Beginnings

I enjoy the beginning stages of artmaking.

For paper collages, the very beginning is ripping rice paper from its full size sheets to the working size I’ll use on my monotype printing plate. This is a surprisingly pleasing and soothing task. I enjoy the process of tearing against my metal ripping bar. I like stacking up the sheets, ready for creating images.

For fabric artwork, the beginning stages generally involves some background painting.

I like this stage too. I begin to envision the layers that will come after the initial layer. I begin to get a sense of the palette.

I have a new art quilt in progress - in its very earliest stages. It will be based on images from a photo shoot I did on New Year’s Day. A small drainage stream near my home had some wonderful images of reflected trees. The picture above shows the paper color copies on my easel, along with a few other images I might like to incorporate. These pieces are ready to be transferred to muslin. Hanging them up helps me to begin to see patterns and consider compositions.

I have set aside fabrics that I think might become a part of this quilt. I’ll hang them up on my easel too, to begin to see how the parts might fit together. I’ll see the missing parts too, to determine what else I need to print.

This is a different quilt – one I just completed. I was further along on this one. Fabrics printed and selected, and photo transfers done. Now I’m seeing how it all fits together.

In all kinds of artmaking, there are parts of the process that are especially pleasing and inspiring, and parts that are more difficult. (And sometimes a piece reaches a point where it’s just a slog to get through it!)

Capturing the pleasure of the parts you most enjoy can help you stay on course when you reach the harder parts.

. . . . .

Coming Event: Studio Tour. My studio will be part of the “Off The Beaten Path” Studio Tour in West Volusia (the DeLand area,)  Florida. March 5-6. 10 am – 5 pm. If you are in central Florida I hope you will come visit. There are 11 studios to visit in the DeLand area. It’s free. You plan your own tour, going to what interests you. In my studio I’ll show where and how I work, and also have one-of-a-kind work available for purchase. (Including some super bargains.)

Coming Event: Shopping Opportunity  Several times a year I release a new series of matted paper collage artworks. The next new release date will be Wednesday, February 23.  I will send out a reminder e-mail, then send pictures of all the works the night before the sale goes LIVE on my website, then the work will actually be available on Wednesday evening. I have been so grateful in the past to the great response. (It gets pretty fast and furious!) If you are interested in receiving this information, you’ll need to be a subscriber to my monthly newsletter. You can subscribe HERE

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

BLOG POSTS  Mostly about what I am creating in the studio. If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail, please subscribe here:  I post and send by e-mail each Sunday evening. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL

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A Favorite Chair Revisited

I am working my way toward completion of a large art quilt this week and wanted one more element to finish the storytelling in the work. A ladderback chair seemed just right.

I have written before about ladderback chairs. They are a favorite symbol for me. Depicted empty, they connote memory. Who was there? What do they remember?

And the first ladderback chairs I remember seeing as a child were in the dining room of a school friend, a home I associated with laughter and rules a bit less formal that my own home.

So, I like these chairs.

I pulled one of my trusty large ladderback chair stencils (I have several sizes) from the shelf and traced out its basic shape onto muslin. Then I collaged a mix of fabrics onto the muslin. Then I stitched them down.

Now I could put the stencil on the top, moving it around till the different fabric colors and patterns hit in the spots I want. Then trace the shape.

Then I cut out the shape of the chair.

My end product is a cut-out chair ready to place on the quilt, collage into position, then stitch into place and quilt.

I am very happy with this chair. I like the way the colors blend and seem to suggest light on a form.

Just one problem.

It doesn’t look good on the quilt I intended it for. I did try out the fabrics against the quilt background, and I did think through what the chair colors would be next to.

But, when I placed it, it was just too much. It disappeared  into the background. I could not tell it wasn’t quite right till I’d created it.

Shoot!

Time for some new chairs

My next plan is to create the chairs with more of an all-over brownish hue, and less pattern.  (I’m creating one lighter brown and one darker brown, just to be sure I get one right.) I hope the second time is the charm.

Since I don’t have a nice “Ta-daaa!’ finished product to show you yet, I’ve pulled out a few artworks-with-chairs from my files to show you. These works are all on my website, where you can find out more information about them.

SECRET GARDEN An art quilt I created earlier this summer
If you would like more information about Secret Garden, click HERE

HOLDING ON – LETTING GO  A smaller work mounted on a wooden box frame.
If you would like more information about Holding On Letting Go, click HERE

OVERGROWN CONVERSATION – An art quilt that also includes some detailed photo transfers of windows.
If you would like more information about Overgrown Conversation, click HERE

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

BLOG POSTS  - once a week:  Mostly about what I am creating in the studio. If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail, please subscribe here:  I post and send by e-mail each Sunday evening. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL

NEWSLETTER – about once a month: Mostly news of exhibits and my way of introducing new work. You’ll get FIRST LOOKS at new artwork and members-only discounts. You’ll hear from me about once a month.  NEWSLETTER

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Landscapes 3 Ways

Looking at the landscape — appreciating it and learning from it — is not different from the sensitivities of storytelling. I enjoy depicting natural scenes because they contain stories: characters, plots and changes over time.

The more I read good poetry, and learn to write better poetry,  the more I see how the details of natural landscapes and stories go together.

I received notification this week that I have work accepted into a landscape-themed exhibit in Pennsylvania. (Regular readers may remember that last week I wrote about the process of applying to exhibits and the discipline of artist statements. So, here’s the first reply I received and I got a YES! Yaaaaayyy! Details at the end of blog post.)

Artmakers who are inspired by nature can go about responding to that inspiration in a number of ways. Here are some examples from the works I submitted to this exhibit.

CLOSE-UPS

This is Listening to the Language of Trees.

I created this work from squares of individually printed tree patterns. What interested me in the project is the repetition: same but different. I layered colors and shapes in different orders on each square, with the screen-printed tree form being the dominant pattern. To me, it captures the feel of being right close-up in tree branches or a thicket, realizing the complexity of tree shapes.

Detail Listening to the Language of Trees

NATURE + CHARACTERS                          

This is Florida Undercurrents.

This was one of my earliest art quilts, and I did a lot that I still like very much. I enjoyed the process of creating water patterns with shaped sections of fabric. I enjoyed printing the grass-like shapes for the border from actual grasses from my garden.

And, as with Listening to the Language of Trees, I have done some rearranging of the scene one would actually see.

Below the person floating in the springs we see prehistoric fish, based on images of fish that actually inhabited what is now Florida long before there were folks tubing on the river. The composition shows different time periods, side by side. The simple idyllic scene of floating in a tube now serves as part of a larger story. Where did the prehistoric fish go? How do such changes occur? What will become of the person now floating serenely?

Detail Florida Undercurrents

 ABSTRACTING

This is Just Below the Surface.

I was inspired by a photo I took of fascinating rock and root patterns that I discovered when digging out a garden right next to my driveway. Only inches below the surface; they look wild, untamed and strong. I wanted to create an abstracted environment to represent the rich interplay of life forms down in the dirt. Dirt is more than just brown. It is alive with complexity. I enjoyed putting the photographic images next to the patterned colored fabric as a way to speak to this indescribably complex existence.

Detail Just Below the Surface

Three ways to view landscape. Three submissions to an exhibit. This is the one that was accepted:

If you live near this part of Pennsylvania, I hope you will visit the show. It incudes works in a variety of mediums, and it will be interesting to see how other artists responded to the concept of Nature – Serene and Savage. And — if you visit — please let me know!

If you would like more information about the works shown in this post, you can find them on my website at these links: (They are all in the gallery called Layered Nature.)
LISTENING TO THE ANGUAGE OF TREES
FLORIDA UNDERCURRENTS
JUST BELOW THE SURFACE

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating 

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

BLOG POSTS  - once a week:  If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail,  please subscribe here:  I post and send by e-mail each Sunday evening. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL

NEWSLETTER – about once a month: If you enjoy more detailed behind-the-scenes stories, as well as FIRST LOOKS at new works and members-only discounts, I hope you’ll become a Studio Insider.  You’ll hear from me about once a month.  NEWSLETTER

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Some unexpected monotypes

I received my second covid shot on Friday. (Or “Jab #2” as they say on the BBC.)

Yayyy! (As we say here in the states.)

It meant most of the weekend I felt a little like I was walking underwater. A price I am happy to pay. I took many naps and just puttered in the studio. No big projects brewing.

But I did have a little serendipitous printing on paper to share.

I had spread out a large vinyl drop cloth to protect my worktable from some wet fabric painting. When I lifted the wet fabric off there were wonderful puddles.

I recently cleaned out and rearranged the storage under my table to make room for a stack of packing boxes. It was a refreshing exercise. I threw out all kinds of old scraps I’ll never use and put the pieces that really interest me in a big plastic bin with a good lid that I can get to easily.

It’s a little thing, but I’m very proud of cleaning out underneath my worktable. Amazingly I added a lot but made more room!

So, when the puddles appeared. I popped open the plastic bin and pulled out a few sheets of tissue paper. For paper collages, tissue paper is magic. It picks up the most delicate images with just the slightest pressure. Little cracks and textures that other papers would miss are well defined.

I thought these puddle snippets suggest water nicely.

I can envision them in an abstract landscape with some sky and water. Maybe a wading bird.

Pressing the paper into the puddles took less than three minutes. But, now those delightful, random shapes are in the bin waiting for me.

(Warning – while I sing the praises of tissue paper, I must also admit it rips and falls apart just by looking at it. Learning to incorporate it into work is challenging.)

……………..

A few things coming up that I look forward to…

Art Event April 24. I’ll be showing work at this event sponsored by the Guild of the Museum of Art DeLand. It’s a small pop-up show (approx 20 artists) in a beautiful setting under a pavilion at Select Growers, on US 11 just north of DeLand. If you are in driving distance of DeLand I hope you’ll stop by.

Lightning Talk at the SAQA Global Conference. This year the Global conference is all virtual. I submitted a proposal for a Lightning Talk. (20 slides x 20 seconds each = 6 minutes and 40 seconds.) I’ll be speaking about What Poetry Can Teach Visual Artists. I’ll have my practice recording session later this week. For readers who are SAQA members and will be at the conference, I hope you’ll mark your schedule for Friday April 23  8:15 pm.

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

BLOG POSTS  - once a week:  If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail,  please subscribe here:  I post and send by e-mail each Sunday evening. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL

NEWSLETTER – about once a month: If you enjoy more detailed behind-the-scenes stories, as well as FIRST LOOKS at new works and members-only discounts, I hope you’ll become a Studio Insider.  You’ll hear from me about once a month.  NEWSLETTER

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Between Make-Believe and Memory

Today I am doing some looking back. Back into make-believe. Back into memory.

As I recall being a young girl, I remember how powerful the world of make-believe was for me. I frequently played alone, with paper dolls, Barbies and drawing pads to create new universes and new stories.

“Between Make-Believe and Memory” is a quilt I completed this year that walks into this memory world. I am so pleased that it was recently accepted into the SAQA traveling exhibit, “Connections,” which will premiere at the International Quilt Festival, Houston 2021 and travel for about two years.

The beginning of this work was my discovery of the photo of the rowhouses. (© 2014 Alana Semuels, as originally published in The Atlantic, used with permission.) It’s very powerful. These row houses are in downtown Baltimore, the city where I grew up. My family also lived in a row house neighborhood. It was not the same as this one; this neighborhood is older and has clearly fallen on hard times. Still, the image evoked a pang of recognition. Bricks. Concrete sidewalks. Cracks. It spoke to me at once as a way into the exploration of traveling back to childhood stories.

I was interested in using the sidewalk cracks as a way to bridge the divide between the two realities. I monotype printed cotton muslin with a very drab grey-brown color to match the sidewalks in the photo. There is a clear vertical line of delineation through the piece, but it is crossed over by the sidewalk texture and cracks.

I was pleased with the way the sidewalk texture interacts with the little girl’s shadow. Lightly painting the shadow shape allowed the texture I had created with machine stitching to show through. They are now actually a part of the little girl.

What is the meaning of the section with gold and green and tree forms?

It is intentionally undefined. The lines suggest trees, but they are not a literal forest. This is the world of make-believe.

Beneath the row houses, the roots were printed with a screen of linear tree-like lines that mirrors the make-believe section. The underground life of the houses. The inhabitants of the houses. What’s remaining now that they are gone.

The surface of this work is very much like a painting, although it is constructed as a layered and stitched quilt. The house photograph was transferred to muslin manually with acrylic medium. It is stiff and created a good surface for the acrylic paint touch-ups I did on the surface.

I am so grateful for the opportunities provided by SAQA to its artists to stretch by creating works for call-to-entries. I like thinking of this girl traveling to a number of venues, hoping she will speak to those who see the exhibit.

When you enter a juried exhibit, you have to submit an artist statement. Here’s what I said about this quilt:

“I can imagine the insistent pull within a migrating animal to return to its place of origin. I have felt similar longings. Having lived my early childhood in a row house section of Baltimore, I experienced a visceral response to this image of abandoned row houses in a downtown Baltimore neighborhood. Make-believe (my imaginings as a child) and Memory (the real events) live side-by-side, overlap, rearrange and conflate, creating a powerful emotional connection.”

I have explored the journey of a young girl in many ways in my artmaking. If you are interested in seeing more, please visit the Journeys and Stories gallery on my website, HERE.

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

BLOG POSTS  - once a week:  If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail,  please subscribe here:  I post and send by e-mail each Sunday evening. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL

NEWSLETTER – about once a month: If you enjoy more detailed behind-the-scenes stories, as well as FIRST LOOKS at new works and members-only discounts, I hope you’ll become a Studio Insider.  You’ll hear from me about once a month.  NEWSLETTER

Doing the Work

Here I am in the studio this morning. Sewing. Standing up.

It’s not that standing while sewing is all that unusual or a bad idea. If you get tired and shoulder-achey while sewing it can provide relief.

But I’m sewing standing up because this piece is big, and heavy, and hard to handle, and the tree I added is toward the middle of the piece where it’s a stretch to reach. This is hard work both for me and my little sewing machine, and quite a slog.

I am not complaining. I choose my materials and my working methods and I could have chosen to work some other way. But, well, you’ve got to make work in a way that interests you and that’s pleasing. It’s not about being logical.

I have great admiration for textile artists who create beautiful and sensitive small works, often including hand sewing. They can be just lovely. But it’s not who I am. I like to work big. And I like to collage.

So, sometimes, at least part of the creation process is just – work. It’s stuff I have to do to get to the end, or to get to other creative parts I enjoy more.

Artmaking is a wonderful mix of experiences. There’s the emotional longing to create. There’s the inspiration of putting an idea onto paper in a sketch book. There’s the challenge of decision-making along the way. There are the hours of solitude int the studio – just you and some music. There are tasks that are just work. And there’s the pleasure of seeing work develop before your eyes.

This afternoon I got to sit and sew for a while. This is a small portion of the same quilt. I have collaged its fabric layers and now I am using the machine stitching as a form of drawing, a loose outlining and defining of this young girl. Aaaah! Just artmaking pleasure. The piece is easy to handle. My sewing machine is not stressed out. And I can see the shape take place as I sew.

These are the moments artmakers live for.

The most not-logical project I have created was just about a year ago, at the beginning of pandemic seclusion, when I wanted to tackle a large, 4-panel quilt. I had a vision for using raw-edge panels and an intricate mix of photo transfers and other kinds of imagery.

It’s What Were We Supposed To Be. Here’s a detail.

If you’d like to see more, the whole 4-panel composition is on my website, HERE

I have a few new ideas for projects in the studio this week. I look forward to all parts of the process.

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

BLOG POSTS  - once a week:  If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail,  please subscribe here:  I post and send by e-mail each Sunday evening. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL

NEWSLETTER – about once a month: If you enjoy more detailed behind-the-scenes stories, as well as FIRST LOOKS at new works and members-only discounts, I hope you’ll become a Studio Insider.  You’ll hear from me about once a month.  NEWSLETTER

Reaching for Stars

This feels like a week to be reaching for the stars. I have returned to this work-in-progress in the studio with enthusiasm and hope.

When it’s done, this work will be an homage to the suffragists of the early 20th century, whose work helped to get us here. For now, I’m in the fabric-creation stage and I’m dealing with the stars.

There will be a field of blue and a field of red. I want stars, but not white stars. My vision is for a hue- on-hue effect; royal blue stars on a dark navy blue background, and red-red stars on a deeper red background.

I decided to create these as resist prints using wheat paste. I’ll roll the wheat paste onto the stencils with a paint roller, creating the shapes I want to see on the final product. Then overpaint with the darker background color so the lighter shows through, after the wheat paste is washed off.

Here’s how it looked in progress:

First I painted about a yard and a half of each fabric: just solid color. A yard and a half of royal blue, and a yard and a half of red-red. (Cadmium red.)

Then, I cut stencils of stars and rolled in the wheat paste. At this stage, it looks like white stars on red or blue background. I let his  yardage dry overnight till the resist is fully dry and crunchy.

Now it’s time to overpaint.

Here’s the red fabric: solid cadmium underneath, with wheat paste stars in between, and a deeper red sponge painted over the hole surface, hanging on the fence to dry

Here’s a closeup of both the blue and red fabrics at the same stage. On the blue piece, you can see the royal blue under-layer, and you can see the outline of the printed stars, and you can see the darker navy blue paint over all of that.

Once the over layer of dark paint was dry, I dunked the yardage in a bucket of warm water to dissolve the wheat paste. To remove the paste, I spread the fabric out on my worktable and scrape it off with a spoon, then dunk it some more, then finally take it outdoors to wash off with the jet setting on my garden hose.

The result: blue on blue and red on red.

And now those fabrics are ready to collage into the finished piece.

Learning experience: Wheat paste is wet and goopy. It will destroy a card stock stencil pretty quickly. (I had not remembered this before I started, and I cut new stencils, not preserving them with medium before printing.) By the end of printing the blue, my stencil was mush. So, I quickly cut new stars to print the red. That turned out to be a happy accident. On the stencil I cut for the red I just drew freehand stars, a lot looser and less symmetrical than the blue. This worked out well, since the red fabric goes on the flowing flag and actually should be rendered with a bit of skew. I lucked out!

Another learning experience; Why didn’t I just print light colors on top of a darker fabric and avoid the whole resist process? Because the acrylic paint is not completely opaque. The darker underneath color would have distorted the over color. Only the addition of white creates opacity, and I didn’t want white in the final product.

More to come with this work in weeks ahead.

And now - oh boy! - one last chance to promote the FRESH FISH book

 The special promo ends February 1. It’s been such a pleasure to be part of this project and to design the book. SAQA is promoting it through the SAQA store for a SPECIAL PRICE of $15.95 each with FREE shipping. (With regrets, the free shipping special can only be for residents of the contiguous United States.) The book sales benefit SAQA Florida exhibits and programs. And (well, I’m biased) I think it’s a book you’ll really enjoy reading. The textile artwork and poetry complement each other wonderfully. To order the promo, order here www.saqa.com/freshfish

Your book should arrive about mid-February. If you want a book sooner, or if you live outside the contiguous United States, you can order on Amazon HERE

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

BLOG POSTS: If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail,  please subscribe here:  I post blogs once a week. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL

NEWSLETTER: If you enjoy more detailed behind-the-scenes stories, as well as FIRST LOOKS at new works and members-only discounts, I hope you’ll become a Studio Insider.  You’ll hear from me about once a month.  NEWSLETTER

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Starting the day. Capturing a moment.

I began this morning with a little poetry.

There’s a ritual involved. A cup of coffee. (Of course.) A comfy place on the couch. Feet up on the footstool. A little blanket over my feet. A pen to mark the words and phrases I especially like.

A poem about snipping yellow flowers caused me to pause. Put my book down. Close my eyes for a few moments. Savor and think.

It wasn’t just flowers. It was very specific flowers: yellow irises. And not just scissors. Specific scissors. Some five-and-ten-cent store scissors from the junk drawer, inherited from the previous resident of her place.

And the flowers went in a simple carafe on a white tabletop in the sun.

I could see it. And I could feel and relate to the emotions and ideas the poet related from the forbidden cutting. (The irises were in an abandoned garden not actually the property of the poet to cut. That was part of the story.)

So much in a short less-than-a-page group of words. They captured a moment.

Capturing a moment.

Then preserving or redefining it, presenting it to the reader. I will have my impressions of those flowers in my head most of the day.

It seems a good test to apply to visual artmaking.

Have I created something that captures or expresses a single thought?

Have I eliminated everything that would distract from that thought?

Will the viewer have something to take away and savor?

Could the viewer return to my work again and rediscover the initial feeling, or see something new? (I know I have marked this iris poem as one to visit again.)

I have a head full of artmaking ideas I want to address this week and several projects in the works.

I’m productive in my studio.

But. This simple experience of poetry is important. I want it to be a part of what I am working one. A way to look meaningfully at what I create.

Is it about something?

Am I using my art tools and practices to convey that?

Will it show up in the work?

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

BLOG POSTS: If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail,  please subscribe here:  I post blogs once a week. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL

NEWSLETTER: If you enjoy more detailed behind-the-scenes stories, as well as FIRST LOOKS at new works and members-only discounts, I hope you’ll become a Studio Insider.  You’ll hear from me about once a month.  NEWSLETTER

Letting Each Color Do Its Work

I’m so grateful that it is a new year, filled with possibilities. I feel a great burst of creative energy

This week I have been working to complete the blue-trees artwork that has developed into an art quilt. It is making me think about color and how it works.

I try hard to use my colors intentionally.

Colors have purpose; I find my work is most effective when I let each color do its job.

Generally, I compose works with one dominant color. I work almost monochromatically through a lot of the creation. Then, I add accents and splashes of (usually) the complement or near-complement.

The dominant color in this work is blue. A blue palette with tree images evokes dreams and memories to me. Although I have added a lot more complexity in monoprinting multiple layers and values in the individual sections, the overall palette reads as blue.

This section is monoprinted with blue acrylic on rice paper, then collaged to muslin

This section is mooprinted with multiple colors on sheer polyester, then collaged to muslin

Using MOSTLY one color throughout a work provides unity. Using ONLY one color throughout would just be boring.

In this work, I love the splashes of orange and mustard yellow. Their job is to wake up the blue and make it more lively. (Complementary colors next to each other create a visual “pop.”) Here are the two sections from above next to an orange hue.

I created the tree with the complements of orange and blue. Orange was the underneath color. The tree was formed with a hand-cut stencil on a gelatin printing plate, with some organic grass pieces providing the texture.

Even where the blue overprints the orange, that bit of orange shows through and gives it some depth.

Here is the reverse. I have overprinted orange shapes through a stencil onto a blue background. But the magic ingredient here is not the complement, it’s a little bit of white.

If you put blue and orange (complements) NEXT to each other they each “pop.” If you put orange on TOP of blue, you get mud. The orange is not opaque unless there’s a bit of white mixed in. The white is what has transformed this pure orange into a cantaloupe—like color. White adds opacity.

I also used the opaque quality of white to create the window shape around the tree.

I am enjoying this quilt, but I am also anxious to complete it. My new year energy has stirred up all kinds of ideas of what to work on next.

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

BLOG POSTS: If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail,  please subscribe here:  I post blogs once a week. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL

NEWSLETTER: If you enjoy more detailed behind-the-scenes stories, as well as FIRST LOOKS at new works and members-only discounts, I hope you’ll become a Studio Insider.  You’ll hear from me about once a month.  NEWSLETTER

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Artmaking from the gut

This image of abandoned row houses has stayed with me.

If an image speaks to you powerfully — if it stays with you after you’ve turned away from it — I think you should listen.

When I look at my own work critically, I find that I am generally most pleased with pieces in which I have some emotional investment. Deeper gut reaction can be the beginning of deeper artwork. So, I now have several large pieces (each just in its beginning stage) that have started with a powerful gut reaction.

Painting touchups on the photo I transferred to fabric

This one is about houses in a row.

I grew up in Baltimore and spent my earliest years in a row house neighborhood. This was not a slum and it was also not a fancy townhome neighborhood. It was the kind of neighborhood in which young families were in their first starter home. There were kids around. Each house had a small, fenced back yard that opened out onto the alley.

When I was in high school my family moved to Florida. I remember noticing right away that the houses and the neighborhood just didn’t feel the same. Florida homes don’t have basements. The interiors have different wall finishes and different windowsills.

Everything felt “off.”

This photo of rundown houses in downtown Baltimore just speaks to me. It has a beautiful subtle palette. I like the simple shapes. And it speaks of loss and decay. (I discovered it online, referenced to a magazine publication from 2014. I contacted them and received permission to use the photo in my quilt.) I will be adding a character (a little girl) to the story and incorporating other fabric elements alongside this photo too.

Mixing some neutral grey tones for touching up the photo

Recently I presented a program via zoom to a quilt group in California. Most of the talk was about thinking through concepts and ideas – all the things to do before creating an art quilt. (Or any kind of artwork.) To me, this is where there’s important work to do.

The image that speaks so deeply to me might not speak to any other artist. All OK. Some are inspired by a peaceful beach in the early morning, or a hibiscus flower with amazing hues, or a piece of family memorabilia. Also all OK.

What I think is important is to listen to that strong gut reaction to an inspiration. Then start figuring out what to do with it.

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

PS - Last week I was sharing some anxiety over our US election. Today… Aaaahhhh! So much better. I am filled with relief and hope for the future. Thanks to you for sharing your heartfelt responses.

BLOG POSTS: If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail,  please subscribe here:  I post blogs once a week. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL

NEWSLETTER: If you enjoy more detailed behind-the-scenes stories, as well as FIRST LOOKS at new works and members-only discounts, I hope you’ll become a Studio Insider.  You’ll hear from me about once a month.  NEWSLETTER

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Above the water. Into the Water.

For several weeks a large quilt-in-progress has been in various stages on my easel. Now, close to its completion is among the most interesting stages to me.

I have filled the space with images of water.

Photo transfers of water.

Painted and printed fabric to suggest water.

Stitching to create motion and ripples.

And, up to this stage, it is mostly as I had planned the work to be. Along with the water I have incorporated some window images to draw the viewer into the experience of looking into water.

Without doing more, I found this work to be pleasing. There’s a lot to look at and I like the palette. But it wasn’t “there” yet. I love to sit next to a body of water, or with my feet in the water, and just look down. The experience of looking through the surface to what’s below is mesmerizing. It stirs memories and emotions.

If I want my finished artwork to recreate an experience something like that (and I do!) I will need to create some layers to look through, and have some things in the background to discover

Here is a detail of one corner to show some of how that’s working.

Depths below: The tree shape In the background was created by stenciling over the background fabric squares, allowing the shape of a tree to show through. I stitched its edges with a heavy thread so it would show up. Still, this is a very subtle shape, and one you might not even notice at first.

Images in front: The brown-toned tree has been physically collaged to the front of the quilt. It has a bit of thickness, so it actually appears in the front. (I may go in and do a bit more shadowing on its edges. This section is close to done, but not completely done.)

Messing with what’s possible; The tree and the roof of the house are interacting. In real life, a tree could not simultaneously be in font of and within and behind a house as it is here. This begins to create emotional layers. We know now that this is not real in the same way as a photograph is real. There are recognizable elements, but they move forward and back as in a dream.

This tree-window-water detail shows more of that layering.

I enjoy creating works with a storytelling component. I want the visual elements to stir up thoughts and memories, and provide a way for a viewer to insert her own stories. Different people will look at images of water and see different things, and feel different memories.

That’s the final layer, and the one I can’t predict. Interacting with the work is the purpose of creating it, and it’s the layer the viewer will provide.

………………………

One more poetry reminder: I am a volunteer with SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) Florida Region, coordinating the poetry portion of a book project. We’ll be publishing in early spring 2021. The book is  an artistic collaboration between SAQA textile artists and poets. We are encouraging ALL poets (no need to be a textile artist or a SAQA member) to submit short works about Florida underwater life, especially FISH.  DEADLINE TO SUBMIT IS OCTOBER 31. NO FEES. You can request information and timeline Here. 

SAQAFlaPoetryProject@gmail.com

That email will be answered by me, and I’ll get the information right out to you. THANK YOU!

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

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Rediscovering Still Life

Earlier this week I was looking at some glass bottles on the windowsill next to where I sew.

They reminded me of some earlier still life collages I had created. Around 2010 I was seeking a new artmaking medium and decided to see where mixed media collage could go. I decided to take a simple image of a flower in a glass bottle and recreate it fifty times in fifty works of art. (A good friend agreed to look at them as they progressed, to keep me accountable.) The plan was to do one a week for fifty weeks. I ended up creating them much sooner. And I learned more than I could have imagined.

A few years later I did a set of six still life collages featuring glass bottles and other elements. They have all gone to collector’s homes.

So… maybe the time is right to create a new series.

I have some deep-cradle birch panels that I plan to use for mounting. (I’m all for letting “let’s-use-what-materials-and-framing-I-already-have-on-hand” be part of inspiration.) I will collage onto muslin. Above, I’m prepping the muslin: giving it a coat of watered down exterior house primer to serve as a gesso. This will stiffen up the muslin. Less puckering when collaging. Able to be stitched. Wraps the wooden board nicely.

I started with some sketches.

But, I allowed things to change as I worked my way through the composition.

Some things I especially like about still life depicting bottles:

Transparency. The points of overlap are interesting, allowing the color to change as the bottle shows other bottles or other shapes behind.

Materials: Both rice paper and sheer fabric can be monotype printed with patterns that are interesting in the interior of a bottle.

Abstraction: Creating a still life is actually an exercise in seeing shapes and creating patterns. My way of working is not so much to depict a specific collection of objects on a surface in a real space. Elements move around. This allows the shapes to suggest spaces as the work evolves. I’m working in a composition space of 12” x 24”. The work will either be tall and skinny or wide and short. This helps to keep me from getting stuck in seeing just a realistic space.

Mixed subject matter:  Along with the bottles, so far I have introduced a fish, some pitchers, little birds and a gear.  Squares and lines are also part of the pictures..

Palette exercises: I plan to print up some pieces in different palettes. My next one will be mostly greys with white and yellow. All this is great practice for when I tackle my next large work.

Here’s how this finished work will look mounted on the panel with muslin-wrapped edge.

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

PS The still life collages are experimental works-in-progress, and this was my first. So… none on my website yet. But, if this image appeals to you, let me know. It’s 12”W x 24”H, ready-to-hang, for $289 (tax and shipping in continguous US included) You would make my day!

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Art about US – What unites, divides US

The folks next door may not be just like me. And I am not just like them. But we’re all folks living out the lives we know.

I am so pleased to be part of an upcoming exhibit curated by Touchstone Gallery in Washington, DC. It’s called “US – What Unites us, What Divides us.” I was accepted into one of their shows last year, and so I have a sense of the kind of work the gallery is interested in. It’s a top-notch gallery with great quality work; I suspect some will be pretty edgy, and much will be social commentary. A pretty good time for that.

But, as I thought about submitting an entry, I had to work with what work I had created, and I chose to focus on the simplest of common human experiences. We all come from a home or family of some kind, and it helps to form us. Good or bad. So, all of us have that in common.

Here’s a look at the work I submitted, “Sing the Songs that We Learned There.”

INSIDE – The focal point of this work is the variety inside each house. I mixed up colors and patterns to show the vitality of different lives.

UNDERNEATH – All of the houses have roots, and all of the roots go down into a common underground. As different as all of our lives are, we have that in common.

THE LITTLE BIRDS – Birds seemed like just the right commentators for this work. Are they the ones who used to live in the houses and now sing the songs they learned? Are they survivors? Are they like the Greek chorus, providing the commentary?

CHILDLIKE SIMPLICITY – I wrote in my artist statement that all of my fabric-imaging methods are simple and very low-tech. And that I delight in this. I believe artists can create either dull works or interesting works using either simple or complex art-making methods. It’s not about the method. I think the simple child-like house shapes as a means of expressing life complexity is an interesting choice.

The “US” exhibit will be a virtual exhibit (so ANYBODY can see it!) appearing on the website for Touchstone Gallery. It should be live to see on this Friday September 18. I can’t wait to see the rest of the art. I hope you’ll take a look too. It will be here:  www.touchstonegallery.com

Who knows what we will learn?

And, about learning: I am trying to educate myself about the parts of our country’s history that I have not studied well, and to understand the experiences of people different from me. Oh how I have loved reading “The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson.

It’s the story of the great migration of Southern blacks to the Northern cities of the US from the Jim Crow era through the 1960’s. It’s full of history and things to learn. And, because Ms. Wilkerson traces the stories of three specific families, it reads like a novel. I deeply recommend this one.

Till next time. May we all keep learning, And all keep creating.

The Quilt “Sing the Songs That We learned There” is on my website. If you would like to learn more, visit HERE.

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

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One Thing Leads to Another

In the studio this morning… enjoying a printmaking session with acrylics and rice paper – I discovered one thing leading to another.

What led to the printmaking was a household project, some new planters for the garden. We cut a rain barrel in half, (to be used as a planter) then spray painted it so it would blend into the foliage and be more interesting. I created the stencils I used for printmaking for spraying the barrels. (If you look closely you can also see some interesting two-tone green patterns behind the white palms. I placed leaves and branches on the barrel and sprayed around them. The effect looks great close-up, but just didn’t have enough “pop” from a distance.)

So… now I had a nice new stencil pattern tempting me to do some printing.

1 I mixed up some green with my brayer, using phthalo blue and cadmium yellow. Nice bright green resulted, and using the brayer to blend kept the blending loose.  2. Then I brayered the color on the plate.

3. The first pulls I made off the plate were just for background color. No stencil yet. I made several sheets like this, each with a little different appearance of the green.

Stencil time.

4. I had cut this stencil out of a manila file folder. That’s thick enough to hold up for multiple uses and thin enough to lay down flat. With some darker green already on the plate, I pressed down the stencil.  5. One of  the sheets I had already printed with some background light-bright green is ready to press into the stencil. 6 Here I’ve printed from the stencil . I have a green palm on a lighter green background.

Look at the wonderful image that remained on the plate. That’s the ghost. In any kind of printmaking that uses a plate – either manual hand-printed as I’m doing, or when working with a press – after the image is printed, a ghost image remains on the plate. This is where one thing leads to another. The prints from these ghosts create some of the most interesting layers.

7 This is one of the sheets that already had two plate passes: one for the background, and another for the palm pattern. Now I’m going to print the ghost that was left on the plate onto this sheet.

Working with multiple plate passes for most of the sheets, I created a stack of paper that I think will create some interesting collage elements. (See how the theme keeps going. The printing isn’t the end. Collage next. One thing leads to another.)

This is a close-up of one of the sheets that I thought resulted in some great layers and textures.

As I was working through this printing session, I was reminded of a collaged work I created several years ago printing from actual palm fronds. It’s one of my favorites. I love the incredible detail of the palms that’s picked up by the hand printmaking methods.

This is a detail of one panel. The whole work is a triptych: three framed pieces each 24” x 24”. If you’d like to see more, it’s on my website HERE.

Thank you for reading.

I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

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Listening. Hearing.

For some time now I have adhered to the discipline of writing and posting a blog on Sunday evenings.

It has become a rhythm of my week. It’s a time to look at what I’ve been working on and to reflect. The process of showing and explaining enhances my own understanding of my work.

This week I’ve got nothing to show.

It’s not because I haven’t been in the studio. I have. And I believe in future weeks my new work will take shape and I’ll be ready to talk about it.

This week, though, I need to be about the business of listening.

This has been a grueling week for our country. I cannot remember being as stirred and as stirred up since I was a teenager and we protested both civil rights issues and the war in Vietnam. This week as America has reacted to the murder of George Floyd it has revealed so much still unchanged, so much that needs to be done, and so much that needs to be heard.

In the midst of issues and policies that are unresolved, I have been grateful to be part of the arts community. Art  — the process of making it, the insight derived from absorbing it, the voice-giving that it entails — is more important than ever.

Our local Art Museum, Museum of Art – DeLand, stated this is an e-mail:

MUSEUMS ARE NOT NEUTRAL
We stand against crimes of intolerance, hate, and injustice

And Studio Art Quilt Associates shared these words with its members:

“ SAQA’s core values of integrity, inclusion, excellence, and innovation compel us to stand with those fighting against racism and injustice.

We condemn the violence against Black Americans and strongly oppose discrimination of any kind.  We mourn the countless lives that have been lost at the hands of racism and police brutality. We support the right of all Americans to protest and seek justice for those affected by the continued inequality that plagues the US.

Art is the expression of an individual’s heart and soul. SAQA’s goal of supporting diversity includes welcoming art and artists from marginalized communities including Black artists and all artists of color. We believe they are integral to our mission of promoting the art quilt.

As an international organization, SAQA explores ways to exhibit, educate, and bring more voices to the forefront, in an effort to promote discussion and understanding in our communities.  

All humans have a voice. It is time that they all be heard.”

I agree.

For now, this evening, that’s about all I can say.

I will continue listening.

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

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

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Printing Life Beneath the Waves

This week I spent time doing some light-hearted monotype printing. Fish!

Sometimes simple projects can be a good recharge. I’ve been physically and emotionally immersed in the details of the large quilt I’ve been working on, and I needed a break. And, as I begin to think of what projects I want to work on next. Playing with some organic forms in pleasing colors is a good transition.

I cut a fish stencil that I liked. (Actually, I cut two stencils. The first one was just awful. A few prints convinced me that I needed a plan B.) I like the simplicity of this one, and the contrast between the large solid fish body and the delicate appendages.

I did all of my printing in a single color – a dark black blue. I mixed up phthalo blue with black about 50-50. I pulled a few scraps from my previously printed stash. They provided nice contrast.

The yellow-brown pattern is a sheer polyester. That brown pattern was printed as a linoleum block print.

The bright lime green is a piece of shiny sateen. The blue-green piece is cotton muslin. Each of these had been previously painted.

A few nice rediscoveries from this printing session:

Transparency: I love the way a thin coat of acrylic allows just a hint of what’s printed underneath to show. Here’s a sample of that on the piece printed blue/black over the yellow patterned fabric.

Contrast: Creating effective monotype shapes really depends on good contrast. On the yellow prints, the overprint is a good contrast both in hue and value. On the blue-green fish, the hues are all in the same family, but the value of the blue/black is different enough that the shape shows well.

I decided to make the yellow printed fish into a paper collage.

I added some other fabric scraps, mixing up sheers and muslin. Everything is collaged with matte medium onto a sheet of 140# watercolor paper

Then I added a few hand-drawn elements.

Here’s a detail

The finished, matted collage is on my website, HERE. I hope you’ll take a look.

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

BLOG POSTS: If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail,  please subscribe here:  I post blogs once a week. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL

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The job of little girls. Figuring things out.

This week my mind has been filled with images and thoughts of little girls.

In my studio, I am slowly working my way through a large work that places two little girls in an environment that’s like a dream or memory: windows, doors, archways  and buildings connect with one another in ways that that could not actually occur. The girls are in a place where they must figure things out.

At the same time, since I’m enjoying more reading than normal as part of my stay-at-home-experience, I have read two thought-provoking and stirring accounts of real little girls.

“Becoming,” Michele Obama’s memoir, is warm and rich in details and experience. A lot of the story focuses on her pre-famous days as a girl growing up in Chicago. Clearly, she was smarter than the average kid. Not crazy-genius smart, but smart. And competitive, and motivated, and – increasingly as she grew – capable. She grew in an environment where love and support and nurturing were poured into her with abundance, and she gratefully accepted all of it. A strong and devoted chorus of voices told her: You are important. You can do it.

As an adult, she was able to look back and see how that formed who she is and formed in her the desire for the same opportunities for all little girls.

“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” Maya Angelou’s memoir of her life up to aged sixteen, is a book I had read many years ago. It leapt off the bookshelf in a recent trip to our local used bookstore, an invitation to discover it again. What a wonder! Her story has so much to absorb.

Maya’s childhood was one of being thrown out into the world to make the best of it if she could. The chorus of voices she heard most loudly was telling her that she was not important and not anybody special. Somehow she discovered a love for books. That opened up worlds for her. She began the process of figuring things out and discovering her voice.

So, I’ve been thinking about little girls.

The two girls who inhabit my new (work-in-progress) art quilt are based on a family photo of myself and my sister when I was three and she was four. As the work progresses, I’ve been looking at them a lot. They have evolved.

(Just this week, when I thought that portion of the work was done, I collaged over the girls and changed them around). I repositioned their bodies and redid the drawing and shading.

Most of what’s left in this work will involve adding layers and depth in the environment that surrounds them. I’m working slower than usual and giving it time. I want to hear what the chorus of voices behind these two is saying. I’m still figuring it out.

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

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The good life. That didn’t make any sense.

The good life. Except that it didn’t make any sense. And we’d go to Lord and Taylor for our new spring coats.

I finished this quilt about a week ago. It’s been an archaeological dig into childhood memories for me. There in the memory are two characters. The doll-like little girl. The elegant fashion lady. I have placed them side-by-side in a setting of symbols and contrasts.

The doll-like little girl is a variation on the young girl whose journey is at the heart of my recent work. I rendered her in a way that’s representational, but not real. She’s flat, much like a punch-out paper doll. But – boy oh boy – does she feel real to me. I remember standing in front of the forsythia bush each year to pose for the Easter-outfit-photo for our family scrapbook. I had a little purse, Mary Jane shoes and white socks just like this. When I searched online for some reference pictures of girls in their new spring outfits, I discovered row after row of family pictures just like ours. The brothers and sisters stand formally in their new clothes. Parents wanted to record the ideal image of their children.

The fashion lady image was also ubiquitous when I was a girl. Paper doll sets of grown up women had them shaped like an hourglass. Dress patterns and magazine clothing ads depicted women in this ideal shape. Women forced themselves into constrictive girdles and oddly shaped bras to conform to this ideal. (I remember thinking that someday I would have to do that too.)

Against this setting of ideals, I’ve inserted symbols related to searching for the good life in financial terms. The repousse spoons are my grandmother’s flatware, inherited by my mother and then by me. For my Mom, having beautiful silverware and a complete set of good china to complement a neat house with a picket fence was considered the definition of the good things in life.

But, in our family, something was seriously “off.” As a little girl, I tried to sort it out and make sense of it. An annual pilgrimage to Lord and Taylor (the fanciest store I had ever heard of) did not match our financial realities as a family; such extravagance was way beyond what we could afford.  I felt unreal and disconnected by the experience. So, in this artwork, there are things that are “off.” There is beautiful green spring foliage, but prehistoric fish with big, mean teeth are lurking nearby. Among the repousse silver fly large insects

I have a strong tug-of-heart for children. They are doing the hard work of figuring out the world and their place in it. Children are so perceptive. They know what’s good and right. They know when things don’t make sense. As an artist I work to tap into these experiences and do my own hard work of understanding and expressing what I uncover.

“We’d Go To Lord ad Taylor for our new Spring Coats” 2020 42” x 42”

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

BLOG POSTS: If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail,  please subscribe here:  I post blogs once a week. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL

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From my blog 3-29-2020… A big deal in the big city

It’s good to remember big “YES” events.

I received genuine pleasure this week remembering SAQA’s exhibition “Stories of Migration: Contemporary Artists Interpret Diaspora,” in Washington, DC in 2016. (This exhibit was featured in SAQA’s weekly e-mail to members, part of a promotion of past exhibits). I was so honored to be in the exhibit. In my artist journey, this one is definitely a really big deal!

(Bonus! There’s a little video to watch at the end of this blog post.)

While I’m at work in my studio, I admit I spend my share of time kicking myself when work does not turn out the way I’d envisioned it and wondering what in the world I am doing anyway!

But being a part of “Stories of Migration” was a completely “yes” experience for me.

The work I created, “How Can We Sing in a Strange Land,” was the largest I had created. (It’s 53”H x 72”W)

And it was the biggest work conceptually as well. I had not focused on a particular theme or body of work at that time. So, the process of thinking through how to address this deep and poignant subject matter was a big step in my artmaking. I worked through wondering if I had the right to submit work at all. I wondered if my method of working was sufficiently sophisticated for a museum show.

Once I was accepted and I began to see the scope of the show and the facility at George Washington Univ Textile Museum, I realized that this would be a world-class exhibit. A juried and invitational exhibit, it included work by forty-four artists. The partnership between SAQA artists and this beautiful museum space in every way elevated and enhanced the subject matter.

The GWU Textile Museum exterior, and the interior exhibit space

From SAQA’s promotion:

“All works reflect upon the theme of “Diaspora.” Diaspora is the dispersion of a people from an established ancestral homeland. These communities remain simultaneously active in social, economic, cultural, or political processes in their country of origin and with compatriots worldwide.

A migration of peoples from their ancestral homeland impacts every aspect of their life.  The sudden displacement of large populations and the ensuing establishment of resettlement centers to provide basic human needs — food, clothing, shelter, health services, and safety (particularly that of women and children) -- often requires a worldwide response.”

I traveled to DC for the opening. Because I live in a fairly small city, I can forget the excitement of the big city experience, especially Washington, DC. I took the Metro from the airport to Foggy Bottom-GWU and walked the several blocks to the Textile Museum. Everywhere in the city were amazing plantings of tulips in dynamic color patterns.

SAQA and the Museum had planned to video-document this exhibit and the artists. We had been assigned time slots for our individual videos. I remember that I arrived at the museum only a few minutes before my assigned time, after walking from the Metro station. I caught my breath, went to the restroom and splashed a little water on my face, then I went to stand by my artwork for the taping. My video is below.

For my video click HERE

All the artists’ videos are well worth watching. See them HERE

Another nice part of this memory: a writer for the Washington Post reviewed the show. As a result of that, a very nice art collector in DC purchased my work (before even seeing it in person!) That was also a first-time experience for me. YES!

“How Can We Sing in a Strange Land?”

I’ll be back in the studio this week, tackling a few new, large works that are challenging me. When I get the who-am-I-kidding-what-am-I-doing refrain in my head, I’ll try to remember this great experience.

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

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People Ask...

People ask a LOT of very good and interesting questions when they look at my textile collage art.

But.. first — I just have to say some love about my own hometown. I exhibited this past weekend in DeLand Fall Festival of the Arts in downtown DeLand. (That’s where I heard the questions.) What a great weekend! I was grateful for a well-organized, artist-centered event, and perfect weather, and good crowds, and good sales, and  — especially nice —  an award of recognition. It was an amazing group of artwork in all mediums. I’m honored to be among them. And my art neighbors were funny, talented, interesting people, making for a weekend of enjoyable camaraderie.

So… questions.

Q: I’d love to hang a quilt on my wall, but how do I take care of it?
A: Just like you’d take care of any acrylic painting. No artwork should be placed where it will be hit by strong, direct sunlight. Otherwise, just hang it, dust it now and then, and enjoy. When an acrylic painter creates work, it’s paint and mediums on canvas. My works are paint and mediums on other kinds of fabric, along with some cutting and stitching. But, once it’s completed, as far as content and structure it’s not really so different from any acrylic work.

Q: How long does it take to make a large quilt?
A: Excellent question. I’d probably make myself crazy if I actually tracked the hours, so I don’t. I will work on a large quilt over a period of months. I have multiple works in progress at any given time. I can just say there are lots of parts: the thinking and designing stage, the printing of yardage stage, the cutting and assembly stage, and the textured quilting stage. After it’s all assembled, I usually add more collage and painting on the surface. It’s a good thing I enjoy all the stages!

This detail of “Because That’s Where it All Begins” shows several processes: photo transfer to muslin (the nest,) hand-printed fabric patterns, machine-stitched quilting for texture, and joining seams to construct the quilt.

This is the completed work – “Because That’s Where It All Begins”

Q: How do artists get into Festivals? Do they get paid? Are tents provided?
A: No. Artists make an investment to show in outdoor Festivals. Juried shows require artists to go through a selection process. Submitted images are juried by a panel of people knowledgeable in the art field to determine who will be able to exhibit. It costs to apply to a show – even if you are not accepted – and there is a booth fee to exhibit. (Depending on the show, generally $300-$500 per weekend.) This is how the Festival generates its income. Artists invest in a tent and display panels in addition to some way to store them and transport them to a show. In DeLand, set-up started at 5:30 am. The street was alive with the sound of clanking metal pent poles. By about 9am the show was set to go

Here’s part of my exhibit at the DeLand Festival

I’ve completed my three shows for Fall 2019. I’m ready for a time-off week and Thanksgiving and beginning the design work on some large projects for 2020.

Last week in my blog I was showing a collage-in-progress. Here it is. I was so happy that this one SOLD at the DeLand Festival.

“When You Hear the Song of Memory”

Missed the Festival? Feel like shopping?
I created a number of collaged works matted to fit a 20” x 24” frame. They were well-received, but some nice ones are still available on my website, HERE

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

bobbibaughart@gmail.com

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