School Days Part II

I decided to fling paint at my sweet little fabric compositions and bring them over to the dark side of mixed media--nyah ha ha ha ha! (wicked sounding laugh)...
I cut watercolour paper into 11x14 inches for each composition, glued old dressmaking patterns to the front with liquid matte medium, coated the back with primer (cheaper than gesso), and glued the fabric composition to the front (once everything was well dried) with gel matte medium.

Next step was to randomly and quickly dab some Unbleached Titanium acrylic paint onto the fabric and the dressmaking tissue using a small sponge. I tried to keep the photos mostly clear of paint.

Wanting to keep the red and brown tones as well as adding a rusty sort of old feeling to the piece, I quickly spread some Burnt Siena with a paint brush around the perimeter of the fabric and into the ground.

To give the compostion more depth, I mixed Payne's Grey with Raw Umber and applied it with a sponge roller, beginning from the outside edges so that the colour lightened as it got closer to the fabric. I also lightly applied some of this colour to different areas of the fabric itself, as well as flinging paint at it from a loaded paint brush.

More paint was added, some of it was rubbed off with alcohol and/or scratched into with a wooden skewer; each piece was worked on individually until it felt complete. All five are now finished and will be posted here once I have time to photograph them.

*

I hope you'll like them--but it's too late now if you don't! Nyah-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!

Maxim of the The Week

Helen couldn't wait for the instruction session to be over so she could actually get into the kayak and onto the water.

Maxim:

First things first.

School Days

Boys and Girls Together

*

Boys

*

Hoosier

*

Seven

*

Unmixed Doubles

*

Here's a mini-series of stitcheries and photo transfers I just finished. The photos were given to me by my neighbour, who was about to throw them out, not knowing who anyone was in the pictures. In my ongoing effort to clean out, declutter, and use up all the supplies and stashes of stuff in my studio, I put the pictures together with some fabric I had on hand. I find that the compositions are fine as they are but I am tempted to push the envelope and see where it leads me. Most anyone can stitch together themed fabric scraps and print out some photo transfers to produce a satisfying craft project, but how does one turn craft into art and make it a more personal expression? I feel a whole lot of collage and paint coming on!

On the other hand, maybe I should just matt them and frame them and leave well enough alone?

Fortune Teller

This was the final piece I made for what has turned into my "Soul Maps" series. I think it may become the backside of my ongoing (presently stalled)

Tarot cards as well.

Maxim of the Week

Even at age 75, Ed still liked to practise the Human Pretzel routine that had made him moderately famous in his youth.
Maxim:
Use it or lose it.

The Stamp Whisperer

Here is the 2nd in what has suddenly turned into a Stamp Series. I had one stamp that I really liked of a Jack Bush painting so made up a little fabric piece to showcase it (see here). Then recently, while sifting through a pile of crap...er...art supplies on one of my desks, I came across this Year of the Rat stamp that I had kept for future use in something. So it looks like I'm on my way to making a series with Canadian stamps. Not just any old stamp, though. It has to "speak" to me (just call me "The Stamp Whisperer"). I know I unearthed an Anne of Green Gables one while looking for something else and she seemed pretty keen on becoming part of the series.




If you know me at all, you'll know that I can't just leave well enough alone once I've got a material piece finished. I simply must muck about with it in Photoshop. Here's the piece with dear Ratty cropped right out of existence. I think it would make a very nice blog banner.

And in case I've been whispering too softly for the damn thing to hear me, this is what happens when it gets yelled at...so to speak...in Photoshop: it gets turned right into wallpaper!

Studio Views

View to the back yard

View to the front yard and street

View to the side yard

I am lucky enough to have what was formerly a large kitchen as my studio. It's on the 2nd floor of our house, which was once made into a duplex, but we reconverted it to a single dwelling. The tall windows let in lots of light--sometimes too much...but the way summer's going, it's not that much of a problem. The one thing that's lacking in my studio is wall space. An artist needs a place to hang up her finished pieces to look at them from a distance, assess them, live with them for awhile. I do what I can with stacking things around the room and on top of each other and all over any available flat surface (I have 3 desks). The best solution would be to sell all my work!

Coming soon--my own space on Etsy?

Maxim of the Week

Simone loved getting out for a picnic lunch on a hot summer day.

Maxim:

To everything there is a season.

(*as well as a seasoning!)

Back At It

Now that I have given up my gainful employment, I am supposed to be back in my studio full-time. I've been doing well since Monday but have washed up on the hot shoals of summer today. The weather just begs one to sit outside sipping a cold G & T. I did try doing some stitching, but it was too hot in the sun, and too cool in the shade, and there was no way I was going to work indoors. We've been awaiting summer temperatures for far too long! Nevertheless, I do have proof that I have been at work, trying to get the fabric scraps series all finished.





Here's an assortment of some of the fabrications. I'm toying with the idea of cutting out a backing piece of this gorgeous silk for each fabric collage so that just a minimalist hint of a border will show around the outside edges. This, of course, means more finishing work (cutting the silk to the size of each collage and attaching them together with Wonder-Under...necessitating the use of that nasty device called the iron. I must admit I got very poor marks for my ironing skills in Grade 7 Home Ec class). Alack and alas! However, part of making art is figuring out how to present it (backing, matting, framing, etc.)






This is a rogue piece from the series. While each stitched collage is different from the next there are 2 or 3 that are a little more tentatively connected to the series as a whole. But hey, who's making up the rules around here anyway?

*

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a tall cold one waiting for me. Cheers!

*

Good Fibrations

Another wee fibration finished. Poor neglected little darlings are lying at the bottom of my work basket. I still have 3 more in this series to go. I must take the pledge to not start any new ones until these are done!

*

*

Above is the photo-cropped rendition of the piece. Cropping it shows how it would look matted if I chose to frame it this way.

*

*

This is the "raw" version. I am fond of dangling threads and frayed edges. They lend such wonderful texture. However, they may seem ratty and unfinished to others.

What's your preference?

*

Maxim of the Week

Little Marvin loved being home alone so he could dress up in his sister's clothes and play with her dolls.

Maxim:

If the shoe fits, wear it.