Becoming One With the Night . . . Remembering

October 25, 2026

Scrolling on YouTube this week – looking for something completely different – up popped a video I had not watched in years, recorded for SAQA around 2020 describing the quilt I was travelling in the Beyond the Mirror Global Exhibit. The quilt is Becoming One With the Nigh

I spend a lot of time looking at my work as I create it. Or thinking about what’s next.

But it’s also good to look back.

What was I thinking as I created this artwork?

Would I do it differently now?

And, as an artist, how do I go about describing and explaining my own work? To those readers who are also artists, how do you go about describing and explaining your own work?

This little video is only a little over three minutes. I hope you’ll take a listen.

Note: The format of this video was Q&A. The moderator asked a question and I answered it. But the questions are not in this edited video. I was especially interested in the question towards the end, “How do you tell if an artwork is a powerful work?” I enjoyed thinking about and answering that one.

Great questions. Enjoy.

Listen HERE.

. . . . . .

For all of us: focus each day on the good
that needs to be done in the world.

Be part of doing it.

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

Magic Stencils

October 18, 2026

Have I written before about how much I love and rely on the humble stencil?

I’m sure I have. Even so, tonight I will write about stencils again.

This is a picture of the wall below the window in my studio, behind my worktable. It’s one of the places where I store stencils so they are always handy.

I have not discovered any tool in my surface design toolbox as versatile, as effective, as quick to make, as easy to use, as inexpensive or as useful as the wonderful, humble stencil.

I’m clearly a fan.

This weekend I was working through a collage-on-paper that I started earlier in the week. It consists primarily of rectangular pieces of color and pattern. The colors are pleasing. The composition is balanced. But it’s just got no life (yet) and desperately needs some contrast.

Organic shapes (like leaves) are always interesting used in conjunction with simple geometric shapes.

I pulled out a well-used leaf shape from my stencil file and laid it down on the composition. Yes. Exactly where I need to go.

This stencil was cut from a manila file folder years ago. From being well-used, it is well-coated with acrylic paint and quite sturdy. It is almost exactly the shape I want for the work-in-progress, but I want the leaves to display just a tad differently.

Time to cut a new one.

My favorite tool is a boxcutter from the hardware store. The blades are thin but quite strong. When a blade gets dull you just break it off with pliers and use the next section. The handle is great and you can really lean into the cutting — helpful if you are cutting plastic or a stronger stencil material.

Remember the strong compositional possibilities of a stencil: You always have a positive and negative to work with.

If I roll paint over this stencil, I will be painting the shapes of the leaves. Pick a color with strong contrast to show up against the background. (Or – mix your paint with matte medium for a transparent image and some subtle layering.)

If I use the stencil like this:

rolling paint over the positive shape, I will be painting the background with the underneath colors showing through inside the leaves. You can experiment: Try rolling the paint on the background and letting it gently fade off away from the stencil shape. Or, tape a straight-edge shape around the stencil so your background color has a clear stopping point. (You create a leaf-in-a-box.)

One more versatile thing about stencils: For design variety and harmony, print some of the shapes with the stencil face up, and then some with the stencil face-down. You’ll be creating mirror-image shapes in your artwork, a nice way to connect sections.

Happy creating.

. . . . . . . . . .

EXHIBITS AND COMING EVENTS

SAQA Global Exhibit: Bearing Witness is exhibiting at the Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County in Moorhead, MN, USA October 10 – December 27. My work, Do Not Look Away, is part of this moving and powerful exhibit. All of the works address serious and sobering subjecting matter: violence and oppression against targeted groups.

*Do Not Look Away*‍ ‍Quilt constructed in three panels Overall 54”H x 86”W

. . . . . . . . . .

I’ll be exhibiting in person November 21-22 in DeLand, Florida:

For all of us: focus each day on the good

that needs to be done in the world.

Be part of doing it.

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

Collage Therapy

October 11, 2026

This was a week of . . . well, just too much. The daily news is overwhelming. And it seemed like I had two or more meetings every day.

By the weekend I was ready for some studio-therapy time. I started working on some new small collages for the upcoming Fall Festival in DeLand and to replenish my website.

When I create quilts, I am drawn to working BIG. But, when I work with paper and collage, I enjoy working smaller. Collage is more intuitive. It forces me to focus on composition. And the mix of paper and fabric is just fun.

Here’s how I begin:

I generally work on at least two pieces at a time, side-by-side. I collage onto 300# watercolor paper, removed from its block and taped down to a working board. (1/8” plywood) When I am ambitious, I might have two or three boards taped up in my studio at one time. I can work on one piece then set them aside to dry and go to another piece.

Here are my materials:

For some time, I’ve been setting aside leftover fabric and sorting it into baggies of patterns and colors I think might work well together. So, this weekend I opened one of the baggies to discover what I’ve got. I might use just these, or I may pull a few things from my color scrap baskets.

How to put fabric on paper?

The verb you want here is “slather.” Slather on matte medium as your glue. You can brush it on the watercolor paper, or onto the back of the piece you are gluing down, or over the top of the piece once it’s down to get out wrinkles. The watercolor paper may buckle up at first. Don’t panic. Because you have it well taped down on all four sides, it will contract as it dries and your collage will be flat.

Compose by just trying things out.

I picked up fabric and moved it around on this one a lot. Change positioning. Add something else. Try out a stencil sample. You might want to do a loose sketch before you start or you might just want to play with trial and error. Be prepared to walk away and come back if it doesn’t seem to be working.

Here’s an interesting discovery:

The fabric with white limbs on deep purple background was screen printed onto sheer polyester. I like that white limb pattern, but it’s almost overwhelming in a small space. When I turned it over the back side was much more subtle and more interesting. But, when I placed it down on the white watercolor paper, I could not see the limbs. It needed dark underneath it for the white limbs to show up. I cut a piece of solid black fabric just a tad smaller than my printed limb fabric and glued it down first. Then I glued down the fabric with white limbs on top. The black did not interfere with the deep purple background, but it allowed to white limbs to show up.

Here’s where I left things at the end of the day:

I’m not in love with my first day’s results. But I see potential. I’ll look with fresh eyes tomorrow.

. . . .

It’s countdown time to DeLand’s annual art festival. For those who are in driving distance of DeLand in central Florida, I encourage you to put this event on your art calendar. Downtown DeLand is a delight and I love exhibiting here each year.

For all of us: focus each day on the good
that needs to be done in the world.

Be part of doing it.

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

Making Sense of Memories – and Finishing Details

October 4, 2026

I have been thinking this week about the orderliness of dreams. They don’t feel orderly. They sometimes feel confusing or jarring.

But I believe as we sleep, our brain processes what we have experienced – both recently and long ago – and makes sense of it. Experiences are rearranged and juxtaposed with unlike events and then stored in a new order.

In the waking world, artmaking is my way of processing. My way to make sense of things. (This week contained some powerful “this-makes-NO-sense” experiences.) Each part of the process is part of creating a new reality.

So, this weekend as I am backing and finishing the quit of the little paper doll girl, I am continuing that rearrangement into the otherwise-tedious stages of backing and binding.

Here is the neighborhood in which the paper doll girl now dwells.

Artwork face-up: Here on my worktable, I have glued on the backing fabric, a nice grey eco-felt. I weighted the quilt for a while, and then I let it breath overnight.

Artwork face-down: Here is the back, and the hanging mechanism.

I use a grey felt backer to create a professional presentation and provide a nice weight for hanging. The hanging sleeve is shown here with its basting stitch still in. When I remove that, the sleeve will have some give so the rod does not pooch through to the front. I like details like providing a D-ring positioned so it’s easy for someone to hang the artwork. (This is a 55”+ wide quilt, so I have included two D-rings.) The finishing touches say that I take my own work seriously.

Now for binding. On the quilt I’m using a turned strip binding, created in sections of color and patterns that match or complement the part of the quilt that section is next to.

This afternoon, I will spend a few hours in my studio hand stitching the turned binding onto the back.

This is the only hand stitching I do. I might play music, or I might just absorb the quiet of the studio and think.

I’ll think about the story of the girl in the neighborhood I have created. How the images are my way of making sense of memories.

I’ll think of this week’s news : among the many stories, an attempted execution in Missouri that did not work. The prisoner did not die. She snored. They took her to a hospital where she is on Ife support. Is the government saving her to try to kill her again?

The horrible crime she committed was senseless and brutal. The crimes inflicted on her when she was young were senseless and brutal. And now this attempted execution was senseless and brutal.

How does one even begin to understand these events?

Or the bombing of bridges in Kiev? Or the struggles of people in the West bank and Gaza? Or people in America losing SNAP benefits?

When thoughts of the real world are overwhelming, I process what I can. I participate in civic life to the best of my ability. And I make art. This is something I can do.

And each stage of the work is my way of bringing some order and completeness to the world.

. . . . . .

For all of us: focus each day on the good

that needs to be done in the world.

Be part of doing it.

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

And there I was

September 27, 2026

This week I enjoyed teaching a zoom class for the Collage Artists of America. (THANK YOU to CAA)

In talking through my journey as an artist, I told them a story. I like this story so I will share it again here in this week’s blog. If this were church we would call this my testimony – the moment after which I saw everything differently.

Around 2010, as I was beginning to experiment with mixed media, monotype printing and paper collage, I was creating compositions comprising various shapes and things: leaves, rectangles, bottles, birds and fish.

Detail - paper collage monotype printed rice paper collaged to watercolor paper

I loved creating these works. (I still do enjoy paper collages and create them regularly as a change of pace between quilts.)

But one day in the studio something happened.

I drew the shape of a small paper doll girl and created her as a stencil. It is a childlike, innocent image. When I inserted her in a collage, everything changed.

***Shallow Soil*** 24” x 24’ paper Collage

Before the paper doll, this simple artwork was about textures and color, with the organic form of a plant to balance the empty space.

After the paper doll was added the artwork became a metaphor for someone’s life. A small, innocent character. In a barren place. Insufficient sustenance. Like a seed planted in shallow soil, lacking what she needed to grow.

I had inserted my own self and my memories of childhood into what was otherwise simply a pleasing composition.

It changed everything.

I realized at once that I could create artwork about ideas.

I realized that I could create work with emotional content.

I realized that I could begin a body of work that had someplace to go – that the ideas might change and mature.

Since that time, I have devoted my work to creating art that is about something – ideas and emotions and memories – with the little girl as the recurring symbol.

***Overlooked*** (Detail) Art Quilt 42” x 42” 2018

***Recurring Dream*** (Detail) Art Quilt 45” x 43” 2025

***American Dram Dream*** (Detail) Art Quilt 27” x 44” 2025

Finally, this very week, in my studio on my easel, front and center in a work-in-progess, depicted as a paper doll, once again, there I am.

As she reappears in my work, I understand that she – and I – still have more to say.

As you look at other artists’ artworks, you will deepen your enjoyment and appreciation when you discover the story in their works. What interests them? What do they care about?

And, if you are an artmaker, your own journey will deepen and be more meaningful to you as you discover that in your own work.

Happy creating.

. . . . . .

For all of us: focus each day on the good
that needs to be done in the world.

Be part of doing it.

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

It came together nice as pie

September 20, 2026

Early this afternoon I was about to dig back into the big sewing project I have going.

But a little voice inside said, “Take a break. Do something easy.”

I remembered the black and brown pieces I created last month, which I will sew into an abstract composition for the show my local art group will have in January.

*(I created these black and brown pieces through a simple taping-off-a-grid exercise,*
*explained in my blog In August,* ***HERE***)

Those rectangle sections will work well, but not alone. I’ve known I would need to paint some new fabric pieces to hold the composition together.

And, as it happens, I had both a yard or so of muslin handy, as well as lots of yardage from some recycled curtain sheers just gifted to me. “Use those!” the voice suggested.

A simple decision like same-paint-different-fabrics (I painted a washy, all-over burnt sienna on each) will give my final piece both variety and unity. Each fabric takes the paint differently. Those subtle differences will be a characteristic of the final work.

After I painted the base color, I remembered I had a small jar with leftover wheat paste in the refrigerator, waiting to be used for something before going bad. So, I poured the wheat paste into a plastic coffee container lid and grabbed some stamping tools.

From experience, I know this almost-impossibly-simple procedure will yield great results. Stamping simple circles with wheat paste creates a nice organic pattern. And by using two different size circle stamps, I’ll have two pieces of yardage that will not be identical but will speak to each other nicely in the final composition.

Now my fabric stamped with wheat paste is in the studio drying. Tomorrow I’ll overpaint with a deep color that will contrast with the burnt sienna. What I’ll get will be burnt sienna circles on a contrasting background. Here’s a section from a previous work, Seeing Through to the Light, with a pattern made in a similar way.

Sometimes, like a gift, a process will come together as nice as pie.

Today was my day.

For all of us: focus each day on the good
that needs to be done in the world.

Be part of doing it.

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

Filling up the Neighborhood

September 13, 2026

My studio practice has felt disjointed this week. I’ve caught time to work as I was able.

The project-at-hand is the next phase of the quilt inspired by my growing up neighborhood, inhabited by a paper doll family. This week I’ve been making more parts.

I enjoyed relief printing the base for foliage. Two carved stamps. Two colors of green. A background to match an olive green-ish already in the quilt.

I ended up doing a lot more painting of the foliage after I did the relief prints. Here is how it turned out.

I put the foliage, along with all the other parts-in-progress, out on my worktable to see if the colors and parts seem to be speaking to each other. So far so good. I also created a painted sky I really like. It will be the resting place in the composition, ad a nice contrast to the house colors.

Most of the foliage will go in the upper right corner, extending down the right-hand side as a border. (More will go in the lower left corner, not yet visible in the picture.)

With all the parts created, I am assembling the neighborhood. Have you heard the growling and grunting coming from my studio?

Because I changed my plan for the composition (originally – just houses, no people) and I had already constructed some of the houses, I am now figuring how to take it apart as little as possible, rearrange, insert the people, and put it back together. Just an hour ago I made some headway and I can see how it will work.

Just a few more growling sessions and I’ll be there!

May your work go well for you this week.

For all of us: focus each day
on the good that needs to be done in the world.

Be part of doing it.

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

Revisiting the Old Neighborhood

September 6, 2026

I’ve been inspired in the past few weeks to revisit the idea of a nostalgic neighborhood, the kind one sees in a picture, causing you to say, “Oh yeah. I remember that.”

I created this imaginary neighborhood from a montage of house photos I’ve collected. They were never actually one neighborhood, and I never lived in a place that looked quite ike this. But I love the feel of the families cramped together in one block. I envision bustling comings and goings of all kinds of families.

My vision is for this to maintain a childlike simplicity in the rendering. So, I began by painting some colorful fabrics for the houses.

I assembled some houses.

Then I lined them up in a row, as in my reference photo.

Nothing. I got nothing. Whatever appealed to me in the original had been lost in the translation to simplified shapes as applique.

It felt like it needed more elements. First, compositional elements – more varied things to add to the layout. Second – content elements. Something more to create meaning – the nostalgic tug one gets from revisiting the old neighborhood.

I wondered: what about people?
Then I wondered: what about people that aren’t quite real, like paper dolls?

Working out those possibilities is what I’ve been doing this weekend.

I put together a rough composition in PhotoShop, working out how to slightly cut up and rearrange the houses, adding a family and some other color blocks.

(The solid blocks in this composition will be filled with pattern. Something dark blue for the sky, and bright leaf patterns where it is shown a solid green.)

I’ve started creating some paper doll people.

Now, I am beginning to feel something from this. The creation of the people as static paper dolls adds a sense of unreality to the memory. They seem to fit the real-but-not real houses. I am beginning to develop some patterns in the fabric that I can imagine being developed into the final.

I look forward to visiting this old neighborhood.

. . . .

And one more paper doll project: I submitted my donation quilt to SAQA for the annual SAQA fundraiser beginning next week, September 11. As a young girl I was fascinated with the unattainable glamour depicted by these paper dolls. I enjoyed using them to create my donation piece.

If you enjoy looking at lots of interesting artwork and bidding on it, please visit the SAQA auction. Anybody can bid. It’s fun. And it benefits SAQA global exhibits.

For all of us: focus each day on the good that needs to be done in the world.

Be part of doing it.

Thank you for reading.

I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

And All That's Gone Before

August 30, 2026

This weekend I became interested – again – in a work I created in 2018.

And All that’s Gone Before exhibited as part of my recent solo show at the Museum of Art DeLand. The work is back in my studio now. I unwrapped it and put it on the shelf this weekend and had a chance to interact with it again.

I was glad I chose it as part of the show. Even though I had not looked at it closely for several years, as I revisited it in the exhibit, I again became involved in what inspired me to create it initially.

Above and Below: Compositions with something above the horizon line and something below the horizon line continue to intrigue me. I have played with the concept a lot in works I have created since this one.

This picture plane, I believe, is doing several different things at once. Divided into above and below – sky above, underground below, the house straddling that dividing line, but being, at the same time, flat. This is not photo-realism. There is no place in the actual world where one could stand to look and see an actual house, the sky, and the subterranean world configured like this. So, the work creates its own reality.

Yet – it’s not hard to figure out. I was interested in how many viewers were drawn to this work, and I heard them describing it just right: “Look at that. All those patterns are the things happening in past time. And those roots are reaching down into all of those experiences. And drawing them up into the house.”

Just as I had intended.

Working Method:

Pretty early in my quiltmaking journey, I found a way to work that pleases me. Starting with blank fabric, I use acrylic paints to create the pieces that will go into the quilt.

I machine stitch the fabrics I’ve created onto a background, then stitch through the painted fabric to quilt it.

I work in sections, to fit my machine:

Pattern as Storytelling: In this work, and as a general way of developing all my works, I want the selection of details to help tell the story. The pattern and fabric choices are not arbitrary.

The house is the most solid element in the work. The roof looks strong. The inside of the house is “real” – constructed of a photograph of actual twigs. Below the house the roots are printed on sheer fabric, becoming ethereal as they descend down into the underground area.

And, in the underground -– that area where all has gone before—there is a mix of many patterns and colors, representing the rich complexity of our histories.

I was happy to rediscover that the things that interested me when I created this work are still interesting to me. My “what’s gone before” is a part of my “where I am now.”

If you’d like to learn more about this work is on my website HERE.

. . . . .

For all of us: focus each day

on the good that needs to be done in the world.

Be part of doing it.

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

Finding by Not Looking

August 23, 2026

This past week I led an art exercise at my local art-making group based on a blog post a made several months ago.

In my blog post, I was working on paper. I divided a big sheet up into 5” x 7’ sections with masking tape. Then, I painted and printed over the whole sheet, pretending the masking tape was not there.

The result, after the tape was removed, was individual sections that could be used as the fronts of note cards.

This week, I tried the exercise again, this time on fabric.

Above: The fabric (unbleached cotton muslin) was taped down to a working board, with a vinyl sheet behind the fabric so it would not stick to the board. I painted, printed, stenciled, and drew randomly over the whole piece of yardage, as if the taped grid were not there.

When I brought it back to my studio, I pulled off the masking tape grid. Here’s what I had:

What’s the point of the project?

If you are interested in design, it’s interesting to see what small compositions have been created by not looking at each individual section as you work. Work big. Discover what’s been created small.

(As I was working I felt like I needed more strong shapes, like the squiggly tree limb shape. In the final compositions, it’s actually the simple shapes and value changes that pull together compositions.)

If you are interested in creating small collages, this can be a good way to get some initial layers.

If you want to create note cards, you can use these just as you would paper. Add to the image with more mark-making or stitching.

I think I will actually use these pieces as the basis for a non-representational quilt. (My local arts group has an annual exhibit in January, and this year we are creating non-representational works.)

I like seeing these small sections arranged together.

I can envision rearranging them and adding new color overlays.

Even the long strip at the bottom of my board, created outside the masking tape lines, has an interesting pattern that could be incorporated.

I am almost always a planner in my work. I have an idea. I plan the palette and design elements, I create the parts.

Creating in a different way for this little project helped me to experience discovery. Oh—and it was fun!

For all of us: focus each day
on the good that needs to be done in the world.

Be part of doing it.

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

Rolls, coleslaw, painting

August 16, 2026

How do we learn ways of creating that work well for us?

When I paint loose and wet, and then when I write about it (as I did in last week’s blog), I am always delighted by the very sincere and interested questions I’ll receive.

How wet? Do you spritz the fabric? Do you wet the fabric thoroughly? Do you water the paint? Do you dip the brush in water? How long? What kind of brush? What’s the ratio of water to paint? Cold water or hot water?

These are very good questions.

With sincere apologies, I am not very good at giving definitive answers.

Do you have anybody in your family who is a fabulous cook, and have you experienced trying to get from them the secret of their world-famous biscuits or rolls?

My grandmother made both biscuits and rolls well. But it was her coleslaw that everybody really loved. She tried to give her recipe, but she really couldn’t. Mayonnaise, yes, and then some vinegar – “Oh, I don’t know. Different kinds.” – and then something sweet to offset the vinegar. I’d seen her use powdered sugar, or cool whip, or once even little marshmallows. And it always turned out right. She just knew what went together.

Painting fabric is like that too. You have to do it wrong a number of times, and try different things, and finally get a feel for your materials.

Writing about this has caused me to remember a favorite poem by Nikki Giovanni. It gives a different meaning to passing on how-to knowledge. But, it’s so good I’m just going to let it stand alone here.

Legacies

by Nikki Giovanni

her grandmother called her from the playground

“yes, ma’am”

“i want chu to learn how to make rolls” said the old

woman proudly

but the little girl didn’t want

to learn how because she knew

even if she couldn’t say it that

that would mean when the old one died she would be less

dependent on her spirit so

she said

“i don’t want to know how to make no rolls”

with her lips poked out

and the old woman wiped her hands on

her apron saying “lord

these children”

and neither of them ever

said what they meant

and i guess nobody ever does

. . . .

Happy creating. Happy experimenting. Happy learning.

. . . .

This Tuesday I will be a poll worker for our local supervisor of elections. It will be a long day, and turnout will be pretty light. But here’s my reminder: Don’t forget to VOTE! It may not feel like much. But it’s the power we have.

For all of us: focus each day on the good
that needs to be done in the world.
Be part of doing it.

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

Building Blocks

August 9, 2026

I like the very beginning of a project.

Nothing has gone wrong yet. No frustrations. Just possibilities.

And the pleasing getting-things-ready stage feels like a building block: everything else that occurs in the work will rest on the beginnings.

I am starting two different works that will depict physical buildings. So, creating the fabric that will comprise these architectural forms are physically building blocks. I will build the building shapes from what I create.

I’m beginning with some simple fabric painting. Here is my set-up:

The fabric I am going to paint is taped down to a one-third sheet of 4’x8’ plywood. I’ve placed a vinyl piece behind the fabric so it does not adhere to the wood. My mixing colors are in place. A few brushes. To the left, I’ll use a blank area on my board as the palette. It’s scrap vinyl taped down over a white sheet of paper. (The diagonal lines in the palette are just odd marks I had on the scrap paper. Pretend they are not there.)

How much paint? How to mix? From experience, I am guessing about three teaspoons of paint will paint the yardage I am working on, which is about 24” x 36”. I have dolloped about a spoonful each of three paint colors onto the palette: Alizarin Crimson, Phthalo Blue plus Burnt Sienna. I want to make some deep purple. I’ll dip my big brush in the water, mix up the colors with the damp brush, and apply straight to the fabric, working pretty fast and wet.

A few minutes later the base coat is done. I’ve covered up the leftover paint on the palette with plastic wrap so I can come back and use it a bit later.

Now to add some pattern. I have randomly applied overlapping patterns with a foam roller and hand-cut stencils from my stencil stash.

I’ll add more later, introducing some other subtle colors and enhancing the feel of a rough stone texture.

For now, the first building block is in place.

. . . . . .

It’s down to the last week of my exhibit at the Museum of Art DeLand. This has been a wonderful experience. THANK YOU to the many visitors, those who came on their own and those who met with me in groups. I am very grateful for your support and encouragement. More information about the Museum and the exhibit at moartdeland.org

. . . .

For all of us: focus each day

on the good that needs to be done in the world.

Be part of doing it.

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

Bring to Front. Send to Back

August 2, 2026

Even simple objects can be interesting. Imagine a still life. A cup. A spoon. A checkered tablecloth.

But things can get even more interesting if the artist intentionally plays with the concept of seeing through objects. Perhaps the checkered cloth is visible through the cup. Maybe the spoon is transparent. Or one object is in front of another – obscuring part of the object behind. Or the whole scene may be seen through a window. Or a window may be behind the objects, abstractly, covering and not covering the objects before it.

When artists look beyond seeing and depicting things on a single plane, the possibilities are endless.

Last week I had several artist groups visit my exhibition at the Museum of Art Deland. We gathered for an art chat after allowing time to look at the works individually. One of the topics we discussed was “layers.” Many of my compositions develop ideas in layers.

This is a detail from The Lord Giveth and the Interstate Taketh Away. The house depicted is a photo transfer. I stood by a large abandoned home in rural South Carolina and shot he photo. But the character on the steps is from my imagination. Grandma is calling everybody home for supper.

Real, but not real. I saw the house through the imagined figure. So, to depict her, I mixed a lot of transparent medium into my acrylic paint and I painted her transparently.

Here is that imagined character in the whole work.

*The Lord Giveth and the Interstate Taketh Away*.

In another work, the transparency is digital.

This is a section of House of Leaves when it was in progress in my studio. (What you are seeing is the paper laser color copies on my easel before I transferred to fabric. They will be mirror image of this in the final work.) Working in layers in Photoshop Elements, I put the leaf on top of the house then defined a portion of it to be transparent.

Here is how it looked in the finished work.

In my studio now I am working to complete the large work with trees and limb layers I have posted about several times over the past few months. Here is a section in progress on my easel.

Layers in the background are created by partially obscuring the limb pattern but letting it show through in places. The house is made transparent by an overpaint with white thinned with medium. The bird is in front by physically placing it (a raw edge applique) in front of the house. A semi-transparent square overlaps the bird. The bird itself is painted semi-transparent, with some limbs showing its body. The leaves are opaque, stenciled on as the layer closest in the foreground .

The very very first step in all of these approaches is to THINK in layers. Imagine seeing though objects or placing one thing in front of another. Then the experimenting can begin.

. . . .

Exhibiting in the Museum of Art DeLand has been a pleasure and an honor. A reminder: the show is up through August 16. If you are near central Florida, I hope you will visit.

For all of us: focus each day
on the good that needs to be done in the world.

Be part of doing it.

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

--Bobbi

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

They Never Told Us.

July 26, 2026

Some meandering thoughts and artmaking on my mind this week.

I am in between projects. A little stymied. Taking it slowly.

I am trying to teach myself about painting an abstract background, layering it with text, and using overpaint to push the text back into the surface. All new to me.

But the content is familiar territory.

Here it is on my easel before I began work on the abstract background. I will fill up the surface around the girl with words that will resonate with people (particularly girls and young women) who grew up in the generation(s) in which adults never really told us anything. We were left on our own to figure things out.

I created a work several years ago that depicted this emotional state in a young girl: being between stages, between worlds, “Neither Here Nor There.”

***Neither Here Nor There*** Art Quilt 2017

***Neither Here Nor There*** as I painted it on my worktable.

In my family, my parents avoided important topics.

But I remember the one issue I grabbed onto strongly, decided by myself, a conviction that did not waver. In the sixties, when millions of young people like me were protesting and proclaiming that the Vietnam War was wrong, I knew that the protestors were right.

In my family this topic barely came up. My parents secretly loved Richard Nixon. (secretly they were also worried about how black people were all of a sudden getting stirred up and loud.) I tried a few rebellious words with them, but they did not take me too seriously.

But I knew. That war was wrong.

Now, here I am sixty years later, and the United States Government is again pursuing a war. And I know firmly in my soul that I believe it is wrong.

So, while I am struggling with artmaking and words, I discovered these words this week from general-then-president Dwight Eisenhower. I will end by sharing what he said:

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed,” he said. “This world in arms is not spending money alone.

“It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.

“The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some 50 miles of concrete highway. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people.”

“This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense,” he said. “Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.”

(President Dwight Eisenhower, April 1953, in a speech to newspaper editors.)

. . . . . . . . . .

For all of us: focus each day on the good
that needs to be done in the world.

Be part of doing it.

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

Tell the Story

July 19, 2026

I LOVE this picture. Even more, I love what it represents:

Posted on Facebook from the Museum of Art DeLand, it shows our associate curator of education Marisa Ingram and a group from Camp Create (the Museum’s summer art program for kids) in the gallery looking at and thinking about one of the works in my current exhibit. The piece they are looking at is House of Leaves.

I have always been grateful for the months my own daughter spent as a student in Museum of Art DeLand’s summer camps. It opened her eyes to what became a deep love for art and artmaking.

Last week, as I was writing about this exhibit, I mentioned how pleased I was that visitors seem to be engaging with long, thoughtful looks at the works on display. (“Pleased” really isn’t a strong enough word. This makes my artist’s heart pound wildly!)

I believe the artist labels I wrote for each work deepened visitors’ experience with the works. Several readers commented and asked if I would share some of the labels. I’m doing that in tonight’s post.

I know a lot of artists struggle with writing or talking about their work. I encourage every artmaker to tackle this part of being an artist. A good tip, which I learned from another textile artmaker, is to establish the discipline of having a paragraph or two written about each work right after it’s completed. Wherever you store your photos of your artwork, have that document right in the same file. You’ll always have handy the artwork dimensions, year created, price if applicable, materials and methods and – don’t forget this part! – some words about your inspiration or what the work means to you.

I hope you enjoy these three examples from my exhibit.

***American Dream Dream*** **2025 27” x 44”**

***And All That’s Gone Before*** **2014 33” x 42”**

***House of Leaves*** **2024 59.5” x 74”**

. . . . . . . .

For all of us: focus each day on the good
that needs to be done in the world.
Be part of doing it.

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

Helping People to See in a New Way

July 12, 2026

Just as I sat to write this week’s blog, I discovered this image on Instagram. (Thank you National Park Service. Their post went on to describe various parks dedicated to the work of artists, as well as current artist-in-residence programs.) It clarified the ideas I had begun to percolate:

I love the simplicity. A paintbrush. A pen. Images on paper or fabric. The thoughts behind it.

Artists don’t create what’s wonderful or interesting about the world. We work to help other people see it. Or to see it in a new way.

I know I’ve written a good deal already about my current solo show at the Museum of Art DeLand. Forgive me. It’s been such a wonderful experience – almost overwhelming.

A few peeks:

As lovely as the presentation is, I have been most struck by the way attendees are interacting with the work. Each quilt has a small sign beside which I prepared to speak to the origin or meaning of that work, as well as a few words about how it is made.

And people are very engaged with this!

Last Friday evening I presented an artist talk to about fifty people. I went into more depth about my reasons for creating this body of work. I showed some pictures like those I post here on my blog regularly: work in progress, the step-by-step of creating.

I was thrilled by the degree of audience engagement. Artists, take heart and be brave: people really are interested in learning more about artwork. They want to see and know more.

So, for fun, I’ll end this week by showing one of the works in the exhibit. I invite you to take a few moments and look at this work.

Do you see anything surprising?
Do you see the real world depicted in out-of-the-normal ways?
Do you see and then think of things in your own life, past or present?

And, for the makers, can you look and reverse-engineer the process? What different techniques can you identify? What came first? What came next? Can you see the points of construction?

Artmaking is a meaningful endeavor. Artmaking that might help others see something new is a deep joy.

. . . . . .

For all of us: focus each day on the good
that needs to be done in the world.

Be part of doing it.

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

Branches – Trees – Layers – Collage

July 5, 2026

This week I decided to take those screen-printed branches I wrote about last week and do some layering and collage experiments with them.

(For what seems like forever, I have been interested in textile collage that hangs on a plain canvas backer, with a raw edge. I love this look. I have created a number of pieces with various finishing and hanging methods, but nothing has been quite right. I saw another artist’s work with a presentation I liked, and that’s where this experiment is headed.)

For now. . . the stenciling and layering.

Above, on my worktable, I have the partially assembled piece and a paper tree stencil, ready to overpaint. I’ve chosen a much more subdued palette than the other big work I created with these screen printed branches. My hope is to get most of the work pushed back and subtle, so that beautiful vibrant blue will stand out inside the tree.

I have black acrylic paint and matte medium in a little disposable Styrofoam tray ready for rolling. I use this as my palette and paint tray for the foam roller. I’m showing this so you can see about how much I mix up for a project this size: about a heaping teaspoonful each of medium and paint. But, when I mix them together, I’ll go light on the paint and heavier on the medium. I want transparency. And, if it’s too pale, I can always go back over it with more paint. (But—if I got on too much paint, it’s almost impossible to backwards and recapture transparency.)

Now I rolled on the medium-black paint mix, holding the stencil in place with bits of tape and my fingers as I worked.

Above, just a helpful storage tip. Sometimes I don’t want to wash out my foam roller after each use. I know I’m going to come back to this color again tomorrow.) So, if you wrap it tight in wax paper or clear plastic wrap, then put the roller in a plastic storage bag with all the air pushed out, it will stay soft and usable for a few days.)

Here’s the reveal: transparent black background pattern of branches visible through the black, but the bright blue tree shape clearly visible.

The result so far is the vision I had in my head when I started.

So nice when that happens!

. . . . .

Invitation: For folks who are within an easy drive distance to DeLand, I invite you to the artist talk I’m giving Friday, July 10 at 6pm at the Museum of Art DeLand. Galleries open at 5:30. Free for members and $10 for not-yet-members. We’ll be in the main gallery with my works exhibiting and I’ll be talking through what I think about to create a new work and how I create the quilts.

. . . . .

For all of us: focus each day on the good that needs to be done in the world.

Be part of doing it.

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

Screen Printing Mix and Match

June 28, 2026

The large tree-inspired quilt I’m working on now has a bit of everything:

I’ve used a mix of stencils, positive and negative, plus a screen-printed background of branches to create an environment.

The pattern that’s visible at the top of the photo above, off-white branches on a yellow/green background, was created by screen printing with this screen:

The image area is about 8” x 10”. I repeated it across the fabric to make an all-over fabric. It has a nice detail quality, in contrast to the child-like simplicity of tree forms also in this quilt, because I had it made from a photo I took of actual branches— a branch that had fallen in my driveway.

(You’ll see that I’ve labeled this one “Print Branches,” to indicate that it is a positive image. The paint goes through the mesh openings and prints the tree images. I also have a negative of this same branch; using that one, the paint goes through the mesh openings to print the background and the branches show through. I label the screens because I have learned that I can easily mix them up while working.)

Now what?

I’ve added a lot to this work since I took the in-progress photo at the beginning of this post. But I am still thinking I might like a few more layered shapes. For that, I’ve decided to use the same screen, but to use it differently.

I printed white branches on sheer polyester fabric. Once dry, I overpainted the fabric with thin acrylic washes of color. The white branches still show clearly, but they are behind a subtle over-wash of color.

I like the way the different color fabric pieces still relate to one another harmoniously, because the pattern is a constant.

I also discovered a few other subtle results.

Same method. Different fabrics. Above, I have printed two different fabrics exactly the same way: with screen printed branches onto the fabric with a transparent wash of teal on top.

When these two pieces are incorporated into a finished work, collaged and stitched, the difference between the fabrics will add a bit of variety to the surface.

Don’t forget the back! Above, I have shown the back side of the screen printed sheer polyester pieces.

The images on the back are not as clean. There’s a bit of messy grunge where the paint went through the fabric and imprinted the back side against its vinyl dropcloth. Again, placing these pieces next to images of the screen printed fronts can add interest to the composition.

Different fabrics – Different backs In this picture, I’ve shown the back side of two different fabrics printed and painted with the same colors. Another way to mix and match.

There’s no substitute for time spent experimenting with your materials and methods. It’s how you figure out what works. And what does not work.

And— how wonderful— this is also the process of joyful discovery, the pleasure of hands-on artmaking.

For all of us: focus each day
on the good that needs to be done in the world.

Be part of doing it.

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

The Sum of Parts and Process

June 21, 2026

Last Friday evening, when my solo exhibit at the Museum of Art - DeLand was scheduled to open, I showed up a few minutes early just to walk the galleries alone and soak it in. Oh my.

It was a very emotional experience.

First, I was looking at collection representing work I’ve created over the past dozen+ years, a body of unified work, and I was proud and a little amazed to see it all together. Moreover, I was so appreciative of the care and attention the Museum has given this presentation. I think the exhibit is stunning.

Here are a few peeks.

Once people began to arrive, and I could see the interaction of people and artwork, I realized how much all the details matter, and how important the collaborative process is.

Effective Promotion

This is the banner that hangs in the stairwell leading to the second-floor galleries. It is about five feet tall and displays prominently. The Museum did a great job with the on-site signage as well as all the expected print and social media advertising in advance. I am very grateful to be working with such a professional organization.

Artistic teamwork

After I delivered the quilts a week ago, I left all the display decisions to the museum’s exhibition staff. I did not decide what would hang where. That was their job, and another level of artistic contribution to the whole. I created the art. Now somebody else would put into being their vision of how the work should be experienced. (That’s why I was overwhelmed in my pre-opening walk-through. It was the first time I had seen the display as a whole.)

Delightful details

Just a few days before opening, the exhibit curator contacted me wondering if had preliminary sketches of any of the works. I searched my sketchbooks and found a few that I found interesting and thought might add something to the experience. These hung on the wall next to the quilt. I loved what this added.

Preliminary sketches for the quilt *Lillian’s Expectation*s

*Lillian’s Expectations* Textile Collage / Art Quilt 2014 41” x 30” A memory portrait of my Grandmother, Lillian

And, knowing how tempted visitors are to handle textile artwork, the staff asked if I could contribute some fabric scraps for that purpose. This gave attendees an interactive experience with fabric like those I create to incorporate in the finished quilts. I saw people doing that and enjoying it.

Finally – most importantly – people!

This is the most exciting of all to me. I enjoy watching and talking to people who are interested in and involved in understanding what I’ve created. The night was filled with great conversations.

Allow me to end with an invitation. For those near Central Florida, I would be honored if you would visit DeLand, see this exhibit and experience DeLand’s outstanding museum, right in the heart of historic downtown. The works will be up through August 16, and there are a few special talks and programs during this time. Learn more at moartdeland.org.

For all of us: focus each day
on the good that needs to be done in the world.

Be part of doing it.

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

Light needs Shadow. Negative needs Positive

June 14, 2026

This week I returned to the project I began in May: tree patterns formed by pattern and light.

(If you would enjoy going back and reading what came before tonight’s blog, you can find it HERE.)

At the beginning of the week, here’s what I saw on my easel.

At this point, I’ve accomplished what my original experiment was for: creating light patterns in the very background and having them show through transparent color overlays. Inside the color blocks, I’ve used my tree stencils as a negative. That is, I put the tree down on the surface and painted around it. What you see as trees are voids where the paint was blocked out.

What does it need now?

Because it’s so bright and light, with such intense color, I feel like I want some shadow, or darkness.

And, because all the images so far have been created as negatives, I want to add some positives.

Time to stencil the positive tree images.

I laid them out on the quilt surface to determine placement.

And then I painted them. (I used a foam roller and just a very light touch of paint.)

These less-intense trees will be a middle layer: between the background trees and the to-be-created foreground. To make that foreground, I painted some sheer fabric purple.

You can see that this yardage is very lightweight, and also semi-transparent, even when painted.

A few notes about paint on sheers:

You can see from the loose, watercolor-looking edge of the paint, I was putting it on pretty wet. I spritzed the fabric some. I dipped my brush in water before each big stroke. It was a fast and loose process.

If I were to use this fabric for collage or other purposes, those intriguing bleeding edges would be wonderful design elements.

But, for this project, I will be cutting out the fabric into tree shapes.

The stencils are now tracing patterns. I’ll draw around them, cut to the shape, and collage them with matte medium onto the surface of the quilt.

Once glued in place, I will have added shadow to the lights and added positives to the negatives.

After that, I’ll hang it up and let it speak to me, to see what comes next.

. . . . .

For all of us: focus each day on the good
that needs to be done in the world.

Be part of doing it.

Thank you for reading.

I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch: