Fiber Art, Texture, Leaves

Today I wanted to do a bit of looking at texture in fiber art. I have always loved being able to reproduce with a certain amount of ability realistic items in my fiber pieces. I use a lot of techniques and supplies. Some I may have posted before, but as a cohesive post, my outlook on the art in general may be a bit clearer.

My first photo is a sketch of pears, done with oil pastel and then stitched, fluid acrylic added for background (which the oil pastel resists), some quilting, then more acrylic paint. At the end, I have a small still life sketch, an exercise in materials.

The lily is a combination of realistic work and background abstraction. The leaves and flower are the centers of attention; I love dimension in leaves...these being two layers of cotton fabric sandwiched in felt, stitched and then a heat tool used to burn out most of the felt. The flower is on watercolor paper sent through the printer. The curve of the leaves adds a sense of the lily coming off the background, into the here and now.

These next two shots are of dimensional leaves and a flower, stitched with batting and a lining fabric, trimmed carefully, turned right side out and then stitched again to add realistic details such as leaf veins and the separation of the flower petals. Beads are added for stamens on the flowers, and set in a crystallized glue for water droplets on the leaves. They are to represent a loose form of a lily pad, set atop a quilt with silk pieced fish. Having the leaves loose above and not pieced into the surface provides another layer of visual depth.

I was experimenting with a fabric collage background when I did this small work. The butterfly and leaf skeletons are dimensional. The rest of the piece is quilted and has bobbin thread work to provide the proper texture for the fiddle head ferns. Layers of tulle build shadow and depth. The leaf skeletons hang over the edge of the background, adding a little motion to the whole...moving the view from the butterfly, to the ferns, and off the picture plane.

The next two photos are from a piece I did during the Summer Olympics held in Athens Greece. The victor's laurel wreath of tradition is pieced into the background, the freestanding leaves are a repetition of the pieced motif.

These were made from a textured silk fused to a cotton background and are quite sturdy.

The last piece is a landscape done from pieces of diverse cotton fabrics, with both print and stitch used to achieve a realistic view. It is a small piece and still holds much detail; worth a click to enlarge and see how it was put together.

I often have to educate people who have not had the opportunity to see fiber art on the difference between it and it's first cousin, traditional quilting. It is *ART*, just made with fabric rather than paint. Or it is art ON fabric, as the case of the pears, but using traditional quilting methods for texture. There are endless possibilities with these methods. I try to explore as many as possible and see what works best for whatever project it is I have at hand.

In today's fiber art world, there are so many options it is becoming hard to keep up with all of them! For those of us choosing fiber as a medium of expression--even for part of our work--we live in a time when it is exciting but also when we can get lost in too many things to try. Keeping balance and focus as to what our final outcome/goal is probably has become even more difficult.

I think there is a Chinese proverb, to paraphrase: "May you live in interesting times."

We certainly do! May your art show it!

I bid you....

Pax.

Artistic Vision: What You See and What You Walk By

I have to dedicate this post to Ces, who has a wonderful blog "Ces and Her Dishes" but it should be Ces and her amazing talent at rendering trees!

I have walked by this tree trunk so many times it is embarrassing. It is on the roadside where I used to take walks daily before the *hip-adventure*. I knew there was a dead tree there. Walked by, glanced at it....nothing more. Kept walking. Too busy looking for who knows what, or worse yet, looking at nothing. Or trying to keep from getting run over......

The other evening when I was out shooting pics, it was the first time I actually SAW the trunk. And when I did, it certainly was a V-8 moment as I mentally smacked myself, saying how could you miss this??? It is sculpture, pure and simple. I clicked off several shots, some I liked better than others but these were the winning two.

Both photos should enlarge; it is worth the time to do it just to see everything that is going on with the state of decay of the wood, the weathering, the lichen growing......textures and lines, light and shadow....all sorts of exciting things an artist should not miss!

What is wrong with me? (rhetorical question...no answer necessary)

The only thing I can think of in my own miserable defense is this:

Normally I would walk in the mornings, with the sun coming bright from behind the tree.

I was late the other evening getting out, so the setting sun was full on the cracked and creviced trunk, and maybe that was what made these eyes open.

There is always room for an artist to reassess how they see things; what catches their eye, why, how we process the information. Making yourself look in locales that you are accustomed to what is there is a fun exercise. I had a ball!

I highly recommend it, no matter what medium you work in or where you live. There is more to be seen than what we see.

For other amazing trees, you need to check out Ces's blog and see what she paints and also an amazing exposed root structure of a nutmeg tree that I hope is in her sidebar still. (maybe not...)

Okay, go open your eyes and find something wonderful!!!

Pax.

Art Brings Joy!---Or filling in the back in a most timely manner

(All photos copyright Anne M Huskey-Lockard, 2009, All rights reserved.)

Everything in it's place.......! :)

As I was bemoaning yesterday, I thought filling the niche on the back of the canvas was going to be quick and easy and found myself completely frustrated when it did not just happen. Every one of you who is a creative knows the feeling; the idea is firmly in your minds eye but it is NOT leaving, no matter how much you pull or pry or beg. I would like to think it was because I had been out of the studio for a while, but I truly believe I had extra presure due to the fact that this was one of the three blog giveaways, and of course, they go to friends. So each will have to fit the person, so they will be happy with the work, and thus, the brain said, "I really have had ENOUGH of YOU for a while." And luckily it was a short while.

So I walked away and let it sit. And I found that after a nap, dinner and some real sleep, I went to the studio very very early and found the precise pieces and places for them. Which worked out wonderful as the recipient of the work, Val, was coming over yesterday. She was a little stunned and pleasantly surprised, thinking it was only going to be the front of the work that she would see.

Val and her new prize!

But the back met with her approval to, and when she got to take it home yesterday too, well, that reminds me of why I keep plugging along with this work I do! (although I do question my sanity occasionally....okay, more like frequently!)

Val and the back of the box canvas, filled with pieces I hoped she would find important and meaningful.

There is a particular joy in producing art specifically for someone. You have no hesitation about putting things into it that might be part of a collection you normally would save. You know the very right item must be used (in this case, it was the broken shell, which took a lot of internal coaxing to part with). It had to be there; Wabi-Sabi. Long slender seeds from a Tulip Poplar, coated with iridescent paint. A two-tone, perfectly polished and not perfectly shaped stone. Two sterling silver leaf charms I have hoarded for a long time.
When art goes to a stranger, it should be the best work you can possibly do.
When art goes to a friend, it must be imbued with something even more.
That's one down on my obligation list from the blog give away. Hopefully the two other recipients-to-be will be patient with me and know that I really want whatever I make to be their art when it is complete.
I don't do generics.
These are parts of my soul.
Go let your soul fly free and create today!

P.S. Smile with that art work! This canvas, just for the record, was 4" x 4". Big art! Small package!

It's the little things....

....that make life worthwhile. You don't know, until you have been unable to care for yourself how good it feels to wake, make your own coffee (slowly!), brush your teeth, do a few dishes and then rest.
No self-slamming because you did not accomplish more; just the pure delight of doing something for yourself.
This has made me take a hard look at Art. How often do we become so wound up in the process of finishing pieces that we have lost the joy of the journey along the way? How often have we hurried to the point that there is no joy what so ever in what we produce, though it may be technically perfect? Why is it always something BAD that causes us to stop dead in our tracks and say...wait a minute.....this isn't right......
I challenge all of you to do one simple task today and slow down long enough to savor what you do. Be in the moment. If it's dishes, wash them well, feel the water and the suds, look at the clean surface when you are done. Be proud of your work. Then apply that to your creativity. One thing, one moment, one enjoyable process.
You truly will not realize what you've been missing in all the hustle and bustle of outside demands, demands we place upon ourselves, demands placed upon us by others.
Our world we live in makes us feel we must gladly accept more demands. What if you were free of that?
Just slow down and do one small thing incredibly WELL.
You cannot imagine how good that can be!

Focus

It seems the past couple of days my focus has gone out the window. I have always assumed I was Wonder Woman, satin tights and golden lasso in hand to reel everything in. This morning, just from age and physical fatigue, I guess I will have to settle for being a woman par excellance and nothing more.

I have to read my blog to remember the past week, it has been so hectic. So then I ask myself the question; how does this affect our art? Is this why so much trivial work is swamping the market and the truly wonderful, spiritual work is pushed aside, or harder to find?

The day I took the posted picture was one of those days of wonderful, blissful focus---one I don't have frequently. Everything was clear and I could look about my studio and see compositions in any corner. Consequently, I have a few days out of the studio, and although I can see what I have accomplished, I feel creatively exhausted.

How about if we took a focus break? One day, one hour, or five minutes if that works for you, to zone in and focus on what precisely it is that ignites our art passion. What is it with you? What makes you swoon to paint/collage/photograph or otherwise memorialize that which you see? What is it that makes your brain suddenly click and you know you can't stay away from your work? What drives you?

Focus seems to be a fickle tart; first she's right there by you, then off in some haystack far away. If I could improve one quality of my work habits, it would be in the area of hard, serious focus.

I love my friends and love sharing and working and seeing good things progress. I would give the shirt off my back to see another person ignited with the fire of art---it is part of my psyche to do this. But do I have to allow myself the occasional studio focus day? Is this a dilemma that any of you face? How do you deal with it? Do you retreat to the work at hand or go out in the world and do something totally different? Does the same thing work for us all?

I know this is one of my more serious posts (sorry folks, no rants or funny birds today!) but I really would love input on this.

What is it that makes you focus, and find the zone?

P.S. Got a book on Wabi-Sabi......very interesting. Will post about it when I finish reading.