more quilterly way.

After I got down the squares and rectangles, I realized that these very pleasing shapes were not a finished composition. Rather, they are backgrounds. To make them come alive, I’m painting over the rectangular shapes with thin glazes of acrylic, rounded shapes, and in a complementary color to what’s underneath.

I like the way all the parts now speak to each other in a completely new way.

(I finished two of these collages. There are links to the completed works at the end of this blog post if you’d like to learn more.)

Looking through the history
I’ve worked more on the figures in the historical quilt I posted abut last week. I ended up collaging some of the dried grassy shapes inside the interior of each figure. Again, I was pleased with how this began to unify all the sections. And it’s way more interesting than my first method, which was a simple semi-transparent whitewash within the figure.

I will be submitting this quilt to an upcoming juried exhibition. So, I have to set aside any more pictures for a while. (In a month or so when I know the outcome of jurying I will post the finished quilt.)

Looking through to the Memory

A quilt I completed in 2019  titled “Look Through to the Memory” has been accepted into Quilt Visions 2020 at the Visions Museum in San Diego. The exhibit will run October through January. In preparing some supporting documentation for the exhibit, I created a short video. It shows the quilt in close-up sections and includes a poem I wrote based on the work. This is a dream-and-memory-based work and it is my hope that it evokes thought and stirs the emotions of the viewer.

If you’d enjoy seeing the video (about 2 minutes) you can find it on You Tube HERE.

Here are the links for the new fabric collages I described at the top of this post: 

Matted Collages: Seen in a New Way, Revelations, HERE

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

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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Adding characters to the story

My work-in-progress with the not-so-green-grasses (last week’s post) took a new direction this week.

I have created all the parts and could finally pin them up on my easel for a look at the big picture. I had put together exactly what I planned and what I sketched, but it was lacking.  (Darn Hate it when that happens!) I decided to add some characters.

This piece is inspired by the abandoned warehouse used for years as a packing plant for orange growers. I had already iinserted some small historical photos into the windows and the grassy area.

This is the photo which appears - small - in two places in the quilt

But it just wasn’t enough to evoke the sense of time past that I had hoped for. So, I tried enlarging one of the figures from the historical photo and added an orange picker on a ladder based on more photos I have found from the era

(Just a note: I was happy to see on the historical sites I visited notes that these photos are all in the public domain. They date from the early twentieth century and have no photographer attribution. Very important to check before using photos in artwork.)

I used rough pencil sketches in PhotoShop to move the figures around and decide on a final placement.

Two of the PhotoShop mockups I created to experiment with placement

I like the one on the right. Next, I sketched the figures on gessoed muslin. (I prep it for painting with exterior white house primer, applied with a wet natural sponge.) I want the look of a simplified linear figure. But, stenciling or painting that directly on my quilt surface could be way too tricky. The painted line on a surface that’s already stitched and not completely flat was likely to raise problems.

On my easel - drawing the figures onto muslin.

Painting the figures

The black painted area will be applied in once piece, collaged into place and then machine stitched. The white areas will all be cut away. This morning I started the cutting.

This is a new method for me to depict figures in a fabric work. I’m pretty much making it up as I go. The idea is to have the elements of the historical memory – the dried grass and the deep red-and-oranges of the fruit – to actually be visible through the characters. I want them to be in the history. I think the simplified lines will define the figures, without making them portraits of particular people.

That’s what I hope will happen. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

If you’d like to see more… On the way to thinking through this method for depicting figures in a quilt, I revisited some of my other pieces that include a figure. In each case, I went about it in a different way. If you’d like to see more, you can check out these links on my website.

The Lord Giveth and the Interstate Taketh Away:
Transparent silhouette stenciled with acrylics over a photo transfer HERE

Neither Here Nor There
Drawing with oil pastels + acrylic wash, over and under sheer polyester HERE

Saying the Magic Words
Drawing with oil pastels on muslin, overpainted with matte medium 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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Grass. Not always greener

A project I have working in the studio has me looking closely at grass. As pattern. As a symbol.

I do a lot of wetlands collages in deeply hued shades of green and blue. So, I’m used to looking at grass forms with a lot of color. This project is asking me to pull way way back on the color so the grass can be a way to depict events that have passed and a sense of loss.

This project began with a bike ride several months ago. We drove to DeLeon Springs and parked the car by the railroad tracks on Lake Winona Road. We rode from there then returned. As I looked around I realized that we were right next to the deserted Strawn Historic Packing House. It’s been closed since a destructive freeze killed the orange crop in 1983 and subject to fire, vandalism and neglect since then.

The deserted warehouse is beautiful. Poignant and filled with memory. I decided it would be interesting subject matter for a history-memory quilt. My goal is to create a strong contrast between a vibrant orange section to represent the once-thriving business and dried grass to represent the past and loss.

Here is the foreground of the photo I shot on that day on the bike ride.

Here is a that image transferred to muslin and on my easel as part of the quilt-in-progress.

I’m happy with the realism and detail of the photo transfer. Now I needed to create some grass-like patterns to enhance the feeling of that overgrown weed and grass area by the warehouse.

This is a section of the quilt that I’ve printed and stitched together. (I am working in sections, quilting-as-I-go.)

(I’ve also incorporated a small historic photo and some text into this section.)

This is monotype printing on rice paper. I bonded the rice paper to muslin (with matte medium) after printing so that I can work with it like any other fabric. The image is a ghost print: Natural grasses were put on my printing plate as a stencil. I printed that image on some other fabric or paper. The image that remained (the ghost) on the plate was beautifully detailed. I pulled these prints from that plate.

This is muslin monotype printed with natural grass forms on the plate to act as a resist. The paint on the plate colored the background, but the grass blocked out the fabric behind it. I mixed these colors by blending cadmium yellow medium with black. The result is a wonderful range of olive green hues. (In some print pulls I added just a tad of white to the mix.)

So far, I love this muted palette and the way the patterns are coming together. I’ll have this memory-in-progress in the studio over the next month.

JUST A REMINDER… GOT POETRY?
I am the volunteer coordinator for a project of SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) Florida Region. It will be a book with textile artworks depicting fish and other underwater life. The fish will be created by SAQA members. To go along with the textile art in the book, we are looking for short poems on the subject of fish (or any other kind of underwater life) in Florida. All poets welcome! If you are a poet I hope you will submit work. If you know poets I hope you will spread the word. You can request a complete prospectus with timeline and details here: SaqaFlapoetryProject@gmail.com.

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

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