Building the Simple

bird fly away

Collage

5" x 7" 

Oddly enough, life is quiet now only two days away from Christmas.  Having some time off, I've been working with simple materials: papers, fabrics, text from an old Italian dictionary, small bits of willow branches found on my morning walks. I'm hoping to take part in the International Collage Exhibition and Exchange run by Dale Copeland. It's been a few years since my last participation, so it's time to bring out the boxes of papers and such. The work above is mainly created from specialty papers from Nepal and India, some bits of marbleized papers, scrap fabrics from the quilt stash and a slender piece of Japanese silk yarn around the perimeter. I then stitched the collage onto Canson pastel paper using another Japanese paper thread.

Leave Taking

Collage
4" x 6"

Leave Taking is built upon a scrap of silk dupioni using papers, a bit of a monoprint I did last year,  Italian text and a willow branch stitched down with copper on Bristol paper.  I love the contrast between the fragile silk and the papers and copper stitching.  I hope to work on some more over the coming weeks.  I think participating in an exchange/exhibit keeps one focused and on track.  I find that I need that type of structure to discipline myself -- otherwise, I fiddle and procrastinate.

Quilting is another form of building with simple materials. This is a glimpse of a smaller work I did years ago, but became impatient to finish it as a full-scale quilt. So I framed it in a wooden embroidery hoop and hung it on the wall by the fireplace. Now when I'm on the couch reading or doing more hand-stitching, I look up at this and feel good about its simple lines and monochromatic colors.

No Rhyme or Reason

36" x 40"

In an all-together different vein, this is a mid-sized wallhanging quilt, mostly done over several summers at Cape Cod, hand-stitched and then machine-stitched into a larger piece when I had finally accumulated enough blocks. There was never any pattern except for the basic log cabin pattern. It is certainly not symmetrical; perhaps a bit wonky here and there -- but it makes me smile when I look at it, thinking of those summer days at the Cape and how the slow stitching and piecing kept me sane while raising teenagers -- need I say more?

Collage and quilting -- a process of building, of piecing, of working with colors and textures, with surface and design. Don't you just love it?

 In the depth of winter I finally learned

that there was in me an invincible summer. 

Albert Camus

Wherever and how ever . . .

Storms blew in yesterday afternoon and early evening -- small tornadoes touching down throughout New York and Connecticut. Very strange stuff!

But this morning the sun broke out and the air was crisp and cool with a slight breeze. One could feel the edges of autumn brushing past as I strolled through the garden, searching for any mishaps and destruction from the high winds. Luckily everything was in good shape.

Switching gears, creatively speaking, I began working on several quilting projects this weekend. At this time of year, I tend to gravitate to more tactile projects. Perhaps the cooler weather and the first signs of hibernation lead one to pick up fabric or yarn, things that warm and comfort us.

These two blocks of beautiful batiks are actually one large block, about 12" x 12" -- just couldn't get the whole piece on the scanner. I picked up the fabric at the World International Quilt Festival in New Hampshire a few weeks ago -- luscious cherry reds and burnt umbers, golds and deep greens -- good enough to munch on.  I have no particular plan in mind, perhaps several large 12x12 blocks embedded in an off-white batik background, something that will make those colors POP!  Or maybe a deep navy -- I can never tell until I start placing the pieces together on a large open surface.

Often as I work with these bits and pieces of fabric and colors I think about painting abstracts or building a collage -- what if I did this with oil and cold wax?  what if I did something like this in pastels or with papers? -- 

You see, it never ends.  Or rather it's all connected somehow, isn't it?  Whether you're creating with traditional materials, such as fiber, or with more aesthetic materials, such as oil or pastel, one is always creating, combining color and pattern, texture and line, seeking that point where all comes together into some thing that pleases, that sparks excitement or serenity.

This odd little fellow [above] is a block I experimented with in following the methods of Rayna Gilman and her quilt work, as published in Free-form Quilting, a great book that takes you out of the same-old, same-old frame of mind.  I'm still not sure I have the hang of it yet, but will continue to challenge myself.

Another experiment but more in the realm of combining colors -- hot pinks and oranges with deep cobalt blues and purples, all couched in that gorgeous khaki green shade -- BAM!  It makes one's heart beat faster, makes you want to dance around the room to some Brazilian jazz -- oh, yeah!

So you see, whether working with fiber or with paints, you learn so much about color combinations, pattern and line mixing and more. And, in the case of quilting, you end up with something that you can wrap around yourself, or around someone you love, and feel cozy and protected. How good is that?

"These fragments I have shored against my ruins."

T.S. Eliot

The Waste Land