Embroidered Collage

"Paint Red Hot Landscapes That Sell!" is the title that kept me from reading this book by Mike Svob for at least a year, despite my eye lighting on it in the art section of the library.  I was expecting something trite with a title like that, but checked it out anyway since I've been thinking about landscapes lately.  I received a very pleasant surprise - some interesting composition and technique comments that I hadn't seen before and a very rational view of selling.

Mike advises that potential customers buy art because it fulfills some emotional need for them and "ambivalence in your approach to painting will lead to an ambivalent response from the viewer."  Then he takes the reader through some of his paintings trying to help them look for what matters to them.  I didn't find that part nearly as useful as the similar mental exercises in Dakota Mitchell's book, though.  He continues to emphasize the connection of the artist, either in terms of graphic elements or subject matter, to what they are going to paint throughout the book.

Composition principles are looked at not just as what is good artistically, but as what gets the attention of a buyer.  It doesn't change the resulting advice from what you'll find in a good book on design, but it puts a different twist on the way you might think about it.  He emphasizes tonal values and pushing colors to the extreme, even in realistic landscapes.  And it works.  His skies look right even when they are yellow!

An exercise Mike introduces that I want to try involves working from three values in oils or acrylics.  Start by painting in the darks, then glaze on a transparent middle value, then re-establish the lights with opaque paints.  Then you can enhance the image further with additional colors and variations.

Great issue with a wide range of styles and twists on the usual!  Most intriguing to me were Charlotte Lyons "what's left" collages and Robin Olsen's corded chains/mobiles/hangers. 

Putting little pieces on grids isn't a brand new idea, but Charlotte's work shows how effective it can be and gives some good hints on doing it yourself.  In a way, her inclusion is an affirmation to me that maybe it would be okay to just do some work based on little grids, that maybe it would be worthwhile, because I can see what someone else's version looks like. 

Robin Olsen's work doesn't seem to have an easy name - basically each is three hanging pieces of wrapped fabric bits and other things made up and strung together and some have additional embroidery.  But that description doesn't help you see how neat these ethnically inspired and symbolic works are to see. 

Other twists included a different sort of altered book - with the cover as part of a flat collage, using cardboard and cheesecloth in book construction, felt crows as art dolls, using a patchwork style background for building up work on, and more

The two main technique articles are on acrylic alcohol reduction and creating rust - or a rust look, both techniques that can add a sense of age to your work.  While I'm not likely to try either, they were topics I'd not seen discussed before in my magazines and definitely showed doable experiments.

By the way, this issue came on time and in the nice plastic sleeve, so I was much happier than I was with the first issue in my subscription!

Is this special publication worth buying?  If you're just starting out with the idea of incorporating sewing and scraps of cotton or organza into your paper arts then I think it could be very helpful, but if it is one of your usual techniques, well, then it depends on how much inspiration you usually derive from a Somerset Studio magazine in general.

Everything was well described and nicely presented, as you'd expect from a Somerset publication.  The writing was a nice mix of personal comments and technique descriptions.  However, very little in the first five chapters - on wearables, books, decor, mixed media, and ATCs - really caught my eye as a great example of using fabric or thread, although I definitely apreciated some of the art.  The style went a little beyond the "Somerset" look that you're familiar with if you regularly read the magazine, which was refreshing.  Many of the ideas involved sewing paper and fabric with a sewing machine, but there was a selection of hand stitched work as well.

I did very much enjoy the last chapter, on art quilts.  The "Small Notes" by Jette Clover were fabric collages worked around postage stamps with individual portraits.  I found the simple collection of pieces, often attached with running stitches, to be very appealing.  Sherrill Kahn discussed "Collage with a Sewing Machine" but her artworks also included interesting mixed media additions and some hand stitching.  Mary Lawler described the "Art of Paper Quilting," showing pieces sewn together, primarily by hand, from various beautiful papers done by her and two other artists.

I don't work in 3-d.  Sure, I made a box or a doll once or twice, but it doesn't really appeal to me.  The mixed-media vessels in this issue of Fiber Arts were inspiring enough to make me go think about it for a moment, though.  I especially liked the two by Marcie Schwartzman where she incorporates fabric work with fired ceramics.  Somehow the different materials work very well together.  If I did try something it would probably be more like Dee Durkee's vessels which are fiber-collage and highly textured.  I've reacted this way when I see three-dimensional fiber work in person as well, but the impulse always fades quickly.

Overall this issue lived up to Fiber Arts standards with a variety of interesting articles, it just didn't have much that touched me personally.  It was refreshing, though, to actually receive a magazine before it showed up on the newstand with my issue from this new subscription.  I've been buying it at the bookstore for years and finally subscribed.

"I could have written that!" was my reaction about halfway through the magazine.  Not that I would have though about it in the way that Lynn Krawczyk did.  My reaction was more a reflection of my tendency to create art in a similar way as described in the article "Embellishments as Inspiration."  Lynn went through the mental steps that an artist would need to design around and incorporate an object or objects that appeals to them.  This is so natural to my way of working that it never occurred to me to describe it.  I'm far more likely to need to carefully think through creating artwork from an image or an idea.

The technique that appealed to me most was Angie Hughes' "Textural Book Wraps."  I just wanted to reach out and grab the photos in the magazine.  Oh, I'll probably never try it out since it involves melting and much sewing machine work, but the complex patterned surfaces were fantastic and I would have loved to cut make them and cut them up and use them in my canvas works.

Overall, this was an extremely well-balanced issue in subject matter.  They covered all the bases, with technique articles, design articles, artist profiles, reader submissions, and creative ideas.  I really enjoyed looking at the results from the "Doorway to Imagination" challenge.  A nice addition was one article on a topic I don't recall Quilting Arts discussing before - "Where and How to Show Your Artwork."  It's not something that needs to be covered every issue, but I imagine that it is of interest to many of their readers, especially since it included tips ranging from that a true beginner would need to someone who had tried a couple shows but maybed didn't know where to go next.

She combines paint, paper, fabric and embroidery to create her art.  She experiments with pattern.  This sounded a bit familiar to me. :)  Yet what Charlotte Liddle has achieved is completely different than anything I'm aiming for, even with such superficial similarities.  That's part of why I so enjoyed reading her profile in the Sep/Oct 2007 issue of Cloth Paper Scissors.  I visited her website as well. It contains very little additional information, yet is a great presentation if you don't have the magazine.

The workshop on acrylic glazing by Jenn Mason also touched my interests, as I'm always thinking about ways to get transparency to enhance the layering in my art.  I've done some of this before, but have never tried the pre-mixed glazes or tried to make patterned marks in the glaze.  It also inspired an atc swap over at www.atcards.com, which I've joined.

When I saw Jean Littlejohn's article on using an altered book with textured pages as a basis for a sketchbook I was tempted to discard what I'd already started with my daily art journal.  Sure, I've seen ideas similar to this before, but the way she prepared it and used it was striking.  I don't want to do that much prepwork at the moment, though.  Maybe next time.  I also think I'll be served better by a flat sketching surface until I get more practice.

I started my subscription again, for ease and cost-savings once the baby arrives.  Unfortunately this issue arrived late and rather mangled.  I'd gotten used to late so I'm more upset about mangled.  I carefully keep my CPS and QA for reference and inspiration.  Ah, well.  I'm hoping that both things are just because of when I ordered my subscription and will improve next issue.