Magical Transparency

I’ve been looking at a small fabric collage in my studio this week, and seeing in it some of the magic properties of transparency.

In creating fabric and rice paper collaged pieces, there are a few transparency tools in my toolbox. First, is using fabric that is itself transparent. (Generally, I use polyester sheers.) Second, is using the acrylic paint in a transparent way – usually by mixing it with matte medium. Finally, printing wet is a watercolor-like way to get transparency.

Here’s some of what I’ve been looking at. This is a section of the collage that I rust-printed onto polyester sheer.

This section is made of several separate pieces collaged on top of each other. The transparent fabrics blend beautifully.

Next, I added an overlay of transparent acrylic over the rust-printed fabric, along with a section of monotype printed rice paper next to it.

I have to admit, this just makes me crazy with excitement. The warm orange adds a wonderful depth to the fabrics beneath it. When I am unhappy with this method, it is almost always because I mixed the acrylic too opaque. Here, I felt that I got it right. Even the interesting print marks on the rice paper show through the orange acrylic.

Here, the orange transparent acrylic is printed over a section of opaque muslin.

It does not have the same luscious effect as when printed over other transparent fabric. But, I think the effect is interesting, and works to create some variations in foreground-background.

This section of teal fabric was printed as a monotype, and I kept everything pretty wet.

Variations in wetness are in the printing plate, the fabric and the paint itself. Thinning acrylic with water creates a different effect than thinning it with medium.

Here’s the composed collage: “To find the breath for song.”

 If you’d like more information about this collage, it’s on my website HERE

I enjoy mixing my studio practice between creating large, quilted wall pieces and creating smaller pieces mixing paper and fabric. What I learn in each kind of work always opens up doors to seeing something new when I return to the other work.

COUNTDOWN! i’m looking forward to exhibiting in three outdoor festivals this Fall. To readers near Central Florida, I hope to see you there!

Winter Park Autumn Art Festival… October 12-13
Maitland – Rotary Festival Under the Stars… November 8-10
DeLand Fall Festival of the Arts… November 23-24

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

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Life Unseen – Life Unexpected

I did some studio cleaning last week. And so I rediscovered a newspaper clipping I had saved in 2011.

It has re-appeared in my creative life at just the right time.

I remember being captivated by this little science snippet

“It will illustrate once again that somehow life finds a way to survive in the strangest and harshest places.” True for microbes. True for human beings. True for hopes and dreams.

When I first started creating textile pieces, I focused on natural scenes and images. What was most interesting to me was the concept of life beneath – life unseen – the mystery of what there is beyond the visible.

For the past year, as I have focused on works about home and memory, what interests me is much the same. What one sees from the outside is not all there is. Inner life is rich, textured, vibrant, layered, full of mystery.  It’s my hope that the works have spoken both to the reality of facades and the reality of resilience.

I have just begun the process of thinking through some new works. I am filling pages in my sketchbook. I am interested in images of water, and juxtaposing them with non-organic patterns and abstract shapes. It’s another way to get at the idea of there being more that’s real than what we see.

I have begun some transfers onto fabric of enlarged text from this news clip, to incorporate into the new pieces. Even if it becomes obscured , I will know it’s there.  “Scientists keep finding germs in places where they don’t expect.” We find life even where it does not seem it should be able to survive.

“Living Deeply” explores the unseen world beneath the surface. On my web site HERE

“Sometimes You Can’t See In,” (DETAIL) suggesting life that is hidden within the home. On my web site HERE.

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Morning in the studio… and thoughts about the process

This morning I found my way to the studio early. I’m most productive early mornings and I enjoy the quiet of working before there are house sounds, the news, and interruptions.

I was stitching some house shapes to incorporate into a new “Home” piece – lots of photo transferred windows next to monotype printed muslin. As I watched the pieces come together, it was something magical. Before the stitching, the pieces I had loosely collaged in place looked random. The edges did not lay flat. Nothing was cohesive. But, line by line, the stitching pulled this loose assortment of shapes into a meaningful image. Each piece began to have its own elements of interest. A plain blue rectangle came to life with criss-crossed stitched lines.

As I watched the story take shape, I thought of the pleasure of process in creating textile artwork.

Other steps had preceded my morning sewing session. I create the surface designs on all my fabrics, transforming blank yardage with acrylic paint: monotype printing, direct painting, relief prints, resists  and stencils.  And I had already handled the photo transfers through multiple stages: shooting the image, the computer work of sizing and selecting, and the manual process of making the transfer onto muslin.

Outdoor sessions creating fabrics. Pouring wheat paste to create resist prints and some completed fabric painted with hand-cut stencils.

And more steps will follow my morning sewing session. Once I have created the parts, I will combine them together on a large backing. At this point I will begin to feel more accomplished and will begin to see the whole picture.

Finally I’ll get to the stage of backing and binding. This handwork is more tedious, and not my favorite part of the process. But I approach it with deliberation, put on some music, and find a sense of closure as the work is completed.

For today, I am still creating and assembling parts. Parts of this particular quilt – parts of the process – parts of the journey of making.

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Some Unexpected Magic

Some unexpected magic... Throughout the choosing and piecing together of this work, I was drawn to the colors. The over-printed stencils turned out to be a strong transformation, creating something different from what I had expected. Grouping the blue-hued squared together immediately suggested rain so I created the abstract rain shapes to fill those squares.  The stenciling of the rocks then became a way of creating a completely new environment. The underneath patterns and colors of the squares are there, but functioning now as part of an overall pattern. The rock shapes and shadows have become a way both to reveal and to disguise.  I thought of words from mythology and from Scripture, giving voice to the power of rain and the longing for rain. “Then the Rains watered the Earth” … a proclamation or the conclusion of a prophecy… an infusion of some magic to these strong shapes and colors.
      For more information, see the work in Layered nature Gallery, here:   goo.gl/bZb422