This was a weekend of interesting surprises.
THE BOX-ON-THE-PORCH SURPRISE I was out for the morning and returned to a long skinny box delivered by Fed-Ex. The labeling told me it contained a quilt returned to me from Studio Art Quilt Associates.
This quilt has been a world traveler as part of SAQA’s global exhibit “Opposites Attract.” Like Christmas morning, I had the pleasure of unwrapping and rediscovering the work. (It has been traveling as part of the exhibit approximately two years.)
My quilt from “Opposites Attract” is Rust Happens.
Looking at it again helped me to remember all the parts that went into this work, and what I enjoyed about it.
My art quilt “Rust Happens” when I was creating the parts
My art quilt “Rust Happens” - detail - photographic images next to other kinds of surface design
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THE OH-NO!-WHAT WAS I THINKING SURPRISE! This is a follow-up to last week’s post, in which I was experimenting with color relationships in a composition of two pieces each about 12” square.
Here’s where I was at the end of last week’s blog.
I like the elements, I like the overall palette, but I wanted it to have a little more “pop.” Some warm yellow seemed like a good idea. I added a yellow circle to the section with the bird and to the background of the section with the fish. It turned out like this:
I hated this! Too garish. Even though I had mixed the yellow with matte medium for transparency, the primary color combination now looked to me like a circus clown. The learning experience (which I should have known, having made this same error before) is that the paint does not look the same when you roll it on as it does when it dries. When it’s wet, the white matte medium makes the paint look more pale. It is a hue mixed with white. But, when it drIes, the matte medium is clear and all the hue shows full intensity.
So I worked on saving this project and – ANOTHER SURPRISE! I feel like it was successful. I painted over the yellow sections with a very transparent layer of matte medium with white. (White is opaque, so just a little bit makes a big difference.) Then I finished adding the collage elements and added surface stitching. Finally, a bit of all-over black spatter. Here’s the result:
Life’s an adventure!
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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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