Steppin' Out - 60.25"H x 47"W
Hand dyed Fabric, Machine Pieced and Machine Quilted
Until my recent venture into painting on fabric, my work has been 99 % about Shape. The use of shape feels very comfortable to me in fabric while my attempts to use strip-piecing (which created lines) was not very exciting and it didn't feel right.
I love to see clunky lines or elegant lines or rambling lines moving across an expanse of fabric but my lines tended to be too straight and without purpose. I have one piece, Steppin' Out, in which I used some strip-piecing that I believe is successfull. Still, when I completed the piece, I knew it was not going to be the genesis of a series.
Why did the strips/lines work here? I believe they worked because they were not uniform. There is strong contrast (complimentary colors) between the strips as well as lots of variety of the actual shades of red or green. The strip-pieced areas have a role to play in the composition other than just another vertical unit of strip-pieced stripes. The strip-pieced fabric "fills" the negative space created by the black figure. It both supports the figure and creates tension in relation to the blue/green background. To my eye there is a figure which is in the foreground, a middle ground made of the red and green strips and a background.
On the left edge of the piece you can just see vertical stripes of two shades of red which introduce another area of strip-pieced fabric but because it is so subtle, it adds texture more than pattern.
I am prone to finishing a work, sending it off to a show, or rolling it up and putting it away not to be seen again until I "need" the work for some current exhibtion or show. I am thinking I might plan to "air" my work out more often. Just pull something from my storage area and hang it on a wall. The would allow for the possibility of seeing with fresh eyes and a new attitude. You just never know what you might find.
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