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Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Process, Process, All is Process

I said a day or so ago that I'd started a quilt for Glemham Hall quilt show in Suffolk, which takes place in April. As it happens, I read Rayna's blog around the same time, where she suggested, and I quote,

'Everybody works so differently: I think it would be fascinating to see your processes - why don't you shoot some pix and share on your blog the way you think while you are making a piece?'

So, Rayna, this one's for you. And everyone else, of course!

I was really stuck with this theme. I work in abstract, but somehow all these cliches kept coming to mind, like lambs gambolling and snowdrops, and... Finally, though, my brain got past that, and remembered the journey through Cambridgeshire and the flat fields, that beautiful dark brown colour that they are, just at the edge of spring. The occasional sewn field, with shoots carpeting the soil. And the unworked (as yet) fields, with dead foliage around them. And the spring blue sky. And I thought, wool, and I saw landscape. Which led to the first picture. I liked the odd shape, but not so much the blue sky... too big, too dominant.



So, off it came.





And then I thought...hmm. Let's see...



But no, that wasn't it either. Finally...



pretty much back where I started. I have begun to quilt the piece. I'm quilting for texture, mostly, heavy, intense stitch in a dark brown rayon thread, wanting to suggest that shimmer that wet earth sometimes has. I'm not sure that it's enough, though, and am contemplating adding tiny spots of green here and there. Knots, perhaps. Not beads, too alien to the texture. The green 'field' is a cotton damask, the rest of the cloth is guid Scots wool. Knew it would come in handy, sometime.

Process, process, all is process...

8 comments:

Debra said...

Yes... the brown gield need the starting green of weeds (mustard around here).. or tiny dots of tan dead last year's growth. It's what happens in life.

I love reading about the process!!

Digitalgran said...

I find it so interesting to read about your thoughts and the way you create a piece of work. Thanks for sharing. How large is it going to be?

artmixter said...

Oh, it's not big. About 18" wide, and 23" long at its longest.

Anonymous said...

Love the idea of "sewn" fields - not a freudian spelling?
I like the encaustic piece - is it on what surface?

artmixter said...

The encaustic is on tissue paper stuck to board, with some acrylic paint under the wax. Yes, I know, you're not meant to mix acrylics and wax. But the reality is, it works.

And the fields in my piece are definitely sewn...but you're right, ordinarily they'd be sown.

thelmasmith said...

Marion,
I think you may want to consider a bit of silk thread and a hand needle as a counterpoint to the shimmery stitching. I never thought I would go back to a hand needle but I've been dyeing buttonhole silk and love the stitch.

However, your work say something more like 70 or 80 weight tire silk, doubled, and tiny sprigs one at a time.

Of course, it may say something else entirely to you. I do have several greens if you are interested.

artmixter said...

Sadly, Thelma, that is exactly what it suggests...you know how I LOVE hand finishing (not).
marion

arashi said...

this is only a beginnin. I like it, but I think you will push the limits a little farther, somewhere beyond the ordinary abstract landscape, whih this is not. A good bit of work, not yet resolved.