Hand cut, hand dyed, black cotton dots stitched on unprimed cotton canvas.
If you have been following my blog recently you know that I have had an interest in 'dots'. Dots meaning small roughly cut circles of fabric stitched onto a substrate. I have attempted several ways to apply these elements but have not been happy with the results as I want to make a large composition using this technique and the applications I have tried were too difficult for larger scale.
Another thought that has been floating around my head is the use of canvas as a foundation for work. I've done that a couple of times but those pieces have not been presented here. This week I decided to combine those two ideas....dots and canvas ...and the above piece is the result.
The canvas is a heavy unprimed scrap of canvas. I threw it in the washer and the ragged edge became even more ragged and nicer. It has an irregular shape and I chose to use that shape.
Detail of center-left of composition.
I mentally divided the length into thirds and began by stitching the dots one at a time from the top left corner in a soft square spiral. I predetermined that I would stitch for 30 minutes and stop wherever I was at the end of the time. I then added the 'tail' inside the empty center. I did this as a reference to how long it took to stitch over an area.
Detail showing crisscrossing of stitching lines.
Next, I stitched two rounds of dots into half of the remaining space and filled the center of that area leaving open space between each dot. On the right I laid in vertical rows of dots allowing them to softly shift.
Had I stopped there you would be able to see clearly my path as to how the dots were organized. However, I then stitched many lines and in order to emphasize the look of a web, as my stitch lines crossed another stitch line I changed the direction just slightly at many of the intersections. I considered adding some line work in black but decided to save that for another piece.
Simplicity and Complexity
I have been exploring and learning surface design processes for about a year. I'm still a beginner but loving the education. One of the things to come out of this adventure is my identification of the concept of Simplicity and Complexity. At first glance this may seem to be ideas that are opposed to one another but I don't think that is true. The piece presented here is a nice example of this relationship. What could be more simple than little black dots on a white background. Yet the space between the dots is very complex, the lines and the many intersections are complex and there is lots of room for even more complex relationships. I have also become aware of how frequently artists choose to work with dots or points and just for fun here are some links where you can see work by others using the humble DOT:
Thank you for dropping by and spending time here at Studio 24-7. You are always welcome and I love hearing your comments.
