What Shall I take into the Studio today?

April 16, 2023

How amazing that these water patterns were right there at the end of my driveway.

Waiting to be discovered and captured.

After weeks of too-early hot and way-too-dry days, our part of Florida has been wonderfully refreshed by several days of rain. (But just enough. I am not in the Southeast part of Florida that has experienced overwhelming floods.)

And yesterday evening I drenched myself in the refreshment of my first swim this season, swimming laps in the beautiful 72-degree water of DeLeon Springs, just a few miles from my home. The afternoon had cleared and was bright and warm. The drive to the springs is along tree-lined roads that are like being out in the country. The feeling of the cool water stayed with me into the evening after I had returned home.

The drainage ditches along the drive had water in them, catching reflections and tree patterns.

*This is a detail from “Discerning What is Real,” created in 2022, inspired by drainage ditches by the road like the ones I passed this weekend. The finished work is shown below.*

*“Discerning What is Real” is on my website* ***HERE***

Earlier in the day, I had gathered with artmaking friends for our monthly get-together. I observed work-in-progress and listened to news about others’ projects. I received instruction on sewing a neat triangle. I rubbed my hands across a new photo transfer removing the paper residue.

In the evening I had time to read. Without agenda or time limit.

So, this morning, as I consider the projects that I am interested in exploring, I am full and well-armed.

There are many tools to take int the studio with you. Many of them have nothing, specifically, to do with your artmaking techniques.

Enjoy the process. All of it.

….

Learning Opportunity: I am looking forward to teaching COMPOSITION in June with the CO-UT-WY SAQA region. This presentation is open both to SAQA members and nonmembers. I teach an intuitive way to look at artworks and evaluate the composition methods used. My hope is that attendees leave with some specific ideas and techniques to use in their own work. We’ll look at lots and lots of artwork together. I hope you will join us.

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

BLOG POSTS - once a week: Mostly about what I am creating in the studio. If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail, please subscribe here: I post and send by e-mail each Sunday evening. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL

NEWSLETTER – about once a month: Mostly news of exhibits and my way of introducing new work. You’ll get FIRST LOOKS at new artwork and members-only discounts. You’ll hear from me about once a month. NEWSLETTER

Is Like a Day Without Sunshine

April 9, 2023

This week I delivered a quilt I created a few years ago – “Is Like a Day Without Sunshine” - to an exhibit at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach.

It gave me a chance to look at this quilt closely – which I had not done in a while.

I definitely remember how the work started. It was the windows, which I photographed while out on a bike ride in DeLeon Springs.

And I remembered a great Florida orange discovery from a visit over thirty years ago. A family friend from Detroit visited, and we went to a local U-Pick orange grove to introduce him to a Florida experience. He reached up his hand, grabbed an orange, tugged, and there it was - actually in his hand. He peeled it, ate the fruit, and almost exploded with joy. The sun was on the face of this city dweller, to whom the experience of eating a fresh, actual orange from a tree, with the juice running down his arms as he laughed was like being in another world.

That’s the wonderful purity of Florida oranges.

So here I was, years later, photographing a building-in-ruin. The whole complex, previously used as an orange packing plant, was haunting and complex, in stages of decay. (This Bob White Packing Plant was built in 1921 following a fire that destroyed the previous structure.)

I decided that I did not want the windows to be a metaphor for some other kind of story. I wanted the quilt to commemorate the actual story of this group of buildings and the people who worked there.

I printed background textures from rough grass like what was growing by the windows, and inserted some text about the history of the building and historical photos of it when it was in operation.

And I inserted some of the historical text in the windows too.

The workers who picked the oranges to be processed are the real heart of the story, and I wanted them to be an important part of the composition.

At the same time, the lives and stories of the human orange pickers have faded from our historical knowledge. They are depicted incomplete, and semi-transparent to let the background show through.

Here is the completed quilt.

Many people will remember the Florida Orange Juice slogan made popular in the 1970’s by Anita Bryant, “Breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine.” I wanted that phrase to be the title. So much irony!

Anita Bryant’s sunny, perky advertising persona was at odds with her affiliation with strong homophobic teaching and anti-gay rights political followers. Now in 2023, homophobia and lashing out at the gay community is once again growing strong in the political landscape of Florida, spearheaded by our current governor.

Beyond that, the history of orange production in Florida is complicated. Families became rich and then lost everything from destructive freezes. The whole landscape of this state has changed as areas once suitable for groves can no longer sustain them. Current orange growers contend with tree greening – a fatal, insect-borne microbial attack.

And the stories of the actual workers, the ones on ladders carrying sacks, are interwoven with Florida’s brutal history of racial inequities to its own black citizens, as well as stories of immigrants who are the backbone of Florida agriculture. (At the same time being the scourge of Florida political leaders.)

The fruit is wonderful. The juice is sweet.

But the stories are complicated.

My quilt will be part of an exhibit of historical images of Volusia County in the Echo Gallery, a gallery that rotates works every few months, in addition to the permanent collection in the Ocean Center. I look forward to seeing it there with other works, and to seeing all the stories that are told.

. . . .

One more artmaking thought. (Can’t help it. I’m on a writing roll today.)

Inspiration from a photograph can go different ways. In the quilt I’ve been describing, the windows became a vehicle to describe that particular building. But sometimes It’s completely different.

These windows were discarded and in a corner of my sister’s back yard.

But they did not inspire me to create a work about the building where they had been. Instead, they spoke to me – an immediate, spontaneous response – as a metaphor for things that are overlooked. But very beautiful.

From that inspiration, I created, “Overlooked.”

In the garden, even in her best party dress, this little girl feels abandoned, overlooked. Placing her next to the overlooked windows became a way to create an environment to tell a story.

Like the pure experience of eating an orange from a tree, the inspiration that begins an idea’s journey into a finished work is pure and wonderful.

Actually creating the finished work is where things get complicated!

(You can learn more about “Is Like A Day Without Sunshine” on my website HERE and about “Overlooked” on my website HERE.)

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

Some days are like this

April 2, 2023

Yesterday in the studio was Bobbi’s very bad no good terrible day where everything I was working on went wrong wrong wrong and everything I did to fix it was stupid stupid stupid.

It looked like this.

It should have been simple. But I was putting on an edge in a different way. What I thought would work did not work.

Sew. Rip out. Sew. Rip out.

I finally got it corrected. I learned. And it will be fine.

But. Dam! Five hours of frustration.

The good news is… today will be better. I’m at a point in a quilt that interests me in which I can do some surface painting, and I’m very excited to begin.

Here’s a detail.

The moral of the story, of course, is to hang in there. Be a grownup. Bad, unproductive days happen.

Good, joy-filled productive days happen too.

Savor them!

. . . .

LEARNING OPPORTUNITY… I’m thrilled to have been invited by the CO-WY-UT region of SAQA to teach a presentation on “Composition.” And I’m REALLY pleased that this class will be open to both SAQA members and non-SAQA members. If it sounds interesting to you, please plan to join us.

I am a SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) member – and also a big fan of the organization. If you are interested in textile artwork and you are not part of a community of artmakers, I encourage you to learn about SAQA. www.saqa.com. This class can be a good introduction.

I enjoy presenting the composition class a lot. I’ll be updating it with some new content and there will be lots and lots of artwork to look at. I hope everyone will learn some practices to apply in your studio time. You can register and HERE

. . . . . . .

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

Constructing a First Layer

March 26, 2023

Last week I was writing about the process of printing original fabrics to use in an art quilt. At stages in the process, I really can’t see how the fabrics will turn out. I have to imagine it, based on what process I’m using.

So… now that I have created some fabric, what happens next? Here I’ve got the fabric and with it a sketch of a new quilt-in-progress.

My job now is another stage of envisioning. I am making choices about which fabrics will go in which section of the quilt, and how they will all work together.

There’s lots to consider. Will one fabric section be interesting next to what I place beside it? Here, I’m using complementary colors next to each other, as well as a mix of photo transfer with non-photographic imagery, to create an interesting conversation.

In this section, my goal is different. I want all these blues and teals to relate to one another, and to function mostly as a single unit. Yes, there is a mix of photo and non-photo. But everything is unified by color.

My goal here is to have this whole section be a contrast to the first one I showed (with the blue, yellow and orange.)

Because of the way I plan things out and build the quilts, I have had times when I was very disappointed that I had completed everything I had put in the sketch, but it just didn’t look done. It didn’t feel “about” anything. I felt like all I’d done was to create a background.

Exactly.

Now I realize that’s the very thing I’ve done. I’ve constructed a first layer. Even when all the parts are sewn together, it won’t feel done because it won’t be done.

The next stage – addressing the completed surface in one piece – is where the most surprises occur. I see things I had not seen in the original sketch. I begin to determine ways of creating layers – things to look through and beyond.

It will be the most painting-like stage of my work.

Here’s an example.

This is one panel of the 3-panel work, “There By Water Will I Build my Home.”

When all the sections of this panel were printed, collaged in place, and quilted (ie – when the background layer was “done,”) there was no branch coming out of the left side. There was not a heron. There was not screen-printed grass below the heron. The blue bubble section at the bottom was not there.

None of those things could happen till I had the construction essentially finished.

Here is the whole work:

(If you would like to learn more about “There By Water Will I Build my Home” you can find it on my website HERE)

I’ll look forward to getting my current work-in-progress to that stage, and seeing what details and layers I’ll be inspired to add.

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

What will you be when you grow up?

March 19, 2023

Perhaps this is not a question you regularly ask fabric.

Sometimes I do.

This week I had some small pieces of fabric that needed to be made into something and some leftover wheat paste and glue resist supplies. So, I looked at the fabric and wondered what it might become.

One of the interesting things about resist printing is that – until it’s complete — it’s backwards. The colors do not appear to you like they will be. So, you have to envision how they will turn out. (Kinda like kids.)

Here’s where I started.

I had some red-orange fabric and some light blue fabric. In this picture I have already applied the wheat paste resist. (The circle shapes were stamped. The irregular pattern shapes were rolled over a stencil.) You see it as white. But, those shapes will not be white in the final fabric. The shapes will appear as the color that is now the background of the fabric, and some other color will be overprinted. Then the resist washes off.

Orange first.

I’m mixing up some paint that is lighter than the current red-orange fabric.

A reminder that when you put lighter over dark, there has to be at least a little white in the color mix or it won’t be opaque. You can see the light orange I’m mixing has a slight cantaloupe-hue in the mix. That’s from the white. Now I painted the light over the existing orange fabric.

Time for blue

This time, because the background blue fabric is so light in value and hue, I’m making the overprint darker. One of my favorite colors to mix: a nice deep teal, created from blue + raw sienna.

Now I overpaint. In the lower right, the color I am applying is darker than the background. On the left, that strip of blue fabric is pretty dark. So I mixed a little white into the paint so it would show up.

Now everybody goes out in the Florida sun to dry.

Then everybody got dunked in a bucket of water to dissolve the resist. Then I washed the dissolved resist off of the fabric. (Use hands, a soft cloth or a spoon to scrape.)

Tadaa! Now the fabric has been transformed. I have some new yardage to incorporate into projects.

The next stage of the life journey of this fabric is to be incorporated into artwork. Much as I enjoy creating original fabric, that’s not the end game. It’s just part of the process.

What comes next... still on the drawing board.

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

Finding your window time

March 12, 2023

I wake up early. I can’t help myself. I have always been this way.

In college I took 8am classes on purpose. I’d enjoy the walk across campus from my dorm and arrive bright eyed and interested as others were dragging themselves in the door.

Late in the evenings, however, as the rest of the world was ready to party and explore the night, I was done. Maybe a little reading. Then lights out.

I have always been this way.

I have several friends who find their awake-and-creative-time to be the middle of the night. Discovering that they don’t sleep through the night well, this has become their habit of creativity.

I don’t think it matters what part of the day stirs you. But I hope, for you, that you have found some part of the day when you feel most alive and use it creatively.

This past week in my morning poetry-reading I’ve been re-reading some Wendell Berry. He is thoughtful and so deeply connected to the earth and its meanings. I have been especially moved by his Window Poems. They are, simply, a series of poems written as he gazes out this window.

He writes about what he sees. He writes about what he remembers. He sees the world divided into panes. He wonders at its changes. Its meanings. He sees himself there, at the window, as part of the scene.

From such a simple premise come words and ideas that are not at all simple.

I am reminded that the most compelling and creative efforts do not have to come from big events.

Simple events, with time given to them, considered with reflection, are a deep well.

Find your time to drink from that well.

. . . .

About the images: The photo I used for the header of this week’s post is one I shot at an abandoned house in rural South Carolina. Its memory is very powerful to me, and I thought of it this week as I was reading Window Poems. The quilt shown is “This is the Way to Get In,” one of several I have created using a photo transfer of this image. More information about this work is on my website HERE

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

Presentation is . . .

March 5, 2023

Everything.

“Presentation is everything” is a bit of life wisdom that’s been part of my thinking since my daughter, also an artist, was in high school and had a very wise art teacher who repeated this mantra to her students. Presentation is everything.

It’s not so much about being fancy. Sometimes, in fact, fancy isn’t called for.

It’s about being intentional in showing your work to others.

In presenting your work to others, the motivation should be the same as when you put out hand towels and straighten up a bit for guests. It’s not likely that you will actually impress anybody by doing this. But you will communicate pride in your home and pleasure that they visited. You will be creating a tangible sign of welcome and respect to your guests. It’s part of the communication between you.

At this weekend’s studio tour, I worked to create a welcoming scene outdoors as people came to the door.

Inside, I had a mix of completed work, work-in-progress, new work, large pieces and small pieces.

I discovered again that being open and welcoming to people’s questions is an important part of presentation. People ask questions because they want to learn about artwork. I had samples of my materials on my worktable so that I could answer questions as guests arrived.

I had artwork titles and prices easily visible. Visitors could get the information they needed without having to ask or feel embarrassed.

Humor can also be part of making people feel welcome.

And, of course, snacks. (As you can see, definitely not fancy. But everybody likes chocolate!)

As an artist, I am honored that visitors would want to come see how I work. I was happy to present it to them.

THANK YOU to the visitors. And thank you to the patrons who purchased work this weekend. I am grateful.

Long weekend.

Naptime.

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

But something was missing

February 26, 2023

This was a weekend for experimenting with paper collages.

It wasn’t avoidance behavior to put off cleaning my studio for next weekend’s studio tour. Really. I was just pursuing some artful ideas. Really.

And I made some discoveries.

My goal was to use my recently-created leaf stencil patterns to create a few simple paper compositions incorporating leaves and bird silhouettes.

I started with a stash of monotype-printed tissue papers I had created a few months ago.

I made a LOT of printed sheets when I saw that my gelatin printing plate was on its last legs, and was also creating some very interesting patterns. I decided to print on tissue paper. It is so delicate it picks up every little nuance. I printed in subdued and neutral hues to use for backgrounds.

So, I collaged some sheets of water color paper with the monotype-printed tissues and let them dry.

Now for leaves.

The stencil patterns are working nicely. I like overlapping colors and pattern.

But something was missing. The compositions were looking a little flat.

Hmmm. Maybe some subtle geometric shapes to overlap the leaves? Add some layers. Reveal some positive-negative shapes.

That sounded promising.

I’d been using a foam paint roller for the stencils so I decided to use that for the geometrics. I backed way, way back on the amount of paint on the roller, so it put down just a whisper of color, at least at first. In a few places I went back and deepened it up. (MUCH better to start light. You can always add more. But if it’s too much from the beginning, there’s no place to go.)

Here's a section that I thought became interesting.

The large teal square is the more obvious shape. I used a stencil of a square and filled it in. But, behind it, I then used the corner of a paper as a stencil and let it block out the paint. Now I was deepening the negative space, and the rectangle is formed by the background papers.

This picture shows a bit of everything that went into these pieces: Monotype tissue background. A collaged piece of sheer fabric. (Top right.) Stenciled leaves in two colors. Appliqued fabric bird. Rolled paint to create a geometric shape in the background.

Alas, I have completed all the new work I’ll get to do this week. I have to work on displays for the studio tour. And I really do have to clean the studio floor. Really.

……

This is my last chance to invite those near central Florida to attend the DeLand-area Artist Studio Tour. There will be twenty-three artists opening their work spaces. I hope you can visit.

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

NEWSLETTER – about once a month: Mostly news of exhibits and my way of introducing new work. You’ll get FIRST LOOKS at new artwork and members-only discounts. You’ll hear from me about once a month. NEWSLETTER

After the idea, Before the Construction

February 19, 2023

The very, very, very, beginning of a new art quilt or a series of quilts is like a flash. Almost like something out of the corner of the eye. I don’t always know how these start. I might read a word that sticks in my brain. Or I see a shape or a color. Or I remember an event. And the wheels of “I think there’s an artwork in that” begin to turn.

The next step is the sketching – very rough. Just recording the concept.

Then, generally, I draw it over and over to put together concept with composition.

Then . . . I’m ready to start some thinking about logistics. Size. What fabrics I need to create. What photos might be involved. Beginning ideas about a palette.

That’s where I am in the studio this week.

The project is the first of what I hope will be a series of incorporating some still life objects into large quilts, which will also contain elements of memory and dream images that are a more familiar vocabulary to me.

I have a first sketch.

This will have the suggestion of a traditional still life. The elements will be in the foreground, in front of a window and sky and limbs beyond the window. But I am not composing it as a strictly representational scene. There will be other elements and it will be divided up a it.

I took this into Photoshop to get an idea of what size the parts would be. This allowed me to get my paper laser copies enlarged and printed to transfer at final size. Here are the photos transferred to fabric.

I taped together some big sheets of paper and drew the composition final size on my easel. (It’s about 40”W)

And I’ve started creating some of the fabrics I’ll want, using the stencils of leaves I created recently.

I sponged a pale mustard gold onto the background. (Cadmium yellow + Burnt umber.) Then I stenciled the middle layer in a green made by taking my base mustard mix and adding a tad of blue. Then I added a third layer using the same stencils, rearranged so they would hit in different patterns, in the color for the middle layer made a little darker with black.

When it was done, I decided to have two versions of this – one that maintained the mustard background, and one with a light blue wash over the whole surface to enhance to greens.

That’s as far as I’ve gotten on this project. I’ll write more as I get more done.

I’ve created some smaller framed versions of the still life concept recently. It’s how I worked out some of the ideas. If you’d like to see them, they are on my website HERE.

. . . .

Don’t forget – for folks near Central Florida, our DeLand-area studio tour is just two weeks away. It will be a wonderful event. Please stop by and say hi. I’m at Stop #2. Click on image below for maps and artist information. www.ArtsTours.org

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

BLOG POSTS - once a week: Mostly about what I am creating in the studio. If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail, please subscribe here: I post and send by e-mail each Sunday evening. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL

A walk through the studio

February 12, 2023

Sunday morning. Cool and calm.

I have read some poetry. (Mary Oliver today.) Enoyed my first coffee.

How about a stroll into the studio to see what’s going on?

(I walked through once, on my way to the driveway for the paper. A few things caught my eye. Now I’ll look a bit more intentionally.)

Out through the door. This is the scenic laundry room I pass through from our living room to the studio.

There on the worktable.

Some stencils I cut yesterday, and one I have drawn but not cut yet. I am interested in how those shapes will go together, and overprint. Future discoveries.

There on my easel is a piece I just completed. Time for you to go up on the storage rack. It’s been a pleasure visiting with you, my old friend.

There on my sewing table one of the framed collages I created lately

I made a few of these and introduced them on my website. I did not sell as many as I had hoped. (Shoot!) But I like these a lot and it is pleasing for me to look at them.

Here are the very beginnings of some paper collages. I love these neutral color monotype backgrounds. (Collaging onto 140#watercolor paper, taped to a board while working.) From this point, anything can happen!

And, there outside my studio door, an inquisitive squirrel in the birdbath.

(You’ll just have to trust me on this one. He was there just before I shot the picture and I scared him away. I am confident he and a number of his bird friends will be back for a number of visits today to entertain me.)

And here am I. In this place, open to what the day will bring.

. . . . . . . . . .

In case I’ve piqued your interest, you can learn more on my website about:

The new collages in black box frames COLLAGES

The quilt from my easel, “Neither Up Nor Down”

I am counting down days and preparing for the Art Studio Tour here in the DeLand area. It’s March 4-5. I hope some readers will be able to attend.

Find the map and information on all the artists at www.ArtsTours.org

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

Inside a Child’s World

February 5, 2023

Children live in a world in which reality and imagination overlap.

At certain ages, they don’t know the difference between real and make believe. (In the kindergarten class in which I volunteer, this is an important reading concept. Is this story real, or is this story pretend?)

Later, even after children understand that real and pretend are different, they willingly enter pretend for the joy of it. Or because it offers a safer place to be.

This is one of two quilts I rediscovered and updated recently. “Saying the Magic Words.”

Creating this work allowed me to take some of my own flights of imagination. I loved filling the houses with playful patterns and colors.

I was pleased with the strong, simple composition and color contrasts

Mostly, it’s my hope that the viewer will be drawn to the child. What is the child imagining? What is the child’s hope? Can the viewer remember having those feelings and hopes?

Last week I wrote about another quilt from my series exploring a child’s journey, “Neither Up Nor Down.” It wasn’t ready last week. Now it’s complete; here’s a picture.

I hope that the works I create based on journey and stories provide you the opportunity for thoughtful remembrance.

Remember pretending. Remember hoping. Remember being a child.

More information about these quilts is on my website HERE

. . . . .

Countdown to ARTIST STUDIO TOUR in my hometown, DeLand, Florida. It’s one of my favorite events of the year. If you live within driving distance of DeLand, I hope you’ll make a day of it. There are 23 artists to visit in this area. DeLand has a great downtown with good restaurants. Each destination is within a few miles of one other.

My studio is on the tour and I look forward to welcoming visitors. I enjoy conversations with visitors, and showing where and how I work, and offering original artwork for sale - as well as some BARGAINS!

For a map and list of studios to visit, go to ArtsTours.org

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

Memory Shadows

January 29, 2023

Envision a summer evening. You are a kid in the back yard playing badminton just before it turns dark. There are fireflies. It is hot. Other kids are there too. A great visual story.

Memories such as these are rich material for artmaking. Our memories of the details will grow as we create the work, and our attachment to the scene can be strong. This image could become a great artwork.

But what if your goal was not to depict the scene itself but the feeling of it? Were you happily in the embrace of the people there? Were you an outsider? Was anything about the scene disappointing? Frightening?

That kind of memory – not so much a visual depiction, but the capturing of a memory shadow, is also interesting. As I have created a series of work focused on the journey of a young girl, that’s where I am drawn.

I rediscovered two of my quilts from the journey series this week. (They were on a shelf in a stack of quilts. I needed to get to one at the bottom of the stack. Which entailed taking all the ones above it off and then back on to the shelf. That’s how I rediscovered these two.)

It’s been a wonderful re-immersion into the experience of creating them. In each case, the work was first created several years ago then set aside. Each quilt was important to me and contained a lot that pleased me. And each had one or more elements that just did not fulfill my hope for the work and I considered it unsuccessful.

So, I have been bringing them back to life. (I’ll write about one quilt this week and the second one next week.)

This is a detail of Neither Up Nor Down.

This is one part of the quilt that pleased me. Faces are always a challenge. And, creating a face that does not have distinct features, but just the suggestion of a person and an emotion, is just as challenging as rendering a likeness. I wanted this girl to be depicted off to the edge of the quilt, in the shadows. It’s the fact that I still feel connected to this little girl that’s inspiring me to recreate the work.

To fix what had not been successful, I had to cover up some elements. Then I had to bring other elements forward. And then integrate them back together. The surface of this quilt is created with collage, painting and drawing. I used those techniques to accomplish the changes.

The girl is in a dream setting – not an actual place – with just the suggestion of a stairway behind her. She wears her Sunday School dress and Mary Jane shoes. I remembered being young, sitting on the steps from our living room to the bedrooms upstairs, and listening to the sounds of the house. It sometimes felt like floating – being neither up nor down.

I ended up adding a lot of stitching to the new version of this quilt. This is not easy for me to do on a work this large that’s already assembled. But I made it.

This work is now 95% done – just a little stitching and drawing left to do. I’ll post the a good photo of the finished quilt here next week when I also write about the second quilt recreated.

Meanwhile… Just a word about series. I first created Neither Up Nor Down as part of a series of works following the journey of a young girl. At about the same time, I created a work depicting the in-between stage of a girl who is older; I perceive her to be in her young teens. This is Neither Here Nor There

If you are interested in seeing this one evolve, you can watch a video I created about it and posted on YouTube. (It’s less than 2 minutes.) It focuses on my involvement with the work as I created it, and I think captures the dreaminess of the experience.

WATCH HERE

See you next week.

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

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

How I keep in touch:

Work -- Ideas -- in progress

January 22, 2023

This week in the studio has felt very much like a work in progress.

Not just that I have some things I’m working on that aren’t done. But because the works are part of a bigger picture and it’s one that has not all unfolded yet.

I am keeping in the back of my mind my hope to create some new large works this year that take ideas I’ve developed for some time and add to those ideas, or take them in some new direction.

And I know I am interested in the concept of incorporating images of tangible objects: bottles, jars, vessels.

But I’m still working it all out.

So this week I’ve been working on some small “samplers.” I’m collaging onto canvas with a raw edge, and I’ll be float-mounting these in a shadow box style wooden frame.

Here are the beginnings.

Each collage has a photo transfer on fabric, and one or more glass vessels depicted, and some other fabric. I monoprinted the glass vessels on sheer polyester. I did stitching on all of them this morning.

Aside from the idea development, some other things I am experiencing/learning:

MULTIPLES: When I work on small pieces, I like to have a number of them in the works at one time. I’m not necessarily prescribing this as a rule for others, I just know it suits my working temperament.

PRESENTATION: When I work on small pieces I like to present them in a finished frame of some sort. I don’t do this with large quilts, which I like to see presented hanging on the wall as-is. For me, small pieces get lost without a frame presentation.

PREPARATION: I am oh-so-grateful-more-than-I-can-say-grateful for the investment of time I have put into printing methods that I can pull out of my tool box when I need them.

Each of these little works includes some screen printing. I have a small quantity of images that I like, return to, and mix together in different ways. They are now part of my working vocabulary. And the time I invested in printing each image onto a piece of clear vinyl was invaluable. (That’s what I have in my hand in the top of the picture above. The tree limb, printed on a sheet of clear, provides me with a method of visually composing the small collage. I can see through the vinyl. Then, I lay the printing screen right on top, lining it up by eye. It’s how I can see where the image will print.)

IDEAS EVOLVE: And I am learning again how ideas work. They grow. They change. They may be set aside for a bit. If meaningful, they will come back. I have used images of glass bottles, tree limbs and landscape photos in various ways in my work over years. I don’t always use all these elements. But my experience with each becomes part of my thinking as I re-address an idea I have worked with before. They come together in familiar ways – and they come together in new ways.

That’s it for now. We’ll see where all this goes.

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

Composing with real objects

January 15, 2023

This was a weekend of quiet, undirected composition experimenting – in the simple camaraderie of fellow artmakers. (aka art buddies.)

I am still in the beginning stage of thinking through some new elements and a slightly new course for work in 2023. This weekend I assembled some physical objects I could move around a page as a way to stir up ideas and see what might show promise.

(My workspace on Saturday was the monthly meeting of my local artmaking group, ArtsEtc, a group of diverse artists who have met together pretty regularly for over twenty years. I have been part of the group for about half that time.)

I assembled my supplies:

A large sketchpad of low-quality newsprint. No guilt if I ruin some pages.
Oil pastels for quick sketching.
My trusted right-angle rule for drawing borders and straight lines.

“Stuff” to move around – cardstock stencils I have returned to many times over the years. Images of bottles. Jars. Trees.

Also in my backpack I brought invisible “stuff”: My internal vision of photos I know I would like to use: windows. Water reflections. Tree branches against a sky. I did not have the actual photo transfers done to bring with me. So, when I designated an area where they would go, I drew the equivalent of a shorthand notation that might not mean anything to anyone but me. A few squiggly blue lines mean the photo of water.

So, from the beginning, this process will involve both what I can physically see and rearrange and what I imagine.

For the first sketch I began by placing some elements and moving them around.

Once I have the elements on the page, I trace around them with the oil pastels just to get the shapes. Then I remove the objects I was tracing. I take a look and ask questions:

Does this positioning of things seem interesting? Where will it be light and where will it be dark? Where will I want solids, where will I want patterns? How will things overlap? When they overlap, will the top layer block out part of what’s behind or will it be transparent?

So, one of the sketches developed like this.

Over the course of several hours of working at my table, with occasional breaks for chatting and looking at other artist’s projects, I did six of these little sketches.

Over the next few days I’ll see if anything suggested something I actually want to develop or if I discard these and try something new. (If so, even the ones I discard will have had purpose. Sometimes an unsuccessful beginning points the way to what needed to change.)

As you can see from pictures of the sketches, these are just beginnings. (I am not concerned yet with actual colors. I’m just going for contrast.) But they help me get to the next steps.

Lessons for artmakers: I like developing compositions by moving around actual things. It’s hands-on and involves you in the work. I have also done this kind of experimenting in PhotoShop, but it does not feel the same.

Your objects may not be cut-out shapes of card stock. You may be interested in leaves. Or actual 3-d things that you trace to get forms. All Ok. And there is nothing magic about oil pastels. I use them because it’s what I have and I like the feel of them. Colored pencils or markers or even paint would work too.

Lessons for art-lovers who do not create your own work: When you see a finished piece that really speaks to you, it can be interesting to look into it like a historian. How did the artist get to the finished product? What preliminary steps were involved? Looking into art this way can prove meaningful.

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

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

How I keep in touch:

Thinking about “Things” and Words

January 8, 2023

I love these dishes. My daughter made them for me when she was working on her MFA in ceramics. I use them every day.

I was holding one of these today, thinking about the simple comfort of pleasing shapes and useful objects. I live a pretty simple life and I am not very attached to or interested in acquiring “things.”

At the same time, simple objects can be very meaningful.

I have a blue glass bottle I like very much.

I have several favorite coffee cups.

I have a favorite blanket.

These things are on my mind as I am letting ideas cook about where I want to take my body of work this coming year. I have been creating works dealing with a girl’s journey for several years. And I have created works with images drawing on memory and dreams – tree shapes, water and windows.

Now I feel I want continue to draw on memory images, but to also to say something about landing places. Where the journey brings us.

I don’t’ know yet how I will incorporate simple daily objects into this narrative. But the idea will evolve.

And I would also like to find a way to incorporate some words. Especially some poetry. (I find the incorporation of text into works very challenging. I have seen some textile works using words that are elegant and poignant. I have also seen some that are, well, tacky.)

Some recent beautiful words I have discovered:

“Listen. Be still.
Be as deep as the dark
from which you came.
Where we are is home:
”

— Kathleen Norris, from “In Praise of Darkness”

When I look back through my old sketchbooks and notebooks, it’s interesting to me that what may seem like a whole new idea may have appeared in different forms in other works.

Simple Objects. . . I made this art quilt, “Just Enough,” to give voice to the beauty to be found in simple objects.

Words. . . In this storytelling art quilt, “Caving Away Beneath Us. Again,” I used text as the background of the whole image. I wrote on yards of fabric which then became the sky and the fabric used to depict the young girl.

“Caving Away Beneath Us. Again” is on my website **HERE**

If you are looking for direction in your work, it can be helpful to look at what you have created before and see what was in it that spoke to you. Do you want to do more of the same? Add to those ideas?

Or maybe you will launch in a new direction.

One of the many wonderful things about artmaking… there are so many possibilities!

. . . . . . . . .

To readers who in the DeLand area, I invite you to an exhibit that will be in DeLand City Hall City Commission chambers. The theme is “Contrasts,” works created by members of ArtsEtc. This is a small surface design group that has been meeting and creating together for over twenty years. All of us look forward to showing our work together.

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

Neutral Thoughts (and not so neutral thoughts)

January 1, 2023

This week I’m in a neutral zone.

I’m in the early stages of a work that will be a figure study. I’ve started with the background and I am working my way to the foreground.

From the beginning, I was not positive how I wanted this to work. But I had a vision of a surface that had the visual interest of hand printed fabric with lots of patterns and texture that would – at the same time – function like a simple photographer’s background in a portrait.

I began with painting fabric. I worked on three sections of yardage (about one and a half yards each) that were similar, but different. One was a yellow-base neutral, one was more cream, and one was built from white and burnt umber.

My next step was to figure where on the finished piece each section would land, with special attention to what will go behind the figure. (I don’t want her to disappear in the patterns!) All of that is still in the works.

In the meantime, I’ve rediscovered that there are some wonderful characteristics of neutrals to incorporate into a finished piece.

First – they give you some place to go

In the picture above I’ve masked off some sections and I am rolling on a very transparent wash of burnt sienna. Now, the fabric as-is will be next to the fabric-as-is-plus-sienna. That neutral base created a good surface for overprinting.

Second – Stitched sections of neutral patterns become a whole new surface.

I like the way this simple linear pattern of stitching connects these side-by-side sections so they function as a single unit.

This particular palette feels mostly new to me; it is not a frequent color decision for me. I looked back through some of my completed works to see if I had used it before. I found two works where I had started in a similar way. (Interestingly, both of these are also figurative storytelling works.)

This is “Neither Here Nor There.”

This is “From the Place Where we Landed”

In both of these, the neutral background was paired with sections of deep, intense color.

And that, I think, is what’s most interesting about working in a neutral palette.

The neutrals provide a place for the story or the focal point to take the spotlight. Rather than taking the spotlight themselves, the neutral portions will allow something else to step to the center of attention. Then, later, the viewer can wander through the neutrals and discover what they have to offer.

If you would like to learn more about the two works shown, they are on my website. Click to see more:

NEITHER HERE NOR THERE

FROM THE PLACE WHERE WE LANDED

And now for a not-so-neutral thought: What’s good for composition may not be good for life. In my life as a human being and a citizen, I hope that in this new year I am not neutral. I would prefer to be fierce and passionate and intensely interested in events and involved as much as I am able.

My hope for you for 2023
is to find things NOT to be neutral about and jump in!

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

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

How I keep in touch:

Inspirations

December 25, 2022

I’ve enjoyed the slow pace of Christmas in our household. We cut a tree in the National Forest, decorated it leisurely, ate a little more than usual, and generally felt like we were on vacation.

(Except for a few runs to the grocery store – where we and a million of our closest friends were in a Mad Max quest for a parking space. And then for a cart!)

But yesterday I had some quiet time in my studio, just looking around. I am beginning to turn the wheels of thought on new projects for the new year.

So, looking around, I counted and noted some simple things that I find inspiring. These things help me get moving.

INTERESTING SHAPES

This clump of grasses and roots hangs where I can see it all the time. I have used it a number of times for monoprinting, and it always yields surprises.

MIXING MY OWN COLORS

The process of creating a full range of colors from a limited palette of base colors just gets me going. I stir the colors together on the mixing palette and begin to envision how they will print on fabric.

TOOLS EASILY IN REACH

My stencils hang on the wall just an arm’s reach from my worktable. My paints are now arranged on a little shelf right next to them. I don’t have to unpack or rearrange things to jump into a project.

COMPLEMENTARY COLORS

There is probably no single learning experience I value more than the time I have spent experimenting with complementary colors. Paint them next to each other. Paint them together to make brown. With one color dominant, mix in just a tad of its complement to watch it de-intensify and become more neutral. Mix them together in varying amounts then add white. Aaaahhhh! Beautiful greys.

The orange-purple overprinting above makes each color intense in a way neither would be alone.

EASY CLEANUP

This wonderful set-up, a utility cart plus a garden hose right outside my studio, permits me freedom to dirty up my brushes and my hands and other mark-making tools. Clean-up is just a few steps away.

SEEING COMPLETED ARTWORK

This is a newly-finished canvas triptych “They Built Their House of Twigs.” It is on the wall behind my sewing table. I look at it all the time. I tried some experimental ways of working in this piece. Seeing it completed helps me to relive the experiments and to evaluate how they worked. And to consider what to try next!

READING POETRY

This reading spot is not actually in my studio but in my living room. It is part of my day. I am learning more all the time how the rhythms and patterns of words relate to the rhythms and patterns of visual artmaking. Starting the day with poetry reading has become a well-loved habit.

If there are little things you can do to make your workspace or your work habits easier, do those things. If there are little things you can put in your everyday line of vision to stir thought and ideas, do those things.

Find inspiration in being attentive and alert. It doesn’t require huge lightning bolt experiences or revelations to become inspired to create.

My hope for all the artmakers reading is that you will find some new small things to do to enhance your experience of creating.

And to all who are kind enough to follow along in this blog journey: I wish you Happy Holidays. And peace to all.

If you would like to learn more about the piece featured as an orange-purple complement example, it’s on my website: A DIFFERENT LIGHT REMEMBERED.

If you would like to learn more about the triptych shown hanging in my studio, it is on my website: THEY BUILT THEIR HOUSE OF TWIGS.

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

Edges – Crisp or Squishy

December 18, 2022

Recently I’ve been working on a project that required a really nice, crisp painted edge to define a piece of architecture. I was pleased with how it turned out.

It’s a nice lesson on using a different kind of stencil: freezer paper.

I use stencils all the time. My stencils are my studio friends. They appear and reappear in my works as elements in my visual vocabulary.

But this application was different. I had no need for a re-useable stencil. And I needed a clean line. And I was going to paint on flat fabric that had not yet been stitched or appliqued. Perfect criteria for freezer paper.

I drew the pattern right on the freezer paper. (Dull side of the paper facing up.) Because it’s thin, freezer paper is easy to cut. You can use it for intricate shapes.

After it’s cut you iron it on. The shiny side of the freezer paper goes against the fabric. I confess that I have no idea why this sticks. (I did not believe it when an art friend first told me to try freezer paper.) But something in that waxy side of the paper makes it adhere to fabric by ironing, then lift off easily afterwards. It’s as if it were invented for this purpose and not wrapping food.

Now paint. For this application I used a sponge paint roller. You could also use a brush or a sponge depending on the effect you want.

After the paint is dry – just peel off the freezer paper. If you have not been too heavy handed with the paint application, you should have nice crisp edges without paint seeping under the stencil edge.

Another project used stencils in a completely different way.

This stencil is an old friend. We’ve been through a lot together. I cut it by hand from the box that packaged a pan of Stouffer’s macaroni and cheese. Frozen food cartons and similar food packaging make great stencils. The cardboard is thin, and the waxy coating on one side gives it some strength.

But – even though it’s thin as far as cardboard goes, this stencil is much thicker than a sheet of freezer paper. If I stencil very carefully and back off on the paint, I can get a clean edge. But, generally I use this one for a much looser, expressive edge.

The technical name for this is a squishy edge. (Or if it’s not, it should be.)

In the lower left corner is the fabric I printed with this stencil onto a sheer fabric. I used a wet natural sponge and let the edges be carefree. Then I cut out the shapes loosely and collaged it as a unit into the quilt.

Here’s another use of the same stencil from a different part of the quilt.

I enjoy mixing organic shapes with geometric, and mixing hand-cut shapes with photographic images, and also repeating a shape block on various parts of a quilt.

If you enjoy surface design on fabric, there is hardly a tool more versatile than a stencil. Used in repetition, or with variations of a hue overlapping, they can… sorry. I got too enthusiastic. More for another blog post.

The quilt featuring the capitol is not yet ready for its world debut. The quilt featuring the squishy edge shapes is “There by Water Will I Build My Home,” a triptych on canvas. It’s on my website HERE.

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

See what you Get. And Then. . .

December 11, 2022

I have now created and collected quite a stack of writing journals.

Meeting with a weekly writing group for several years, I have lots of words on pages. All are ten-minute reactions to prompts, written completely without planning, word after word till the bell rings. Then we share.

As you might guess, this kind of working together is forging very good friendships. The priceless by-product.

As for the words themselves, I am now at a stage in which I am opening the books and reading through them again to rediscover what I wrote.

Some of it surprises me; I have no memory of writing those things.

Some of it offers a little emotional gut-punch; I remember the writing and the events that inspired it.

I am discovering a few gems. A very small percentage. It seems to take a lot of writing like this to get to ideas and phrases that are worth noting. My hope is to sift and refine what I discover to be the groundwork for poetry, or some other kind of writing.

This same process occurs in my artmaking. I have now created and collected quite a stack of cast-aside printed papers and collages.

I spent time going through some this week as part of a much-needed studio cleaning spree.

As with my writing, I discovered quite a range of creating. Some of it makes me ask, ”What in the world was I thinking!” Some of it makes me say, “Hmmm, this has possibilities.” Some of it makes me think I could cut the works up and recycle the parts into something new. Some I will just flip over to use the back.

None of this would be possible without the first step: create something.

Allow me to encourage you: get a pen and a book. Or get some paint, some fabric, some medium and mark-making tools and create an image. You will like some of it. You will not like a lot of it.

This is, I believe, the only way to develop work that eventually pleases you.

And, just as working in a group yields friendships and bonds of encouragement, working alone in your studio builds confidence and connections to your inner creative impulses. Also priceless!

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

NEWSLETTER – about once a month: Mostly news of exhibits and my way of introducing new work. You’ll get FIRST LOOKS at new artwork and members-only discounts.You’ll hear from me about once a month. NEWSLETTER

Within the artwork - a journey

November 27, 2022

Interesting artwork gives the viewer someplace to go.

The images may trigger memories or imagination; then the journey will take place inside the viewer.

The images may be created in the picture plane in such a way that there is a journey to be taken within the artwork itself. The artist can take the viewer from the point of entry around the composition to whatever is most important.

It’s exciting (and sometimes powerful!) when a piece of artwork can stir up both kinds of journeys.

Last weekend at the Fall Festival of the Arts DeLand I included this art quilt in my display, so I had a lot of time to look at it closely, and to listen to people who were experiencing it for the first time.

At first glance this composition is both static and flat. The houses are child-like and two dimensional, and they are pushed right up to the foreground. Where can you go from there?

In this work, the answer is to go inside, to look through and to look beyond.

I began this work with the background, stenciling the trees by sponging the paint loose and wet. It creates a sense of distance.

Then I built houses filled with images that portray depth.

Water

Objects seen through windows

Semi-transparent house shapes, in front and behind.

Then, just as you are being drawn into the layers, the boarded-up window says “Stop.”

The viewer almost needs to take a step backwards.

And that’s what the work is about.

My hope in creating this quilt was to create a visual metaphor for memories of home. They are deep. Complex. Varied. Interesting. Arresting. Overlapping. And sometimes obscured.

I’ve been thinking about how a viewer moves in and through an artwork as I’m developing ideas for what I might concentrate on in the studio in the months ahead. I have some ideas cooking.

As the ideas evolve, I want to keep in mind the importance of the viewer’s journey.

. . . . .

If you would like more information about the quilt “Sometimes You Can’t see In,” it’s on my website HERE.

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch: