My Latest Project

I'm a bit behind on the cloth I need to finish for the next ArtCloth Mastery Program session.  We are supposed to create a series of 4-6 pieces of artcloth.  Of course, I have all kinds of good reasons for not starting before now.  One of the main reasons is that, up until 2 weks ago, I did not have a plan.  All I knew was that I wanted to incorporate hand painting.  I finally had a brainstorm as I lay awake one night. 

I've been focusing a lot on design and composition since I started my daily design practice last fall.  (Actually it was more of a weekly practice, but that's another story.)  I've always taken an intuitive approach to composition.  But since I don't have a formal art education, I figured it was time for some "book learning".  I've been reading and doing a variety of small design and composition studies to translate the book learning into experiential learning.  I have also managed to incorporate design concepts into each of the classes I taught this year.

Through my design work and research on other artists (I've focused on the abstract expressionist movement) I find I've been drawn to vertical compositions.  I used that approach for one of the pieces I created for my last series, The Best Season, and I was really pleased with the end result.

So, I decided that I would use a vertical composition for all the pieces in my next series. There are a few other things I want to accomplish with this series, so here's my plan:

• All pieces will have a vertical composition
• All pieces will incorporate the use of resists
• All pieces will be primarily hand painted with minimal to no use of silkscreens
• Each piece will be a color study, incorporating either complements, or some color scheme based on color wheel relationships

I have started doing a series of fat quarter studies and then I will start on the larger pieces.  Stay tuned for photos as I work through the small studies.