Embroidered Collage

When I was done playing with the papers in the previous entry I had some scraps and a bit of time leftover.  So I rifled through the atc blanks I had and found these from the edges of the paper I cut for Melissa's last raw art paper swap.  I added bits of paper.  Then the next day I went over them with lines from watercolor crayons, adding another layer of pattern.  I considered adding stitch as well, but decided they looked complete.  I'll be swapping these in this month's "layered atcs" swap.

I ordered a stack of water-themed papers from http://hand-madepapers.us recently and they've been peeping out from a large folder near my desk for awhile now.  They're meant for going with the development of a long-term modular piece, but I've been itching to play with them.

So last night I did.  I pulled them out and just improvised.  This is what I came up with.  At the moment I"m thinking this will become a 6x6 and not be saved for a modular work, but then it definitely needs more layers.  I also added leftover bits of paper to backgrounds for some atcs, but I'll show those later, after I develop them.  I enjoyed getting to play.  I love the feel of hand-made paper and it melds so nicely under acrylic medium.

Over the last few weeks I haven't been blogging about new work, just QSDS, because I haven't done any.  I've been busy with other things and resting when I wasn't busy.  I'm also not sure how much art will get done from this point out, or how often I will be blogging, although I am committed to continuing to create and post and exhibit and sell.  There are two reasons for the upcoming reduction in output.

One - I have begun my online MBA program!  As I've mentioned before, I'll be studying to earn my business degree over the next two years, and blogging about it, of course, at MBA from a Distant Sun.  The ASU website said to expect to study 20-25 hours a week.  As I'll be continuing to work full time as a product development chemist, that will leave very little time for art.  What it does leave will shortly belong to something else little.

Two - I'm pregnant!  My due date is Christmas Eve.  I'm definitely looking forward to the arrival, but getting the house ready takes time, and I'll be devoting even more of it to the baby once he or she enters the world.  This was also part of the reason I was so tired at QSDS, first trimester fatigue...

Both these developments are planned for and desired, but they will certainly change my life.  I refuse to let go of creating, or finding ways to share what I create.  I also have to admit that these are part of the reason I've decided to pursue the modular concept in my artwork.  I can work in small chunks, mostly one medium at a time, and build larger works from the bits of time I'm able to claim for myself.

Thank you for coming along with me on my journey so far and I hope you stick around.  Who knows, maybe the drastic limitations will push me to new heights!

I would do it differently, if I could go again.  I would choose a class, not by how much it seemed like it would directly help my artwork, but by how much it looked like it would challenge me.  I would use the week as a time to deliberately step outside of what I know and do something else.  I wanted to stretch myself, and it just didn't really happen that way this time.  I learned a couple new things, of course, and am glad of them, but it wasn't quite what I was hoping for.

Another odd and disturbing thing was that I got tired of doing art.  I had NEVER just created all day and certainly not multiple days in a row.  I got restless and actually a little bored.  I wanted to get up and do something else.  I wanted to channel part of the energy I had into marketing or writing or some such.  If I'd been in a groove, it could have been different, but I have trouble imagining being one of the artists who barely took time to eat during the week, constantly returning to the studio areas at odd hours.

Was it worth it?  Definitely.  I enjoyed the entire experience, although parts of it more so looking back than I did at the time...  Talking with other artists and seeing their work develop in such different ways than mine is always something I enjoy and getting to see work presented in exhibits and slideshows was great.  QSDS was worth the money and vacation time and even the ten hour drive.  But I don't need to go again next year, although I would like to do something similar in another three or five.  What I need to do is create more.

I hope you've enjoyed this series of posts, both text and visual about the experience of attending QSDS and the art I made while I was there. 

Wendy definitely had a different perspective than other artists I'd talked to and while I didn't agree with all of it, it was very interesting to hear.  I took 5"x5" photographs of all my Footsteps with me to QSDS.  As she pointed out before she began, working off the photograph and not being able to see the texture in person could have influenced her opinion.

The key point that Wendy brought up was that she didn't feel that my focal points were integrated properly into the rest of the work.  For example, in First Shades of Autumn, the fabric trees were too bright for her and she felt they needed a film of color, which surprised me as I was always slightly annoyed by a bright spot in the background.  She felt that the issue stood out most sharply with Exhalation, the bright color of the pulled thread portion being too distinct from the background, which she really liked.  She also thought the background of City Garden Silence was intriguing, but that the counted thread portion was distracting and too fiddly in comparison.  She thought they might make great inspiration, but should not necessarily have been on the final piece.

I'm sitting here thinking - "But that was the POINT".  I created the rest of the artwork to feature and integrate with the embroidery.  But maybe the contrast is too great, and without knowledge of my intent the work is weaker.  Maybe a more gradual transition in scale and texture would have been more effective.  I did ask her why she didn't object to Kite-Flying in Zandvoort on the same grounds.  She said she thought it was because she knew how to interpret the painting, as it was representational.  On the other hand, she wasn't impressed with the figure or its presence, which was fine with me, because I knew it was a stretch for me putting it in.

We didn't talk about Migration since it didn't end up quite as I intended and she had a great idea for Summer Sunshine - if I'd just put one more square in the vaguely empty area then it might have pulled together more.  She didn't comment much on Kambaba Jasper, apparently because she like it the way it was.  Which is good, because it is my favorite of the work I've done so far.  I've decided I won't offer that one for sale anymore, but rather keep it for myself.

Give and Take at the Riffe Gallery was the first stop on the QSDS bus tour.  It was work of QSDS students and teachers hanging side by side, but I didn't really feel the discussion that the name implied.  It was simply a very good exhibit of a variety of art quilts.  Many caught my eye, but these three really spoke to me.

Arturo Alonzo Sandoval's Pattern Fusion #8 intrigued me at first because there was some complexity in the woven surface.  Then I stepped closer and could see the microfiche stitched to the metallic lurex bands.  When you got close enough you could almost see the headlines on some of the newspapers.  Then I stepped to the side and was able to really see the color variations as well.  I loved the way the use of these specific materials provided and inherent layering and depth of meaning.

Beth T. Kennedy's Legend of an Old Wall IV was an example of texture being the key element.  It was throroughly encrusted in bronzes and a bit of green with quilted people and a few squares and lines embedded within the texture.  Apparently much of the effect was achieved with Tyvek.  I want to be able to do work like this.

Niki Bonnett's The Sacred Within was more of an assemblage than anything else and difficult to describe.  There was a drape of surface designed cloth over top canvases secured to one another, with springs embedded inside of them and parts jutting out in other areas.  It reminded me of a clock somehow.

I didn't take any notes at one of our stops, and can't even recall the name, but it was half traditional quilts and half contemporary art quilts.  Nothing really struck me here, at least not in regards to relating it to my own art, except the chance to see more of Sue Benner's work in person, as she had two quilts up.

The third stop was the QSDS Invitational 2007 at the Cultural Arts Center.  I had seen multiple works by one artist in museums before, and I've certainly visited web sites, but this was a much more immediate experience for me.  Being there, where each of the artists had at least two pieces, often as many as five, helped me feel the concept of a body of work and how that definition could differ between artists.

One of my favorites was Catherine Kleeman's work.  They were very much color studies, but executed as many little squares quilted into large blocks of bigger squares, often with texture playing a strong role.  I could see how the depth changed and perhaps the intent in each quilt.

Another set that caught my eye was by Diane Herbert, primarily because she had found a way to use traditional laces as part of the lines in her works, without it being cloying.  I was delighted to discover, when one of the other members wanted a picture of her in front of her art, that she was the lady I'd talked to the previous day who had wanted to see my artwork and looked at my photos with me.

I was very glad I went on the bus tour, although I was very tired at the end, because when I see fiber art it just resonates with me.  I love visiting the museums, especially the contemporary sections, but the times I get to see the thread and fabric and such just stick in my memory.  I might someday do work for periods of time in which I don't use them, as exercises and development, but I can't imagine ever abandoning them.