Aspirations

Now Is The Best Season, 2010

When I first moved back to San Antonio nine years ago, I heard about a program in which the airport displays work of local artists.  It sounded exciting - having one's work in a place visited by thousands of people from all over the world.  At the time I didn't respond to the call for entry. You know those naysaying voices inside one's head - "You're not in that league yet.  Don't even bother to enter."  I listened to those voices, but I did have a vision.  A vision of my artwork hanging in the airport.

I had pretty much forgotten that vision until I saw the call for entry last fall. This time, I ignored those voices. Then I received an email saying that my work was accepted.  Wow - that vision would be complete. And even more exciting was the news that Jane Dunnewold's work would be on display in the same area. I feel honored to be a part of the program and honored to be in the company of my mentor and friend.

A series of five pieces that I created during the ArtCloth Mastery program were chosen for the airport location. (I wrote about my inspiration for the series in an earlier post.) The installation process went smoothly - the installers were true professionals! Below are a few photos of the installation last month.

If you find yourself in Terminal B at the San Antonio International Airport between now and October, look for Jane's and my work between Gates 4 and 6.

What are your aspirations?

10,000 Flowers - Finally Finished

I put the finishing touches on four pieces in my 10,000 Flowers series last week. I started them at the end of December, but took a two month hiatus this spring because of a heavy workshop schedule. This is the second version I have created - I wasn't satisfied with the first.

The pieces were created for the ArtCloth Mastery program that Jane Dunnewold teaches. They are based on one of my favorite poems.

I incorporated both flour paste and soy wax resists, along with multiple layers of dyeing and screenprinting and even some handpainting. The pieces are in a rayon/linen blend. The lovely look of linen with the soft drape of rayon. They are long and narrow - approximately 10 feet x 24". Below are some detail shots of the pieces.

10,000 Flowers

The Moon

A Cool Breeze

Snow

Two weeks ago I decided to add a fifth piece to the series to represent the last line of the poem "This is the best season of your life." It is still in progress, although I don't envision a whole lot more. I think just a little bit of copper leaf is all it needs.

The Best Season

Feels good to have them finished. Now it's time for the next project!

Up From the Ashes

Continuing on with my new year's theme of burning the old and bringing on the new, but this time it's only figurative. I was feeling brave and tore off a section from a piece I was unsatisfied with. I had previously tried to salvage it, but nothing was working. So, I decided to use part of it as a starting point for a new piece I'm working on for an exhibit at the Copper Shade Tree in Round Top, TX.

The main piece was from a series I completed last summer, 10,000 flowers. I wasn't pleased with the color of the flowers and felt there were too many of them. The piece just didn't have a focal point and any ideas I had to create one just weren't working. So, I tore off the bottom portion. (Funny - when I look at the photo above, it doesn't look as bad as it does in my mind. Is there a lesson here? Maybe I can salvage the remains of that piece after all!)

I'm creating a piece that's about 10" x 20", Texas Wildflowers. I plan to layer it with some organza that has been dyed and printed.

I'm close to being finished, just need to assemble it and get it ready for hanging. I'll post photos once the show opens on Februay 5th.

The Moon

I've been working on a piece for my 10,000 Flowers series titled "The Moon." I'm creating the series as part of an assignment for the ArtCloth Mastery Program. The series focuses on a favorite poem. I created four pieces with the same theme this summer, but I wasn't pleased with the way they turned out, so I'm trying a completely different approach.

This time I'm using a rayon, linen blend. It is a wonderful fabric with the look of linen and the soft drape of rayon. I used fairly bright colors for the last series, so this time I'm using a more muted color scheme. I also wanted to incorporate overdyeing and the use of resists.

The first step was to block off the large circle with freezer paper, then apply flour paste to the entire cloth. My intention was to scratch into the damp flour paste the words of the poem. But because the cloth was so long, by the time I got all the flour paste on, the paste was too dry to scratch into it. It ended up taking off gobs of paste, rather than creating a fine line of text. So, I abandoned that plan. Once the paste was dry, I brushed on thickened dye in a dark brown.

My vision was to have a value gradation so that the top of the cloth would be lighter than the bottom. I dyed it blue green first, then overdyed it orange. It sounds like a strange combination, but it makes an interesting color. It was a pretty tedious process - I used six value gradations so there was a lot of math involved in computing the dye/water ratio! It took several samples to get the color and the amount of gradation the way I wanted it.

Before I dyed it, I used an acrylic medium resist. Acrylic medium works well to block penetration of the dye. It usually takes up some of the color, so you end up with a lighter version of the dye color. I screenprinted on gel gloss medium with a thermofax in a small dot pattern. I tested all this out on a sample before I did my large piece. I compared textile medium, matte gel medium and gloss gel medium. The gel mediums tended to resist the dye better.

After I did the first dye bath, I applied soy wax so that I wouldn't lose all of that blue green. My next step is to paint the "moon" with thickened dye. I have been playing around with colors for that, mostly focusing on yellow oranges to denote a harvest moon. I wasn't satisfied with any of the colors I tried. Finally, I realized that with the background being more reddish orange, that is the direction I need to go. So, now I'm off to sample some red-orange colors. I'll post more photos as my work progresses.

10,000 Flowers In Progress

In an earlier blog post, I committed to recording my progress on my latest series, 10,000 Flowers. I haven't posted about it in awhile, because I haven't made much progress. I don't really have any good reasons for not working on the series, just plain old procrastination.

I finally started working again today. Two of the pieces had several layers of printing, the other two were only dyed. They have to be finished by October 18, for the next session of the ArtCloth Mastery program. Or at least, as close to finished as possible.

One of the things I focused on today is adding more value contrast. So, here is how they look after a day of intense work.

10,000 Flowers

This piece represents spring. The vision in my head is our wildflower garden when it explodes after the spring rains. When I started this morning, this piece was only dyed. I added 8 layers of printing. It is essentially the same imagery, just different sizes and different colors. It is pretty close to being finished, but I'm not yet sure what my next step will be.

The Moon

This piece represents autumn. Several weeks ago I screened the moon imagery in several versions of yellow-orange, but only one of them shows up well in the photo. Today I added the crackle image for additional texture. I used several different values with the crackle to achieve greater depth. I need to add another image in a lighter value, so I'm thinking of using the moon image in a larger size.

Snow

This piece represents winter. Several weeks ago I screened the small snowflakes in several shades of blue. Today I added the dark blue background texture and the larger, lighter colored snowflakes. This piece is pretty close to finished. I'll let it sit a few days and then look at it to decide what, if anything, it needs.

I'm feeling like I accomplished a lot today. Proof that when I stop procrastinating and do something I can achieve a lot!

10,000 Flowers - Design Explorations

A few weeks ago, I spent several hours just playing with india ink, paper and a variety of brushes and texture tools. I was on a quest to create imagery for my next series, 10,000 Flowers. I wanted imagery to represent the four seasons, but I wanted it to be more abstract than representational. Something that would give the feel of a flower, say, without looking like a botanical version of a flower. The four images I was trying to create include a flower, the moon, snow and a cool breeze.

I used a variety of items to create marks, including a chamois window cleaner, a spring cooking whisk, a square brush, a kitchen scrubber, a foam circular brush and a tool I crafted out of a chair cushion. Of course, many of the designs will never be used. And I had to ignore my inner critic who was saying, "That's an ugly pattern, you'll never use that. This is just a waste of time, none of these designs will work." When I got past that and just let myself make marks, I really enjoyed it. I used the tools in as many ways as possible, wiping, swirling, brushing, pouncing.

I didn't count how many designs I created, but I'm guessing it was at least 50, maybe even more.The next step was to look through all the designs, focusing on my theme for the series, and see which of them captured the feeling I was after. I pulled out the best and scanned them into the computer. Most of them needed some manipulation. I now have four images to correspond with each piece in the series.

A flower, created with a chamois window cleaner.

A cool breeze, created with a circlular foam brush.

The moon, created with the spring whisk.

Snow, created with my homemade chair cushion tool.

My next step will be to make them into thermofaxes and see how they translate on the cloth. Often a design will look good on paper, but when it is converted into a screen, it takes on a different look and isn't quite right. I also want to see how they look together. Although they may not be on the same cloth, I want each piece in the series to be in harmony with the others. Stay tuned to see my next steps.

10,000 Flowers - The Series

As part of the ArtCloth Mastery program, I am creating a series of four works, based on one of my favorite poems. The poem was written by a Zen monk, Wu-Men Hui-K'ai, who lived in the thirteenth century. The poem is very short - only 7 lines.

Ten thousand flowers in spring,

the moon in autumn,

a cool breeze in summer,

snow in winter.

If your mind isn't clouded

by unnecessary things,

this is the best season of your life.

I spoke about the poem and what it means to me in an earlier blog post. I am creating four pieces, one for each of the first four lines of the poem. My intent is to incorporate the theme of presence from the last three lines into each of the four pieces. The idea of being present in the moment is a pretty abstract concept to try to depict visually. But, I have been moving toward the abstract lately, so I guess this is the challenge I've been waiting for.

I have already dyed the fabrics. I purposely did not choose typical colors for the seasons. Rather, I focused on the line from the poem and chose a color that fit. For spring, I chose a pinkish red, to pick up the color in my wildflower garden.

For summer, I chose a blue violet, to represent a cool breeze.

For autumn, I chose a yellow orange, similar to the harvest moon.

For winter I chose a cool blue. (Okay, that is a bit traditional, but I didn't want to have a white cloth, and the blue works well with the other colors.)

When I dyed the cloth, I used a technique that creates a sunburst-like pattern. My intent is to represent the position of the sun for each season. So, the central point for the pattern is highest on the summer cloth and lowest on the winter cloth. You can see it best when looking at the four pieces side by side.

My next step was to begin to identify imagery to place on the cloth. I'll talk about that and show photos of the images I created in another blog post.