Category Archives: Process

Small, Thoughtful Steps

Remember the painted detail of the birds that I shared in my last post?
Here is the full painting, now complete.

I can’t necessarily explain this piece in the sense of telling a particular story, but I will say it’s a convergence of and meditation on a number of things: the passage of time, a feeling of grounding that is rooted in one’s sense of place, the idea of freedom in unrealized possibilities, and an overarching love for the changes that come with Autumn as the landscape readies for the dormancy of Winter. Hmmm – I guess even if it isn’t a story, that’s a lot to pack into 9″ x 12″.

Washi tape and masking fluid give me the ability to preserve various sections while working on others. Pencil lines rough in the suggestion of a background pattern in the upper right (which becomes more prominent as the piece evolves). If you look closely you can see that this pattern riffs off both the pointed house shape, which encloses the portrait, and the swooping lines of the hair.

While I always work on an entire painting all at once, I do toggle back and forth between elements because, as I move through each stage, every decision affects everything that comes after. An action taken in one area dictates the next step for another section.

Early layers of paint set up a backdrop

In other words, I depend upon a series of mindful steps that build upon each other. These images of the portrait within the painting give an idea of that progression.

Layers of Naples Yellow and Yellow Ochre connect the fore, mid, and background by adding dimension to the grasses, warming the tones of the face and carrying the sunset over from the left of the painting in the background. Washes and strokes of green link the hair, the eyes, the grasses and the field while offsetting the blue and yellow complementary undertones that had begun to dominate.

When sitting down to a freshly stretched sheet of paper, I may have a core idea of where I’m headed but I can always count on the fact that there will be plenty of changes and adjustments along the way, most of which relate to the nuts and bolts of process itself.

While initially I had planned to leave it out, adding a mouth soon felt necessary. The masking fluid that preserved the area for the sumac has been lifted in this picture. It’s always a relief to remove the washi tape or masking fluid so I can see the piece without the distraction of their strong colors.

In a way, every new piece is a wonderful sort of puzzle. Before the brush even touches paper, it’s necessary to think ahead to consider what might need to be done first (such as which elements to mask) and in what order each consecutive layer needs to be laid down. For the most part, the masking is really the only part of the process that rarely changes.

Masking the sumac branches and flowers in the foreground was the very first step after lightly penciling in the composition. Considering that masking fluid dries to a yellow-ish color, I had to consciously work to avoid letting it influence my surrounding color choices.

The stitched roof was a late decision. Not only does it further accentuate the curving pattern in the background but, more importantly, the added 3-dimensionality of the house/portrait combo makes a lot more sense, sitting in a landscape as it does – even though it isn’t meant to be a “real” house.

Incorporating stitching is usually the last step, but an element I’ve been thinking about before the first pencil mark even hit the paper. However, it too is influenced by what goes before, as noted in the caption above, and sometimes ends up being completely different from what I’d initially imagined.

It’s these small, thoughtful steps along the way, many of which can’t be predicted, that make a piece what it ultimately becomes. For the most part, I’ve learned it’s worth being patient, and trusting that the piece itself will lead me in the right direction.

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How many times have you read an article that challenges readers to name 3-5 women artists, correctly insinuating that it’s difficult to do in a culture that has historically ignored the accomplishments of women in our field?

Women Painters Book

When we were in Berkeley last month, I managed to find time — correction: I MADE time — to stop by Mrs. Dalloway’s – Literary and Garden Arts, a treasure of a local bookstore. I picked up a little gem that fit easily into my bag and that I think you might like too: An Opinionated Guide to Women Painters . It’s a concise compendium that covers, with images, “65 female artists from throughout history and across the world”. There are names you will recognize and plenty you won’t. The contributors have done their best to see that no one is stumped by the ‘name 5 female artists’ question again.

Field Trip

Vermont is in the midst of a roll of warm, sunny days.
And while we appear to be flirting with fall because daylight hours are getting noticeably shorter and the foliage is turning quickly, the past couple of weeks have felt decidedly more summer-like. Time for a field trip!

K. Grant Fine Art, 37 Green St., Vergenne, VT 802.922.4399 kgrantfineart.com

Last week we ventured to the other side of the Green Mountains, destined for Vergennes, to check out “Soft Openings“, the inaugural show at K. Grant Fine Art which opened its doors in August.

With abundant natural light pouring in the front widow, the gallery feels at once both intimate and spacious – a credit both to the nature of the building that houses it and gallerist/owner Kristen Grant’s curatorial chops. I was charmed.

Three irrepressible ceramic floral sculptures by Norwich artist Megan Bogonovich; she characterizes her work as a lovechild of Pierre Bonnard and Tony Smith. Bogonovich was featured on This is Colossal last May.

A painting by Cameron Davis’ that pulses with life, flanked by Pamela Fraser’s ceramic sculptures which are presented and exist as moveable pairs.

Paying a visit was spurred by Alice Dodge’s glowing review in 7 Days which gives a rounded depiction of the five exhibiting artists, their work, and of Grant herself. The article was enough of a teaser to pull me in and I found the show to be as vibrant as promised. In fact, I’m not sure there’s much I can add to Dodge’s assessment other than a few photos.

Pattern is the undercurrent that runs through all the work in “Soft Openings”. Rooted in nature, the energetically improvised paintings by Arista Alanis offer a sense of organization through her inclusion of pattern.

Pamela Fraser’s spiked ceramic piece is an apt counterpoint to Wylie Garcia’s spiraling floral bower.

Even though I had my favorites among the exhibitors, I walked away feeling that each artist’s voice confidently held its own in conversation with its exhibition mates, remaining distinct as an individual entity. That’s no small accomplishment in a group show.
“Soft Openings” closes on September 28th so there’s still a little more than a week to catch it if you can.

Left to right: Megan Bogonovich, Pamela Fraser, Wylie Garcia

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Despite the warmth and sun, I have Fall on the mind. The daily changes in color and texture surrounding us are filtering into my sketchbooks as well as my latest painting, detail above, which is still unfinished on the board and remains to be stitched. I’ve been approaching it in a measured way – not necessarily slowly, but with deliberation – working to pull all the elements together and think ahead to how stitching will complete its circle.

Etudes

We’ve reached the mid-point!

Welcome to Week 3 of my Summer Stories Archival Sale!

The five pieces described below are 20% off in my web shop , now through 11:59pm July 31st. Find them under the category “Etudes”.
Use the coupon code Etudes20 at checkout.

But first, a quick check-in: I hope you are enjoying the stories I have been sharing this summer. Have you found anything surprising, relatable, confounding?
What I’ve discovered is that taking the time to look back helps me to see more clearly where I am going. And that is very rewarding.
Thanks for coming along for the ride.

Stand detail, textile collage, dye, applique, embroidery, quilting

I’ve called this latest section of my sale “Etudes” because each of these small pieces was just that – a study. While the dictionary’s definition of “etude” refers to a musical composition, the creative intention remains the same regardless of medium or discipline: “a piece designed as an exercise to improve the technique or demonstrate the skill of the player”.

With the basic building blocks of fabric, dye, thread and a needle, possibilities are only limited by one’s imagination. I’ve come to appreciate that fully exploring assorted processes in order to push the nuances of their potential is as integral to my practice as the concepts I am hoping to illustrate.

After moving to Vermont we built a house, customizing it to our personal quirks, desires and environmental goals. Topmost for me was that it include a roomy studio with a sink. That humble sink has given me the freedom to stretch beyond the copied “prints” on fabric I had been making previously, and to begin to explore surface design through many variations of Shibori dye techniques.

The small pieces you see here were created with the intent of finding new ways to incorporate the results of resist-dye explorations with a variety of sewn construction techniques, hand-stitched quilting and embroidery. They represent a mere scratching-of-the-surface of investigating and celebrating the rich artistic possibilities of textiles.

For years, a large part of my self-imposed directive has been to push the distinct qualities inherent to cloth and thread, honoring and highlighting them within my work for their unique visual and textural characteristics, rather than attempting to mimic processes and imagery that can be much more easily accomplished with paint or other media.

I love how these small works speak not just to a moment within my personal artistic development, but also to how, despite their small size, they reference the abundant potential of seemingly modest materials.

Book Form, Textile collage, Dye, Applique, quilting, embroidery

Book Form ©2011 Elizabeth Fram, Silk & cotton fabrics, Dye, Discharge, Paint, hand appliqué, Hand and machine quilted, Hand embroidered, 15″H x 21″ W, SALE Price: $440. If you’ve followed this blog for any amount of time you will know that reading is a huge part of my daily practice. This piece honors that love by using marks created with dye, paint and stitches, plus areas of pleated assembly, to mimic lines of text on a page beneath an open book.

Book Form, detail, Textile collage, Dye, Applique, quilting, embroidery

Book Form, detail © 2011 Elizabeth Fram The pattern on the black and gold fabric in the upper left corner was created by etching a design with a dull pencil into a styrofoam tray from a package of grocery store chicken. The resulting “plate” was rolled with textile paint and then used to create a mono-print on cotton.

Book Form, detail © 2011 Elizabeth Fram Black fabric, adorned with lines of masking tape and then sprayed with a diluted bleach solution created a lovely pattern of irregular lines once the tape was removed. Overlaying it with a sheer fabric allows that pattern to peek through, increasing a sense of depth. Lines of embroidered stitching follow the rhythm of the discharged pattern, also inferring a sense of text but with variations that imply handwritten rather than printed words.

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Stack, textile collage, quilting, embroidery, applique, dye

Stack ©2011 Elizabeth Fram, Silk & cotton fabrics, Wrapped-resist dye, Machine stitched, Hand quilted, Hand embroidered, 9″H x 9.5″W, SALE Price: $200. The following 4 pieces are part of what I have informally called my “motion series”. They all imply some form of movement or stance. When I made them, I had just completed an online class in Shibori dyeing that taught me the basics of a variety of ways to create pattern on cloth via stitched, wrapped and clamped resists.

Stack, detail, textile collage, quilting, embroidery, applique, dye

Stack, detail ©2011 Elizabeth Fram Combining samples of this newly dyed cloth with fabric from my stash brought me the same satisfaction as piecing together a puzzle. I particularly like the way the pleated sheer fabric on the left – which I had dyed separately – worked in tandem with the striated red and white arashi-dyed silk.

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Strut, textile collage, dye, applique, embroidery

Strut ©2011 Elizabeth Fram, Silk & cotton, Wrapped-resist dye, Hand appliqué, Hand quilted, Hand embroidered, 8.5″H x 8.5″W, SALE Price: $160 This piece is small but has a strong voice. Such is the power of color. For years, before I began trying my hand at surface design, I collected dupioni silks wherever I could find them, treasuring them for their saturated colors and iridescence. The confidence conveyed by these assertive hues is why I named this piece “Strut”.

Strut detail, textile collage, dye, applique, embroidery

Strut, detail ©2011 Elizabeth Fram When I first began making art with cloth, I ran through every fabric department I came across, collecting anything with unusual characteristics and potential. The damask-like rectangle that morphs from orange to violet, in the upper right of this detail photo, was a length of synthetic that I believe was intended as a dress fabric. It was so unusual, but incredibly versatile. Somehow it seemed to “fit” in almost everything I made, until all I had left were tiny slivers to insert here and there. Not only did I use it for the colors on its right side, but it’s reversible back side was silver with the black pattern, and I used it as the underbelly of a mackerel in one of my earliest pieces. Follow this link and scroll to the bottom of the post to see that fish.

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Tumble, textile collage, dye, quilting, embroidery

Tumble ©2011 Elizabeth Fram, Silk & cotton, Clamped and wrapped-resist dye, Discharge, Hand appliqué, Hand quilted, Hand embroidered, 9.5″H x 9″W, SALE Price: $200 Clamped-resist is a dye technique where you take two objects of the same shape and clamp them together on either side of the outside of a folded fabric bundle, sort of like two slices of sandwich bread. The results are a shadow image of their shape that appears on the cloth once the objects are removed and the dyed fabric is unfolded. A hardware store is a great place to find objects to use in this process, such as the oversized aluminum washers I used to create this donut shape.

Tumble detail, textile collage, dye, quilting, embroidery

Tumble, detail ©2011 Elizabeth Fram Stripes, marks, color & texture. These detail photos show the distance from which I see each piece as I am working on it. Can you begin to understand why I get so swept up in detail?

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Stand textile collage, dye, applique, embroidery, quilting

Stand ©2011 Elizabeth Fram, Silk & cotton, Stitched-resist dye, Hand appliqué, Hand quilted, Hand embroidered, 9.9″H x 9″W, SALE Price: $200 The challenge of bringing diverse elements together so that they look as though they were always meant to be a whole unit is a good part of what I loved about making the pieces in this series. I was looking for ways to create a conversation between all the ingredients so that, like a complex sauce, one can appreciate the individual components while savoring their intermingled results.

Stand, detail ©2011 Elizabeth Fram All the pieces in this post were made in 2011 and by now I’m sure you’ve noticed that in all but one I was using the device of rows of stitches, stacked on top of each other. Part of the beauty of going back through older work in detail is you notice things with fresh eyes. I think I have more to say with this particular way of stitching, so don’t be surprised if you see it in new work.

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And now, because I can’t resist…

Untitled, circa 1959-1962, Lynne Drexler, Farnsworth Museum of Art

We are back from a week in Maine and of course made our annual pilgrimage to the Farnsworth Museum. Perhaps because I’m looking back on the old, non-representational work in my sale, this year I was most taken with exhibits of abstract work by Lynne Drexler and – surprise! – Andrew Wyeth. I’m not going to write much about either here since you have already waded through the above. But I encourage you to check out the links and to read about both shows – they are beautiful and fascinating.

Untitled, 1991, Andrew Wyeth, Watercolor on Paper, Collection of the Wyeth Foundation for American Art While Drexler’s work is (stunningly) all about the color, I was quite moved by this exhibit of never-before-shown abstract works of Wyeth’s, which spanned six decades. His ability to capture a beautiful abstraction with vitality and immediacy blew me away. All the more so because we think of him as the quintessential realist. He is quoted as saying “My struggle is to preserve that abstract flash like something you caught out of the corner of your eye” , and very surprisingly, apparently referred to himself on numerous occasions as an abstract artist.

Don’t forget to use the coupon code Etudes20 for your 20% discount in my web shop. These five pieces will remain on sale through 11:59pm July 31st. Enjoy free shipping within the continental US.; these pieces are ready to hang.

The next sale will begin with my August 8th blog post in two weeks.
Keep an eye on my web shop, as the next five pieces will be available to preview soon after this sale ends. You can find them under the category “Transitions”.

Life As We Know It

Welcome to Week 2 of my Summer Stories Archival Sale!

The five pieces described below are 20% off in my web shop, now through 11:59pm July 17th.
Use the coupon code Life20 at checkout.

Although these pieces span an 8 year period, they all speak to something that was top of mind for me when I made them: how do I juggle the many ingredients of every busy day, accomplishing what needs to be done while still making room for creativity? I had considered labeling this category “Parenthood” because that was my main directive during those years. But in retrospect, so many of the issues that I was confronting were hardly unique to being a parent – or any particular stage of life. Balancing limited hours, bumps in the road, being mindful of one’s actions and looking back to consider how to improve are just a part of life as we all know it.

As I mentioned in my last post, although I had the luxury of a full room to devote to art-making, my studio space was limited in terms of the materials I could use and how messy I could be with them. I had reached the point where I wanted to explore surface design in order to stretch beyond store-bought fabrics and to customize the cloth I was using in my work, but I needed to find ways to accomplish that within the constraints of my space.

The bottom line is that any perceived stumbling block can also be a call to ingenuity.
At the time, taking family photographs to the local copy shop to have customized tee shirts printed was very popular. In fact, we did just that before a large family celebration of my grandfather in-law’s 100th birthday. It got me to thinking: if one could print photos on cloth with clarity, why couldn’t that be true of a drawing or a painting?

I began to experiment with a couple of approaches.
Using oil pastels, I made abstract drawings, taking them to my copy shop to have them copied and then transferred onto cotton sateen fabric which I supplied. There was a learning curve; the colors of the copy appeared much more saturated than my original drawings and the resulting fabric didn’t have quite the same soft “hand” that it had before being printed with the transfer, but for my purposes it was a total success!

The best aspect of the copied transfers was that they picked up every textural detail from the surface of my originals. In addition to the oil pastels, I painted on brown paper grocery bags – a process that allowed for the texture of my brush strokes and for the wrinkles and folds inherent to the bags to appear on the finished printed fabric. I also made collages with the paintings before having them copied and printed, a process that presented the opportunity to have a collage effect within the printed image rather than only achieving a collage afterward by cutting the fabric and re-sewing it together.

Keep in mind, this was well before the existence of Spoonflower. How much easier and more exact this process would be for me today! But now I see these pieces as markers of possibility, both in terms of circumventing creative obstacles and in regard to a specific season within my own journey.

Thanks for being here!

Compartmentalized

Compartmentalized ©2003 Elizabeth Fram, Silk, cotton & synthetic fabrics, Heat transfer of original oil pastel drawing, Machine pieced, Hand appliqué, Machine and hand quilted, Hand embroidered, 17″H x 17″W, SALE Price: $400. This was one of my first stabs at incorporating fabric that I had designed, made from transfers of an oil pastel drawing. This piece speaks to the fact that life at the time was a series of stops and starts, all sorted into various compartments that required constant tending and nurturing so that nothing fell through the cracks.

This photocopy of my drawing was used for the transfer print in Compartmentalized. I only used a tiny section of it in the finished quilt, cutting and sewing together small areas of the printed fabric to add within the piece.

Compartmentalized, detail ©2003 Elizabeth Fram If you look closely, you can recognize the orange section from the far right of the copied drawing above, and also see that the copy’s image was reversed in the process of printing it on fabric.

Compartmentalized, detail quilted and embroidered

Compartmentalized, detail ©2003 Elizabeth Fram The textural “conversation” between quilting, embroidery and a variety of fabrics, all in chorus together, is a huge part of my attraction to working with textiles.

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Room For Adjustment

Room for Adjustment ©2004 Elizabeth Fram, Silk, cotton & synthetic fabrics, Discharge, Direct drawing with colored pencil, Pieced and appliquéd, Hand and machine quilted, Hand embroidery, 26″H x 51″W, SALE Price: $760. Becoming a parent was the perfect proving ground for realizing that no matter how much you try to get everything perfectly lined up, something will invariable throw your plans to the wind. Once this work was pieced together it felt just a bit too organized and stagnant. Taking a huge leap of faith, I sliced it right down the middle, readjusting so that it was slightly off-kilter. I can be very brave in my work, maybe not so much in life. Take a risk, try something radical, make room for adjustments.

Room for Adjustment detail colored pencil

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Unexpected Circumstances

Unexpected Circumstances ©2004 Elizabeth Fram, Silk, cotton & synthetic fabrics, Heat transfer of original oil pastel drawing, hand appliquéd, Hand and machine quilted, Hand embroidery, 37″H x 31″W, SALE Price: $640. There’s no getting around it – sh*t happens. You can either fight it or go with it. At the end of the day, as my husband’s centenarian grandfather would say, we all just do the best we can.

For Unexpected Circumstances, I made an oil pastel drawing and then had it copied in both black & white and colored versions. I brought those copies home and re-configured them by cutting and combining the two iterations in a new conglomeration of both. It was this resulting collage that I had transferred onto fabric and used within this piece, as seen directly below.

Unexpected Circumstances, detail ©2004 Elizabeth Fram While it’s all but impossible to see in this photo, I embroidered with dark blue thread on top of the printed collage, adding to the energy of the pastel marks captured in the fabric transfer.

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Tadasana

Tadasana ©2011 Elizabeth Fram, Silk & cotton, Paint, Dye, Hand appliquéd, Hand and machine quilted, Hand embroidery, 31″H x 19″W, SALE Price: $520. Tadasana is the word for Mountain Pose. This piece was made on the heels of a very busy and at times stressful period in our lives. I had been maintaining a very modest but regular yoga practice and found it was a huge help. This piece honors the peace and grounding I found through both that practice and our return to Vermont, the Green Mountain State.

Tadasana, detail ©2011 Elizabeth Fram This piece includes a bit of very contained mono-printing, made a couple of years before inserting it here. Textile paint and minimal dyeing were wet processes that I could explore in a friend’s studio and our garage. The embroidery (in white, by the stroke of yellow paint) is subtle, but integral to the pattern.

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Hindsight

Hindsight ©2006 Elizabeth Fram, Silk & cotton, Heat transfer of original painting, Hand appliquéd, Machine and hand quilted, Hand embroidered, 34.5″H x 24″, SALE Price: $600. Slowly working through the time-consuming and methodical processes of hand sewing gives one plenty of time to think and to look back on past actions and discussions. It’s in my nature to reflect on what went right, what went wrong and how one might approach things in the future. And isn’t that also a large part of trying to do one’s best at parenting? In some ways, such mulling is much like collage – a piecing together of known elements into a new configuration.

This is the original collage I created for Hindsight. Although made initially to become a fabric transfer, I went through a brief period of composing collages with painted brown paper as an exercise in-and-of itself. They weren’t made with exhibiting in mind, and certainly aren’t archival, rather they were an exercise done for fun and for myself alone.

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And finally, a quick look into the studio as promised…

When I first began this piece I was only planning to paint the eyes and to leave a lot of white space surrounded by monochromatic stitching. But as the work progressed it seemed to have its own ideas, one thing leading to another, until here we are. I’m still wrestling with the stitching on the face, but there’s something about it that won’t let me go. So I guess that’s just to say I have a lot to consider moving forward. I am learning from others’ responses that the house form is perhaps too subtle to be seen without prompting. That’s also something to think about for future pieces.

Meanwhile…

The Equivalents

I am so happy to have received this book from an Eye of the Needle reader. Not only was it a much appreciated gift in general terms, but also in light of one of the themes running through this post (reread my very first sentence). I had planned to put it aside for later in the summer, but once I began its introduction while eating lunch last week, I couldn’t put it down. It revolves around 5 artists/writers and their participation in the Radcliffe Institute for Independent Study. Were you aware of this fellowship opportunity for “intellectually displaced” women? It offered its fellows “a stipend, an office, access to Harvard’s libraries and professors and the gift of unfettered time”. That’s an opportunity we all might aspire toward; in the early 1960s it was unimaginable. Fascinating and highly recommended!

Don’t forget to use the coupon code Life20 for your 20% discount in my web shop. These five pieces will remain on sale through 11:59pm July 17th. And don’t forget, free shipping within the continental US, with hanging slats included.

The next sale will begin with my July 25th blog post in two weeks.
Keep an eye on my web shop, as the next five pieces will be available to preview soon after this sale ends. You can find them under the category “Etudes”.

Leap of Faith

Mind Palace 1

I might have called this finished.

Mind Palace 2

But instead, I held my breath and lifted as much paint as I could outside a house shape that I had superimposed over the subject’s central features.

Mind Palace 3

It was my intention that by embroidering outside the house shape, the painted and stitched areas would stand apart from each other, yet still work together.

Mind Palace 4

The embroidery blurs details, such that texture becomes the overarching descriptor. It’s a quality I quite like – especially when paired with the untouched watercolor.

Despite the variation, the finished product still reads as a whole and I’m very pleased with the added dimension the stitching contributes. That’s not to say there aren’t a number of kinks still to work out. Taking this shot in artificial light emphasized the house shape to a degree that isn’t as easy to see in natural light. But that’s a puzzle for the next time around.
Regardless, the leap of faith was worth it.

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It’s a new world out there – but check out the following and chalk one up for the little guy: artists fight back against AI.

A Respite and A Request

I’m taking a bit of a respite this week to recharge and reinvigorate. But first, an update.
The portrait that I shared briefly at the end of my last post is now in its last phase. The paint work is finished and the embroidery is well underway.

First pass

I’m loving the variety of processes involved in these works – first, because there’s a certain challenge to pulling everything together, and secondly, because it’s so satisfying to see the piece materialize as each stage builds upon the one before.

Detail

In many respects this whole process is parallel to my my previous stitched-then-dyed-then-stitched work, it’s just that the scales are tipped more toward drawing/painting with much less stitching. The up side is that since these latest pieces move along so much more quickly, I can learn from, and then move on to the next piece to respond to, my mistakes – and my successes – without the huge lag time inherent in the textile works.

Happy accidents lead to fortuitous discoveries. Working on a dry run practice sheet for this section, I stumbled upon the fact that carelessly letting the paint extended outside the masked lines resulted in a flavor of batik. Hmmm, that opens the door to lots of possibilities. This is exactly the kind of discovery referred to above, which I can act on and explore more quickly because this piece is almost done.

And now my request:
I need of models for this series honoring the strength, wisdom and resilience of women of a certain age. If you (or someone you know) fit the bill, live in the central Vermont area and wouldn’t mind giving me 15-20 minutes of your time to take a quick series of head and shoulder photos of you to use as inspiration, please contact me.
ehwfram@gmail.com

Stitching

If you’re shy about having your picture taken, it may help to know that my painted results never turn out to be exact representations of my models – so it won’t be a portrait of you. Rather, your image would be a jumping off point. I’ve come to think of this process as something akin to literary historical fiction … based on fact, but with plenty of artistic license.
I would really like to continue with this series so thanks for considering, and I hope you’ll be in touch.

Oh – and be sure to come back next time for the full reveal of the finished piece!

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A special thank you to India Tresselt for alerting me to Loreen Edwards Forkner @gardenercook after my post on painting the colors of my garden. I have color on the brain now and it’s seeping into my sketchbook. You might enjoy Forkner’s book Color In and Out of the Garden, based on intentional observation of color in tandem with nature’s palette.

I’m not sure I could ever quite do justice to the dramatic blue of the sky and circus tent stripes in Montreal a couple of weeks ago, but Winsor Newton’s Cobalt Blue Deep gave me a fighting chance.

Who’s Really In Charge?

I have to wonder sometimes, who’s in charge – the artist or the art?

When I began my latest portrait, I thought I had a pretty good handle on how it would progress. Having already stitched the white background pattern (shared with you in my last post) I fully expected to layer more paint and stitching both on top of that area and within the house shape surrounding the finished portrait.

Preliminary sketches provide space to try out possibilities

Experimental practice sketches like the one above nudged me toward a rich stew of color and texture, brought to life by painting over the stitched white pattern, adding brushstrokes to mimic stitching, and finishing with another layer of colored thread embroidery.

The next 5 photos follow the progression of this portrait at various stopping points. I take these images because they give me a bit of distance after each session, allowing me to see where to go next. Plus, I’m usually so tied up in a piece during the making that it’s a treat to go back later to revisit its evolution.

It’s all well and good to have a plan, but you also have to be willing to let it go. This turned out to be a classic example of thinking I knew where the piece was headed, but ultimately the work itself had the final say.

Winter Garden 2

Once I had removed the masking from around the house shape, I had to acknowledge – despite all my plans – that the white-on-white stitching didn’t need my interference. It seemed to say everything I needed it to, just as it was. In fact, overlaying the background with more color and texture felt unnecessary and superfluous.

Winter Garden 3

Often, both the easiest and the hardest part of the process is to step away, trusting that sleeping on an issue will weed out any uncertainties and allow for deciding what will be the right call. After taking an overnight timeout I felt satisfied that my instincts were correct. Sometimes the best approach is to just get out of the way and listen to the work.

Winter Garden 4

All of this leads to two contradictory nuggets of wisdom that have proven, many times over, to be invaluable to me:

When you think a piece is finished, keep pushing deeper, and
Less is more

Of course the tricky part is figuring out which is called for, when.

One last word on the subject of portraits…I received the happy news this week that I received an Honorable Mention Award from Teravarna Art Gallery in their “6th Portrait” competition.

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Substack is quickly becoming my new favorite reading spot.
In his “10 Things Worth Sharing” newsletter on Substack this week, Austin Kleon linked to an “Open Letter To The Next Generation Of Artists“, written by jazz greats Herbie Hancock and the recently deceased Wayne Shorter. Give it a read; it will give you a lift in return.

Sanctuary

The last week of the year is special.
All the hustle, bustle and added to-do’s that define December are now in the rear view, making way for pockets of time to sit back and think about what’s next.

Snow Moon & Firestorm

My final project of the year was a commission that a I’ve kept mum about until final approval. The directive was for it to be about a foot tall, a house nestled in branches and, similar to Snow Moon, covered with trees. Much like Firestorm, it was to be wrapped in a mantle of organza, this time embroidered with leaves. Prominent colors would be browns, oranges and greens. The aim was for the house to feel enveloped in nature and to represent, as my collector put it, “sanctuary from the crazy times we live in”.

Although not specifically asked for, this metallic copper-colored moon/sun seems to add just the right note of mystery

Working on such a relatively small scale carried a few unforeseen challenges, such as how to incorporate the organza cloak. But frankly, no piece would feel complete – or suitably satisfying – without a puzzle or two.

I dyed the organza to suggest the mottled colors of the tree canopy, and folded the fabric into a double layer to provide depth through color variation. The puzzle was figuring out how to embroider leaves so that the reverse, which would likely be visible, wasn’t a mess of knots and crossed threads. Sarah Homfray’s YouTube channel of embroidery tutorials is an amazing resource!

Now that it’s finished, it will soon be on its way to Texas. And in hindsight, I couldn’t have asked for a more positive note than the idea of “sanctuary” to close out 2022, or to prepare for the fresh page of 2023.

With that sentiment in mind, I wish you a peaceful new year – bright with the possibilities that lie in creativity. And I’ll look forward to reconnecting with you in a couple of weeks.
Happy New Year!

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Following through on the idea of sanctuary – my final suggestion/recommendation for the year:

I’ve had my eye on Jethro Buck’s work for a while. The Albert Einstein quote on his website landing page pretty much says it all: “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better”.

Step-By-Step

The snow is back!! — meaning both productive studio time and the bonus of excellent natural light.
As far as my latest post-Roe piece goes, all experiments have been set aside and I’m jumping in with both feet. Here’s a step-by-step guide to the process so far. There are still some ideas to pull together.

First, the figures and letters are laid out.

Next, a layer of masking fluid was added to protect some of the lettering from paint, while other letters are partially stitched.

Everyone is always curious about the back side. This shows areas that have been completed, along with pre-poked holes that are ready for stitches.

With the first layer of stitching complete, the individual portraits begin. The cotton thread that I’m using absorbs the paint but, as the brush flows over them, the raised stitches also tend to repel paint on the paper next to them. This adds an unexpected but welcome visual element to the textural effect.

With the 2nd portrait finished, things are beginning to materialize.

As I work on these I’ve begun to notice an interesting pattern. About halfway through each face, I reach a point where it seems as though the image is failing miserably. But I’m learning that it’s a lack of definition rather than a series of missteps. Not being shy about adding details and forceful darks gets things back on track.

I expect to finish the paintings in the next day or two, and then will tackle the 2nd layer of stitching. Stay tuned for my next post, or keep an eye on my Instagram account, to see how things pan out.

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It’s that time of year.
Studio Place Arts in Barre has just opened its holiday show “Celebrate!” (follow this link for a sneak peek) exhibiting the work of more than 70 member artists. I encourage you to come take a look and to get a leap on your artful holiday shopping. It’s a great way to support both local artists and a vibrant community art center.
I am exhibiting 3 wall pieces and 3 of my Sheltering-in-Place house sculptures.

Exhibit dates are November 9 – December 28, 2022
Maybe I’ll see you at the Art Social this weekend: Saturday, November 19 from 4:30 – 6pm! Many other artists will be there too, as well as a cello performance by Michael Close.
Masks are required.

My #1 Investment

First, my thanks to those of you who commented on my last post with your own reading recommendations. If you didn’t see those contributions, be sure to check them out. I have one more quick addendum of my own: the Strong Sense of Place podcast #65 centers on museums and includes an intriguing line-up of museum-related reading to dive into.

Meanwhile, I’m feeling pretty good about having taken care of a necessary chore by weeding through and reconfiguring the portfolio section of my website. Doing so is one of those time-consuming admin duties that accompanies uploading a chunk of new work. One change inevitably leads to another, so making these edits is always a bigger job than I anticipate – which is why I tend to drag my feet getting started. Spending days in a row at the computer feels like such a waste in the moment, but I have to admit the results are very satisfying once the job is done.

Daily Rhythms

As I began, I took a step back to try to see the big picture and it occurred to me that pretty much everything I make falls into one of two categories: “Daily Rhythms” or “Portraits”. So this time, rather than organizing my work chronologically, I’ve grouped all series under those two umbrellas. Ostensibly it may seem like just a menu change, but there’s a lot more behind the switch. The results feel crisp and concise. I invite you to explore the new drop-down menus to see what you think.

Portraits

Lastly, I’m doggedly plowing my way through the Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook that I’ve devoted to portrait sketches this summer. With each new addition I learn a little more and feel more confident in the results. Practice makes for progress, and as I work ideas are beginning to hatch in anticipation of completing the last page and moving forward toward stand-alone pieces that incorporate stitch.

I’ve been concentrating on these two projects since mid-June and working on them has reminded me that the most important investment I can make in the studio is simply time. Time to practice, time to think things through and reevaluate, time to make mistakes and definitely time to experiment.
Overall, I think it’s starting to pay off.