Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Fabric workshop, new/old directions

     Over the weekend I took a portrait fabric workshop through Quilters' Connection, a fabulous guild of original thinkers. I love their meetings and energy.
     Esterita Austin led this group to show how to cut out parts of a face, adhere to a background and paint if you like. I would have preferred to work on my own subjects, but this was efficient in passing on the techniques. I am only putting this unfinished project up because I am due a blog and with Joe's birthday today and other events, I am behind.
(click to enlarge)
Thirty-third Anniversary
     I quickly slopped on a little paint to insert eyes on the face (the brushes were too stiff and time was out); but whereas I won't finish this face, I do think I will enjoy this fusing technique with portraiture and other paintings for more dimension. I remember watching people at my art show mid-90s running their fingers over cut-outs of a quilt that I painted over.

4 comments:

  1. This is all very interesting. I don't understand the Thirty-third Anniversary. Tell us more about it. As usual, I like the red.

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  2. The portrait is most compelling! You "slopped on" paint for the eyes? Come on! Oh, if only I had your artistic prowess and could do such "slopping"! And I love the painting, too, which of course I have seen before, but I'd love to know more about just HOW you did the "cut outs" of the quilt and painted over them! Pieces of an already constructed quilt--is that what you mean?

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  3. I had a prior painting for this occasion but was trying to paint it quickly, before Joe got home from work, as a surprise. I had sprayed shellac on a canvas so that I could put oils on it fairly fast. If I remember correctly, I had drawn the wedding quilt design on the large canvas and was too lazy to redraw it on another when the canvas wrinkled. I cut out each piece and put it to a bigger stretched canvas, glued the pieces on with a good adhesive, and then started this painting on something not wrinkled. That is why I am attracted to starting paintings with cutout fabrics and adding paint. There is so much more dimension.

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