Conversations between paper and fabric

June 22, 2025

Fun experiments this week with paper and fabric.

I’ll get there in a few paragraphs. But, first, a few morning thoughts

I frequently write my blog earlier in the week, maybe Friday evening or Saturday. This week I am writing on Sunday morning. I am still in morning mode.

I’m an early riser. Generally I am on our front porch for coffee and poetry reading by about seven am. This morning I spent time just soaking it in. The sun coming through the leaves of the shrubs. The birdsong. The neighborhood quiet. Our hibiscus opening to the day. It is good.

And it is essential. If you are an artmaker, you absolutely must allow some time for yourself. Alone. To observe. To restore. Even if the time alone takes you inward to difficult decisions and memories. You have to have time alone to process life. There’s no making art without this time.

AND – yesterday I spent the morning with my local artmaking group, Arts Etc. The camaraderie, learning from each other and mutual encouragement in a group like this is irreplaceable. Also essential. However or wherever you do it, if you are an artmaker find a group – a tribe. It also feeds what you need to create.

Now to some paper and fabric thoughts:

Our program leader demo’d a number of different kinds of paper, not-paper, synthetic and other fibrous materials. It was interesting to see the array of materials available. Being a simple soul, I brought just my scrap box (A large, flat plastic storage box with a lid) of printed rice paper and tissue paper and did some collaging after the demo.

Some basic guidelines: If you are going to collage paper to fabric, it will be most successful if the papers are thin and the fabric is somewhat heavier. I always begin by taping or pinning my substrate fabric to a rigid board of some sort. (This piece is about 10”H x 28”W) Here I used styrofoam because it’s light and was easy to transport to the meeting. In my studio, I generally use a plywood board. (Covered in vinyl so I don’t glue the collage to the plywood.)

Tape down the substrate. Using a big brush, slather on a good coat of matte medium. Place your papers into the medium. Press in place with the brush or a brayer. It’s fine if medium squooshes out the sides of the papers – that means you are getting a good contact. Layer some more. Slather on more medium. Brush over the whole thing.

The medium is accomplishing two things: First, it is a good glue. Second, it is an archival painting material. By getting a good coat of matte medium under, over, and seeped down into the paper, you are encasing it in a material that will overcome the inherent fragility and instability of paper. Don’t be afraid. It will dry. And it will dry clear. You will be able to cut your paper-fabric pieces to sewable pieces and stitch through them.

Here’s a larger section I collaged. (This is about 24”H x 30”W)

And a close-up

I snapped a photo of a work-in-progress in my studio that also incorporates paper with fabric so you can envision how you might use paper-fabric pieces.

This kind of work encourages experimenting and quick response. And uses up your accumulation of printed paper scraps! Enjoy the process.

. . . . . .

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

BLOG POSTS - once a week: Mostly about what I am creating in the studio. If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail, please subscribe here: I post and send by e-mail each Sunday evening. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL

NEWSLETTER – about once a month: Mostly news of exhibits and my way of introducing new work. You’ll get FIRST LOOKS at new artwork and members-only discounts. You’ll hear from me about once a month. NEWSLETTER

A learning and wondering smorgasbord

June 15, 2025

Lots of little things going on this week.

FIRST – FOLLOW-UP LEARNING ABOUT STENCILS

I had a number of interesting and helpful responses to my discussion last week about cutting plastic stencils. Thank you readers who sent ideas.

Material: The most preferred material seems to be mylar. (I have learned Mylar is a brand name of material made by DuPont. The generic name is polyester film.) There are lots of options on Amazon; search “Mylar sheets.”

You can also look for brand name Duralar film, which I found on Jerry’s Artarama in a roll 20” x 25ft for about $25. It’s .005” thick.

(Thickness notes: A normal bumper sticker that you would buy to put on your car is .002” - .003” thick. So this film would be just a little thicker than that. You don’t want anything thicker than .005”. Too hard to cut.)

Cutter: When I cut my big tree stencil, I used a box cutter like this:

It’s a great tool. Nice heavy handle to lean into. The razor blades that you insert just break off when you need to change to a new blade for sharpness. (Some people just push the blade onto a table surface till it breaks off. This terrifies me. I snap off the blade with pliers.)

And now some wondering: I am still in the middle of my project of printing panels with the tree limb images. I like the images a lot, but I admit I am now quite flummoxed.

The photo above is a tree limb panel and some accompanying fabric I laid out on my worktable to try out some combinations. (This whole unit of fabrics is abut 36” x 36”.) I can see possibilities for an attractive composition.

But—what is this about? Why does this interest me? To be wondering this at this stage of the game is backwards for me. I almost always start with a plan, then create the fabrics to fulfill that plan. Here, I have created panels I think are interesting and going backwards to find a compelling purpose. This is much harder!

I think I need to go back to my original interest – these limbs being part of the complex pattern of a single tree. Now I have reproduced them. But what am I trying to communicate?

More about communication. . . I have been thinking and wondering more about communication in another context this week.

I was thrilled to join in the “No Kings” protests on the streets of DeLand Saturday morning. My little ol’ town had about 1500 people communicating a wide range of ideas in their protests. Some signs were about science. Some signs were about fascism. Some signs were about climate change. Some about vaccines and health. Some were hopeful – expressing a longing for democracy that seems to be slipping away. Many expressed love for America.

And, yes, some were angry. A few signs read F---K Trump. I get it. People are angry.

But, I noticed that on the opposing team, the few large, loud pickup trucks that moved back and forth waving Trump signs, listening to what they yelled, there was only a single message: obstinate anger. The words they yelled were only ugly and angry. It seemed to me they just didn’t have much else to say. There was no offer of a compelling counter-vision of what good or important things they stand for. They just angrily defended their guy.

I’m still processing what all this means. But, at first thought, it seems to me that truth is often complicated, rich and varied. Communicating worthy ideas will not be simple or formulaic.

In art as in life.

. . . .

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

BLOG POSTS - once a week: Mostly about what I am creating in the studio. If you would enjoy receiving blog posts by e-mail, please subscribe here: I post and send by e-mail each Sunday evening. BLOGS-BY-EMAIL

NEWSLETTER – about once a month: Mostly news of exhibits and my way of introducing new work. You’ll get FIRST LOOKS at new artwork and members-only discounts. You’ll hear from me about once a month. NEWSLETTER

Adding a Layer – In reverse

June 8, 2025

As I’ve been surrounding myself with tree limb images in the studio, I’ve spent time looking at them. I’m enjoying the project and the experiments and like a lot of results.

Just as a reminder of how I’ve been proceeding, here’s a snapshot:

I invested time last month drawing and cutting a large cardstock stencil. I’ve printed several variations in different palettes.

What I realized this week, as I looked at the section shown above, is that I wanted some of these to have one or maybe two more layers.

What I want is a layer of dark trees in the foreground of the green-and-yellow-pattern. How to do this?

Option 1 – cut a stencil that’s the opposite, where the tree shapes are the open areas. Then when I print it, I’d be printing the final shape I want to see. I’ve done this many times before with other patterns. But the complexity of these limbs really makes them unsuitable for a stencil with a lot of little bridge pieces holding together floating parts.

Option 2: Use the existing stencil but use it to print a resist material like wheat paste. That way, I’ll be covering up the background and revealing the trees, ready for dark foreground painting. Great idea.

BUT – I created my stencil from card stock. Under its normal use for rolling on acrylic paint, it will hold up well for a long time. But wheat paste has to be washed off the stencil after printing. (Imagine pancake batter never washed off. It would just get gross.) I can’t hose off a card stock stencil. It would fall apart.

So this week I committed to cutting acompletely new limb stencil, identical to the first one, but made out of plastic. It took a few hours to trace it and cut it, but it will be a good time investment. Now I can create all kinds of layers. Here’s my new plastic stencil ready to lay down on the fabric:

Keep focused on the end product: printing dark trees in the foreground of a previously printed forest. (Printing resists involves multiple steps, so it’s easy to get lost. The end goal is important.)

Step 1: Putting down the resist. Here’s the new stencil getting put to use:

Above: I mixed up the wheat paste (flour + water) and poured it into a disposable tray; then I used a foam roller to spread the paste over the whole stencil.

After the whole piece was covered with wheat paste, while it was still wet, I pulled off the stencil, revealing the pattern.

I left it to dry on my worktable overnight.

Step 2: Overpainting Remember: the paste resist is covering up the background. So, I’ll now be painting the actual tree shapes.

Above center is the painted fabric outside drying in the sun.

Step 3: Take off the resist After the acrylic paint dried, I dunked the whole fabric piece in a bucket of water and went inside for a nap. When I came out, the wheat paste had softened up and I scraped it off with a spoon to get rid of most of it. (At this point it’s gloppy and messy.) Then I finished cleaning the fabric outdoors with the garden hose.

Step 4: Look at that! Here’s the result:

Things you might wonder:

Why cut the plastic stencil by hand? Couldn’t I use a Cricut (or similar) cutter or send it out for laser cutting. I could. But I actually like the tactile involvement this provides as I interact with the pattern. Further, this is also a pretty big stencil, possibly too big for higher-tech cutting methods.

Why not just paint the trees by hand, instead of creating a stencil? Two reasons. First, Painting on fabric with a brush does not yield the same appearance as rolling with a foam roller. Second, every time I wanted to use this pattern again, I’d have to draw it and paint it again. Now, I’ve invested in a stencil that will allow me to create the image quickly each time I want it.

What kind of plastic did I use? I’d be happy to share if I knew the answer. In my professional career years ago I worked in a printing company that produced nameplate products, and this was a sheet of material we used in the plant. It’s about .003 - .005” thick and not brittle. It may be Lexan. It is possible that something similar would be available by the sheet at home supply stores, but I don’t know what to recommend. If any readers use a similar plastic available in big sheets or rolls and want to share its name and source, I’ll be happy to tell readers next week.

. . .

For readers near Central Florida: I invite you to the opening of the Exhibit for 22 DeLand-area artists whose work was featured in the 2025 DeLand Area Off the Beaten Path Studio Tour. Information below. I’m proud to have two quilts included in the exhibit, which runs through July 5.

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

NEWSLETTER – about once a month: Mostly news of exhibits and my way of introducing new work. You’ll get FIRST LOOKS at new artwork and members-only discounts.You’ll hear from me about once a month. NEWSLETTER

Possibilities Unfolding

June 1, 2025

Full studio syndrome. This week I have a lot going on.

No things finished. Lots of things cooking.

Lots of things interesting me. Here’s what I have hanging on my easel:

Tree limb variations. Light on dark, dark on light. Varied palettes.

Last week I wrote about one of the experiments I thought I really did not like. That must have kicked off a competitive spirit in me, because I decided I really wanted to make it into something I do like.

And I’ve been working on it this week. In parts, on my worktable, almost there:

I started with one of the PhotoShop mockups I shared last week, the one I felt was most successful.

What I discovered is that these very hot, intense sections needed some places of rest and calm beside them. And, as I put it together, some things evolved. I changed the top right to red. The sections that were just a solid color, I added some pattern, though I kept it subtle.

I’m pleased with where it’s headed Still to do: playing with some transparent squares to create more depth and a sense of looking through a layer. And, of course, I need to do the binding and finishing.

. . . .

Meanwhile, I am looking forward to an exhibiting opportunity here in DeLand. For those readers who live in or near DeLand, hope you will be able to see this exhibit.

I delivered my selected pieces today.

The Hand Art Museum is on the campus of Stetson University, my alma mater. This beautiful space will be exhibiting works juried from DeLand-area artists who were part of the 2025 Studio Tour.

. . .

Last week I shared some thoughts from my heart, sharing my despair and anger about the US government’s current direction. I was overwhelmed by responses from readers of like mind. Thank you for your encouragement. Thank you for taking time to write to me. Let us continue to stick together and to fight, each in our own ways and with our own abilities.

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

Seeing Possibilities

May 25, 2025

I’ve been experimenting this week with seeing possibilities. It involves a painted fabric panel I created that I really don’t like very much.

This is part of my on-going project, which will probably stretch through the summer, of working out possibilities and variations using patterns of tree limbs.

A few weeks ago I painted a batch of fabrics. I like these colors and I like them together. Now I’m experimenting.

One of the basic questions about the patterns I’m developing: Do they work better light-on-dark or dark-on-light? I’m doing some of each.

Here’s a panel I created this week using light-on-dark, and next to it a contrasting pattern.

How do I feel about this?

I like the section at the bottom created in yellow-ochre and black.

I think the limbs of the top section work, in the sense that they show up against the dark background and I can tell what they are. (This was not the case at first. I had such strong color patterns in the limbs that the eye just couldn’t make out the tree limbs.) I cured that issue with a wash of burnt sienna inside the limbs, and a little watercolor wash shading on the limb edges.

But this palette just does not appeal to me. It’s too hot.

To see if there might be life in this project, I decided to play with it in PhotoShop: to cut it up and mix it with other things. (Note to artmakers without graphics software or know-how: you can do this exact same process by printing out a picture of your fabric, then cutting out squares and rectangles of construction paper or fabric and moving them all around. It works just fine as a way to experiment.)

I enjoyed creating some larger compositions using what I made:

The new blocks I added to my painted panel could be solids, or they could be subtle patterns that function as solids. And stitched patterns might go through these new blocks to connect them with the patterns in the painted panel.

If you create something that just doesn’t appeal to you, don’t give up. You may end up chucking it. Or you may be able to use it as a jumping off point for something completely unexpected.

Lots of possibilities.

….

I am going to digress from artmaking for a bit now. Forgive me. I have been grieving this week and have thoughts I just need to share.

From my heart this Memorial Day weekend:

Tomorrow is the day set aside to remember American soldiers who have died in war. As I deal with feeling both despondent and angry about the current US President, I find myself becoming increasingly patriotic. It takes the form of longing for, and mourning the loss of, ideals I have always believed to be the foundation of my country.

And then this week the loss became personal. In the kindergarten class where I volunteer, I was told one of the students would not be back to finish the school year. He is a sweet, hard-working boy. He writes his letters beautifully. He loves to draw. Though he speaks very little English, he has learned almost all of the eighty sight words kindergarteners are supposed to learn by year’s end.

He is gone because his family is afraid. They were afraid to show up at school anymore to bring him, fearing deportation. They told my classroom teacher they were leaving the state. They would not say more. They are living in fear. And this sweet, wonderful boy whom I have hugged and laughed with is who-knows-where, living in fear.

There is no possible vision of our country that makes us better by doing this. This is not what soldiers have died to protect.

It’s going to get worse. In the budget bill passed by Congress this week:

“The measure roughly doubles the current annual budgets of Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in what Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Council notes is “the single biggest increase in funding to immigration enforcement in the history of the United States.” It increases ICE’s detention budget from $3.4 billion a year to $45 billion through September 2029, a staggering 365% increase on an annual basis that would permit ICE to detain at least 100,000 people at a time.

It increases ICE’s budget for transportation and removal operations by 500%, from the current $721 million to $14.4 billion. It also calls for $46.5 billion for construction of barriers at the border, including completing 701 miles of wall, 900 miles of river barriers, and 629 miles of secondary barriers, and replacement of 141 miles of vehicle and pedestrian barriers.” It calls for $45 billion for adult and family detention, enough to detain at least 100,000 people at a time.”

It is tempting to hide in my studio. While that helps me to stay sane, it won’t help my little kindergarten friend.

Thank you for listening.

(quoted text is from the May 23 “letters from an American” by historian Heather Cox Richardson. Her daily emails are carefully documented, footnoted to her primary sources of information and data.)

Pattern Practicing

May 18, 2025

This turned out to be a week with some time dedicated to practicing pattern creation.

We drove home from our time in Greenville, SC on Thursday and Friday I was still feeling a bit zombie-like. But I had promised to lead an exercise in pattern printing for my local art group on Saturday. This easy exercise was just the right amount of not-too-hard to get my brain back in gear.

I tricked the group a bit by calling the exercise “almost-Escher” patterns. Escher’s works are now widely known and admired, especially his intriguing patterns in which one shape morphs into another.

*Sky and Water I* woodcut 1938 M.C.Escher

We did not plan to tackle anything near that complexity. But a useable take-away from his patterns is the creation of all-over shapes that tuck into one another neatly. There are lots of design possibilities.

I prepped some samples in which the shape was symmetrical about a center axis and characterized by a thin-to-wide-back-to-thin shape. Think leaf forms. Or fish. Or stylized stalks of grass.

And I wanted our group to experiment with two printing methods: 1. A simple relief print (stamp) cut from a styrofoam tray and 2. Stencil printing using a see-through vinyl .

Here is my set-up for the stamps.

I find it helpful to add a block or something to hold onto when stamping with thin material. I tried gel super glue, but it only stuck minimally. (Styrofoam is very tricky to glue. Some glues eat right through it. And I needed something to set up on the spot so we could adhere backs right after creating the stamp.) I ended up using double-faced tape, which worked pretty well.

I made a few sample prints to test the cut-outs. The Styrofoam yields a slightly spongey texture, which I found interesting.

For the second print test I lightly brushed paint through my vinyl stencil. (In the photo below, the orange leaf just to the left of the vinyl cut-out is the one I printed this way.) Clear material for a stencil is great because you can see through it and place the printing spot visually.

After our time together Saturday, I realized a slightly more rigid vinyl material would have been better. A clear shower curtain liner would work. Or a rigid plastic piece like the top of a take-out salad tray. (This, though, is harder to cut.)

Here are some of my practice pieces from the afternoon’s session.

In the samples above, each image is created by a single stencil. I picked it up and moved it to the next spot to make the second image, and so forth to fill the space. The clear material allowed for easy visual placement.

A day of practice and thinking about pattern seems to be just what my brain needed to re-focus. This week I’ll be back to working on the next phase of my tree limb experiments. Stay tuned!

. . . .

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

Glorious Color

May 4, 2025

Oh my. I might not have enough adjectives for this experience.

Walking into my studio, the fabrics I had painted in various yellows, hit by sun through the window, warming and coloring the very air in the room. Saffron. Sunflower. Gold. Butter. Sun-glorious, wonderful yellow.

As the next step in some tree and pattern explorations, I am painting fabrics. It’s a simple step and can sometimes even be boring. But I am enjoying this so much.

To begin with, I am mixing up fabrics much more than I normally do. Generally, I only use either sheer polyester or plain, unbleached cotton muslin for all my work. But I had a nice stash of neutral colors given to me by a friend from her church liturgical banner project (I got the cast-off fabrics) so I am including them in my mix of working materials.

Because I did not purchase the fabric, I don’t know exactly what each of them is. So, where I describe the fabric in quotes, it’s my word choice to describe the quality of the fabric. But it may actually be something else.

(Note: For textile artmakers who are used to dyeing and its detailed chemistry, you may notice I’m not too picky abut my fabric content or preparation. Unlike dyes, paints are quite forgiving. You can successfully put acrylic paint on virtually any fabric. If the weight of the fabrics in the hand are similar, they swill sew up together nicely.)

My first palette element in this next project is yellow. But, I am using it with black mixed in. This is one of my favorite color mixes. The black adds a very slight olive hue to the yellow.

(A COLOR MIXING TIP: When you are mixing a light color and a darker color, start with the lighter. I spooned out about 2 teaspoons of yellow as a start. Then add the darker color very little at a time. I added black in small dollops, equivalent to maybe half a teaspoon. If you go the other way – starting with the dark – you need to add A LOT of the lighter to get where you want to go. You end up mixing a big batch of paint.)

Adding even more black would yield a rich and wonderful array of olive greens. But, for now, I’m adding just enough to cut the pure yellow and get a bit of variety. Some of the results:

How will these be used? To start the composition wheels turning, I placed one of my newly painted pieces behind the stencil I’ll be using.

This begins to give me a sense of possibilities. But remember, when working with a knock-out stencil, the final appearance will be the opposite of this. The trees and limbs will show through as yellow, and the background will be what’s painted in. Maybe navy-blue-black. Maybe olive green. Maybe grey. Lots of possibilities.

I’ve done some work on the next palette element: a teal blue mixed from cerulean plus raw sienna. This is another one of my favorites. These two hues mix up into a wonderful range of mixed blue-green tones.

When I’m done painting the teal fabrics, I’m going to create a batch of dark navy-black pieces, and some burnt orange. Then I’ll be ready to start mixing up patterns and overpainting my base fabrics with varying tints and hue complements.

What adjectives I will need for the pleasure of those discoveries!

. . . . . .

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

Beyond the Trees. What’s Next?

April 27, 2025

If you follow along this blog, you know I’ve spent a number of weeks in the trees: seeing shapes and patterns, drawing, painting, then stitching.

TADAAA! I’m pleased to have this project completed. Here is the quilt, Discovering Tree Messages, as I envision it, being a part of someone’s home.

I have uploaded this work and all its information to my website. If you’d like to learn more, click HERE.

As always happens following time spent focusing on a single project, I am now in the what-can-I-learn-from-it stage, which is the beginning of the what’s-next-stage.

There is a lot I really liked about this project. I enjoyed creating a whole-cloth work, which was – for most of the process – more like a painting than a quilt. I really enjoyed being inspired by the complex tree shapes that I discovered. I enjoyed the fact that the project evolved, heading in some final directions I did not envision at first.

I am interested enough in this pattern of limbs that I want to do more with it.

But, there were things I learned that I don’t want to do all the time. The particular way I worked the images, masking off sections and then re-masking different sections, to build up the layers of color and pattern was, well, tedious.

And, while a whole-cloth work is easier to handle, I missed the interplay of fabrics I normally experience in a collaged quilt.

How to solve this?

I’m not sure yet where this will go, but here’s how I am developing my vision of what’s next.

LOOKING AT MY SKETCHBOOKS FOR INSPIRATION . . . My sketchbooks serve as an idea file. I create loose, linear depictions of ideas. I create them quickly without attention to making finished drawings. These shorthand images remind me what I was interested in at the time.

I have a number of sketches of large works, maybe 70-80” wide, created in panels, with the panels attached to each other in some way, and with a mix of images, possibly still life objects. I returned to this idea, this time wondering if one of the elements in the picture plane might be the tree limbs.

I also have some sketches of a traditional house, photographed from multiple angles, then overlapped on top of one another.

Could the tree limbs be a part of this idea as well? Trees behind the houses? Limbs growing up through the houses? Limbs on a side panel reaching over into the composition of houses? Hmmm. I’m not sure.

I’ll keep thinking on this one. Maybe both ideas will evolve into something I want to work on.

Meanwhile

CREATING A NEW TOOL . . . If I want to use the limbs more than once, I’ll want some way to reproduce them that is not so tedious. I don’t want to start from scratch each time.

My solution to this has been to create a large, re-useable stencil that captures a large section of the tree patterns.

First I drew it. (on taped-together manila file folders.)

Then I cut it

That’s where I am today. I plan some time in the next few weeks just experimenting. I am going to paint several different kinds of fabrics, using different but related palettes, and building up images with the newly-cut stencil.

I am hoping that what happens in this printmaking experiment will inspire what comes next.

. . . . . .

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

Three brave women

April 20, 2025

This week I’ve been thinking about and processing lessons from three brave women. So tonight I thought I’d share some thoughts.

Earlier in April I attended the Studio Art Quilt Associates Global Conference in St. Pete, Florida. Great event. Great speakers. Lots to learn and absorb. Two of the artist-presenters inspired me by their bravery.

HOLLIS CHATELAIN spoke about ways to add emotion to your artwork, emphasizing the importance of color. She encouraged artists to be motivated by what we want the viewer to feel. She uses color beautifully, as in this example:

Hollis’ artwork is extraordinary. She has well-developed ideas and concepts to express and strong drawing and painting skills.

But my take-away about bravery did not become clear to me till I was discussing her presentation with another SAQA artist later that evening. My artist friend confessed that she had never really thought about what she wanted someone to feel as a result of seeing her work. And I realized that it is an act of true artistic bravery to be willing to do so.

It says that you consider your own feelings worthy enough to express them. It says that you dare to think of the images you create as a means to communicate those ideas and emotions.

That process is the heart of artmaking. It’s what makes art different from craft or illustration.

SHIN-HEE CHIN also spoke at the conference. She is a fiber/mixed-media artist and Professor in the Visual Art Department at Tabor College. I also find her work to be extraordinary, as in this example:

Shin-hee’s detailed image-building with thread is amazing. And much of her personal journey is filled with bravery: moving to the US from South Korea, learning a new language, earning a teaching position.

But my biggest takeaway from her talk was her bravery regarding discipline. Because she must balance her studio practice with her teaching schedule, she is very disciplined in her use of studio time. She also devotes regular, scheduled time to artistic meditative practices that feed her creativity.

For an artist to do this, you have to take yourself and your work seriously. It is an act of bravery to commit time and energy – regularly – to your practice of artmaking. You have to be brave to show up regularly. It means you must have or must develop the belief that your work is worthy of the time you will invest.

Often that requires a courageous leap.

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON is the third brave woman I have been thinking about. She is not an artist. She is a historian and a writer. I (along with 2.5 million other readers) receive her daily writing by email each morning. I have not found another current commentator who so powerfully uses the lessons of history to inform our current political life.

On April 19, her daily email commemorated the 250th anniversary of the lighting of the lanterns in Boston’s Old North Church, part of the warning system the colonial rebels had devised. She describes this dangerous act by John Pulling and Robert Newman (associates of Paul Revere, and – like him – part of the Sons of Liberty.) They and other individuals played small roles that added up to a powerful force, the beginning of our war for independence.

If you feel like you could use a shot of bravery, here ya go:

“The work of Newman and Pulling to light the lanterns exactly 250 years ago tonight sounds even less heroic. They agreed to cross through town to light two lanterns in a church steeple. It sounds like such a very little thing to do, and yet by doing it, they risked imprisonment or even death. It was such a little thing…but it was everything. And what they did, as with so many of the little steps that lead to profound change, was largely forgotten until Henry Wadsworth Longfellow used their story to inspire a later generation to work to stop tyranny in his own time.

What Newman and Pulling did was simply to honor their friendships and their principles and to do the next right thing, even if it risked their lives, even if no one ever knew. And that is all anyone can do as we work to preserve the concept of human self-determination. In that heroic struggle, most of us will be lost to history, but we will, nonetheless, move the story forward, even if just a little bit.

And once in a great while, someone will light a lantern—or even two—that will shine forth for democratic principles that are under siege, and set the world ablaze.”

. . . . . .

Learn more about Hollis Chatelain……. https://www.hollisart.com/

Learn more about Shin-hee Chin………. https://shinheechin.com/

Learn more about Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American
heathercoxrichardson@substack.com

The artwork depicted in this week’s blog header is from my Art Quilt Stepping on the Cracks. I didn’t think it would be right to crop the works by Hollis or Shin-hee. So I chose this little girl, who embodies a courageous spirit. The work is on my website HERE

. . . . . . . . .

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

Some Found-Object Printing Step-by-Step

April 13, 2025

This week I am back at work with the whole cloth project depicting complex trees.

It’s time to convert this linear drawing into a fleshed-out image: some colors, some forms, some positive-and-negative shapes.

One of my first steps is to fill in the trees with printed patterns. Not the same pattern on all trees – a mix of this and that.

(A thought about concept: As I look at this work from a step back I amazed at how much it appears to be a forest, or a group of different trees. I am still fascinated that this composition is a close-up depiction of a single small tree that lives outside my studio. Exploring it in pattern and color will, I hope, give voice to how varied it is, to the ways the light hits the different parts, although it is a single thing.)

So, back to details. Masking out areas to stamp and work with resists is something I do all the time. I hardly think about the process. But I often hear from readers who are nice enough to follow along, and are interested enough to ask questions, who ask, “Can you slow that down at bit and let us see more?” OK! This blog is for you!

THE FOUND OBJECT: These pattern experiments will be created with a mat that has a simple vertical-horizontal grid pattern. It is a rubberized plastic of some sort. It’s a mat you would cut to size and put in the bottom of a drawer for cutlery or on shelves beneath glassware. Find them at any hardware or big-box store.

THE WORK SURFACE: To do any relief printing (i.e. stamping) you need a padded surface. Pressing the inked object onto fabric on a hard surface won’t provide enough give. Here’s my padded surface:

I’ve wrapped a beach towel around a piece of foam insulation board. A wood base would also work. I’ve taped a scrap plastic sheet over it to protect the towel. You could create something similar with batting or any other kind of soft material.

INKING THE PLATE: For this first part of the experiment, the mat will serve as the printing plate. I am using the phrase “inking” as one would in printmaking: as a verb. I don’t actually use ink; I use acrylic paint. So, this is how I get the acrylic paint onto the mat to use the mat for printing. I roll it on with a foam roller.

PRINTING THE IMAGE: This is low-tech printing by hand. The printing press is my hand. I flip the mat over, paint side down, and press it on the fabric I am printing. (For my test, I am printing onto unbleached cotton muslin that I stiffened up in advance with a thin coat of acrylic white. That will approximate the fabric in my actual fabric artwork.)

TAKING A PEEK: With most hand printing techniques, you can lift an edge of your plate (or printing object) to take a look at the image. If it’s too light you might want to put I down and press some more.

This mat is not the same on each side. On one side, little nibs stick out at the intersections of the squares, meaning they print as dots. I also flipped it over and printed from the other side, which shows up more as a linear grid. Below, you can see them side by side.

You’ll also see in the picture above a third image created by painting inside the square holes of the mat. This used the mat as a stencil instead of as a relief plate. It is the pattern I finally chose for my tree artwork. Just use a stiff brush, back off on the paint so it doesn’t glob, and force the paint down through the holes. Like this:

Now, just to be a thorough experimenter, I tried one more technique. I placed the grid mat underneath the fabric and rolled some paint on top to get a rubbing. You can experiment using a brush, a soft roller, or a firm brayer.

All of these techniques can be interesting and useful for different applications. I’ve used them all from time to time.

Now my experimenting was done and it was time to paint the pattern, in the actual color I wanted to use, on the actual tree artwork. You can see I masked out the edges of the trees with masking tape so I could work freely without worrying about printing an area that’s not supposed to have the pattern.

I used other found objects and other colors across the tree pattern. It’s getting there!

What’s ahead: more masking and painting. I will be changing the background behind the trees to a dark black-blue, and doing that by rolling on the paint. I’ll be masking out the entire tree portion to let the background show through.

Stay tuned!

BONUS: MOVIE TIME! Last week I shared a poem inspired by a roofing crew at work on my street and I used one of my artworks, “So It Will Not Break in Two” as illustration. I re-discovered this week a video I had created on YouTube that depicts that quilt step-by-step. It’s a nice bridge between this week and last week. It depicts both some step-by-step descriptions and also gets at the emotional content of the work. It’s just a few minutes long. I hope you enjoy. Find it HERE

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

To Future Historians

April 6, 2025

I had a wonderful weekend in St. Pete at the SAQ Global conference. I am still processing the artistic insights I gained, the importance of artists speaking their truths. The friendships. The silliness. The power of the bonds between artmakers.

Meanwhile, returning home, I am remembering some poetry writing I did last weekend, watching a work crew in my neighborhood. So tonight that’s what I want to share.

To future historians

who wonder what it felt like. What
the lives of ordinary people were
in the time of the great dismantling

of the structures we had assumed would be forever.
It felt like 7:15 Sunday morning in the cool air,
a big pickup backing in, the arrival of dark-skinned men,

a crew of five moving with experienced precision
up the ladder to my neighbor’s roof beginning
a choreography of scraping in parallel rows

down from the roof peak toward the gutters.
The sum of simple, hand-held flat shovels
and the bent-back motions of each man accomplishing

the removal of enough shingles that by 7:35
the discarding began. Bundles of now-useless asphalt
carried strong-arms-high and tossed from the edge

to land in the dumpster: a percussion of accomplishment.
It felt like this. Watching their motions — the overhead heaving,
the weight of the landings — hearing the ripping off

of what had been protection. So fast. So efficient.
Like the orchestrated undoings being written
into effect by strokes of a privileged pen.

It felt like this, future historians, witnessing the shredding,
knowing my country tis of thee was in the dumpster also.
Knowing these strong brown men could find everything

gone. At day’s end when they’d drive the truck
to what had been their home and family that morning.
By 8:50 all the shingles had been removed.

The plywood beneath now vulnerable. Exposed.

(Artwork note: It was just this morning that I thought to use to use my art quilt, “So It Will Not Break In Two,” as illustration for this poem and this blog post. I created the work around 2015, as part of my series of remembering and recreating my childhhod experience of home and the fragility of home. Writing about our contemporary political reality, I am called to remember that the forces that can destroy homes and families – just as surely as if a tree were growing up right through the roof – can be forces from outside as well as inside.)

. . . . . .

A reminder for those who care about the direction of our country and who are deeply concerned about where it is going: The simple citizenship act of writing to your representative is still a powerful and important act. Compose a few words. Put them in a document you can cut and paste into the “contact form” on your representative’s site. Find your senators and representatives and copy their email addresses into your working document so it’s an easy task. Write. Repeat.

Find your US representatives’ contact HERE: https://www.house.gov/representatives.
Find your senators’ contact HERE; https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm

. . . . . .

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

Organic Complexity!

March 30, 2025

This week I’ve been looking at two projects that remind me how fascinating naturally-occurring oganic forms are. As I wrote last week about trees: Tree limb patterns are interesting in ways I would never think of to draw or create on my own.

There’s so much to discover in looking at actual natural forms.

Project #1: Back into the trees. This one is a work-in-progress, that was, in fact, inspired by last week’s blog header. As I opened up that photo in my computer, I thought suddenly how great it would look if it were really big. And how that really big image would make an interesting textile artwork.

So, I went about the process of enlarging the photo and making a pattern. Here’s the paper pattern on my work table. It’s about 40”H x 50”W.

(Some production notes: I created this in a pretty low-tech way. I made a Photoshop Elements document 40” x 50”, put the picture in it, marked it off into 8.5 x 11 sections, then captured each 8.5 x 11 section as a jpeg. I put each of them on a page in Word and printed them to my black and white laser printer. Note that I numbered the sections so I could put them back together. To put them together, I just trimmed off the edges, matched up the images, then taped them together. I was anxious to see the image enlarged and this was the fastest way to do it with what I have on-hand in my home. Interestingly, it allowed me to become very involved with the complexity right from the beginning.)

Next I needed to get the image on fabric. I traced it.

I prepped some muslin with a little white house paint watered down. This stiffened it a bit and provided a good drawing surface. I put the fabric over the taped-together sections on a light table to see the shapes.

After I drew the forms as lines, I put a soft ochre acrylic wash over the whole thing. I just wanted to kill the white, and begin the introduction of the colors I want this to be in the end. Here it is on my easel.

I’ve only had a little time this week to spend on the next stages, which will be developing the palette and printed textures. I’ll be creating this as a whole-cloth painted piece.

I’m sure I’ll have more to share in the weeks ahead.

Project #2 This is just a small piece, 8” x 10”, which I created for SAQA’s Spotlight Auction. All the pieces in the auction are the same size, and presented in a mat with an opening 4.5” x 6.5”.

This work, “Sunlight Abstractions,” my donation to SAQA’s event, was inspired by a piece of monotype printed tissue paper. Its images were created by grass and roots on my gelatin printing plate. I collaged that paper to fabric to serve as the background of the whole image.

Again, I am very interested in how those complex shapes just occurred naturally. Much like the tree limbs.

To finish the work, I painted it in sections for an above-and-below composition. Then I added a sun, some painted floating lively shapes, and stitching to enhance the grass patterns.

If you enjoy collecting small works and the fun of online bidding, I invite you to participate in this auction. You do not have to be a member of SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) to participate. The bids start at just $25, and you might grab some bargains.

More importantly, this fundraising event benefits SAQA, which is dedicated to promoting art quilts as a museum-worthy fine art medium. The funds help pay for SAQA’s traveling exhibits.

The bidding began March 26 and goes through April 5. Here’swhere:

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

Trees Don't Do...

March 23, 2025

Trees don’t do what we think they do.

Trees are a perfect example of left-brain vs right brain conceptualizing in artwork. If somebody says, “Draw a tree,” it almost certain that person will draw what they think a tree looks like. And it is almost certain that it won’t look like what trees really do.

(I can verify this from my own experience of drawing trees that just aren’t right somehow, and doing it many times. I am still learning to look at trees.)

This Saturday morning I took a walk. On the way home, I noticed the tree next to the driveway of my home. This is a great, powerful tree.

But as I got closer, I realized it offered one of the most important lessons about trees:

ANGLE AND PERSPECTIVE The first photo of the tree was from a distance, and that simple shape could almost be seen as flat. But, from beneath the tree, looking up, things have gotten more interesting:

Now the big limbs overlap. They are not all on the same flat plane. Some go off into the distance. So, If one wants to depict these, it will require some way of addressing depth and angles.

COMPLEXITY is another important lesson of trees. Here is a small small tree that lives outside my art studio.

It’s a fabulous little tree. But look at how complex! There are a LOT of limbs of varying sizes and positions to deal with here. To represent this tree, I think I’d want to deal with the complexity. It could be simplified, but I’d want to do it judiciously. Otherwise, it won’t convey what this tree really does.

Do trees have to represented realistically? No at all.

Here’s an example from artwork hanging in my home:

This is a monoprint by Michael Nemnich, an artist I met when we were weekend neighbors at an art festival. This abstraction of a tree is his signature representation of a tree. It appears in a number of variations in his work. It’s his unique tree. (And I love it.)

On my worktable, I have a stencil ready-to-cut that is also an abstract tree.

I haven’t cut it yet because I may still want to tweak it some. But I like its mix of child-like simplicity and strength.

A different stencil on my worktable, also ready-to-cut, is much more representational. I drew it from a reference photo, going mostly for realism but with some simplification.

Here’s a stencil that’s already in my portfolio of stencils as a positive image. I also drew it from reference photo.

It’s a tall southern pine photographed a few blocks from my house. Drawing those wavy limbs-like-arms was a great surprise to me. If you had asked me what southern pines looked like, I would have just envisioned the tall simple trunk. I did not believe all those limbs were really there till I studied the photo.

(Just a note about stencils. To use a positive stencil, like the southern pine above, I would lay it down on my fabric and use it as a resist. I’d roll paint over it to paint the background, and whatever color or pattern was in the background would show through inside the tree. For the stencils I am about to cut, I will keep both the positive and the negative. It’s interesting to use them both within a work. When I use the negative stencil, it’s like the inside of the donut hole: I roll paint across and create the shape of the thing itself.)

Trees are powerful symbols. They convey strength. The passage of time. Stability. Fond memories. Fragility. So much to work with!

Enjoy exploring and working with trees when they are the right component to express any of these things in your work.

. . . . . .
A reminder for those who care about the direction of our country and who are deeply concerned about where it is going: The simple citizenship act of writing to your representative is still a powerful and important act. Compose a few words. Put them in a document you can cut and paste into the “contact form” on your representative’s site. Find your senators and representatives and copy their email addresses into your working document so it’s an easy task. Write. Repeat.

Find your US representatives’ contact HERE: https://www.house.gov/representatives.
Find your senators’ contact HERE; https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm

. . . . . .

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

LEAF LESSONS

March 16, 2025

On Saturday, I spent the day outdoors, with a number of hours in my artist chair looking at this

I was exhibiting at an art event sponsored by the guild of Museum of Art DeLand, held in a beautiful leaf-filled nursery. Over in the corner, beyond my display, I watched kids play with a barbecue grill covered in pretend, plastic hot dogs and hamburgers. (The nursey sets up enjoyable vignettes for visitors). I enjoyed watching kids pretending to be backyard chefs, feeding pretend grilled stuff to their Moms.

As I was watching the kids, at one point my eyers moved up the scene to the large leaves silhouetted against the sky, above their heads.

Wow. Those are really interesting leaf shapes.

I already knew that I like leaves. I used big leaf shapes as anchors in The Ways of Sunlight.

I filled my quilt with leaf shapes in House of Leaves

But, what I was seeing was another lesson from leaves.

To see them just as shapes, and to use those organic shapes as the possible beginning of a composition. Hmmmmm. . . .

Here are some photos of what I saw.

Frequently when I discover an interesting image, I will take it into PhotoShop Elements and play with it. I can eliminate backgrounds, duplicate it, flip it mirror image, layer multiple copies on side of each other.

This is very helpful when I want to preserve detail, or use the photo as the basis for a photo transfer.

But, today I had the feeling some low-tech, non-computer explorations might yield something interesting. So I just traced the leaves.

Using clear plastic, I could now layer my different views on top of each other, crop the shapes or try out different arrangements.

I could have drawn them freehand, but I experience a nice freedom in the simple act of tracing without my mind trying to be sure I’m getting it right. And in tracing, one picks up all the varied, interesting shape complexity that inheres in the organic thing. It’s always more interesting than any shape I would create myself.

Tracing with a loose hand is an act of discovery and responding.

Those leaves revealed a lot of possibilities. And it was a good art therapy experience after my day of exhibiting.

Thanks, leaves!

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

Feeling My Way Along the Path

March 9, 2025

An amazing thing happened last weekend.

I hosted the Studio Tour on Saturday and Sunday. I rearranged my studio both to reveal its working spaces and to set up my display panels for a gallery setting. I had lots of art to see.

Additionally, to make room, I moved my working easel and the house-memory quilt I’m currently working on into the adjacent laundry room.

EVERYBODY wanted to go into the laundry room!

Maybe it’s the impulse of the bargain hunter—wanting to dig in the secret places to see what’s in there.

But it meant that this work, that has been mostly seen only by me, was seen by a lot of visitors. And — there in the laundry room — I enjoyed some of the greatest art conversations.

Visitors told me what they saw. They told me what they liked. People had questions. People shared their own memories of home. Women shared insights about being a girl. People looked up close at the photo transfers and we talked transfer how-to. People commented on the palette.

It was fabulous.

After I cleaned up and re-arranged my studio early in the week, I’ve spent a lot of time like this:

Just looking. Processing. Giving it time. Seeing where it needs to go.

My conversations with studio visitors focused mostly on the emotional response, and that’s where I am putting my attention.

So, while I am usually analytical in my evaluations, I have been trying instead to be responsive. To feel my way to what comes next.

I ended up this weekend adding some large blocks of transparent value to the house section, pushing them back further into the surface.

I THINK I’ve reached the stage of finishing touches. But I’m going to let it steep and speak to me some more to decide.

It’s becoming a wonderfully immersive experience.

. . . .

Just for fun: For last week’s tour, I created a number of new paper collaged works. That gallery on my website now has new images I’m happy to share.

You can find work to peruse HERE

. . . . .

Nice one-day art event near DeLand is coming up next weekend: Saturday, March 15, ARTISTS IN THE GARDEN at Select Growers in DeLeon Springs. It’s a casual art-oriented event under pavilions in a beautiful plant nursery. The fabulous guild of Museum of Art DeLand sponsors the event. If you are near this area, please drop by. I’ll have work to share, and there are many other artists to visit too.

. . . . . .

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

Studio Tour Musings

March 2, 2025

Sunday morning greetings.

I’m writing this morning before beginning the second day of the DeLand-area Studio Tour.

What a first day!

The space outside my studio greeted visitors.

I was incredibly grateful for all the folks who came to visit.

For the ones who come back year after year.

For the first-time visitors.

For the AMAZING honor of visitors who drove multiple hours just to visit my studio.

For the sales.

For the wonderful artist-to-artist conversations.

So, thinking this morning, I am realizing how much this is part of the artistic process.

Yes, the time alone thinking, creating, cherishing the time spent, thinking your thoughts, watching them turn into a visual expression, enjoying what you’ve made: yes. That’s part of being an artmaker.

But sharing what you’ve created with others is really the fulfillment of the process.

There is no communication of ideas if they are kept hidden.

I write this as a gentle nudge of encouragement to the artmakers who are hesitant to seek out venues to share their work with others. Make yourself do it. It’s why you made something.

And as a deep appreciation for art-appreciators. You provide the realization of the artmaking process.

Now to have a second cup of coffee and go prep the studio for day two.

(I have to open a new pack of fig newtons. They were a big hit with visitors yesterday!)

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

Reminders. Like warm Rocks

February 23, 2025

Some weeks provide small opportunities for reminding and savoring. These moments are like warm stones you might pick up along a walk: bits of interest you want to hold on to. Carry with you. Feel in your pocket.

I’ve had the chance to experience four such reminding-savoring events this week and I want to share them.

Number 1 – WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT ANYWAY.

The end result. Creating an artwork, having gone through the process of having it exhibited someplace, and seeing the interaction between what you have created and an interested person. I have two quilts hanging in the Members’ Show at Florida CraftArt in downtown St. Pete. I was visiting St. Pete this week and stopped in to see the exhibit for the first time.

As I was there, two groups of people were also there to see the exhibit, and they stopped by my quilts to look and comment. This is why an artist spends time working in the studio — to create something to be experienced by another. The gallery was filled with works in many mediums. (The photo I used as a header for this post shows my second quilt, and other works it is exhibiting near.) Fiber. Clay. Wood. Mixed media. All have in common that they represent the work and hopes of the artist who created them. They all mean something. They all have stories to tell.

They are all opportunities for a connection with another person.

Number 2 – THE JOY OF TEACHING

I traveled via zoom to Georgia and South Carolina Saturday to present to a group of SAQA members on the subject of composition. Creating the composition is, I think, my favorite part of the artmaking process. It’s when I can envision all the possibilities. It’s when there is still time to rearrange things. This was a great group of artmakers, whose questions reveal a lot of thought being poured into their work.

Here’s an image I frequently show in my composition presentation. I love this painting. It’s rich with storytelling. And it is just about perfectly composed. “The Last Crumb” was painted in the 19th century by Toulouse Lautrec.

Number 3 – I DID MY TAXES!!

Yes, this is a chore. It is also an experience in autonomy and recognizing one’s own abilities. It was not until I became single in my mid-fifties that I began to handle all of my own bill-paying and financial management. I still enjoy it. I savor the experiences. I realize, “Of course I’m capable of doing this.” Like Dorothy and the ruby slippers, handling my finances is an understanding of something I could have done all along.

Now I have a great relationship with my Excel spreadsheets!

Number 4 – CLEANED MY STUDIO!

Well, I began the process. John helped me cut away a carpet from under my worktable that had really just become a receptacle for dust and scraps. Now it’s a clean, easy-to-sweep concreate floor. I’ve ordered an anti-fatigue mat for the space where I always stand. I’m in the process of rearranging my stencils and other storage.

This is always a good process. But, I am especially motivated by next weekend’s Studio Tour.

Allow me to issue this invitation one last time. I am absolutely honored when readers take time to come visit my studio:

As an added enticement, visiting DeLand for the Studio Tour could be your opportunity to discover our historic downtown. (My studio is just a little over 5 miles from our downtown.) The Museum of Art DeLand is downtown and currently has a fascinating exhibit, well worth seeing.

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

Work-in-Progress . . . and meanwhile

February 16, 2025

Time to catch up on the main work in my studio, as well as what else I’ve been working on.

I first posted in January about where I want to focus in 2025: larger quilted works that continue to explore the journey of the young girl. (If you’d like to catch up on the beginning of the story, it’s here on my blog from January 19, FairyTale Forest.)

I’ve made a lot of progress.

And I’ve also set it aside for a week or more at a time, thinking through how to proceed with the final steps of pulling things together.

Here’s a section I’m pleased with: The young girl.

I’m happy with the basic drawing. I’m happy with the semi-transparency. I’m happy with the way the transparent blue fabric worked for her dress. I’m happy with the composition and how she fits with the houses.

Here are some of the bird characters:

There will be more stitching done on these. I’m happy so far with the fabric collage. I’m happy with the way they relate to the overall composition. I’ll keep working on the value contrasts. But they are coming along.

Here’s a feeling for the composition of the houses.

I’m happy with the strength of the rooflines. I’m happy with the integration of windows and the other fabrics.

Where I am still in the thinking stage is the integration of all these parts. It’s a tricky story to pull off emotionally.

I’ve created representational shapes for the houses, and incorporated realistic windows, even though the actual architecture is intentionally a bit wonky and childlike. Still, they are the most “real” element of the surface. But I want them to be the most like a memory. I want the girl and the birds to feel like what’s “real;” they are the characters and the storytellers.

How to accomplish that? Still working on it. I’ve tried a lot of mock-up changes in PhotoShop and I did some painting experiments on scraps this afternoon. I am hoping the process comes together this week.

Stimulating. But challenging!

Meanwhile, I ‘ve been creating some smaller paper collages so I have a good mix of sizes and prices for the Studio Tour coming up in two weeks.

These have allowed me to stay productive and do some experimenting while also not jumping into the big quilt till my ideas are ready for that.

Please allow me to again invite all those in close enough driving distance to visit my studio on the tour March 1-2. It’s always a meaningful weekend for me. I’ll have a mix of art to see, as well as works-in-progress and peeks behind the scenes. I hope to see you there.

(To folks who are too far away to visit on the tour, but have been kind enough to send good wishes, many many many thanks.)

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

Familiar Forms

February 9, 2025

Part of my morning is a familiar “tink.” Or maybe it’s more like a “clunk,” or a “tunk.”

It’s a wonderful little sound made by the plastic scoop as it taps the inside of my favorite canister, in which I keep my coffee, a clay piece created by my daughter.

I used this form, along with some clay cereal bowls, also created by my daughter, as the main characters in “Arriving at Morning”

I created this work a little over a year ago, and I am pausing to take a look at it again now because it is hanging in the members’ show at Florida CraftArt galleries in downtown St. Petersburg. The show runs till March 20. I haven’t visited yet. But the pictures I’ve seen reveal an interesting show with a great mix of artwork.

(I exhibited this work once before, in the Representational 2023 show. For the Heartland Art Club in Kirkwood, MO. I like envisioning my textile composition, with its simple rendering of form, on the walls next to more detailed oil and acrylic paintings. I think the mediums speak to one another well.)

Some of the first still life works I created when I discovered mixed media collage and fabric were simple still life compositions. I love still life works and I still have some I like a lot on my website.

“Still Life Intersection with Green Bottle”

“Still Life Intersections with Two Bottles”

Still Life is an opportunity to see something beautiful in something simple. It is an opportunity play with light and shadow.

Still Life contains accessible characters, often evoking memories in the viewer. Almost everybody has a favorite coffee cup or teaspoon or vase. These simple things we can touch are vehicles for remembering.

In “Arriving at Morning” I also enjoyed creating a stage for these characters to inhabit: the foreground table that defines the uneven edge of the quilt.

I created a companion piece for “Arriving at Morning.’ This is “Morning Water, Morning Song.”

I attended and spoke at a state-wide meeting of SAQA art quilt artists in Stuart, Florida this weekend. We talked a lot of about creativity and decisions in creating work. These still life pieces remind me that content can be simple—and still interesting and able to evoke emotional response.

As always . . . the lesson is to create what you love and what speaks to you.

. . . . . . .

May I take just a moment – to reply to the many readers from other countries who are kind enough to read this blog, and to reply, and who have recently written to me with heartfelt concern for the terrible turns in American governance since our 2024 election. I thank you for your concern. And I sincerely appreciate the caring voices. I am also baffled, and a bit overwhelmed, and so very, very sorry for the face my country is showing to the rest of the world. It is heartbreaking to me as an American.

To my fellow Americans: We cannot lose sight of who we are meant to be. There is a lot of work to do!

. . . . . . .

You are invited: STUDIO TOUR. It’s just three weeks away. I would just love it if any readers within driving distance of DeLand made the trek for a visit. There are 18 DeLand-area artists on the tour altogether so it’s well worth the trip. And it’s FREE!

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch:

Not every brick

February 2, 2025

I remember an undergraduate drawing class where we were set loose to roam campus and find a building to draw. I picked a large brick historic building.

I’d been working on perspective and I was feeling accomplished. I took my ruler with me and ruled out every single line of bricks in that building and got them all placed using linear perspective. I was pretty proud.

Being proud in a drawing class is often the first step to being humbled. I remember the instructor pointing out, gently, “You know, you don’t actually have to draw every single brick.”

Oops.

If you create work that is representational, that’s a challenge in any medium: how to suggest a texture or material without showing every little detail. How to suggest a tree and its leaves without actually drawing all the leaves. How to suggest textures on a building.

I had some fun this week creating bricks-that-are-not-every brick, using glue resist. It’s a pleasing and straight-forward resist method: paint or print or drizzle washable school glue (Elmer’s. White) on fabric; let it dry, paint over it, let the paint dry; wash off the glue.

Here are some of the textures I created:

*I created the pattern by forcing the glue through a screen with about 1/4” x 1/4” openings*

I drizzled the glue over ochre-color fabric then over-painted with a brick color. I had high hopes for this one but was mostly disappointed. It was too “hot.” I overpainted with white wash and spattered, but it’s too overworked to use as a big peice. I used it in a small section just as a contrast.

*I stamped the glue with a square shape cut from cardboard. I like this one.*

*This is not a glue resist, but I like the way it looks with the others. This is the ghost image of a hand-cut stencil monotype printed on my gelatin plate.*

Here’s a peek of how these patterns are working together in creating my row houses.

Little by little this story is taking shape.

. . . . .

You are invited: STUDIO TOUR. It’s just four weeks away. I would just love it if any readers within driving distance of DeLand made the trek for a visit. There are 18 DeLand-area artists on the tour altogether so it’s well worth the trip. And it’s FREE!

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

How I keep in touch: