Thank You, cream cheese and butter

As if we needed any further reasons to love cream cheese and butter…

The little cartons in which they are packaged are just right for hand-cut small stencils. The boxes are a nice thin card stock, with a bit of waxy or plasticized coating so they hold up to a bit of paint or other liquid. They cut easily.  And it’s just a weird little pleasure to open up the seams of the box, flatten them out and have them waiting for the work that requires a small shape.

These stencils are for small branch-like shapes that will be part of underground roots. I am using these as a positive shape. (That is, the shape I see cut out in the stencil is the shape that will receive the painted image.)

One of the great things about a stencil is that it can also be used as a negative. If I put this little limb shape down on the fabric and then painted over it, the paint would go onto the background, and the limb would show through as the color of the fabric underneath.

The cardboard stencils are opaque, so I use tracings of the shape to position over the place I will be printing. That way the stencils will hit in the right spot. Position the tracing, then put the stencil on top, then pull out the tracing paper (I usually use wax paper,) tape or hold down the stencil, then apply the paint. Experiment with different brushes, sponges and rollers to see what you like best for paint application.

Here’s how the little root ended up in underground rocks-and-root quilt:

I did not start out to be a fan of stencils. It’s just something that has happened as I have worked out many studio experiments and come up with surface design methods that work for me. So, a few things I’ve learned:

Using stencils helps you to think about positive and negative shape.

Using stencils allows you to create mirror-image shapes: Print from one side, then turn it upside down and print in the other direction.

Using stencils can help you to develop your own personal vocabulary of textures and shapes. I think it’s fine to use commercially produced stencils for learning. My preference for creating art is only to use my own hand-cut shapes. They will be uniquely mine.

Stencils allow a mix of precision and looseness. Get a tight fit between stencil and background, control the paint amount closely, and get a nice clean edge. Or, try sponge painting wet over the shape for a looser look.

These fabrics show the result of wet over-paintng, plus using the stencil to create a wheat paste resist in a pattern.

Creating artwork in fabric is important and very rewarding to me. I love the creative methods of high-tech, photography-based imaging that are available. I also enjoy very low-tech methods that allow me to mix things up.

And, of course, the excuse to enjoy a nice Everything Bagel with cream cheese!

PS – If you would like to look at more details of works I’ve created that use a lot of stencils, I invite you to browse the fabric-and-paper collages on my website. You’ll find a variety of color, patterns and subject matter. HERE

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

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Grey, Grey, Soft Grey, Grey

Grey, grey, grey. That’s been my mantra this week In the studio as I’ve been working on a new abstract landscape.

I did some other work lately with very vibrant colors. I felt compelled to stay in a soft grey palette. But, I admit it’s hard for me because I’m often drawn to more color.

I started with an above-and-below composition, a blank space along the horizon line. I used grey-grey in the sky and grey with a slight green hue below. I liked the wash look and I was happy with the overall color. Not much composition yet.

I added a block of squares, introducing a little grey-blue. My thought had been that this would function as window. But it stayed on my easel for a number of days without suggesting what to do next. I made some paper sketches and some Photoshop sketches and didn’t like anything I came up with. And then I thought of my tree stencils, and ideas began to come together.

I blocked out an area to stencil a tree shape with the tree as a resist. I let the grey background show through the tree form and added a darker value to the background. Then I added in some looser tree forms with stencils and wetter sponge work.

Just a word about wonderful grey hues.

I almost never use grey from the jar, and almost never create grey by mixing black and white. The best studio resource I own is my detailed color wheel, which I learned to make a number of years ago as an exercise in an oil painting class. (I hated oils, so I did mine in acrylics.) The most wonderful greys and neutral tones occur when you mix across the compliments (in this work, blue plus orange) and then add either umber to deepen it, or white to go to grey tones. So much richness in the colors! And, since other parts of this work will contain blue, I know that when I mix the greys with a blue base, all the parts will speak well to each other.

I’m adding a little line work to this piece for visual texture. Almost done with the composition.

NOW IT’S TIME TO WORK ON FESTIVAL PREP!! I loaded up my car with my tent and display panels from the place I store them, and started today with washing tent parts and organizing all the “stuff” associated with an outdoor art festival. I’ll be exhibiting in three festivals October and November. This weekend is Winter Park. If you are near, I hope you’ll stop by and see the work I’ll have on display.

Thanks for reading.
I always enjoy questions and comments.
Bobbi

bobbibaughart@gmail.com


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Same view. Different Things to See

Rainy afternoons and naps go together so nicely. Today I’ve been able to enjoy a bit of both.

Before taking a little snooze I was in the studio working on some still in-progress collages.. Since I last posted about this new body of work, I’ve completed several pieces. I’m using collage construction, with ragged-edge image on white gessoed muslin, turned with a clean edge, and constructed as an art quilt.

Things I am discovering:

The different characters of fabric are an important of the design process. Acrylics on muslin are opaque. Not so good for nuanced detail, but great for solids. Acrylics on sheer pick up lots of subtle washes. Great for transparency. Acrylics on rice paper pick up magic little details. So, mixing up the materials in one piece reveals lots of interesting little visual bits.

Collage detail - acrylics on muslin

Collage detail - acrylics as transparent shapes

Collage detail - acrylics printed on rice paper.

I am drawn to the wonderful tones of yellow created when yellow mixes with black. (I already knew I loved these hues. Just discovering it again.) That’s how I created the hues of the rice paper section above.

I like a sense of motion. One of the things I try to work through with collage is the solidness of compositions. The physical act of cutting things out and gluing them down can get a little too solid. I work to break this up with thinner, more linear pieces that imply motion, and details of hand-drawn shapes in black.

I feel at home when I have a horizon. While I enjoy the abstract nature of these compositions, they are not completely non-representational. Even when I begin with another intent, I create an abstract landscape. I see land forms or water and a sky above. I don’t know if I will evolve to see the picture plane differently or not. It just seems to be how my brain works – at least for now.

Completed Collage/Art Quilt - “Summer Dances” 38”H x 26”W

Today a collector purchased one of my smaller matted collages from my Web site. (THANK YOU, collector!)  This is “Shoreline Excursions.”

“Shoreline Excursions” collage on watercolor paper, 16” x 20” opening, for frame size 20” x 24” Sold

As I pulled this artwork from the shelf to pack for UPS, I took a look again. “Shoreline Excursion” definitely has recognizable objects in the little birds. Beyond that, however, I see a similar view of water and sky and distance that I am creating in the new larger works. I guess this must be what’s inside my head — because this is what comes out. (In addition to the fact that I really enjoy little bubbles!)

The abstract landscapes I have created so far are on my web site HERE. (I hope to be adding  to the  gallery soon.) Meanwhile, I have just started two large quilts that are COMPLETELY different from this abstract landscape series: emphasis on photo transfer, deeper colors, interior storytelling. I hope to share some of that process soon.

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

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Revisiting the Night

I recently submitted this work for an exhibit. That process caused me to look at it closely again, as it was on my computer screen in detailed enlargements. I remembered the process.

Some things went as planned. Some things I had not expected.

From the beginning, I knew I wanted the feel of nighttime. I wanted to recreate the sensation of being outside on a cool evening, dipping one’s toes into the night air.

I had a nice reference photo to work from. My neighbor, a lovely young woman, had come over to my house to pose for me. The porch is my porch. But, in the process of creating the composition, I did some angle adjusting and some perspective playing, making it more interesting than the original photo had been.

I worked almost exclusively with sheer fabrics as I printed the images. This created a watercolor-wash feel that worked well with the feel of dream and memory I hoped to create.

I worked this piece in squares. That’s not my normal way of constructing pieces. But it created some tensions that I found interesting. I don’t think the squares jump out immediately, but they are there, as a background architecture behind the trees. The trees overlapping the grid and working in relation to it create a nice tension of foreground and background. And, because I did not use squares in the section with the young woman, she is in a reality somewhat separated from everything else.

Finally, as I look again closely at this work I think of the woman it depicts. What is she thinking? What is she remembering? That is the mystery of the work

Becoming One With The Night  2017  35" x 45"
In the Journeys and Stories and Galleries Gallery, HERE

Saying goodbye – and hello – to a home

Have you said good-bye to a home? It is like losing a close friend, causing you to want to touch it one last time, to trace favorite portions with your hand before walking away. Remember the feel of the front step. Remember the sound of the door opening. This week, as I am creating artwork about home and memories in my studio practice, I am also saying good bye – again – to a home.

I am not a housecleaning fan. I remember once reading a beautiful soulful essay which included words about the meditative power of cleaning baseboards. I thought, “really?” This weekend I cleaned baseboards, and it was, in fact, an act of reflection.

The house I lived in for six years, the house that was a landing place when life changed, is now a house I own and use for rental income. It’s about 900 square feet and not fancy at all. I loved being there. But I left intentionally and willingly when it was time for me to form a new household. It was my home. Now it’s not.

I cleaned baseboards in preparation for a new tenant to move in. This is now the second tenant, so I have experienced the transition of this home once before. It was left in good shape, so the prep work required has not been daunting. I have cleaned, patched walls and replaced carpet in one room thinking about new inhabitants and a new stage for this house.

Images of home and memories of home are so compelling! Home is where our memories begin and are formed. Home is a combination of a physical place and all that happens there. Home shapes us, in ways that may be nurturing or poisonous, or some of both. I am thinking of all these qualities of home as I continue in my current series.

I do not believe I could have created this work earlier in my life. There were too many layers still covered. Now, the work is a way to peel back the layers and dig into the rich soil of all that grows from such memories.

It is my way of saying “hello” to the concept of home.

Here’s a detail from one of the works in my current series, Home is What You Remember, “Something Real To Remember.”  The juxtaposition of the child drawing and faded homes in the background suggests the exploration of memory. More about this work on my website, HERE

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A Back-and-Forth Dance – Between Painting and Quilting

Almost finished this one! (Pause for a celebratory sigh of accomplishment.)

As I’m working on my 2018 series, “Home is What you Remember,” I’ve been doing a lot of process experimentation. And it seems to fit what I’m after in the meaning of the works.

“Home” is a rich, deep, resonant, layered, emotional word. Everyone feels something about their home. In this series, I’m intentionally turning the word over and over to discover new ways to address the concept, new ways to get to the memories and meaning. So, playing with different methods has felt like a natural way to go.

Some of the works I’ve created so far are heavy on collage and applique. They tend to be thicker, with lots of texture. Some have been more painterly, flatter, working on gessoed muslin or sheer fabric.

This one turned out to be more painter-like. I did not work in sections – but on whole cloth. (A little more challenging for me because I have a small-throat regular sewing machine.) I used some wet-wash paint layers, some stencils, and some direct painting.

I kept the camera handy to record progress. I hope you enjoy.

(In case of any technical difficulties with loading or seeing the video, you can follow this link to see it on You Tube.)   https://youtu.be/19DzsTFFtPE

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Work-in-Progress… Row House Neighborhood

I grew up in Baltimore. When I was born my family lived in a row house. Our car was parked on the street out front. In the back, little identical yards opened onto an alley, the place for riding bikes and playing catch.

My parents longed to move across the main road to the neighborhood of individual, non-attached houses. Each would have a driveway. Each would have its own backyard. There was a neighborhood school. The houses were mixed styles: brick, stone, clapboard, almost all two story, facing streets lined with maple trees.

This was the post-war dream, and they believed in it completely. A family started in a row house. Then they moved to the better neighborhood.

When I discovered a photo of a row house neighborhood, I was filled with affection for the families living in them. I wanted to create a warm vibrant depiction of the neighborhood. In my completed work, the people will not be visible. But they will fill the scene. The houses are alive with pattern and energy just as the actual houses were alive with the real aspirations and dreams of their inhabitants.

Creating image of homes – homes that evoke memories, and homes that allow us to peek inside the windows to imagine the lives within, are continually fascinating to me.

Landscapes of Dreams

Earlier this year I worked my way through a series combining landscapes with a dream-journey quality. I returned to my sketchbook frequently, seeing what ideas reappeared over time and how they changed. And I took my well-worn copy of Robert Frost poems with me on the way. I love his attention to observed detail, and apparent surface simplicity layered over well-considered ideas. “Now Let the Night Be,” was created from this process.

The title “Now let the Night Be” is a line from one of Robert Frost’s poems. His simple iambic rhythms evoke a sense of time and process. It helps me to create when I feed my soul with words from authors and poets who stir up thoughts. I printed and collaged sheer fabrics to create a misty, dream-like landscape.  Tree forms are both solid and ethereal. The arch suggests an invitation to enter, or a journey about to begin. Opaque printed muslin pieces with stitched texture and heavy rock forms provide a grounding for the dream.