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:

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

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:

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

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:

Into the Light

January 26, 2025

This week I’m thinking about light.

I was very pleased to be accepted into an online Exhibition called “Into the Light” by Artfluent. There were 561 entries from nine countries. Sixty pieces were chosen for the online exhibit.

There’s a link at the bottom of this blog post where you can see the exhibit. It’s well worth it. Wonderful variety of styles, mediums and subject matter.

I apply to exhibits that are just for textile artists and also that are all-medium shows. It’s pretty exciting to be the only textile piece among these drawings and paintings.

Here’s the piece I’m exhibiting:

SEEING THROUGH TO THE LIGHT 44.5”h X 41”w

I remember putting together this work, which I created several years ago to enter in a SAQA Global Exhibit, “Light The World.”

It was inspired by original photos I had taken looking into the light and patterns of vines in an abandoned home. I was accepted into the Glocal exhibit, and this quilt traveled to various museums and other venues for about two years. Now, it’s back in my studio.

As I looked at the other works in this ArtFluent Exhibit, it helped me to remember how important LIGHT is in an artwork.

As a drawing student in my undergraduate art classes, I remember how much time we spent learning about how light works. We drew smooth globes and plaster casts of objects and heads with the light shining on them from different directions to learn the properties of light and shadow.

I can see this emphasis on the classical depictions of light in art in the ArtFluent works. A few samples:

My work, “Seeing Through to the Light” uses light differently. It is not in the work as an element to describe objects. It is the subject of the work. The light source would be straight behind the quilt, coming through the windows, and going out into the darkness in an abstract way.

I have created several works where I used light in the more traditional way: as a means to describe objects. I enjoyed the challenge of creating the strong shadows with textile collage.

Two Orange Creamsicles, Please 42” x 42”

I hope you will enjoy taking a look at the ArtFluent Exhibit HERE.

If you are an appreciator-of-art, take time to see the light at work in these artworks. Could the artist have created the same emotional appeal without the emphasis on light?

If you are a maker of art, I hope you’ll see compositions and techniques to inspire you to think about light in your work.

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:

The fairytale forest

January 19, 2025

Working my way through my first large work of 2025: A work depicting connected houses.

The composition puts these houses in perspective in a representational way.

But they are symbolic, not realistic. Each house will be a little “off.”

Once all the parts are together, I am hoping for a dream-and-memory emotional tone.

To begin, I’ m working on the background. Where will these houses be – in what environment?

A fairytale forest.

I’ll be creating the trees as monotype prints, using tree stencils I have used many times before. (I cut my own stencils. When you print with acrylic paints, they get stronger with each use, a little coating of acrylic added with every hit on the plate.) These trees are like old friends.

Ready to print: my gelatin plate on the worktable.

In the middle of the print session: things get messy.

Pulling a printed piece of fabric. (This is a piece of opaque cotton fabric.)

I also printed some on sheer polyester to get a more ethereal look.

I created one tall panel with the tree image duplicated for a vertical format. This will be an area off to the right of the houses, and the little girl character will be superimposed on these trees. (Haven’t figured out exactly how to do that yet.)

The whole composition is already drawn on my muslin substrate, and now I’m collaging the trees into place.

After the matte medium – which is what I’m using for glue – is dry, I’ll quilt each tree background section, then proceed onto building the houses.

At this stage things are a little disjointed. It’s awkward looking. But I keep referring to my compositional sketch with all the parts together, so I can keep my eye on where I’m going.

Step by step.

. . . . . . .

Sharing a thought: Tomorrow in America will be a strange and ironic juxtaposition of events: the federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King and the inauguration of Donald Trump, and all that he represents. Words for this day:

“Our lives begin to end
the day we become silent about things that matter.”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

. . . . . . . .

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:

Pulling – Connecting – The Memory Threads

January 12, 2025

I wrote at the beginning of the year that I want to focus my work in the coming year, concentrating on developing the series inspired by thoughts of home.

I am always stirred by images of a home. When I consider the homes I have lived in, the households where I have been a member, there are threads of connections between them.

I want to pull on those threads and see where they go.

Part of this process is thinking about the visual depiction of the homes.

Part of it is being open to the memories and their meaning.

A thing that often happens when I start to turn my attention to a particular subject: I discover poetry that speaks to me on that subject.

I love these words, which I discovered this week.

And these, which I re-discovered this week.

I love the sense of discovery and involvement with the memory in Maggie Smith’s words.

And I love the sense of knowing he is in the place he should be in the words of Wendell Berry. (Berry is a beautiful and thoughtful poet, and the image of a house is the foundation of many of his works.)

The light in the window in the image that I used in this post’s header is very powerful to me. It’s a detail from “Living in the house of Blue Shadows,” a memory-inspired quilt I created last year. It is among the most personal and introspective works I have created.

I am thrilled that it has found a home with a very wonderful patron.

Perhaps, for her, it will also become a book she can read again and again, dog-earing different pages each time.

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:

Don’t Go Hiking Alone!

January 5, 2025

As we’re all mentally prepared to go bravely forth and scale mountains of challenges in the new year, a reminder came to me this week in the studio:

It’s best not to go hiking alone.

I have spent a lot of time alone this week at my worktable in the next stages of my connected houses quilt project. (I look forward to getting back to writing about it next week.) Generally, I enjoy solitude.

But while it was just me and some Baroque chamber music in the background, I had time for thinking while I worked.

I am more grateful than I can say for the groups I belong to, formally and informally. They help me grow. They keep me sane. They offer me feedback. I don’t think the time alone would be the same without the time with others of like mind.

So, I offer these few words of advice for artmakers for this year: be sure to take a few folks with you on your journey. If you don’t have any art camaraderie in your life, work to find some. It means everything.

Each week, I meet with three friends for a writer’s group. (It inspired the portrait below, “Writing The Next Word.”)

A dedicated time to meet. A dedicated activity. Building up both writing skills and trust in one another. I am so grateful for this group.

I also belong to several art groups, and each of them has something happening in the month of January. So, while I tell a bit about each group, I can also do a little promotion for the events.

My longest-running association with an art group is ArtsEtc. I think I counted about fourteen years with this gang. It’s a small , informal group of textile artists and mixed media artists that meets monthly. We go through ups and downs. Sometimes we flounder trying to figure out our purpose. Sometimes we go gangbusters! But we hang in there with each other. I am proud to be exhibiting with them in the City Hall of my hometown of DeLand beginning later this week.

If you live near DeLand, please join us for the opening.

My second-longest art association is with SAQA – Studio Art Quilt Associates. I really don’t have enough words to express what a great INTERNATIONAL organization this is. SAQA is dedicated to promoting the art quilt as a fine art medium. It offers all kinds of opportunities (in-person and online) for growth in your artmaking journey. And, if you are a lover of good art but not a maker, this organization is still the best there is to discover new textile artists and their work. Visit saqa.com. Enjoy looking around. Then join!

Also later this week, I am proud to be part of the Florida Regional SAQA exhibit that will be opening in Stuart, Florida at Elliott Museum.

Here’s the work I am exhibiting, Why I Wake Early.

If you live near Stuart, Florida, I hope you you will make a visit to this exhibit while it’s at the Elliott.

Finally, I am pleased to be part of DeLand’s very fine Museum, the Museum of Art DeLand. When my daughter was in elementary school, she attended more sessions of summer art camp than any other kid in DeLand. She loved it. I loved it. I was on their board over thirty years ago, and I am happy now to be on the board again (OMG! I’m a matriarch!) and working on several committees. So, I’m happy to promote their upcoming event in January too:

For folks in and near DeLand, I hope you’ll plan on attending this dress-up-fancy night out.

OK. That’s the end of the advertising.

No, it turns out I have one more thought to share about not hiking alone.

Aside from the joy of camaraderie, it really helps to have somebody help you stay on the right path. Many art groups get together and share what each member has created since the last meeting. That’s good. But, even better, is somebody to help critique your ideas, your concepts, your beginnings, and your not-yet-completed works to help you see what needs to be done before it’s too late.

It's best if you can find somebody whose work is as least as accomplished as your own or better. (There are only so many pats on the head that are helpful. Beyond that, we all benefit from real critique.)

In my life, my partner John is my best critiquer. It’s wonderful to share the work at its early stages and I respect his artist’s insights. I have others I share with too. Finding an honest sounding board helps every artist be better.

Now . . . March forth and create!

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:

Envisioning. Prepping. Beginning.

December 29, 2024

Here, at almost the beginning of a new year, I am in the almost very beginning of a new quilt project.

It’s not the very, very, very beginning.

That happened several months ago, when I began deciding what I want the focus of my work to be for the next year. I know I want to take a deeper dive into two themes I have explored before: 1.homes, and our connection to them, and 2. trees as patterns.

(It’s possible there will be some overlap. But that’s not my plan so far. The Homes-Connections works are more about memory and story, even though a tree or two may appear. The Trees works are about pattern and surface design.)

So here I am beginning the first new work in the Homes-Connections series. . . How do you like it so far?

Isn’t it beautiful?

Maybe only to me, because this is where I can begin ENVISIONING. From my photoshop sketch and mockup (part of it is shown in the header for this post) I am now beginning to actually touch the materials and to get a sense of scale. The simple act of cutting out lengths of fabric starts my ability to see the finished work.

Now for PREPPING.

My studio workhorse fabric is plain unbleached cotton muslin. That’s what I will use for the substrate of this work. Generally, I like to stiffen up the fabric a bit. I don’t want to use a heavier fabric like canvas; I want muslin. But with a little more heft and stability.

I use a fairly light wash of water plus latex acrylic exterior house primer as my gesso. The coverage is not too critical yet. I just dip my big brush in the water container, then in the can of paint, and back and forth as I get a light coat of paint over the fabric.

I will construct this work in three sections. Here they are hanging out to dry.

I will not be a multi-panel work in its final presentation.. Overall, my plan is to make the piece about 50”H x 60”W. That’s a large work for me, and definitely too big to do the quilting all in one section.

It may seem strange that I found even these blank panels on my fence inspiring. But I did. It was my first glance at what the finished size will be. This will be a complex composition, and I just couldn’t envision it small.

After I finished photographing the panels, I sewed them together to make one big piece. I will keep the panels sewn together through the sketching of the composition and through some of the collaging. Then I’ll rip out the seams to do my backing and quilting. Then I will sew them back together at the end.

I look forward to sharing more of my thoughts and process and the two series I am planning for 2025.

And, since, this is the last post before the end of 2024, I just want to extend my sincere thanks to those who follow along, and those who take time to write with a question or a word of encouragement. It makes me feel connected to a community. I am very grateful.

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:

Celebrating the Messages of Birds

December 15, 2024

I was thinking about what to write this week and the robins gave me my answer.

We don’t have robins all the time. They are here in DeLand, Florida as part of their winter migration. And it is beyond wondrous.

We spent time this week just standing at the door just watching their antics in the birdbath. Very sociable. Very raucous. Very big on splashing. Dozens of them at once.

Birds function in my world the way fairies and invisible people function in the world of children. They fire up my imagination. There is a lot I don’t know about them. I sit patiently and wait to hear them.

And I love depicting them in my artwork. What’s important to me is not accurate depiction. I am interested in their presence and personality.

*Promising Herself This Flight* Matted Collage

In small collages, like the ones above, the bird may be the star of the show.

In larger quilts, the birds may appear as a minor character. Perhaps they are the messengers.

Perhaps they are the watchers.

Perhaps they are the sign that good will come of this story.

I am reminded by their increased presence this week that small things in your life can be wonderful, and can help you to remember that wonder exists.

May some small wonderful things be present this week for you.

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:

Composition Study

December 8, 2024

Something Big. Something Small.

Something Dark. Something Light.

I have heard art instructors condense everything about composition down to those four elements. If each work has those elements, good composition will be accomplished.

I think it’s pretty good guidance: a test to ask yourself as you are working through a composition.

But interesting compositions generally have more to them. I was looking at some recent paper collages in the studio this week and re-discovered this one: Deep Convergence. I think it has some good composition lessons.

When I look at this work, it’s pleasing to me. It looks balanced but not static. And it does have shapes that are big, shapes that are small, elements that are dark and elements that are light.

Here’s how it began:

I had created this image of limbs as a hand printed monotype on rice paper. I like the delicate intricacy of this image. It was not in a semi-circle before I started. I cut that shape to build the composition around it. And, I confess: I got the idea to do this by studying some works created by other artists whose work I like. I don’t use circular shapes a lot. I decided to try.

Now for contrast. (Light next to dark) I set the semi-circle with limbs against a darker rectangle of fabric. (It also has some interesting, but more subtle, linear elements in it.)

I wanted to carry through the element of the semi-circle. So, I cut another one but placed it upside down. Now the shapes are talking to each other. That conversation is enhanced by the screen-printed limbs black-on-olive, which connect the two semi-circles.

Now for a bit of energy.

I collaged into place a piece of fabric with hand-written text on it. I almost always like this effect. It’s neutral, but still has something going on. I stenciled the shape of the honeycomb on top of it. That provides a new small shape. And the color balances that olive green rectangle with the branches.

One more area of energy:

These strips cut from screen printed fabric have a nice lightness. The shapes are interesting. The rectangles themselves are smaller than the three big elements in the collage, and the imagery consists of more small shapes.

All the parts together:

One of the greatest things about working in collage is that you can experiment before you commit. Gather together some elements that you think may work, and move them all around your working space. Change your mind. Move them around some more. Re-order the layers back-to-front. Somewhere along the way something will say “stop!” You’ve got it.

Begin with some basic rules or guidelines (like the big-small-dark-light idea) and then experiment from that as a starting place.

And enjoy the process!

. . . .

If you’d like to learn more about Deep Convergence, it’s 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:

Look at your own art. And Learn

December 1, 2024

Last week I was writing about all the prep that goes into doing a street festival.

So tonight I’ll cut straight to the good news . . . I had a wonderful weekend. Good crowds, good art conversations, good sales, and I won a very nice award, an honor to be chosen from among 150+ artists in all mediums.

So. What now?

This is a recurring question to any artmaker who works toward specific goals, projects or events.

There are periods of high productivity, and periods of wondering – wavering – deciding – contemplating about the work you create.

Both phases are useful.

During the Festival, I spent a lot of time sitting in my artist chair across from my booth full of work, looking at it. I listened to the responses of attendees. I considered what I had made that I really like and am proud of. I considered the work that’s not so important to me.

Right now, I have only one firm deadline requiring new work: a juried exhibition with work due in July of 2025. Plenty of time.

At the Festival, I had the amazing affirmation of selling two large works that are in the category of work that’s meaningful to me to create.

I know that for the foreseeable future, I want to concentrate on doing those things. I will probably create less work. Each will probably be larger. I am not going to shy away from emotional storytelling content.

At any given time in your art life, you may look at your own work and come to other conclusions. I’ve experienced this one: “Everything I make is crap. I hate my work. I’m not even so crazy about myself right now.”

( I have had MANY experiences of being at an event and bombing completely. Being the brave little trooper keeping your chin up as you realize you’ve gone about it all wrong. It stinks.)

I get it.

And I’ve experienced frustrations with my methods, when I look at other work I deeply admire that’s made with different techniques. So I’ve experienced this one too: “Wow. I really need to do something different.”

I get it.

Just don’t be afraid to do the looking. Over and over when I talk to other artmakers, I sense people struggling with some sense that there is a kind of work they want to create, that they believe it’s possible, but what is coming out of their hands is not what they envision.

Yes. I get that.

Wherever you are in the process, a good first step is take a good look at what you make.

And don’t give up!

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:

How It Gets There

November 24, 2024

When I sit to write about artmaking each week, it helps me to sort through ideas about artmaking.

I’ve written about color, printmaking, the process, and sources of inspiration, and many other elements of creating work.

In all of that, it’s important not to overlook the obvious: At some point, if you are serious about what you make, you need to show it to somebody. And, if that process of showing involves a Festival, or a gallery showing, or shipping work to exhibit elsewhere, it involves a lot of STUFF.

STUFF: All that goes into showing work AFTER the actual art is made.

As I am preparing to exhibit at the Fall Festival of the Arts this weekend, a few takeaways:

STUFF involves finishing. Here’s work on my table I’ve prepared to show at this weekend’s Festival. This week I spent time finishing the hanging rods, (in which I get to have fun hand-sawing and using the Dremel drill), mocking up a booth layout that matches up the width of available walls with the dimensions of the work I want to show, sewing labels on the back of each work, making title/price tags for the booth, then rolling up all the work and getting it in the car.

STUFF involves a lot of non-art supplies.

Here’s some of the stuff I still need to get in my car:

Here’s the back of my car with what’s already packed:

I am very grateful that years ago I purchased a second-hand tent that is still working well and that I also purchased a set of second-hand display walls that I’ve now used for about 15 years. They were both great investments.

STUFF involves early rising! At this Festival, artists can’t set up the night before. So, much like the elephants setting up the tents in the early morning hours before the circus, artists will be out on the streets of DeLand at 6am unpacking their cars and vans and creating a Festival of art-filled tents out of an empty street.

There is a HUGE army of dedicated volunteers behind every good street festival. I am grateful for all their work to get things ready and to help it run smoothly.

BUT – as every exhibiting artist knows, and as we hope Festival-going patrons know also, artists work hard!

I have no complaints nor whining – I choose to do this and I enjoy the hard work. But, a casual Festival attender may well not understand the process. I’ve had well-meaning Festival attendees ask me if the City or the Festival provided all these tents for us, or how much they pay us to be in the event. (Answer: No. Artists provide their own display materials. And each of us has paid at least several hundred dollars in exhibit fees, plus travel expenses for those far away.)

So . . . here I go. I am writing this post on Friday before the event begins, and by the time it goes LIVE on Sunday evening the event will be over. I’m sure I’ll be pooped.

But also glad to be a working artist and glad to be able to do this!

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: