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
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