The Pull of Water

September 1, 2024

I began this weekend Friday evening with a swim in the springs.

Late afternoon – after a thunderstorm had chased away most of the park residents, then cleared – just a beautiful empty pool before me. The late day sun and shadows in the water before me.

I remembered the way water and Labor Day went together in my childhood. I lived in a community with a neighborhood pool. It was filled on Memorial Day. (All the local kids rode their bikes to stand with noses through the chain link fence, watching the water rise in the pool.) It was emptied the day after Labor Day. The gate was locked, the water receded.

That was always a day of loss for me. I loved going to the pool to jump in the water all summer.

As the water level went down, the big empty concrete pool was like a big blue scar.

I am drawn to water. It finds its way into my works.

Being in the water is transformative.

In the water, my body can do things it cannot do on land. In the water I have to think about breathing in ways I do not have to on land.

Even being near a body of water casts a spell.

*Discerning What Is Real* – Art Quilt _Detail

Still water is never completely still. Something small and alive bounces across the surface, or moves in shadow under the surface. I like to sit and look wondering what is underneath.

Running water casts a different spell. Its movements are healing. The surface patterns. The sounds. The flow of energy.

*Revealing the Invisible* – Art Quilt - Detail

I am reminded that incorporating water into an artwork can capture the meaning people attach to water.

I am reminded that I should handle its depiction with care. I want to get it right.

I have several works in my studio now that depict water. And several more in my head.

Work in Progress – Boat Reflections (Detail)

Work in Progress – Tree Reflections (Detail)

Work in Progress – Water Patterns (Detail)

I hope the sense of immersion – the strong pull of water I feel when I swim - will find its way into these works.

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

Bearing Witness

August 25, 2024

“Do Not Look Away.”

That may seem like a strange title for an artwork. Of course an artist wants people to look at the work created.

But this work, part of the SAQA Global exhibit “Bearing Witness,” is different. It addresses very difficult subject matter – things that are easier not to contemplate.

Creating my artwork was a difficult emotional and intellectual stretch for me. I am deeply proud to be part of the exhibit, and very proud of SAQA for creating this body of work for visitors to experience.

A few exhibit details first:

Premiere: August 28th through December 13, 2024.
Raritan Valley Community College, Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies,
Branchburg, New Jersey
Reception: Monday, September 16 at 7pm

Next Venue:
Mills Station Arts & Culture Center in Rancho Cordova, California
January 16th through February 22, 2025.

My personal experience creating my artwork:

With an exhibit dedicated to response to the Holocaust and other acts of human atrocities, I did not feel like I could jump in lightly, or in a crass way. I wanted to feel connected to the subject matter.

My own family history does not intersect with the Holocaust. What right did I have to create artwork about it?

The answer came through a journey of self-education I have experienced over several years as I am trying to become a better student of history.

Here in the American South, in areas near me and in my own hometown, in the eras of Reconstruction and Jim Crow there is documented history of racial lynching. The practice was so widespread and embraced by many in the South that they promoted it with tourist postcards.

An organization in DeLand – Volusia Remembers – is affiliated with the Equal Justice Initiative from Montgomery, AL. I have learned a lot from their thoughtful remembrances of the victims of documented lynchings in this part of Florida.

Then, as I have been educating myself by learning from banned books, I discovered the very powerful book by Art Spiegelman: Maus. In this graphic novel – in which the characters are depicted as mice - the author interviews his father, a holocaust survivor, about the years leading up to Nazi takeover and the implementation of their final solution.

In that book, I saw an unforgettable image of a lynching in Nazi Germany.

The author’s father explained that the act took place in the public square where it could not be ignored. They could not look away. Instilling terror was as much a purpose of the lynching as the individual murder.

That was the connection. What I have learned about public acts of brutality in my own country – as well as those in other countries – makes it clear that instilling fear and terror is the universal element of brutal public killings by those in authority. The rest of the populace was supposed to see it and remember it.

So, I chose to depict the people looking at the event.

They were instructed not to look away.

I believe that we also learn when we are willing not to look away.

Thanks for listening. Here is my artwork in the “Bearing Witness” exhibit.

One last thought: I created a PowerPoint about this work, the exhibit, Volusia Remembers and the Equal Justice Initiative. I have been privileged to present it twice here in DeLand. If you have an art group, or a learning group of any kind and would like to hear more, if you have the ability to invite speakers via zoom, I would be happy to present and discuss.

bobbibaughart@gmail.com

Sienna discoveries

August 18, 2024

What an interesting week of pattern and color discoveries!

I began a medium sized whole cloth textile painting by prepping the whole background with a wash of raw sienna. It is warm and inviting.

A little digression into sienna - brown paint facts: (From our friends at Wikipedia) Sienna is an earth pigment containing iron oxide and manganese oxide. In its natural state, it is yellowish brown, and it is called raw sienna. When heated, it becomes a reddish brown, and it is called burnt sienna. It takes its name from the city-state of Siena, where it was produced during the Renaissance.

My personal discoveries of both raw sienna and burnt sienna are: 1. They are powerful and wonderful mixing ingredients to get subtle colors and neutrals when mixed with primaries. Either one does lovely things to red, or blue, or yellow. 2. There is really quite a variation in hue from one manufacturer to the next. One company’s raw sienna may be quite different from another company’s raw sienna. Just a warning about mixing up your paint brands.

Meanwhile, back to the studio.

My project is a whole cloth work, about 30” x 36”. I will be printing and painting different shapes and colors over the raw sienna base to see how the parts interact with each other.

In this composition, the constants will be: 1. A raw sienna base for each section. 2. Overprinting with contrasting colors, each mixed with a tad of raw or burnt sienna in the color, 3. Mostly organic, earthy images.

The variables will be: 1. What colors I pick, 2. The method of printing

My working method will be masking off each section, printing or painting it, then going on to the next section. After it’s all printed this will be stitched with all-over quilting.

MONOTYPE and RESIST:

The section that looks like roots was printed as a monotype on my gelatin plate with random organic shapes put on the plate to create roots. After I printed this, I put a subtle wash of cerulean blue over the roots. I wanted to neutralize the sienna so it would not be so orange. That’s just my personal preference: when an orangey tone goes next to black, to me, it always connotes Halloween. I did not want that. The circles were printed as wheat past resists, overpainted with a teal blue.

Interesting color things that happen: The raw sienna in each section look quite different from each other because of my blue wash on the roots and because the circles “pop” against the complimentary color of the over print. Also, the overprint looks green, not teal, because the raw sienna underneath it is changing its appearance.

SCREEN PRINTING

The red tree section was screen printed. I allowed two hues of red to mix on my screen so the trees have a little more interest. Then, after that was dry, I used a foam roller to put a very, very, very faint kiss of red over the raw sienna background.

STENCILS AND DIRECT PAINTING

I created these pods with hand-cut stencils. I put a wash of alizarin red over the raw sienna background to define the shape of the pods then stenciled on the details with a dark black-brown. I also did some hand drawing of pod details with a black marker. There was not as much contrast as I had hoped, but I am happy with the way each pod is defined by the stitching. I may go back after it’s all stitched and highlight the pod interiors a bit.

To the side of the pods is a second screen-printed area. I used the same screens but a different color form the first tree section.

STENCILED ABSTRACT SHAPES

I drew these big circle shapes by hand and cut them out of freezer paper. The background is painted with the same teal used on the small wheat paste circle sections. This geometric, non-representational section offers an important contrast to the other sections: big shapes. Simple content. (Photo show sunfinished stitchiong.)

Here’s the work as it stands at the end of this week:

This project began as a loose drawing in my sketchbook. I thought I knew where it would go. It’s been providing me with a lot of interesting opportunities to see how an idea takes shape when I actually create the parts. Some things are what I planned, and others are just how it evolved as I worked.

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 Buried Treasure

August 11, 2024

Sometimes I can plan results.

Sometimes things just happen.

Sometimes there are delightful discoveries along the way. They may or may not end up directly in a new artwork.

Here are two images from my studio this week. I love the soft, ethereal color blending of the first, and I love the crisp contrasts of the second.

I did not create either of these images. They are just random things that occurred in the process of studio work, bits of paint on my working supplies in the process of cleanup:

The soft image is on the roller of my brayer. The crisp image is on a vinyl drop cloth from my worktable.

What can you do with images like this?

There are several options.

OPTION 1 – DO nothing. But do take the time to notice the discovery and enjoy it. Take a deep breath. Enjoy the randomness and spontaneity. Sometimes you can’t capture things in any tangible way. But, taking time to notice, to look at what shows up unexpectedly, is all part of increasing your artistic sensitivity. And it’s fun.

OPTION 2 – Capture digitally. Now that there are so many ways to reproduce digital photo images on fabric, one can capture anything, save it and manipulate it a bit for size and intensity in PhotoShop or similar programs. What began as an interesting splotch on a drop cloth might be reproduced as a large abstract work, or it could serve as the underneath layer of a large work with more added to it.

OPTION 3 – Try to capture it manually. This large drop cloth has all kinds of fascinating patterns and colors on it. I have, in the past, successfully transferred them to fabric using matte medium in much the same method I use for transferring photos.

I gave it a try.

This is a piece of blank white fabric that’s been slathered with matte medium, placed face down on the drop cloth and rubbed with both brayer and paintbrush to get a good contact with the paint that was on the drop cloth. I left it overnight to dry, then pulled the fabric off.

Eeehhh . . not so much this time around. The high-contrast black and white is an interesting little section that I could incorporate into a work. But all the really inspiring, nuanced orange and brown values and textures did not transfer to the white fabric.

Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t.

But… you never know. Next time I invest a little time and effort into capturing an unusual and unplanned image, I might get an unexpected and wonderful surprise.

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

Bobbi’s Blog 8-4-24… Underwater Evolution

August 4, 2024

This week’s blog is an answer to last week’s question… What will happen to the big green rectangle and the rest of the quilt?

This is where things stood last week in a work-in-progress in my studio. I liked where the quilt was headed, but many decisions remained.

Here is PhotoShop mockup I created to help me get to the next stage.

From here, the underwater portion evolved.

This is just a quick cell phone snapshot showing what I had actually printed and painted at that point: I had added limbs to the big lime rectangle, I had added an inner white border and relief printed the outer edge.

The sketchy pencil images shown in this mockup (the orange sun, the suggestions of fish in the lower section) were not actually in the piece yet. I drew them roughly in PhotoShop and the mockup allowed me to see how it might look.

This week: time for fish.

I cut out some stencils from freezer paper, holding on to both the positive and negative pieces.

Here I’m moving around the fish positives like paper dolls. (An easy way to try out different positions and angles). When I got what I liked I lightly held them in place with masking tape.

Then I placed the outline (the negative image) of the fish over the paper doll fish and removed the positive pieces. I ironed down the freezer paper to make a clean edge and rolled on translucent paint.

If you are interested in using paint on fabric in your artwork, I can’t recommend enough the many uses of a simple foam roller. Using it just takes some practice. You can work dry or wet, cover big areas or – as in this case – keep it very controlled and light-light-light application of paint to maintain transparency.

Now to rip off the stencil and reveal the fish. Ta-daaa!

(Tip: It can be helpful to get rid of this outline soon after rolling while your image is still slightly wet. That way you can use a small paintbrush on the edges to fix any little areas that did not get a clean edge or where paint seeped under the paper stencil.)

Here is a section of the quilt where I have begun the stitching. I like the way that layer adds more dimension to the underwater scene and seems to push the fish a bit further into the background.

. . . . .

Showing this work tonight in my blog is a good opportunity to give a shout out to ARTBURST STUDIOS.

I participated in one of their on-line shows last fall, and I will be in their upcoming November show this year too. (This underwater piece and much of what I have going on the studio now is being made for that show.)

Don’t know about Artburst? Here’s a quick overview:

You can find them here: https://artburststudios.com/

Their next online show is August 15 – 17.

Artburst is an online gallery, featuring pop-up shows several times a year. They curate a small group of artists, all of whom create work just for that show. All are available for viewing and buying online. Good mix of styles and prices. It lasts just three days then it’s over.

When I first met the organizers of Artburst I was impressed by their niceness and their genuine interest in promoting artists.

If your interest is discovering new artists to love and if you like to shop for art, I hope you will take a look at the August show. I’m not in this one, but there are some interesting, talented artists displaying their work.

(Then when I start promoting the show I’ll be in this November, you’ll already be a pro at attending their shows.) Happy discovering!

. . . .

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:

From idea to image on fabric

July 28, 2024

This weekend was my first chance to get back in the studio in a week.

(Friday was driving home day from SC and Georgia – as much of it as we could on HWY 441 and other back roads away from the Interstate. So much to see and absorb!)

During the drive, I mentally composed a few new works I want to try. So I began my studio time this weekend bringing nothing but ideas, and the chance to work from the very beginning on a piece that will be a whole cloth painted fabric.

At the beginning: Prepping (gessoing) the fabric

I get a lot of questions about this stage so I’ll elaborate a bit.

There is actually a product you can buy called “gesso.” It is a white (usually) paint primer that's used to prepare surfaces before painting or drawing on them. It's made from a binder mixed with chalk, gypsum, pigment, or other ingredients, and can be applied with a brush or sprayer.

But, ever since a conversation years ago with a fellow exhibiting artist at a street festival, when she told me she used white latex house paint primer as gesso, that’s what I’ve used.

My usual fabric of choice for a substrate is plain, unbleached cotton muslin. When I gesso it before working on the image, it seals the surface just a little so it takes the paint better when I get to the stage of adding color and image. And, it keeps it from having quite so much stretch and give.

Use a light touch. You don’t want a big heavy coat of latex paint on your fabric. I generally spritz the fabric, then dip my brush in water, then dip it lightly in the paint, then paint it over the surface fast, maybe watering it down a little as I go.

I hang it outside on my fence to dry.

Next I masked off areas that will be painted differently from each other.

This big lime green square is defined by a masking tape edge. The other areas have been defined by torn-edge freezer paper for uneven edges.

I am working each section separately, then unmasking.

I’ve used several image-creation techniques so far.

The big lime rectangle I painted with a paintbrush directly. (It’s quite flat a little overwhelming to look at so far. I’ll be toning it down as I add more layers on top of the lime. I’ve saved it for last because I haven’t decided what I want to put in there)

The 2-color area top left and top right are created as a lightly painted wash of pale blue overpainted through tree-shape stencils using a foam roller and darker blue.

The bottom section filled with organic linear shapes is monoprinted on a gelatin plate.

The under-paint of washy lime and blues was painted directly. Then I laid roots and other natural forms on the gelatin plate and printed the dark background.

Nothing so far this weekend is completed. Just some colors and textures coming together in a way that interests me. And the pleasure of being home in the studio again.

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:

Puttin' My Feet Up

July 21, 2024

Hello, Art Friends … By the time this blog is posted I hope I am in South Carolina for a long awaited visit with my daughter and grandson. I should be on their back porch with my feet up at the time this post goes LIVE.

I’ve worked on all kinds of interesting things in the studio this week. Here’s a sneak peek, detail of a work-in-progress.

I look forward to exploring these and other projects together with you in the weeks ahead.

Happy summer!

Bobbi

Giving the Paint Someplace To Go

July 14, 2024

On my worktable this week I have had two panels depicting leaves.

Same size, same content, same basic composition. But as different as they could be. (Like two kids growing up in the same household. One sometimes looks at them and says, “How did THAT happen!”)

In the case of my leaf panels, I do know why they are so different. And I learned some good lessons along the way.

First: Why panels of leaves?

I am developing up a few pieces in which a smaller panel (along the side or along top or bottom) will relate to — but not actually be a part of — images in a single larger panel. Worked as whole-cloth pieces, or almost whole cloth pieces.

I would be creating the leaf panel by printing some pattern, masking off the large leaves, and then overprinting with a deeper color for the background.

Here’s a closeup of the first one.

Lots of color. Opaque paint. Strong pattern.

And here is how the panel looks:

I think this is a fun, colorful piece. In some other work, it might be an interesting component.

But, for the piece I am developing, it was a bad fit.

The rest of the work has patterns made from simple tree-shape stencils. And the colors are more subtle.

So… I needed a panel of leaves with a different look.

Here’s a close-up of my second version.

Aside from the color choice, the big difference is the use of paint. I started the background with a light, wet-into-wet paint wash with tree limb shapes as masks. Then, in the second imprint, I used a more subdued color that prints in the tree pattern used in the rest of the work.

In this panel, as is generally the best practice for a whole painting, I started less intense and gave myself someplace to go in the foreground. (That was not the case for version one.)

Here is the second version of the leaf panel.

I wish I had created it right fist time around.

But I’m pleased with what I learned, rediscovered, on the second version.

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:

Part II: Still Life Experiments

July 7, 2024

My life as a studio experimenter this summer continues. And I am being very brave. (Brave – in a Cowardly Lion from the Wizard of Oz kinda way.)

The impulse to charge ahead is not coming naturally. I find how much I rely on methods I feel I have mastered.

But here we go.

If you’ve followed along, you’ll remember that I started with a quick and simple sketch of several coffee mugs and a little pitcher. The project: How to develop that into a finished textile piece?

*This is the project close to its beginning. The sketch plus a few pieces of fabric added to background.*

The reason this is a challenge is not subject matter. It’s surface style. A quick sketch with oil pastels and a finished, stitched work are basically two unlike things.

To put them into one composition, there’s going to have to be some adjustment. A painting that has qualities of a textile piece. A textile piece that has qualities of a painting.

Here’s the completed work: “Inside What We Hold.”

Now I’ll back up a bit and share one decision-making point that affected the final direction.

What these two pictures show is the artwork at different stages with a sheet of clear vinyl laid over the top. Onto the vinyl, I have drawn with a sharpie marker some lines I was considering making.

The sketchy lines drawn around the mugs and pitcher are very appealing to me. I love adding that linear look to drawing. But, I intentionally decided not to do that in the finished piece. As a challenge to depict differently. And as a way to force myself to use value changes instead of lines.

(Takeaway: Using a clear overly is just a quick, easy way to try out an idea. It works the same as taking the work into PhotoShop and trying things there. But it’s a bit more spontaneous. I keep large pieces of vinyl in my studio for this purpose, and then re-use them as drop cloths.)

The lines I drew around the rectangular color overlays do appeal to me. I worked to get more of that definition in the final piece.

I’ve learned a lot – both effects that please me and those that don’t – working this piece through to its completion.

On to the next project!

*(Inspired by some of the relief printing in my “Inside What We Hold” piece, I am working with printing from lino-cut blocks in a new composition and a new palette.)*

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:

Still Life Experimenting

June 30, 2024

I want to begin by stopping, here: EXPERIMENTING. If you’ve been reading along lately, you may have noticed that word more frequently. I am definitely using some time this summer to experiment.

I have some large works I’ve completed that I like, and I feel that my way of working on these projects is pretty settled. I feel like I know what I’m doing.

BUT . . . I’ve developed an interest in working differently sometimes too. Arer there ways to get more of the feel of printmaking into my work? Can I like whole cloth compositions? Can I draw and paint more?

I’m not sure. But I’m interested in the process. And the project I’m describing tonight is definitely an experimental one. I’m just trying stuff.

This is a little still life sketch I discovered that I drew a few months ago. I worked with oil pastels very loosely on gessoed muslin. It seemed a good candidate for discovery. (I “gesso” – or prime the muslin – with a thin wash of latex house paint. It makes the surface behave more like watercolor paper. It remains stitchable.)

My first step was to collage and stitch some fabric shapes into the still life drawing. Mostly I used scraps from my stash of leftover printed fabrics. The teal strip along the bottom was just plain. I added relief print patterns — a mix of two carved blocks.

Experiment discovery #1 – I remembered how much I enjoy block printing and what interesting patterns it can create. (Blue in foreground of photo.)

At this point, I have a simple sketch-like drawing, integrated with some fabric pieces to create interesting shapes. What now?

I want some transparent layers. (Why? Because I’m experimenting. Just trying stuff.)

I decided to overlay some fairly random color blocks right over the composition. My goal is to make it more interesting, and to integrate the sketch portion with the fabric shape sections. The tape on the composition is providing masked-off border areas. I’ll be rolling semi-transparent paint inside the perimeters of the tape.

Just a note about my favorite red: a mix of cadmium red with alizaron crimson. They warm each other up and the result makes me sing. It’s a strong color, and I know from experience it will work well when I make it transparent.

Here is the first batch of color overlays. Two red rectangles. Two blue rectangles.

As I painted them on, I felt they would be overwhelming. But now I don’t think so. So, to continue the spirit of experimentation, I decided to add some more. Some black – for some depth. Some white – to push objects back a bit.

And this is as far as I’ve come in this project.

I think it looks more painterly. I think it’s interesting to look at.

I have outlined the rectangles with stitch, but I have not done all-over quilting stitching yet. I’m thinking about possible patterns and colors.

And I haven’t finished developing up the mug objects yet.

So, the experiment continues.

. . . . . .

I enjoyed being interviewed by Jennifer Steck of ArtBurst Studios last week. She is an enthusiastic art lover and asks great questions. I talked through my creative process for two art quilts and talked some about artmaking in general. If you’d like to hear the interview, it’s VIDEO REPLAY.

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:

Water Drops

June 23, 2024

Such a lovely morning on my porch Saturday.
This week I’m just sharing some of what I experienced.

Water Drops

The ones that hang on the ends of leaves
Motionless. Present. Ripe with being real.
Left by a nighttime rain
now waiting for sun
to change everything.

Such water drops
seduce painters — writers — thinkers
to respond. To transform them
into some human-created artifact
that will capture their light
their translucent fullness
because we just cannot help ourselves.

I could just look at them. As I am.
Holding their morning magic inside me.
I could taste them. As I just did.
Feeling the liquid on my tongue
as a bird might.

An old woman I knew
inside the house after a hurricane passed
found a space in plywood-covered windows
to look out at last.
Leaves on the fence were covered in water drops.
Sun illuminating them.
“Oh my. Look at that. Somebody
has put diamonds all over the fence.”

A clear-eyed response
from one who had lost her connections
to what in the world was real.

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:

Simply. Pleasing. Printing

June 16, 2024

Saturday I met with my local art group for our monthly get-together.

It was a reminder of the simple pleasure of the hand printmaking process. Its pleasing rhythms.

While conversations and artmaking of other kinds hummed in the room behind me, I set up the few supplies I brought: Three different substrates to print on (Kraft paper. Sheer fabric. Muslin.) Three ink colors. (Raw Sienna. Burnt Sienna. Black.) A gelatin printing plate. A few of my favorite stencils.

I kept it intentionally simple.

Then I just printed. Ink up the plate. Press. Pull. Repeat.

Do again on the same sheet – different color. Press the ghost of that print to a new sheet.

I’ll show you below some of what I printed. And they may look familiar. This is a repeat of some work I started a few months ago to create yardage for a work that will be the sense of loss in a burned house. I just needed some more.

But what I want to communicate here is not so much the finished product as the process. Creating these textures by hand, with simple methods, concentrating on it for a few hours, was pleasing work.

The results of those few hours will be collaged onto backer fabric so I can use them in the large quilt.

And I will be spending time thinking about how they go together, and how I want it to feel, and all the things I consider when I put a work together.

But I will also just remember the pleasure of pressing my hands into fabric to create images. That experience and the memory of it will be part of the finished work too.

. . . .

This week I received an update from SAQA with the exhibition places and dates for the “Gastronomy” Exhibit. I am happy to have work in this exhibit. (Graphic above – mine is the breadmaker on the far left.) If you are near any of these venues, I know you will the exhibit worth visiting.

Original Sewing & Quilt Expo:

Dallas - Irving, TX | Aug. 1, 2 & 3, 2024

Fredericksburg, VA | Sept. 26, 27 & 28, 2024

Nashville - Lebanon, TN | Oct. 3, 4 & 5, 2024

Cincinnati - Sharonville, OH | Oct. 10, 11 & 12, 2024

Detroit - Novi, MI | Nov. 14, 15 & 16, 2024

The Historical & Cultural Society of Clay County, Moorhead, Minnesota: October 4 - December 31, 2025

. . . .

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:

Pod Image Experiments

June 9, 2024

This week I’ve been working out some ideas through experimentation.

I want to create some fabric collaged pieces with organic and nature-based shapes. I need more raw materials. More “stuff.” So, I began thinking of pods and how interesting they are.

I looked at some photos of actual pods. Got their shapes in my head, then put the photos away and drew some pod-like things (not intending to be realistic) in my sketchbook.

The concept of small shapes (the seeds) contained within an outer shape appeals to me. This could work as a relief print (carved print block) or as a stencil. I decided to create some stencils just to get the feel for the image.

I actually cut two shapes. On the left is the opening without detail. This will be the background. On the right is the one that will define the shape of the pod.

First, I printed backgrounds, repeating the shape 3 times. (I used a soft paintbrush for this, letting colors blend naturally within the shape. Not too wet or it will slosh under the edge of the stencil)

Once the backgrounds were dry, I rolled the second hit on with a foam roller and a darker color mix. I could see through the stencil edge to line up this hit with the already-printed background. But, I didn’t work too hard at perfect fit. I liked the way it looked for the darker hit and the background to be just a little “off” in fit.

I decided these are interesting enough to keep playing with. I added a geometric shape in the background.

Then a few more shapes and some linear outlining.

Finally I added some all-over spatter to kil the flatness.

I can see possibilities for incorporating these shapes into a larger work. Next: I will probably cut a few more – different – pod and pod-like shapes, and work on composing something interesting that uses them together.

. . . . .

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

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Printing Patterns – Same and Different

June 2, 2024

Once upon a time there was an interesting pile of sticks in my driveway. They caught my eye.

I photographed them, simplified the design in PhotoShop, and prepared them in two versions: a positive and negative.

Then I ordered the images as printable silkscreens, about 7” x 9” image size each. This was several years ago. Since then I’ve incorporated the twigs into a number of my artworks. I like them a lot. I like the way the positive and negative speak to each other. I have used them in fabric works and in small paper works.

I am looking ahead to a submission due in August for a SAQA Global exhibit on the theme of Fire. I want to depict the loss after a fire. I am in the beginning of inspiration-for-the-composition stage of this new work, and I turned again to my faithful twig printing screens.

But… with a twist.

The paper stencil placed on the fabric is one I hand cut from card stock, based on an enlargement of the twig pattern in its usual size. I want to mix and match the same patterns in different sizes.

And now for some printing.

Here is painted fabric, rolling acrylic paint with a foam roller over my new stencil. After the first position, I just moved the stencil around so the twigs would appear randomly placed.

The bottom section is screen printed, using my usual size image of the twigs. I have overlapped the print hits in this section too.

I had one piece left of the fabric I had pre-painted with the olive and red splashes, and on that section I screen printed the twig negative image, so the background is dark and the underneath colors form the twigs.

For now, these pieces are on my work table, next to more pieces I have printed over the last few months. I have a vision for the new work, but not a composition yet. I’m interested in letting it evolve.

. . . .

Meanwhile… I completed a few collages using the bright green fabrics I wrote about last week. (Plus two other collages in a slightly different palette)

Thanks for the great comments. Looks like the color bright green has a big fan club!

I hope you’ll take time to visit my website and see how these turned out. COLLAGES

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

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Diving Into Green

May 26, 2024

Inspired by the big green leaves I was working on a few weeks ago, I’ve just been thinking about that wonderful bright green.

This is a bit of reverse inspiration. Generally, I work out ideas in smaller paper collages, then figure out how to use those ideas in a larger textile work. This time, the larger textile work is inspiring some smaller paper collages.

Starting with COLOR:

I’m looking for a bright, sunny green – a mix of blue and yellow, weighted to the yellow. Here’s my mixing space on my plastic drop cloth. (I have slipped a piece of white cardboard under the clear plastic so I can see the color accurately.)

Any time you mix a light color with a dark color, it helps to start with the lighter color (here – yellow) and mix the darker color into it just a little at a time. If you start with the dark and add light to it, it might take a long time to get to the color you want and you have to mix up too much.

I’ve got about two spoonfuls of yellow here to a little less than half a spoonful of blue. But, notice when it’s mixed, I still only used about half of the blue. A little goes a long way in this mix.

Now I’m inking up my gelatin plate. My goal will be to create some thin, tissue paper monotypes to use as collage backgrounds.

I’m pulling up a printed sheet to see what I get. It’s a loose, all-over parchment-look color. Just what I wanted.

Clean up time. If you have watched monotype printing with gelatin plates on YouTube (there are MANY great videos available,) you’ll probably notice that they generally show the paper removing ALL of the acrylic paint of the gelli-plate. There’s nothing to clean. That does not happen for me. My homemade plate is slightly different consistency than the commercial ones. And, I am using super thin printing paper. So, some paint remains on the plate.

I wipe off the surface with a paper towel and a little water, then do a final wipe with rubbing alcohol. This keeps mold away. (My plate is stored non-refrigerated and I’ve been using this one for about a year now.)

Here are some of the papers I printed. I love the bright, watercolor-like transparency of the monotype printed pieces. For contrast, in the little cereal bowl is some blue I mixed up for another project that includes white in the mix.

That blue was a useful color mix, and adding white to a color can make it more pastel and also opaque. But, adding white is not the way to get the light, bright color. I find that brightness requires transparency.

At the end of this studio session, I began collaging the thin papers to watercolor sheets, which will be the substrate for the collage. I tape down the watercolor papers all four sides while I work, and generally work on two at once, side by side, as I have them here on my plywood sheet.

More to come on these projects. See ya next 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

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Workin’ Fast N Loose

May 19, 2024

This week the Florida landscape called to me to get out of the studio and do something different.

A friend and I went to a nearby County Park at Gemini Springs and set up to sketch next to the water. We did not take full plein air set-up — just some sketching utensils and pads of paper. We found a picnic table near the water and responded to what we saw.

No finished artwork resulted.

No masterpieces.

Just experience. The experience of air and water. And the experience of drawing.

I started with just color and random shapes, to get the feel of my materials. I ended up using water-soluble oil pastels and a brush dipped in water. Sometimes dip then draw into the wet. Sometimes make some marks then mush them around in water with the brush.

Once I got the color response bug out of my system, I had more fun sketching actual things.

I started close-up, concentrating on a nearby plant with leaves.

Then I looked across the water at a group of fishermen on the dock. I enjoyed doing these a lot.

My takeaways – things I rediscovered.

Quick and unfinished is OK. . . just getting the sense of a subject and then moving on to the next one is an acceptable procedure. There was no need for me to “finish” these – to color in all the parts.

Work as big as you can. . . That’s a good rule for me, though I know other people really enjoy working small. I don’t. These pads are 18 x 24 and that was big enough to get some arm movement going and create some loose shapes. Working small makes me want to do little back and forth movements of the wrist and to concentrate on detailed aspects of an image. That’s not what this outing was about for me.

Drawing wrong-handed . . . Another friend introduced me years ago to drawing with my non-dominant hand. I’m right-handed. I drew all these with my left hand. It’s just a way to re-wire your brain and help you get more freedom of expression.

Could something more come of these drawings? Possibly. I could rip them up and incorporate them into a paper work. I could collage more paper or fabric onto them.

Or I could just leave them as they are – experiments and experiences. I believe those also will find their way into other larger, more finished projects. For example . . .

Remembering my responses to being outside and looking at sunlight inspired this work: “Why I Wake Early.”

“Why I Wake Early” is part of the SAQA Florida Regional exhibit, “Awakening” exhibiting at Visual Art Center in Punta Gorda through May 24. I invite you to go visit this interesting and varied exhibit of work if you are near this venue.

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

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Bringing Leaves to Life

May 12, 2024

A week of experimenting.

(I’m not sure if that sounds surprising to those who follow my work. After all, I’m in the studio putting paint on fabric all the time. But a single technique – used in a new way or for a new purpose – can mean experimenting happens all the time too.)

Last week I was looking down into water and creating watery patterns.

This week I worked on the companion section – something to suggest the feel of plant life above or beside the watery patterns.

I came up with – and then rejected – several possibilities. I ended up guided by the graphic character of the underwater section. I also wanted just a few strong shapes to balance the intricate goings-on of the underwater section.

To follow the inspiration and process: Here is a section of the underwater section I created last week:

Here’s the sketch I came up with for the above-water section

Before jumping in, just a note about process: using hand-cut stencils. There are lots of other ways this image could get onto fabric. I could have just hand-painted it, for example. But I like the flat, super-thin paint layers that come from rolling with a foam roller. And I like the clean line edges.

I used a stencil cut from freezer paper. Step 1: Cut it out.

Freezer paper is magic! Even though I have used it a number of times, I am always amazed that it works. But it does. You place the waxy side face-down to come in contact with the substrate fabric. Then iron it in place. It sticks, it will create a clean edge, and it will peel right off. (And, frequently, you can use a freezer stencil more than once.)

I’m working from the background, light to darker over-print. Yellow is the underneath layer, the lightest. Here I am rolling it over the freezer paper.

Without moving the freezer paper stencil, I am over-rolling a green on top of the yellow with a linear pattern which will show through yellow. Then I rolled a third hit, a transparent lime green color over all of it.

Here’s the first reveal.

I will be rolling on one more layer: the dark blue-black. Before doing that I had to cover up the green and yellow I had just painted. I wanted the dark color to show around it, not on top of it.

(Compare this photo to the fist one showing the stencil. Picture one: The leaves and lines were the open part for the paint to go in. Now, picture 2, the leaves and lines are what’s covered up.)

After the four rolled layers, plus a bit of spatter, here’s how it looked.

This work is not done, but it’s pretty close. I quilted the leaf sections with lines that follow and enhance the shape of the leaves. Then I sewed the leaf section to the underwater section.

I had an enjoyable few hours of stamping an energetic linear pattern all around the perimeter in two colors. I like the way this is unifying the sections.

Working out patterns and composition in large, almost-whole-cloth works is quite different from creating patterns on individual pieces of yardage then cutting them up and stitching them together. (Although I like that too.)

I needed some new artistic energy. This experimental project is giving it to me.

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:

Looking into water

May 5, 2024

I have spent a good deal of time this week just looking into water.

Such a wonderful pastime! There is something magical and calming about being by a body of water, looking down through your feet to moving water, seeing its patterns and movements as you feel it wash over part of you.

Creating a section about 24” x 30” with water patterns has been an experimental activity. I have in mind I’d like to develop up some whole cloth works with more emphasis on painting. For this week, the water panel is a first-step experiment.

It did not go at all in the direction I had expected. But as I kept adding layers, I liked what I got. Here’s the current status:

Take a moment to look down into the water. Can you identify the layers – working backwards to figure out the steps to get to this point? (It started as a background of a plain natural color muslin.) Here’s a close-up look.

I created a second panel, which I had planned to put with the water. But – well – I just don’t think it’s going to work. (My vision was a section of trees, to function as an above-ground complement to the below-ground section of water.) But the character of the section just isn’t fitting with the water. It’s like two different landscapes.

Then this afternoon as I was driving home from a swim in the springs, I came up with a different idea. I’ll spend some time with my sketchbook this evening to see if I can bring it to fruition. If so, I’ll thank the water of the springs for the inspiration.

I’ve included elements of water in lots of my quilts. It’s a favorite element.

This one, Looking Below the Surface, contrasts a photograph of water (I transferred it to muslin) with the life of water and sunlight I imagined to be below the water.

This one is Revealing the Invisible, which also contrasts a photographic image with other non-photo surface design elements.

The above-and-below theme is the basis for Nor Could our Hands Catch Them.

I did not use any photographic elements in this one. The underwater section is a single whole cloth panel, monoprinted in yellow-golds, then overpainted with transparent blue-green with the fish shapes blocked out in stenciled wheat paste resist. I enjoy the sense of light in the water.

This week I hope you find pleasing waters, pleasing pastimes, joyful splashes and maybe some inspiration to fill your week.

. . . .

And here is an invitation:

I am happy to have a quilt in the Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) Florida Region Exhibit, “Awakening” which opens May 13 at Visual Arts Center in Punta Gorda. If you are near that part of Florida, I hope you’ll visit this interesting and thought-provoking exhibit of work by Florida artists.

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

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Side by Side Composing

April 28, 2024

Compositions that work their way across several panels have become interesting to me in the past few years.

I confess that, initially, it was more a matter of necessity than inspiration.

I like to create big works. They are hard to handle in my studio and costly to ship when I create them in one big piece. So, sometimes, I create them in sections.

I had no idea when I first began to work this way that it would be so interesting. There’s just something about working out a composition in pieces that’s slightly different from working in a single picture plane. There’s work to do to be sure the sections speak to each other. I find it challenging and creative.

So I was interested last year when I saw the call-to-artists from Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) for works created as diptychs, or 2-panel works in which the content related to each other in some way.

This was also out of the ordinary for me because the works are small. Each panel was to be just under 12” square. And they are going to an exhibit in Australia. So, I thought: “I’m in.”

I was delighted to have a piece accepted. I’ll show it here. And, I created two additional works, and I’m sharing those too.

(Just a fun diversion: I took all three pieces with me last week to the meeting of my local art group. I laid them out on the floor and asked members to guess which piece of the three was accepted. Votes were pretty evenly split between each of the three. Just a reminder that we never know what’s important or interesting to a juror. And everybody likes different things.)

This is The Flying Wallendas, the work accepted for exhibit.

I began the work as another experiment, a day last year when my local art group had a morning dedicated to creating from bits in our scrap piles. It meant that right from the beginning, I had a “Why not? I’ll give a try” attitude of playfulness. I picked things that did not appear to go together at all and just stared collaging.

As it evolved, I added more paint and collaged on layers. Here’s a close-up.

One note about works in multiple sections: It’s very important that they display as they are designed. If there are elements that need to line up in a certain way (in this work, the black linear elements) it’s up to the artist to put some instruction on there so the gallery art-hanger or eventual patron knows how the work should go. If these two pieces are butted right up against one another, the lines don’t connect correctly.

Piece #2:

Allowing playfulness to direct this experiment, I created a nature-based scene. This is Different Lunch Plans.

(You might remember that I wrote a blog post about this one in January, as I was creating the artwork, about working out the color relationships. You can read it HERE if you are interested)

Piece #3

Finally, I wanted something simple.

This is Floating Into the Place of Dreams. I enjoyed creating a work so different from the other two.

The Flying Wallendas will fly off to its Australian adventure next month. I have made the other two works available on my website, and you can find them HERE.

You might be inspired to take a look at the other works in this gallery too. There’s a mix of work in multiple panels as well as single picture plane works. Maybe you will discover interesting similarities and differences.

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

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Musical Patterns

April 21, 2024

My soul has been filled this weekend by visual art and music.

What could be better?

On Saturday I spent most of the day with my local art buddies, a group called Arts Etc, doing experiments in fabric painting with stencils. There was no pressure to create a finished work.

In fact, I told them it was very unlikely any of us would create something that worked as a finished whole cloth piece. But maybe we would create interesting bits. We were allowing the patterns to happen and to discover the rhythms of shape working together.

Then Saturday evening I went to a piano concert at Stetson University, here in DeLand. (Stetson is my alma mater and I am always happy to give a shout out to their spectacular school of music.) Guest pianist Anton Nel took us through Bach as intricate as bobbin lace to Beethoven filled with heart pounding fury.

As I looked at what I created this weekend, and remembered the experience of the music, I’m putting them together in my head. So much of what makes patterns in music pleasing and memorable is what makes visual patterns pleasing and memorable too.

Here’s the whole piece I printed:

What I see:

A composition works well when sizes vary. Something big. Something medium. Something small. And in values, something dark and something light. (In fact, as I led the stenciling exercise with my group, we had that as part of our instructions: begin with a big white circle and a medium sized dark square. Then depart from there.)

In music, if everything is a big crescendo then nothing is a big crescendo. The brain needs a rest between these. And if a work is all light and spritely, it can feel trite. A mix of dark and light gives voice to each emotion more fully.

Other take-aways;

Repeating patterns are pleasing. (Like a melody that reoccurs.)

The pattern itself can have repeating element, and then that group of things can also reappear elsewhere on the composition, perhaps with a variation.

Note the rectangles in a row: The unit is itself a repeating pattern. It also repeats within the whole piece. Dark in one place. Light in another.

A mix of positive and negative. It’s interesting to print a circle. It’s even more interesting to see that same shape used elsewhere as a negative image, printing its perimeter. These places create depth.

Geometric shapes and organic nature-based shapes can interact nicely

Finally, in the midst of all this diversity and variation, there needs to be some unity. This piece of painted fabric has very limited color choices. A neutral background plus a dark and a light. This holds the whole work together.

I could, at this point, introduce a bit of splash someplace: maybe an orange or red element. It wouldn’t be confusing because so much on the piece is already unified.

A color splash would work like the “ting!” of a triangle at just the right place in a musical performance. Timed right, used judiciously: perfect! But if there were triangles tinging and tubas blaring and cellos going all at once, all throughout the performance, it might be a lot to take.

I’ve been working diligently all week on the large House of leaves quilt I’ve written about a few times. I needed a mental break. Thank you, art friends! Thank you music! You were just what I needed.

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: