A project I have working in the studio has me looking closely at grass. As pattern. As a symbol.

I do a lot of wetlands collages in deeply hued shades of green and blue. So, I’m used to looking at grass forms with a lot of color. This project is asking me to pull way way back on the color so the grass can be a way to depict events that have passed and a sense of loss.

This project began with a bike ride several months ago. We drove to DeLeon Springs and parked the car by the railroad tracks on Lake Winona Road. We rode from there then returned. As I looked around I realized that we were right next to the deserted Strawn Historic Packing House. It’s been closed since a destructive freeze killed the orange crop in 1983 and subject to fire, vandalism and neglect since then.

The deserted warehouse is beautiful. Poignant and filled with memory. I decided it would be interesting subject matter for a history-memory quilt. My goal is to create a strong contrast between a vibrant orange section to represent the once-thriving business and dried grass to represent the past and loss.

Here is the foreground of the photo I shot on that day on the bike ride.

Here is a that image transferred to muslin and on my easel as part of the quilt-in-progress.

I’m happy with the realism and detail of the photo transfer. Now I needed to create some grass-like patterns to enhance the feeling of that overgrown weed and grass area by the warehouse.

This is a section of the quilt that I’ve printed and stitched together. (I am working in sections, quilting-as-I-go.)

This is monotype printing on rice paper. I bonded the rice paper to muslin (with matte medium) after printing so that I can work with it like any other fabric. The image is a ghost print: Natural grasses were put on my printing plate as a stencil. I printed that image on some other fabric or paper. The image that remained (the ghost) on the plate was beautifully detailed. I pulled these prints from that plate.

This is muslin monotype printed with natural grass forms on the plate to act as a resist. The paint on the plate colored the background, but the grass blocked out the fabric behind it. I mixed these colors by blending cadmium yellow medium with black. The result is a wonderful range of olive green hues. (In some print pulls I added just a tad of white to the mix.)

So far, I love this muted palette and the way the patterns are coming together. I’ll have this memory-in-progress in the studio over the next month.

JUST A REMINDER… GOT POETRY?
I am the volunteer coordinator for a project of SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) Florida Region. It will be a book with textile artworks depicting fish and other underwater life. The fish will be created by SAQA members. To go along with the textile art in the book, we are looking for short poems on the subject of fish (or any other kind of underwater life) in Florida. All poets welcome! If you are a poet I hope you will submit work. If you know poets I hope you will spread the word. You can request a complete prospectus with timeline and details here: SaqaFlapoetryProject@gmail.com.

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

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