Performing Surgery on "Following the Sun"

 

If you follow my blog, you know by now that I am not a planner. I know what I want to accomplish with a piece of art work but, I don't always know how to get there before I start. I am learning. After completing, two very large thread paintings, I now know that I must thread paint the image before I attach it to the background.

I worked on both pieces simultaneously so I didn't learn from one before working on the other. The Water Boy, had only one small area that bulged. However, I found early on that I needed to work on the boy's image separately from the background. I added him to the background after both were finished.

   Area before repair

Area after repair                                                                                                                                                                                       

I found this to be a very successful repair and was quite happy with the results. It does not, however, take place of doing it right in the first place. I can attest to the fact that it is heart stopping to cut into a piece you have spent months working on.

The Water Boy

 

 

Following the Sun

32" X 38"

Following the Sun is a project for my fiber art group. HiFiber, issued a challenge to it's members to do a piece using monochromatic colors. Since one of my passions is flowers, I decided to follow my muse and make yet, one more sunflower. Because I wanted to step out of my box a little, I decided that after I finished the applique I would heavily thread paint/quilt the piece.

I didn't intend to quilt quite so heavily, but I got carried away. Once you do that, you have to carry the density of quilting through the whole piece.

After I finished quilting the flower, the background was very warped, as was the flower, itself. I knew that quilting the background would help but I knew it won't take care of the majority of warping. At this point I placed it on my design wall and left it for months. 

 We now have a venue, The Art's Center in Clemson, SC, for an exhibit in August. I needed to get this fixed. I finished the background quilting and the center of the flower. I then decided that the only possible way to salvage this was to cut into the petals and cut away some of the bulk.

 

I chose areas that I felt would make a good place for a repair. In this section the edge of one petal looked like a good place to start. I cut the area with a very sharp E-Acto knife. I then overlay the edges to see how much needs to be cut out. I mark it with chalk and begin to cut away. I did this in steps as I do not want to cut away too much.  I then butt the edges together. On the back of the piece I fuse a piece of fabric that will cover the cut edge. I then come back to the top and thread paint to cover the mended piece.

finished repair.

 

I have learned a lot from working on these two pieces. I could have made two large floral wall hangings in the time it has taken me to create this one. However, I do find that I learn better by making mistakes and repairing them, than I do by planning ahead. Don't flame me for not planning ahead, I have learned such a good lesson from this project. I do know what to do next time I want to heavily thread painted/quilted a piece.

 

I hope this information might help the beginner thread painter. Stopping the heart to often can be bad for your health. 

 

This post is linked to:

www.ninamariesayre.blogspot.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Great Week in the Studio

I gave myself a gift for Mother's Day.  I haven't had a lot of time recently to create.  Well, that's not exactly true.  I've been creating, as in creating a new class, but not art work.  So for Mother's Day I gave myself a week to create.

I really wanted to get a piece ready for the Annual SAQA auction.  They are due June 1 so I decided it's now or never.  I still have some work to do on this, I am going to add some beads.  Don't usually do beads but decided this was a great candidate for some beads.


 12 X 12
A Study in Green

 Close-up of A Study in Green

 Another project I've been working on this week is a portrait created using thread painting.  I think I have a good start but it is so hard finding the right color of thread.  I have blended threads in order to get just the color I want but this is not an easy job.  I do love to do this through.  Can't wait to get the wild white hair in his eyebrows and hair line.

Okay, here is my dilemma.  I belong to a wonderful fiber arts group.  We have a challenge where we are to make a monochromatic quilt. I love this group and I want to be supportive and make a piece for this challenge.  I took a wonderful photo last Summer of a sunflower. with the sun shining from behind the flower.

I've wanted to make this into a quilt since I took the photo.  Easy, right?  Not quite.  I dyed fabric last week in graded colors using Tangerine. It turned out beautiful and with a little added brighter yellow the flower develop beautifully.

Now I need a background.  If you know my work you know that I favor bright fabrics.  However, I am trying to follow the guidelines and make this monochromatic.  The piece to the left would fit the bill.  Do I like it?  I'm not sure.

So I auditioned some different backgrounds.  If I used this one it doesn't fit the bill for monochromatic but if it's better then it doesn't matter. Right?

Then I tried this piece of hand dyed multi color.  Not quite as good, in my opinion.

I feel like this is me.  I need to add some leaves and a steam.  I plan to do some hand-quilting in the center maybe add some beads.  No way does it fit the bill for the monochromatic challenge.  I have to make a decision.













Tomorrow is back to work on prepping for my class.  Which by the way is June 2-8 at John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC.  There are still a few openings in case you would like to learn something new and exciting.

This post is long but I hope you will bear with me I want to add two more photos to give you an idea of what the students will be learning in this class. .

Spirit of the Kive

The technique I used to create the image for this piece will be part of my class presentation.  Included in this process is creating a four-value portrait.

A is for Aubrey


Typographic Portraits will also be taught in this class.  I will also be teaching other techniques as time allows.  Would love to see you there.  




I am linking this post to www.ninamariesayre.blogspot.com