I always enjoy using a mathematical or scientific principal, then remembering when I had learned that in school. I especially remember eighth grade geometry lessons against the backdrop of students moaning, “When are we ever going to use THIS?”

This weekend I worked on enlarging a reference photo to about 4 and a half times its original size using a simple drawing grid. It’s a useful and pleasing process and accomplishes some things that don’t happen with other enlargement methods.

I have an enlarging projector and sometimes I use that. But — aside from the logistical issues of waiting till night for a darkened room and setting up the projector and the drawing surface at the correct distance — tracing a shape that’s projected does not feel the same as constructing a drawing.

I also work in Photoshop to compose artworks, and it’s very handy. But it also does not feel the same as constructing a drawing.

For this new artwork, I am creating a drawing of a little girl. This is subject matter I have used before. I get very involved emotionally with the character. Once I am further along in the work, that will be a good thing. (This quilt will be about conversation with the inner child.) But, for now, I need to get the shapes and proportion right. The process of grid-enlargement forces me to turn off the left brain involvement with the subject and focus on the right-brain function of just seeing shape and relationships of parts.

I began by drawing a grid of squares on the reference photo. I made six squares - 2 across and 3 down. That was enough to keep me on track. As I drew, when I needed more precise reference, I ticked off the center point of each grid and used that too.

The grid does not have to be squares. (But I like squares.) I could have used rectangles. What’s essential is that the grid drawn on the enlarging surface is the same ratio as the original.

The subject matter of a human figure is a tempting trap. My brain thinks it knows where the eye, the ears and the body parts should go. If I relied on that, I would have drawn them all in the wrong place and the wrong size. The grid forces me to see the parts as line and shape.

This little girl is also seated on a ladderback chair at an odd angle. This is also a tempting trap. As I drew I was glad to have the grid keeping me in line.

At the end of the days’ work, I had my figure at final size on brown kraft paper. I have prepped a piece of plain muslin with diluted white house paint ready for the final drawing. I will trace my paper drawing onto the muslin with a light table, at first just with pencil. I hope to bring her to life with more expressive drawn marks, probably a mix of marker and oil pastel, and maybe some left-handed drawing. I’ll overlay some paint washes and printed transparent fabrics to build up some values.

The inner child quilt will be a work-in-progress for the next few weeks. I’ll share more as it progresses.

JUST FOR FUN… If you have not enlarged artwork with a grid, give it a try. For a creative twist, break the proportion rules. If you draw squares on your reference photo, for example, but tall rectangles on your final surface, as you draw in the lines within each block you’ll see your original image stretched out tall and distorted.

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

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