My studio mascot, a beautiful one-of-a-kind flying pig, attracted a few festive travelers this Christmas season.
They have brought me some smiles, and I am happy to share them here.
Enjoy the holiday.
Peace to all
---Bobbi
The Good of Simple
In this past week I have found myself in several conversations that revolve around simplicity.
I heard nobody disparage simplicity. I heard a number of people long for simplicity.
A group of artmakers shared their working methods and their hopes for where their art might go. Several expressed a desire for working more simply — less material choices, less supplies, working with a limited palette. In conversations about the holidays, I’ve heard people with deep frustrations about gift-buying and gift-giving and guilt-induced over-the-top holiday expectations.
Enough! Less!
I’m not a scrooge. I enjoy the pleasure of giving and sharing. And I never intend to judge any artmaker who chooses ways of working that are different from mine. (There are, after all, LOTS of choices!)
I just find deep pleasure and artistic satisfaction in making work that is interesting, and (I hope!) compelling and with something to communicate and to do that by using simple methods and materials.
(I grew up in a family with constant financial pressures. Even as a kid I learned an aversion and fear of spending money unnecessarily. Perhaps I am now drawn to working methods that are simple and inexpensive as the positive lesson from that negative experience.)
So here’s a bit of simplicity: a cardboard shape
I cut out a simplified leaf shape of heavy cardboard, then wrapped it with a thin piece of chipboard (thin cardboard, like a paper towel tube) to serve as the printing edge. It is all held together with masking tape. This tool will not last forever. But it will last long enough to create some interesting work.
My first project this week using the cardboard printing tool is a wheat paste resist. (Wheat paste is just flour + water stirred to make a batter. Simple.)
Here I’ve got my yardage taped down to a working board. (I was creating several different kinds of fabric in compatible colors. And in this picture, they are side-by-side on the board.) What appears white is the paste. It will serve to block out the underneath fabric when it is over-painted. Whatever is the underneath fabric color will show through.
After the wheat paste is completely dry (generally overnight) I over-paint the fabric with a contrasting color. The background is light, so the over-paint should be dark. (This foam roller is a favorite tool in my studio. Find them in any hardware paint department – rollers for painting trim.)
Here’s some of the finished fabric:
I’ve used it in a sewing project for a Christmas gift. I’ve contrasted the wheat paste section with a color complement – the apricot color – made into a pattern using strips of masking tape as a resist.
Amazingly, my little cardboard shape held up to the stamping of wheat paste and being cleaned off in the garden hose. So I decided to use it more to do some relief printing. (Used together, the fabrics will speak to one annother. Same shape. One positive. One negative.)
I dip the cardboard edge in the paint and then stamp, creating a thin linear outline.
Here’s a bit of the finished yardage, also in the process of being stitched into a Christmas sewing project.
Positive and negative shapes.
Strong contrasts in values.
Using the power of complementary colors.
Simple strategies, put into use with simple methods.
I find this way of working joyful.
I hope you also find pleasing ways of working, in artmaking or whatever your life work is. Maybe there are opportunities to simplify and eliminate what you don’t need. And maybe these choices will be pleasing.
For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating
Thank you for reading.
I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
How I keep in touch:
BLOG POSTS - once a week: Mostly about what I am creating in the studio. If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail, please subscribe here: I post and send by e-mail each Sunday evening. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL
NEWSLETTER – about once a month: Mostly news of exhibits and my way of introducing new work. You’ll get FIRST LOOKS at new artwork and members-only discounts. You’ll hear from me about once a month. NEWSLETTER
Home is Where…
The world is filled with little houses this time of year. They are everywhere.
Christmas decorations and cards feature scenes of little houses in a village. You can purchase houses as decorations made of balsa, or metal, or plaster, some arriving already finished, some as projects to paint and embellish.
I get this. There is hardly any image as deeply a part of our emotional lives as our image of home. Good or bad. Longed for or escaped from. The structure itself has a powerful emotional pull.
Houses, especially child-like images of houses, have been a part of my artmaking since I began working in textiles.
I love the basic form: a rectangle with a triangle on top to connote a roof.
So It Will Not Break In Two - Textile Collage - Art Quilt
Houses in a row
Sing the Songs That We Learned There - Textile Collage - Art Quilt
Houses in a fairytale forest
Float Away in Dreams - Textile Collage - Art Quilt
Houses that are deeply attached to their past
And All That’s Gone Before - Textile Collage - Art Quilt
Houses that fly away
Sometimes They Fly Away - Textile Collage - Art Quilt
Houses that partially reveal what’s inside
Sometimes you Can’t See In - Textile Collage - Art Quilt
Houses that are solid, with the stories inside hidden
Every One Hass a Different Story - Textile Collage - Art Quilt
As an artmaker, I return to this image because it speaks to me of ideas that are important to me – home, memories and journey.
And I know that in this season, images of houses are presented under a veneer of sentiment that gives the images a ramped-up power to stir emotions of all kinds. Who would expect to be filled with nostalgia and wistful longing by looking at an array of little wooden shapes arranged as a village?
As your senses — and mine — are filled with images of homes this season, I send to you my hopes:
That the home where you are is the one where you want to be.
That the home that you came from is a memory that warms and strengthens you.
That, if your present and memories are filled with difficult emotions, you may find ways to bring peace and meaning into each day.
From my home to you… my best wishes.
For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating
Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
How I keep in touch:
BLOG POSTS - once a week: Mostly about what I am creating in the studio. If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail, please subscribe here: I post and send by e-mail each Sunday evening. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL
NEWSLETTER – about once a month: Mostly news of exhibits and my way of introducing new work. You’ll get FIRST LOOKS at new artwork and members-only discounts. You’ll hear from me about once a month. NEWSLETTER
The Making of the Bread
As I work in the studio I generally have NPR on in the background. Lately I’ve heard a LOT of stories about spices, family traditions, recipes, and pie dos-and-don’ts. (Apparently this has to do with the baking part. Once it’s baked, the only “do” is Eat and enjoy!)
In the midst of thinking abut baking and eating, I received a note from SAQA that the global exhibit “Gastronomy” has an opening this month in Odessa, Texas. I am always honored to be part of a global exhibition. In this one, the work I’m exhibiting is “More than Bread.”
SAQA does a wonderful job of traveling and promoting its Global Exhibits. Here’s where “Gastronomy” has been and will exhibit:
Premiere - International Quilt Festival, Houston, Texas: November 1 - 5, 2022
Ellen Noël Art Museum, Odessa, Texas: December 7, 2023 - March 10, 2024
Sauder Village, Archbold, Ohio: May 1 - May 4 2024
The Historical & Cultural Society of Clay County, Moorhead, Minnesota: October 4 - December 31, 2025
I remember creating this work and how much I enjoyed it, so I thought I’d share some of the process this week. There were a lot of learning experiences in this work.
THE JOY OF DRAWING I love to draw. Every time I write that, I realize that I don’t do it enough, and how much I would like to improve my drawing skills. (Note to self: Bobbi, draw more!) This work gave me a chance to practice. I drew the woman freehand on the fabric that would become the quilt. I used a grid enlargement method mixing up some reference photos from online sources with a drawing of myself as the baker. I have learned how much I need a real model to draw people correctly. The angles and the relationship between body parts are never the same visually as what I think they will be. I never would have believed the angle of the glasses on the woman’s nose was the way I drew it till I actually modeled myself and then drew what was there.
THE POSSIBILITIES OF SIMPLE METHODS I really struggled with keeping it simple in the rendering of the woman. I had hoped to have no shading at all, but was not satisfied with line only. But I used as little as possible to build her up. This light acrylic wash over the drawing became the basis of her form.
I also wanted to challenge myself to have an interesting work that was created whole cloth. So, this work is created as one large piece. The fabric is a bed sheet.
THE IMOPRTANCE OF CONTRASTS While this composition is intentionally simple, it is filled with little details. That’s one contrast: the intricate in the large, simple spaces. And I worked to achieve strong value contrasts, with an overall contrast of colors: the yellow-purple palette built on the contrasting properties of color complements.
THE INVALUABLE, WONDERFUL, IRREPLACEABLE VALUE OF ASKING FOR HELP: Half way through this work, I was stuck on how to finish up the body, and how much to add or not add. I photographed it as it was, and then did a few Photoshop rough renderings of things I might do. I sent those to two trusted SAQA colleague/friends and asked for advice. They were gracious and helpful. My work was better because of their critiques. The take-aways here are: 1. Yes, ask for help, 2. Don’t wait till it’s DONE to ask for critique. At that point, you may not be able to make changes. Showing your work to artists you know and trust while it is still in its unfinished — or even in the ugly stage — is a good practice.
FINALLY: E V E R Y T H I N G IS INTERESTING! Frequenty artists beat themselves up looking for just the right scene or subject matter to be worthy of artmaking. It’s the artmaking version of writer’s block. Everything can be interesting! The salt shaker. Your cups. Lettuce. A table. A book on a table. Just look at the wonderful images created by artists for this exhibit.
(This snip was from the exhibit description on the SAQA website. you can see and enjoy the whole exhibit, along with details, here:)
https://www.saqa.com/art/exhibitions/gastronomy-saqa-global-exhibition
In the weeks ahead, as most of us will be fortunate enough to enjoy smells and tastes of good food, I hope you enjoy it all deeply. And maybe it will inspire your artmaking too.
For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating
Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
How I keep in touch:
BLOG POSTS - once a week: Mostly about what I am creating in the studio. If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail, please subscribe here: I post and send by e-mail each Sunday evening. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL
NEWSLETTER – about once a month: Mostly news of exhibits and my way of introducing new work. You’ll get FIRST LOOKS at new artwork and members-only discounts. You’ll hear from me about once a month. NEWSLETTER
The deep longing for Art
This will be will like the annual, much-maligned school report: “What I did on my summer vacation.”
Only this one is called, “What I learned in my weekend at the art festival.”
Like family vacations, this weekend had a mix of observable moments, lighthearted events, and other things going on underneath.
The fun easy events first:
I had a wonderful weekend!
Morning set-up almost done - before the Festival begins on Saturday
Early morning set-up in the cool air went just as it should be. (I had not forgotten anything we needed!) I was pleased with how the display looked. I was proud of the work I took. I talked and talked about art all weekend with festival go-ers. I had good sales.
And I won a big ol’ award!!
Recognition is always a nice affirmation. As a textile artist, in particular, I am always especially pleased when my quilts are judged well against painting, clay art, printmaking and other mediums that may be more familiar to the judges. (At this festival, each artist has ONE MINUTE with each judge to show and explain the work!) A well-judged show is a testament to competent, thoughtful judges. I was grateful that this festival had very good judges; it showed in their insightful awards across all mediums.
So what else was going on?
They Built Their House of Twigs II - one of the works I exhibited at the Fall Festival in DeLand
As I talked to people all weekend, sometimes in the booth, and sometimes when attendees would come over to my chair to chat, I was touched by the very deep, emotional longings stirred up in people by looking at the artwork.
Some were just folks who like to look at art. And when they see work that touches or inspires them, they FEEL it. There is something about looking at the work of an artist’s hands that stirs their soul. What a great experience to share.
Being moved by art takes people beyond the shopping experience. I took mostly large works with me to exhibit. They would be a major presence in a home, and are beyond the size and price that many art-appreciators could acquire. Once the festival-goer established that with me, almost apologetically, then we could just talk about art. It opened up a freedom to experience color and texture and story and how it makes one feel. As a creator, I find these conversations deeply meaningful.
Stepping On the Cracks - another work I exhibited at the Festival
I also had a number of conversations with people who are art-makers, at varying stages of their artmaking story.
Fellow artists and exhibitors looked at the quilts and talked about the process, how it is alike and different from their own medium. These thoughtful conversations with other artists are a great part of exhibiting.
And artmakers who are just beginning, or less experienced, shared a lot with me about their desires to create, and their struggles. Sometimes I could refer them to the work of another artist that might help them. Sometimes they just needed to spend uninterrupted time looking, processing whatever was stirring their creativity.
And then. The students. The young people. I’m just a sucker for a student who is interested in art.
One meaningful conversation stayed with me. I wrote a poem about it, and I will end this post with those thoughts.
A STUDENT FULFILLING AN ASSIGNMENT
FOR HIGH SCHOOL ART CLASS
Asks me questions. Barely.
Barely audible. Barely there.
Used to hiding behind loose hair
And loose clothing.
The softness of their voice.
(Matched by the softness
of their hand — my firm handshake an interjection
that caught them by surprise.
How does one do this?)
“How did you decide on this medium?”
“How do you create this work?”
“What artists have influenced you?”
The answers written in a clumsy journal
so softly. Grey pencil barely visible.
The student feels barely visible.
Go ahead, my young friend.
Ask the real questions.
How do I —
Could I —
What will I be?
Who would notice?
. . . . . . . . .
For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating
Thank you for reading.
I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
How I keep in touch:
BLOG POSTS - once a week: Mostly about what I am creating in the studio. If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail, please subscribe here: I post and send by e-mail each Sunday evening. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL
NEWSLETTER – about once a month: Mostly news of exhibits and my way of introducing new work. You’ll get FIRST LOOKS at new artwork and members-only discounts. You’ll hear from me about once a month. NEWSLETTER
Bringing Things Along
Friday morning I introduced some new friends to my studio environment.
I do this regularly. This morning was especially nice.
After a day of steady, steady steady rain, some containers I had outside my studio had filled with rainwater. So I pulled up a new batch of perennial peanuts from their place along our stone path and put the cuttings in bottles of new rainwater to grow some roots.
There was just something wonderful about having new rainwater to use. I was outside in my bare feet, feeling the rainwater on the concrete, thinking how good that felt.
In two places in our yard, we now have thick, healthy beds of these peanuts, which are a lovely low ground cover that produces little yellow flowers.
After trying other methods of transplanting that had very low success rates, I have now settled on bringing them into the studio a few at a time to root for a while before putting them in a new place.
Turns out, things just need a little time to be ready. They need to progress at their own speed. My job is just to help bring them along.
(You are, of course, realizing by now that the plants are plants – but also metaphors for all kinds of other things that grow.)
In the kindergarten class where I volunteer, some little brains are still trying to get that every letter has a name and every letter has a sound. So we bring them along to the next level.
Now there are some who can see the letter, know the sound, and figure out the word.
And now a few are putting words together to make sentences.
Ideas need time. Emotions need time. Insights need time. Using a technique well needs time.
Artmaking needs time.
And, as artmakers, all these things are happening on the inside. We are both the ones in whom things are coming along, and the ones to provide the nourishment so it happens.
What pleasing work!
…
By the time this blog post goes out Sunday evening, I will have had a weekend of exhibiting in downtown DeLand at the Fall Festival of the Arts – DeLand. I’m probably exhausted by now. It is also my hope that I’ve had some exhilaration and some learning and many good conversations. See ya 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
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
Getting a do-over. To get it right.
From my morning place of coffee and reading on our porch, today I looked out on the lawn at a loquat tree that we recently moved.
We moved a tree. Those words don’t nearly convey the effort of this foolish act: We. Moved. A. TREE! The two of us performing this act have an average age of 72-and-a-half years. It involved digging a hole. Digging up a root ball. Attacking roots (ouch!) with a shovel. Pulling. Yanking. Rolling the root ball up the hill to the lawn. Rolling it across the grass. (We had moved the tree about six feet. Too close to the house and an underground concrete structure.) Getting the tree down in the new hole. And then lots of babying and watering to get it established.
But we did it. And it was the right move. That tree was never going to be just right in its old place.
Inspired by this, we have since moved three daisy bushes from a way-too-hot spot of the garden to the place previously occupied by the loquat. Already they are beaming with gratefulness, greener leaves and lots of buds.
In the old place, they were never going to be just right.
A final affirmation: this morning the loquat was filled with a bunch of chirping wrens.
Sometimes, I have created work in the studio that Inspired me and pleased me at the time, but which, in retrospect, fell short of what I had envisioned. They weren’t quite right.
I worked on a project like that this week, giving myself the opportunity for a do-over
(This is the project for which I was screen printing stick shapes in last week’s post.)
Like the tree, this do-over required some destruction of what was. I ripped. I cut apart what was. (Some grunting involved.) I collaged. I printed new. I reassembled.
And I’m so glad I made myself do it. On top of the nagging sense that the previous construction wasn’t quite right, I added a deadline. I wanted something new and big to take to DeLand’s Fall Festival of the Arts next week where I will exhibit. So I was motivated.
Now it’s almost done. Here are a few details of what I liked about this artwork, what motivated me to get the construction redone. (As well as on new element – the ladderback chair, one of my favorite and recurring images.)
If you are a creator, I hope you apply the vision of getting-it-just-right to the projects you are working on now.
If you are an art appreciator, I hope you will look at completed works and see the effort, trial and error and vision that guide artists on their way.
. . . . . .
And now my last opportunity this year to invite folks to downtown DeLand for the Fall Festival of the Arts, DeLand, Saturday and Sunday November 18-19. Downtown Deland is a great destination to explore. This juried art show will feature a lot of wonderful, interesting artists and their work. From any place within a few hours drive to Central Florida, this is an event well worth discovering. And I’ll be there! I hope you’ll drop by booth #133 (right at the heart – near intersection of New York Ave and Woodland Blvd.) to say hi.
For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating
Thank you for reading.
I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
How I keep in touch:
BLOG POSTS - once a week: Mostly about what I am creating in the studio. If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail, please subscribe here: I post and send by e-mail each Sunday evening. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL
NEWSLETTER – about once a month: Mostly news of exhibits and my way of introducing new work. You’ll get FIRST LOOKS at new artwork and members-only discounts. You’ll hear from me about once a month. NEWSLETTER
Screen Printing Stick Patterns
I’ve just got to say it’s a good thing I was wearing my apron. This printing session turned out to be fast and furious.
I had several variables: fabric that was solid color before I screen printed it, fabric that had some other patterns before I screen printed it, and image variation of a positive and negative.
(A positive image means that you will be printing the shape of the thing you are depicting with the ink through your screen. A negative image means that you are printing the background and the shape of the thing you are depicting shows through from the background.)
There are lots of kinds of screens for printing. Traditionally screen printing was called silkscreening, because a piece of silk was stretched over a frame and the ink forced through the holes. Screens can actually be made out of any kind of mesh that will allow the ink to go through the holes. The mesh is blocked out in some way so that ink goes through some holes and not through others. If you block out the holes in simple, manual methods, for example with torn strips of paper, you get simple shapes. If you use a photographic method to get the image on the screen, you can print very detailed images.
The projects I worked on in this session used a screen created by a thermofax machine. I supplied a photo I took of some tree limbs and ordered two versions: one to print the positive of the limb and one to print the background.
Her’s the screen to print the positive.
Here’s the screen to print the negative.
And here’s how it goes:
Mix up some color that you want to print. (I am working with acrylic paints. I am printing black. (The olive green you see in the tray is just some left over paint that has dried.)
Then load some of the paint onto your screen along one edge.
Then pull the ink across the screen surface, forcing it down into the holes to the substrate you are printing, which is below the screen. I am using a plastic scraper as my squeegee. I have actual screen printing squeegees, but I like this scraper because the handle makes it easy to manipulate.
Now lift off the screen and look at what was printed.
My decision-making for this session was guided by the quilt I am creating. These colors are already in use in the work. I wanted to get some visual variety but keep it harmonious.
The fabric shown across the top is printed as a positive image. The two below are printed as the negative. By limiting the palette, these will all work well together.
Some other interesting things occurred when I printed on fabrics that had other patterns on them below the screen printing.
My apron got some paint on it, and my hands and fingernails needed a good scrub. Otherwise, All-OK. This fast and furious bit of printing yielded pieces I like and look forward to incorporating into a work-in-progress.
…..
Just a reminder – On Saturday and Sunday, November 18-19, I will be exhibiting in the Fall Festival of the Arts DeLand. DeLand is my hometown and I always look forward to this event. Great downtown and great art! If you are near central Florida, I hope you will visit. Festival information can be found at fallfestivaloftheartsdeland.com.
For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating
Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
How I keep in touch:
BLOG POSTS - once a week: Mostly about what I am creating in the studio. If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail, please subscribe here: I post and send by e-mail each Sunday evening. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL
NEWSLETTER – about once a month: Mostly news of exhibits and my way of introducing new work. You’ll get FIRST LOOKS at new artwork and members-only discounts. You’ll hear from me about once a month. NEWSLETTER
Surface Design and going INTO the story
This week I have been back into the studio. After traveling last week and working on other non-studio projects in the weeks before, it feels great. The large quilt I have been thinking about for several months is getting close to completion.
And the stage I’m in now is interesting and challenging.
This is the heart of what interests me about working in textiles as an art medium: the intersection of the surface and the meaning or the story. I spend a lot of time and energy on the quilt surface: this one has been printed and painted and stitched. I printed and painted the fabric as raw yardage to create the work and THEN I printed and painted some more after it is assembled, on the composed surface. So, I enjoy that process.
But the surface is not what the work is actually about. The work is about whatever the work is about: in this case, part of a girl’s journey, and a way to look inside her experience of the world.
My challenge, what will make me think I’ve created a successful work, is if the work I’ve done creating these surfaces leads one inside the work – beyond the surface – and into the story.
Now. Where were we? (For those of you who like to keep track of the whole process, I’ve written about this work in blog posts on August 27 and September 24.) At the beginning of this week I had a basic composition, every part of the surface had been quilted, and I’m thinking about how to go deeper. Here’s a screen shot of one of my PhotoShop mockups
The dark shadow of the arched form did not exist on the quilt yet. That’s what I was trying out in the digital file. (The rest of it I photographed as-it-was on my easel.) I decided to add it this week, in place of some other ideas I had considered earlier.
I like it because it gives me a dark value contrast, and because it unifies different parts of the quilt, and because it suggests another architectural form beyond the gate photo. And it adds depth.
Making the arch:
First I had to correct some surface elements that did not please me. An area where the arch will be had gotten muddy and some shapes in the tree limb weren’t just right. So I collaged fabric over them.
Collaging fabric is a matter of matte medium over the substrate, under the fabric being collaged, and then maybe some more matte medium over the piece being collaged to soak it well. I work it in with a brush.
Drying flat is very important! Collaged fabric wants to wrinkle. Some heavy books while drying make a big difference. (Wax paper under the books so they don’t stick to the quilt.)
Now my surface is corrected and it’s time to add the painted arch. I cut the shape out of freezer paper and laid it down to get the positioning.
Then I matched up the freezer paper shape with the part I had cut away to make the pattern. (Freezer paper, waxy down facing the quilt, sticks when ironed to make a nice clean-edge stencil.) This will block out the background of the quilt and expose the area I want to show as the darker value arch shape. I rolled the paint ono the quilt surface with a sponge roller.
Ahead for me this week: More depth. The addition of some characters to the story. And, of course, the finishing of edges and backing.
Stay tuned.
THANKS so much for following along. The discipline of writing about my work regularly is helpful to me, and it means the world to have folks interested in reading.
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
Near DeLand or Central Florida? I invite you to my favorite art festival, the Fall Festival of the Arts DeLand. Always the weekend before Thanksgiving: this year, November 18-19. I’ll be exhibiting. All info at FallFestivaloftheartsDeLand.com See you downtown!
On the Road
Hello, art friends
My one project in the studio this week involved paper towel tubes, yarn and hot glue.
And some fabric strips.
We were preparing for a long-awaited visit this weekend with my daughter and her family… and my wonderful 18-month old grandson.
So we made... well, I don’t know what they are. Tube people? Things with yarn? Alien space invaders? Stuff to go in a basket? Whatever they are, we look forward to playing with them with him.
I wrote this short note before leaving for South Carolina. As it is posted, I will be in the car probably somewhere along I-75 and getting pretty cranky and weary and looking forward to home.
Also while I was away…
The Artburst “Poetry in Motion” online exhibit opened this morning, 10-22 at 10:22 Denver time.
I’ve written about this show a few times. I’ll be anxious to learn how it turns out.
If you want to take a look at the art and artists, there’s still time. The online exhibit runs through 10-25 22. Just go the Artburststudios.com and enjoy some art browsing.
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
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
Entering Sacred Spaces
Enter through the doorway. Pause. Take a breath.
Proceed up the path.
While walking absorb what is around you.
Large vistas – mountains. Distant skies.
Details – Leaves. Bits of snow. The shape of branches.
Now journeying. Where will this path lead?
I was honored this summer to receive a commission to create an artwork for a church in Plymouth, NH to create these experiences through the connections of visual artwork. The work shown is the completed piece, measuring 48” x 48”, “Sacred Spaces.”
I am pleased with the final artwork, and I learned a lot from the process. If you are an artmaker, or if you are one who might at some time commission a work for yourself or a group, here are some takeaways.
Building trust into the process is EVERYTHING. This project came into being because one of the church members had seen one of my quilts several years ago at an exhibit at the Whistler House Museum in Massachusetts. (Side take-away: you never know what may result when you exhibit your work!) The others on the committee did not know me or my work. And we had to have a group decision-making.
Over zoom meetings, we got to know one another. I asked questions about their vision for this work. It became important to all of us that this that it was to be different from a liturgical banner and different from signage. It was to be art. To invite visitors to the church to prepare to enter their worship together by a visual experience.
Teamwork: Everybody has a role to play. Before I even began, it was important to me to ask a lot of questions. Were there specific images they wanted to include? Were there specific architectural features of their church they would like to incorporate? I had to ask and listen. The committee had to provide input.
Process counts: Having heard horror stories from artists and customers about unsuccessful commissions, I did not want our venture to be one of them. I wanted us all to have some skin in the game, and to have that investment be part of the trust. My first investment was time. I created mockups in PhotoShop, several variations of the theme, and provided them digitally. I took suggestions. I made revisions. Finally, there was a concept agreed upon by all of us.
At that point, it was time to say “go.” I asked for a non-refundable deposit of 50% of the agreed-upon cost. This became the church’s investment. They understood that now we had a business contract. I would do my part and this was how they did their part.
Details matter My design incorporates some photographs. I licensed them from istock and paid the licensing cost and kept those receipts. It’s imperative not to use images that you do not have the right to use. As for the image of the completed work, I spelled out in the final invoice what is and is not permitted. The church can, for example, reproduce the image on note cards or church bulletins without restriction or further compensation. They may not, for example, reproduce it large giclees to sell.
In short, as the artist, I own the copyright to the image of the work. I grant them limited rights to use it. They are the owners of the actual work itself and may do anything they like with it without asking or notifying me.
One more deep breath.
All of that is important, but behind-the-scenes. I now know that my artwork hangs in their church home as an invitation to their sacred space.
It is a great honor.
………………..
Last chance for me to tell you about the Artburst Studios Exhibit “Poetry in Motion.” It happens NEXT WEEKEND!! I hope you’ll take a look.
For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating
Thank you for reading.
I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
How I keep in touch:
BLOG POSTS - once a week: Mostly about what I am creating in the studio. If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail, please subscribe here: I post and send by e-mail each Sunday evening. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL
NEWSLETTER – about once a month: Mostly news of exhibits and my way of introducing new work. You’ll get FIRST LOOKS at new artwork and members-only discounts. You’ll hear from me about once a month. NEWSLETTER
Gut-Punch Art
It is important to remember that art is very powerful.
Pretty – yes. Soothing – yes. Inspiring- yes. Thought-provoking- yes. All of those things sometimes.
And, sometimes, just a simple visual image can cut right to the core of an idea. It can communicate in a powerful, visceral way.
No words needed. The image goes straight to the brain.
I’ve certainly experienced this standing before, breathing in, works created by other artists.
And this week in the studio, I’ve encountered that same experience in simple snippets of unfinished pieces of my own work. I want to share them, because I think it’s important to listen to your own work and your own artmaking, and pay attention when something is communicating to you.
The first image is a pair of hands. Bound. As behind one’s back. I created these hands as part of a large artwork I cam creating for an upcoming exhibit sponsored by Studio Art Quilt Associates called “Bearing Witness.” Created in conjunction with a Holocaust Museum and study center, this is going to be a serious, deep look into difficult topics. My work is a large quilt depicting a lynching, seen from several points of view, and including both the victim and the people on the ground looking up at the victim. So, this is not a light-hearted piece.
I have worked on this over several months, and I am glad I have given myself time to do that. Being involved in this subject matter is not something I want to rush or do lightly. I am near the end, finishing and photographing the work.
In depicting the victim, I needed to draw hands accurately. I asked my partner, John, to model his hands for me. We bound his wrists behind his back and I photographed. During the photo session, I was able to block any emotion out, I was intent on getting the angle and the lighting right.
Later, at my computer, I pulled the photo up to examine it and size it. Gut-punch! There were the hands of someone I know and care about it, filling my computer screen, bound as if hanged. It was a terrible sight.
Later, as I worked on stitching the piece, I depicted the hands differently in two panels, each representing a different view of this event.
To be a real person, on the ground, witnessing a real hanging, would be – I am sure I do not have adequate words. Terrible, frightening. My hope is that the power of the visual image will work for those who experience this work and the others in the exhibit. Once the power of an image pierces one’s consciousness, thinking can deepen and change.
(Just a note: I am submitting my work for jurying. I will not know till January whether or not it will be accepted as part of the exhibit.)
A second gut-punch experience happened this week that was very different.
I made a postcard for a project being organized by my friend and fellow artist Karol Kusmaul. As a final project for her MFA in art, Karol is seeking contributions of 4” x 6” post cards – as many as she can get – on the subjects of gun violence or the war in Ukraine, or both. I chose to create one addressing gun violence.
After I created the transfer of text onto the fabric, I took a large brush loaded with red paint and – just like that!—the card was paint-spattered. Just like that. So fast. So unchangeable. That was the gut-punch I experienced as I spattered paint-as blood across a surface. It happened just like that. Everything changed in an instant.
That’s a powerful message. I can imagine a number of postcards with similarly powerful messages all arranged together into one strong work.
This art will give voice to people whose lives are changed in an instant, just like that!
(If you would like to help Karol by making a post card, (Please do!) you can find out the information you need HERE. The deadline for her to receive them is November 1.)
For each of these projects, I will feel honored if some image from work I create becomes even a tiny step in deepening thought or conviction in someone who sees it. That’s a good reason to be in the studio.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
One last thought – last week I wrote about the behind-the scenes process of being in the upcoming Artburst “Poetry in Motion” online exhibit opening October 22. THANK YOU to everyone who showed interest and support. I goofed in some of my facts. I still encourage you to visit Artburststudios.com and find out more. The corrected information about who-gets-what is below. I’m excited about this event. I hope to see ya there.
For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating
Thank you for reading.
I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
How I keep in touch:
BLOG POSTS - once a week: Mostly about what I am creating in the studio. If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail, please subscribe here: I post and send by e-mail each Sunday evening. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL
NEWSLETTER – about once a month: Mostly news of exhibits and my way of introducing new work. You’ll get FIRST LOOKS at new artwork and members-only discounts. You’ll hear from me about once a month. NEWSLETTER
A peek behind the scenes
One morning at a street festival, a bit before the show was officially opened, I engaged in some conversation with an early art browser. Looking at all the artist displays set up, he asked, ”Wow. Does the festival provide all these tents and walls for you?”
Overhearing, the artist next to me looked at him with dagger eyes.
I took this to be a teachable moment. People who are not artists frequently do not know the nuts and bolts of how art life works. It was a well-intended question.
(Short answer: No. The festival just provides the space, which artists pay for. Hours before that stroller arrived, starting at about 5:30, the street looked and sounded more like the circus elephants putting up the tent. Metal poles clanging. Lots of grunting. A little swearing. And some friendly camaraderie among the artists. It’s a fun process if you have ample helping hands and it’s not raining. But it is always hard work.)
This was my booth set-up last year at Fall Festival of the Arts DeLand
More frequently, as shopping online has become something consumers are used to, and frequently prefer, the behind-the-scenes setup involves creating a virtual exhibit.
I am participating in such an on-line event this month. This is an all-new adventure for me and I am as intrigued and inspired by it as I was when I entered my first street Festival. So, I thought I would share the behind-the-scenes with you.
Here’s the event.
(Throughout the rest of this post, I’ll intersperse images of some of the works I’ll be exhibiting so this is not all dry, dull text.)
Who is Artburst? It’s a group of artists based in Denver. I’ve enjoyed meeting them and forming new friendships. They have worked street festivals for years, and hoped to find a good online event they could participate in as well. Not finding one that was just right, they decided to create their own.
What artists are in it? There are 25 artists participating. So, it’s more like a boutique gallery than a big street Festival. More personal. More targeted. Easier to digest. And what an interesting mix! In addition to me, there are painters, jewelers, sculptors and mixed media artists.
Detail art quilt - “Emergence Into Light”
How did I become a part of this? I’m happy to say they found me online and recruited me. Being a skeptical soul, I thought at first it was some sort of scam marketing come-on. I soon learned that these are real artists who have organized a real event and I agreed (with a spirit of adventure!) to give it a try.
What did I have to do? First I had to create twelve all new works. They quickly explained this was not a place to get rid of the old un-sold stuff. So I have created four new wall quilts and eight new larger-than-usual paper collages. And, I agreed that between now and the time of the show, I will sell those twelve pieces only through the Artburst event.
Art Quilt “Entering the Dream”
Detail Paper/Fabric Collage “Awakening to What Was”
What did Artburst supply? All the marketing. The website. A secure way to take payments from customers. They will prepare a digital catalog of all the work for all the artists that buyers can browse through before the show opens. (Sunday, October 22 – 10:22am MST) They have a funky, upbeat graphics style I like and are working like crazy online to spread the word about this show. Each participating artist is also supposed to help tell people about the show.
Learning Take-aways?
ALL methods that artists use to present their work to the world take hard work. Sometimes, making the work is the easiest part!
It’s good to try new things. I have worked for a number of years at introducing myself and selling my work online by myself. Being part of a team effort has been a great experience.
Deadlines matter! (I remember being grateful that my daughter landed her first post-grad school job BECAUSE she was a studio artist, not in spite of it. Her first employer understood that a working studio artist has to be a problem-solver and also one who can meet deadlines.) I agree.
Detail Paper/Fabric Collage “Remembering As It Was”
And now—an invitation
I would be honored to have you visit the Artburst website and then to check out the event on October 22. No cost. No obligation. You can just browse. (Looking at art is always fun!)
BUT… if you know yourself to be an art-lover who also from time to time enjoys purchasing artwork, I encourage you to either 1. SUBSCRIBE at the Artburst website. At the bottom of the homepage. (That puts you on the list to get a preview 24 hours before the show opens. Plus a few email teasers between now and then.) or 2. JOIN at the Artburst website. Also free. Also no obligation. This just makes you a subscriber AND sets up your information as an account in advance so that, when the show opens on 10-22, you are ready to jump in. ARTBURSTSTUDIOS.COM
OR - If you REALLY like to see things in advance, to make decisions leisurely, you could sign up to be a collector plus. Your special benefit is a full digital catalog of the show a full week before it opens. All details are at ARTBURSTSTUDIOS.COM
By the way – this is NOT a bidding event. It’s just shopping and – if you find something you love – purchasing.
Thanks so much for taking this peek behind the scenes with me. I sincerely appreciate those who follow my posts and are nice enough to respond and share. Art is good!
For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating
Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
How I keep in touch:
BLOG POSTS - once a week: Mostly about what I am creating in the studio. If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail, please subscribe here: I post and send by e-mail each Sunday evening. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL
NEWSLETTER – about once a month: Mostly news of exhibits and my way of introducing new work. You’ll get FIRST LOOKS at new artwork and members-only discounts. You’ll hear from me about once a month. NEWSLETTER
The story comes together
This week I’ve enjoyed seeing things together that have—up till now—been scattered parts.
(Oh – and at the end of this post I have something new to announce too. So don’t go away!)
One scattered part … In August I posted about some fabrics I had been keeping in a stash, along with a thought-provoking photo of a gate and shadows. I was intrigued with the unusual colors and patterns, but knew that wasn’t enough. I wanted a unifying story.
Second scattered part … Last week I showed some samples of new fabric printing experiments, mostly relief prints from carved blocks.
They are beginning to come together in a new work.
And, coming together in several ways. I’ve spent time just moving things around and trying out compositions. And I’ve also used some computer composition to make decisions.
Here’s some moving things around on my worktable:
(This is about 36”H x 60”W.) Most of these fabrics were ones I had on-hand when I first wrote in August. What I’ve added: the screen printed branches pattern in the top left. The reversal of that pattern, also screen printed, in the lower right. And the relief-printed black triangle pattern (created last week) which is underneath the photo.
The screen-printed branches added some energy I like. I also like the connoted complexity. It goes well with the photo. Additionally, it opened up the possibility of using a large stencil I had created for an earlier work.
This hand-cut card stock stencil is about 28” x 30”. It is an enlargement of the pattern in the screen printed branches. I wondered if it could be a good addition to this work – to help tie things together in the right half and to subtly allow that section to speak to the printed branches.
For this, I used some computer composition. Here’s a mockup of where the stencil will go.
I’’ve left it full color here, just so you can see it. I will roll a thin layer of paint in the spaces between the branches, with the colors and patterns beneath showing through as the branches.
This is more the appearance the final will be. The stencil pattern will be printed as a transparent color, barely visible. But I think it will tie together the parts.
And I’ve penciled in some characters. A young girl running along the orange sidewalk-like section. Above, a few birds on a wire look on. A complex environment with innocent characters.
These mockups are still quite rough, but they are enough of a shorthand to tell me what to do next.
Here’s where I ended up at the end of the work day: fabrics trimmed to size and the left half of the work collaged lightly in place. In another day I can begin stitching.
I’m both excited and interested in how this one progresses. I’ll keep you posted.
AND NOW AN ANNOUNCEMENT
I’ve been invited to participate in an online exhibit of 25 artists in October. It’s produced by Artburst Studios and is called Poetry in Motion. Next week I’ll write a behind-the scenes look at this event. For now, I just wanted to share the date and event with you. (You can visit the website shown for more information if you like.)
For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating
Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
How I keep in touch:
BLOG POSTS - once a week: Mostly about what I am creating in the studio. If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail, please subscribe here: I post and send by e-mail each Sunday evening. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL
NEWSLETTER – about once a month: Mostly news of exhibits and my way of introducing new work. You’ll get FIRST LOOKS at new artwork and members-only discounts. You’ll hear from me about once a month. NEWSLETTER
Experiments: Relief Printing
I enjoy time in the studio alone. Thinking about artmaking. Practicing. Experimenting.
And I enjoy time with my local art group, doing some of those same things, but in a the context of camaraderie, listening to the shared words of fellow artmakers as they work on their own projects, talking and interacting as I go.
And this week I’ve had a chance for both of those things.
The subject is relief printing experiments.
Quick definition: relief printing is a form of printmaking in which the plate has raised areas – places that stick up – to receive the ink (in my case, acrylic paint) and areas that are recessed that don’t receive the ink. Think of a rubber stamp and a stamp pad. Or, for printmakers, linoleum blocks, woodcuts or, as I’ve been using, carved pseudo-linoleum blocks of EZ-cut rubber.
Quick philosophical observation: I find it pleasing and meaningful to use simple methods and limited supplies to create fabric and then artwork that is as layered and interesting as I can make it. Relief printing with acrylics is a fit for this way of working.
The basics: Paint will get rolled across the plate and the plate will be pressed against whatever you are printing. (A printmaker making works on paper most likely uses a press, not hand printing.) In this week’s experiments I am printing fabric yardage — printed by hand instead of a press — to be incorporated into future art quilt projects.
Beginning. In the picture above I’ve painted several different kinds of fabrics with a wet wash of acrylic for all-over teal blue. I used cotton muslin (Opaque, a little toothy,) a bedsheet (opaque, but a smoother finish,) and some sheer polyester (semi-transparent, very lightweight.) The same plate or image pressed onto each of these fabrics will create a slightly different effect. Further along in this post I’ll show some samples in brown and red hues, and I used a mix of fabrics there too.
My alone-in-the-studio experiments were, I must confess, a little slap-dash. I was really trying to test the blocks I’d carved and see if I liked the patterns. I did.
But I was not diligent in the prep and application of the paint on the carved plate and some of the printed yardage was uneven and globby in ways I did not like.
To prepare for my Saturday work with my art group, I had to gather all my supplies to schlep with me. I used this opportunity to prepare better.
I cleaned my brayer. (It had been embarrassingly covered with old acrylic and did not spread an even coat onto the plate.)
I created a good padded work surface. I just folded a beach towel over a piece of Styrofoam, then wrapped it in plastic and taped it together well.
I cut wood backers for the blocks I had carved. It is not essential to do this, but I felt it was well worth the time. they are much easier to handle, less messy in production, and provide a good firm surface to press down for printing by hand.
And I thought through some of the variables: Mix two designs on one piece of fabric. Same design, different colors. Overall designs with broad shapes, overprint with smaller or linear shapes.
Look ahead to the final art quilts I have in mind to create yardage that may fit the envisioned palette.
Have trays and Tupperware containers ready to soak and clean carved stamps and the brayer as printing gets into full wing. As an added challenge, my group meets in an environmentally-conscious facility that does not want acrylics or wash water dumped out in the sinks or in the grass. I had to bring a gallon bucket with lid to cart my waste home with me to dispose. (It made me use water wisely!)
Eventually, I had all my ducks in a row. Here is what I’ve created so far. Several of these are still only partially done. I’ll take a look in the next few days and see what layers I want to add.
One last reminder: Methods can be mixed and matched. If you are inspired to try some block carving and printing, remember that this can be used along with other methods you like: digital printing, stencils, drawing,collage…. just keep thinking things up!
For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating
Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
How I keep in touch:
BLOG POSTS - once a week: Mostly about what I am creating in the studio. If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail, please subscribe here: I post and send by e-mail each Sunday evening. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL
NEWSLETTER – about once a month: Mostly news of exhibits and my way of introducing new work. You’ll get FIRST LOOKS at new artwork and members-only discounts. You’ll hear from me about once a month. NEWSLETTER
Remembering ABC
I’ve worked on a batch of small paper collages in the studio this past week.
I enjoy these so much! I am thrilled when a collector chooses one, but I know that even if that does not occur these works are creatively good for ME.
(Which is much like the discipline of posting a blog weekly. I love the camaraderie and response from readers. But I really know that writing about artmaking on a regular basis is important for ME. It helps me to clarify my work.)
Here’s one of my recent creations: “Conversations for Morning.”
I like this composition. I think it works.
So, I want to learn from it — to be able to apply the lesson to future compositions. Here are some things I see, some guiding principles of successful design. The principles are like ABC – the building blocks one puts together to make words, which then communicate ideas.
SIZE Something should be big. Something should be medium sized. Something should be small. I’ve got that. The big black rectangle with green branches is BIG. The birds and some of the other shapes are medium sized. The little hand drawn squares and the relief printed circles are small.
LIGHT AND DARK Something should be dark. Something should be light. The big dark rectangle again carries the weight in value. It’s really dark. The upper right corner, and the untouched white edges around the composition provide light places.
COLOR UNITY The colors in this work look like they belong together. They should, because they were all mixed from the same base colors. The mustard yellow top right was the starting place. That was mixed with blue to make the green backgrounds and in a slightly different ratio to make the green-blue honeycomb top left. When I made my black color, I made it by adding black to this green.
I tend to work in a fairly limited palette for each work. I am comfortable when most of the colors in a work are in the same color family. I confess that this is because it helps me see values. If I have pale green and darker green, I have no problem telling that one is light and one is dark. But, with completely different colors — a red and a blue, for instance, — its’s harder for me to see the values. I get sucked into the quality and emotion of the hues. Keeping color unified through most of the composing helps me to see what I’m doing. Then, I can add some splashes of a completely different color in a few spots.
ENERGY AND THINGS TO LOOK I enjoyed using the silkscreened pattern of the branches as a way to create energy, and to direct one’s eye through the scene. The branches help to point to the birds. And, the birds are alive, and are themselves looking somewhere. It’s just natural that the viewer wants to look there too.
A PLACE TO REST I almost lost this one. This small composition has a lot going on. But I think the subtle color of the green paper backgrounds, and their delicate watercolor-like appearance offer a resting place. Another way to have played with all these elements would have been to leave a much larger place as a resting spot, concentrating the livelier elements together in another section.
One last thing to remember – none of these guiding principles is absolute. There could be a work that consists of one large, dark, static shape and no variety that is, nonetheless, emotionally powerful. Great artists break the rules all the time!
This week in the studio I am back to working on larger pieces. I hope to bring some of what I’ve practiced with the smaller paper works with me to these new projects.
. . . . . . .
(If you would like to learn more about “Conversations for Morning”, or look at other paper collage works, please visit 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
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
Art from the soil
This is Labor Day weekend.
I was way beyond childhood when I first realized that Labor Day had anything to do with organized labor and its place in American history. For me it was the day that marked the end of summer. One thing ended. Another thing began.
The community pool we belonged to opened on Memorial Day and closed on Labor Day. The next day the water was drained out of the pool and we would ride our bikes around the chain link fence, looking in.
But not for long, because it was time for school to begin.
Those predictable cycles of events defined my young world. And, for each of us, they are the “stuff” – the soil – the source of our understandings. And our artmaking.
Recurring events. Seasons that make you feel nostalgic or wistful. Generational stories that repeat themselves. Images or smells or sounds or music that tell us we are back in a place we have been before. All of these weave together to create our inner emotional lives.
What deep soil for creativity to grow.
Sometimes the patterns aren’t healthy. The way to grow is to get out and begin again on a new path.
Sometimes the patterns are deep and meaningful and woven into the best parts of who you understand yourself to be. Cherish the gift.
Because it’s Labor Day, which makes me oddly nostalgic; and because the kindergarten class where I volunteer is learning about putting seeds in the soil so things will grow, I am inspired to share these works.
I have thought a lot about patterns in families, in particular, and how they define us. Here’s an example of those thoughts finding their way into my artmaking.
In my self-published book, It Was There I Believed, I put together visual artwork with original poetry. These two works are placed side-by-side in the book:
“Shallow Soil” Monotype Collage Fabric and Paper 24” x 24”
Easter Cut and Paste
Frozen in a scrapbook.
I am pasted in place
a child in her new spring coat.
Mary Jane shoes. White socks
and a hat — of all things!
Clutching a (new) patent leather purse.
The black and white photography disguises
the bright green behind me.
The meaning (apparently) of Easter.
Unearthed in another scrapbook.
Remnants of memory.
There she was — my mother.
A child in her new spring coat
with all the rest — the shoes
the purse — the hat!
Staring not resurrected into the camera.
With sharp scissors I snip her
from the page.
Inserted in my scrapbook, next to me,
a double.
I move her shape
place it over mine.
I disappear.
. . . . . . . .
(You can learn more about the book, It Was There I Believed, on my website HERE. You can learn more about the artwork “Shallow Soil” 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
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
The story that was already there
This will not be a how-to post.
This is more of a how-it-happens post.
I believe that your how-to-skills as well as the how-it-happens creative process both take place in the context of making. You’ve got to create a work space and make work. A lot. Just keep doing it.
And then things can happen.
This picture is one I shot some time ago, an alleyway opening in downtown DeLand, my hometown. I love the photo—the aesthetic qualities of it, the angles, the lines, the shadows. So I have had it simmering on the back burner for a while, not sure where it would go.
As I work on other things, I sometimes create a bit of fabric that I think is interesting and somehow speaks to me of this photo. I throw it in the pile.
Meanwhile, I am working away on other projects.
About midway through this week, I reached a good stopping place in the other projects and allowed myself to return to this idea. To see what I would find.
Turns out I have a fascinating accumulation of fabrics that relate to each other and this photo in interesting ways. I’m inspired.
But now I’m scared! I don’t generally start a new work inspired by the fabric. Well, I try not to do it. When I begin with love for the fabric, I find myself midway through the work saying “What in the world was I thinking? Where is this going? What is it about?” For me, fabulous surface design on fabric is not usually enough to hold a work together.
I do much better when I start with the idea. I know what I want to communicate. Then I create all the parts I’ll need, then I put it together.
But here I am staring at an easel full of really interesting images, plus a photo I’ve liked for a long time, and I think there’s something going on here, but I didn’t get here intentionally.
I looked at this a long time.
And then the how-it-happens—happened. I realized that the aesthetics of this photo are not all that I like. It speaks to me of ideas I’ve been working through in another part of my brain, stirred by what I’m reading and what I’m writing and what I’m thinking about. Secrets. Finding your way. Barriers to going forward. Discovering a path.
The grungy, “tough” fabrics I’ve been throwing in the pile all connote a tough environment. They are interesting, but not pretty or soft.
NOW I have a reason to create the artwork. And the parts I’ve been accumulating will come together, maybe with some new ones I’ll discover I need.
The story was already there. Waiting for me.
I look forward to bringing this to life.
For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating
Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
How I keep in touch:
BLOG POSTS - once a week: Mostly about what I am creating in the studio. If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail, please subscribe here: I post and send by e-mail each Sunday evening. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL
NEWSLETTER – about once a month: Mostly news of exhibits and my way of introducing new work. You’ll get FIRST LOOKS at new artwork and members-only discounts. You’ll hear from me about once a month. NEWSLETTER
Artmaking Rhythms
I did a bit of carving on Saturday morning. (I was at the monthly meeting of my local art group.)
These blocks are EZ Cut – which, as the name implies, are REALLY easy to cut. So it was a contemplative and therapeutic time spent with simple tools.
They are used for relief printing (stamping) fabric. Sometime in the next few weeks, I will experiment with cutting them out, inking them up and creating some overlapping images. I look forward to experimenting.
But not tonight.
I’m right at the finish line of the two large projects I’ve been working through in the studio, and my body and mind need a break.
(I also think my little sewing machine needs a break too. I’ve been working it pretty hard.)
I was thrilled today to receive in the mail two novels I had ordered. Just in time for an evening with my feet up, tucked into the sofa with pillows.
And this will be part of artmaking too.
Sometimes you need to make the stuff.
Sometimes you need to simmer thoughts about what’s next to give them time to coalesce.
Sometimes you need to rest.
Sometimes you need to feed your brain a good book, or some poetry, or good music.
And sometimes you head back to the studio to finish things up.
In the next day or so I will have two pretty large quilts all constructed. What’s left is the final surface painting and touchups—always some of the most enjoyable moments. Then I’ll bind the edges with hand stitching. That is also pleasing work.
For those who are artmakers—I hope you are somewhere along this line of creating, learning from each stage.
I’ll end with a little snippet of one of my works-in-progress. This is the bottom edge of a quilt, and I created it with wheat paste resist – neutral cream fabric showing through a deep blue overprint. Then on a whim, when I had some orange on my palette, I added just a little watercolor blush to a few of the circles. I like what it added!
For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating
Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
How I keep in touch:
BLOG POSTS - once a week: Mostly about what I am creating in the studio. If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail, please subscribe here: I post and send by e-mail each Sunday evening. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL
NEWSLETTER – about once a month: Mostly news of exhibits and my way of introducing new work. You’ll get FIRST LOOKS at new artwork and members-only discounts.You’ll hear from me about once a month. NEWSLETTER
Bobbi’s Blog 8-13-23… Scaling things UP!
This post has a lots of steps. But, overall, it’s about taking a small pattern and scaling it UP to be much bigger.
(I could have named it big-ol’-monster stencil at work, which is accurate, but does not sound quite as artful.)
Here’s where this project began: A group of monotype and screen-printed pieces that suggest to me sun warmth going down through the layers of earth: bright in the top layer grasses, then reaching down beneath.
(This is about 30”W x 25”H)
I like this group of patterns together and want to use it as the basis for an abstract landscape. My vision was to pair the monotype-printed pieces with a large panel of something much simpler; I wanted contrast to all the energy and movement.
I tried a number of things in Photoshop that just didn’t work. Then, I thought about using one of the elements in the patterned section and enlarging it to fill a panel about 30” x 30”. Things began to click.
This is the section I chose:
The large panel will not be identical to this small screen-printed section, which is about 7” x 9”. But the small version is the inspiration. I want to mimic the values and colors of these screen-printed limbs: dark shapes against a lighter greenish-yellow background. I decided to reproduce the shape by drawing and cutting a large stencil out of thin card stock.
To create the new section, I will work from the background forward. First: a solid yellow.
Much of this yellow will be covered up. But I created a glue-resist pattern using washable school glue that will show through all the layers.
After the glue was dry, I painted the whole piece a dark blue, which will be the limb shapes. You can see the pattern of the glue behind the blue layer.
Now for stenciling. I am sorry that I didn’t photograph any of the drawing and cutting of the stencil. So, this will be like the cooking show where the host turns aside and – Presto! – the finished casserole appears from the oven. Presto- here’s my giant monster stencil!
It is laying flat nicely, so I just needed a few spots of masking tape to hold it in place. Now, I’ll paint in the background with the olive green, allowing the dark limbs to show through.
For the olive green to cover the dark blue, I had to mix in a little white. This can create a pasty, battleship kind of color. So I added a layer of random spatter to the olive and it made a big difference.
Now for the big reveal: Removing the stencil to reveal the limbs:
Then (after all the olive paint dried) washing out the glue resist so the yellow pattern shows through.
I’m working on the final stages now of putting all these parts together. But I have completed the quilting on the new section, using simple parallel lines. (Remember, the other section of this quilt already has dynamic criss-cross linear patterns. My goal is to make this section different.)
Here’s a close-up look:
The left half of this photo (greenish) is the piece as described in this blog post. The right half is a section I over-painted with a transparent blue glaze, for a little composition variety.
When it’s completed, I hope to submit this work for a juried exhibit in September. So, it will be a while before I can reveal the whole. Stand by!
For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating
Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
How I keep in touch:
BLOG POSTS - once a week: Mostly about what I am creating in the studio. If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail, please subscribe here: I post and send by e-mail each Sunday evening. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL
NEWSLETTER – about once a month: Mostly news of exhibits and my way of introducing new work. You’ll get FIRST LOOKS at new artwork and members-only discounts. You’ll hear from me about once a month. NEWSLETTER