Inspiration

July 5, 2018

Inspiration

Where does an artist find ideas? This is a central question for anyone making art. This past year my quilts have been mostly inspired by nature, especially trees. Last winter I was walking in the woods when a ray of sun fell upon a branch with dead birch leaves clinging to it. The leaves shone as on fire. It was an image that stayed with me for a long time. When I walk in the woods the trees assert themselves but in between this riot of lines is happening. I like the idea of quilting something that is not the main attraction. This quilt for the Explorations exhibit was really difficult to compose. I turned to Chinese painting for compositional ideas. Once I got started I needed to go back into the woods to see the shapes of real leaves, not the schematic notion of a leaf. So, the quilt becomes an amalgam of real, abstract, art historical and felt experience.

Creating the Fabric

 June 9,2018

            Today I am going to describe how I print my fabrics. I use a gelatin plate. Right now I am using a commercially purchased plate as it is durable and easy to clean. I have a few different sizes. I use the 8”x11” and the circular plate the most often.

            The first step is to gather things to press into the plate to leave an impression. I walk in the Fells near my house almost daily so most of my printing material comes from there. I also have a stash of bubble wrap and various food packaging items I use as well as a variety of combs. A stack of scrap paper to test images and aid in clean up is helpful. (Those papers are good for collage.)

            I either use fat quarters or cut down fabric to use for printing. I put a stack of fabric near the printing table. Then I am ready to begin. First I squeeze a dollop of paint onto my plate. I spread it out with my brayer. (I have been experimenting with adding fabric medium.) Next I arrange the leaves or whatever I am printing on the plate. I pull two prints. The first one is a negative image with the leaves dropped out. For second print I remove the leaves and print the impressions they left on the plate. This is the basic process.

            I continue to print on my fabrics, layering the impressions. I try not to make them too pretty or too much like a print. I don’t want the thinking and creating to stop at the printing process. Usually, it takes me a few sessions to create a pile of fabrics. Sometimes I print into a piece even after I have started cutting. This process grew out of collage making. I use the leftover bits to make other pieces on paper. My aim is to make the quilting process as spontaneous as possible.

Creative Flow vs. a Damn Mess

May 20,2018

            When does creative chaos cross the line? My sewing studio is not big. So, do I interrupt creative flow to put things away or do I let things pile up till there is no horizontal surface that is not covered with clutter. My “design wall” is about 5’x6’ and above a bed. Things that I might pin there but have no room for end up on any remotely horizontal surface. My other design surface is a drafting table. I have a large cutting matt on the table and do some cutting there. (I did, however, discover the wonders of the dining room table when framing work for a show. It now has 2 cutting matts, foam core, matt board, needle nose pliers and all kinds of non-dining stuff on it.) When my drafting table is no longer visible I finally have to stop and clean up.

            Someday my studio will not have a guest bed or a fish tank that holds one fish that has inexplicably lived more than 8 years. I dream of replacing the bed with a six foot table, raised up to make cutting easier. Or maybe the dining room will just become so buried under art paraphernalia that we will just start using the leaf for the kitchen table when there are dinner guests.