When I saw this picture, I could feel my creative wheels begin to turn. And now it’s a work-in-progress.
(It was sent to me by my sister, who wondered if I was interested in having the windows for my home. I was not interested in the windows. But I was intrigued by the image!)
So much is going on here.
They are discarded. Overlooked. The windows seem to have been out in the garden for some time, because the weeds and vines are growing all around and through them.
The frames contain intriguing reflections.
It is a naturally defined composition – areas of dark and light.
It made me think of The Secret Garden – an untended garden, long forgotten but full of potential. (And filled with a sense of both magic and mystery.) The Secret Garden made me think of a little girl. So, now, I am creating a work that puts those things together: The abandoned windows. The abundant growth. The little girl. The sense of being overlooked. A bit of mystery.
It’s in-progress in my studio now.
So far, I have been working on the background. The quilt will be 42” x 42”. I tiled the photos to enlarge them as laser copies, then transferred onto muslin. I’ve assembled them in a random, haphazard pattern. filled with oblique angles.. Yesterday I had a wonderful morning of fabric printing. I layered greens, using stencils and wheat paste resist, to create fabric with the sense of lush growth I want the final work to have.
I set up my fabric painting station outdoors. Beautiful day. Lots of room.
Two fabric patterns I created during the paint session.
The little girl, so far, is just a pencil sketch on muslin. I love the challenge of blending more than one kind of reality in one work. The windows are a photo-based reality. The greens of the fabric are a surface design reality. The girl will be a combination – some drawing, some layering of fabrics. I will probably need to do some watercolor-like painting (I work with acrylics) to unify the girl and the background.
As these images go together, I am “listening” to them. What story will they reveal?
Generally, when I create storytelling works I begin with the concept or idea that interests me, then create a composition to convey it. In this one, I know that the combination of the girl and the garden is emotionally compelling to me, but it it not all resolved. This one will evolve and grow.
Like weeds in a garden.
If you would like to see more storytelling works, please visit
the galleries on this website. Here are places to start:
HOME IS WHAT YOU REMEMBER GALLERY
JOURNEYS AND STORIES GALLERY
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