A Question of Background ....

The most recent pieces in my Grevillea series have used strip pieced backgrounds ... a mix of hand dyed and hand printed fabrics to add some variation.  

This approach worked nicely but what if I 'push the boundaries'  a bit ...

Artists often create compositions from small areas of detail in a drawing or painting, scaling up the size to create and new composition.  We used this approach in my weekly drawing class recently.  

We started with a still life drawing and then using a small area of detail from that drawing created a new composition and then added tone and color ......

From one of my Grevillea drawings I made a number of detail sketches looking for compositions with 5 to 7 shapes.  I picked  3 to try out and made them up this week .....

I'm pleased with the way they look ... the shapes and the color combinations.  The plan is to stitch my Grevillea flower drawing onto these backgrounds ... so I'll need to work out the color and weight of thread and the best way to place and mark the design.   

I'm hesitating a little bit about the stitching so I keep telling myself I can always make a new background piece if I mess it up!!!!  

I'll let you know how I get on......

Thanks for reading  .....CC

Pushing the Boundaries - Karin Olah

This week I have been inspired by the wonderful work of  textile artist Karin Olah.

I first came across one of her floral works with a wonderful sense of dimension and was intrigued to know how she made it ....

                                                   Magnolia  - Karin Olah

Karin describes her work as "fabric collage painting".  In an interview some years back she says " I cut out my brushstrokes instead of painting them on"......

As I searched to find more of her work I discovered a series of wonderful landscape pieces .....

                                                      Blue Flag Day  - Karin Olah

Karin describes her process ..... " I start with rough outline, a drawing or a little under-painting, and then I start layering fabric.  I soak each piece in rice starch and then squeegee it onto the canvas.  I use opaque and transparent fabrics so you can see a little history underneath in building up the shapes and background."

I love the different textures the different fabrics bring to this work ... it's all about the fabric!

Karin's website is a visual delight ....  you will find it at www.karinolah.com 

Thanks for dropping by ....  I hope you are inspired!!  CC

Pushing the Boundaries - Inspirational Artists

In addition to making art and building a cohesive body of work,  I want my art to keep getting better.     In her book  "The Creative Habit"  Twyla Tharp says .....  "My heroes are artists whose bodies of work are consistently surprising, consistently fresh"    ......  Now that's something to aim for!!

To help push the boundaries,  I've been looking for inspirational  artists using similar techniques to the ones I use, but working in different mediums ...... so I thought I'd share what I find in a series of posts.

This week I've been stitching the blue pieced monoprints I made recently.  I love the intuitive nature of the printing process and the way shapes emerge/disappear through the layers of printing.  So I started looking at artist working with print .....

I discovered  Elizabeth Banfield,  an award wining Australian artist who works with linocuts and prints on very fine Japanese paper.  The results are breathtaking and totally unlike anything I've seen before!!!  Here is an example I found on the web .......

                                                      'Lament' by Elizabeth Banfield

                                  Linocut on two layers of tissue paper with hand stitching

Click HERE for  a link for Elizabeth Banfield's  website.  Her gallery of art work and  her step by step instructions for making prints with linocuts are well worth a look if you are tempted to try your hand!

Thanks for dropping by .....  CC