Archive for Design Elements

Light and Shadow – Contrasts in the Desert

Stark shadows on a stone wall Nancy Smeltzer – MFA

While out at the Joshua Tree Retreat Center, I was struck by the sharp contrast between light and shadows. Here in Maryland, on the east coast of the United States, the air has a lot more moisture in it, so there is not the stark variations in shadows. I was also out there in December, so I can only imagine how the shadows must appear against the blazing sun in the summer. Shadows were everywhere. Here is a cool shot that I took on one of the walkways. The center was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, a famous American architect, and there are many beams over the walkways. This shot stuck my eye as the shadows grazed across the surface of one of the walls of large pieces of various colored stones embedded in concrete. Here, however, under the sun’s glare, the colors of the stones appeared to fade out into pretty much the same color. I thought that the spaces where there was light would be a great place to do intricate machine quilting. I might even sacrifice some of my beloved beading to let the machine quilting show if I were to use this design in an art quilt.

Shadows in a stairwellThis is another shot of that same walkway, but taking the long look down the pathway in the other direction. You can see the overhanging beams that created the shadows on the wall on the left that appeared in the first photo. I love the box within a box look that is what I tried to portray in the art work for the banner heading for this blog. It reminds me a lot of Escher‘s art work (Scroll down the page when you use this link to get the translation button if you don’t speak Dutch.) {Another great link is on Artsy}The whole effect in this photo is created because of the shadows, as the walkway was fairly straight with openings out into the parking lot on the right of this photo. I probably should have taken another photo at night, so you could see what the site really looked liked, but it would have been nowhere near as interesting as this photo bathed in shadows.

Shadow of a desert cactusEven the shadows of the plants were often more interesting than the actual plants themselves. The short cactus shown in this photo (about 14″ or 35.5cm) has a LOT of prickly spines up and down the length of the stalk and out onto the club-like endings. However, at least in December, they’re not much to look at, as the color is pretty much the same over all. However, look how cool the shadows that were made against the desert sand. They appear to be variations of crosses, or daggers stuck in the sand, or many other more interesting shapes than the actual plants.

One of my newest favorite art books is YOUR ARTIST’S BRAIN by Carl Purcell. (Do I ever wish that I had had him as a drawing teacher in art school!) I’m getting so much art theory and design by reading it. One of the pieces of advice that I was reading yesterday was about value in a piece of art, meaning the quality of lights and darks in the piece. I know that some art quilters use a piece of red plexiglass to look at their compositions, as that tends to break down the work into lights, medium, and dark colors. Carl Purcell advice was…” Value alone does not make something visible: it is the contrast between the object’s value and the surrounding value that does.” I’m grateful for having had the chance to see really sharp contrasts while I was out in the desert, and I look forward to seeing how it will affect my future compositions.

Do you ever pay attention to shadows and the patterns that they make? How might you incorporate more contrast in your own artistic medium?

Why not leave a comment as to your thoughts on this posting. Please take a minute, fill out the form below or by clicking on the “comments/no comments link” at the top of the posting, and then share your ideas with the rest of us. We all grow when we share our thoughts and impressions, so why not join our growing community of those who appreciate art quilts and textile arts. We’d love to hear from you!… and PLEASE tell like minded souls about this blog! The more readers and contributors, the more I write.

You can see more of my art work on my web site at www.fiberfantasies.com (be patient as it loads; it’s worth it), my healing work at www.hearthealing.net and can find me on Google + , Facebook (for Transition Portals) Facebook (for Fiber Fantasies),  and Twitter.

To find out how to buy my art work, please check out “How to Buy my Art Work” in the “Pages” section to the right of this blog.

Going Around in Circles – One More Time

Purple dotted fabric before beads are addedSince circles are such an important design element in my work (I guess it’s that button thing!), I decided to write another blog about them. So stop the jokes about me going around in circles and check out this story.

To the left is the kind of fabric motif that I like to bead on. It’s got strongly defined elements that stand out from the background. While I love diffuse , ephemeral prints, especially some of the new batiks coming out, I fond them hard to bead on as there are no separate areas of color.

Purple dot fabric covered with beadsHere is the same fabric as above, but with size 8 seed beads added onto the background areas. I decided to leave the center dots in the circular motifs visible as their little dots already looked like beads. I did try beading on a few of those dots, but you really couldn’t see them when they were done in the same color as the fabric, and I don’t like to put beads where they won’t show as that seems like wasted effort and materials to me.

Front of fabric with a sea urchin motifBack of fabric with a sea urchin motifOn the left is a fabric that I’ve used a number of ways. The motif is of a sea urchin, but when it’s flipped on the back, as in the photo on the right, the design is not so sharply delineated. That back of the fabirc side I’ve used as meteors plunging through the Universe. As a sea urchin, I’ve used the design as shown from the fornt of the fabirc here in this detail below from the art quilt, “Undersea Garden – Blue“.

Sea urchin motif used in a small art quilt - "Underwater - Blue"This small art quilt, about 12″ x 12″, or 30.5cm x 30.5cm, had to get a lot of impact in a small space. I feel that the sea urchins helped to suggest those creatures or perhaps the presence of a small coral reef. I also like the way that the raised, navy edge of the lace motif above picks up the same colors as in the sea urchins, but in reverse. Two types of navy buttons with a pearlescent finish sewn nearby help to create the illusion of a shallow sea floor where sunlight can still reach.

Fabric with teal colored dots on a black backgroundThis teal colored dots on a black background fabric was used at the top of the same quilt, “Undersea Gardens – Blue”. Since the fabric already had dots on it, it was easy just to cut a big circle from the thin, dress-weight fabric. I have a number of circles cut out of sheets of plastic that are thin enough to cut with strong scissors,  but strong enough to stand up to repeated tracings. In my early work, which I’ve yet to photograph digitally, I used a number of geometric shapes to hand applique on to my quilt tops.

Teal dotted fabric with black background used on an art quilt, "Undersea Garden - Blue"Here is that same fabric cut out and used in the sea scene described above.  As a shape, its dark outline stood out starkly against the lighter colored background, so by layering different materials over it, I could soften it and have the shape blend more into the background. The clear white plastic beads have a jellyfish like quality to them with the white thread coming out form the centers in staggered lengths. Another effect was created with a pale blue button at the very bottom of this pic, by having aqua colored floss splaying outwards in a similar fashion. You can also see my signature humming bird button in the center of this photo that now appears in all of my art quilts.

Sometimes, an artist has the perfect materials on hand to create a desired effect. Often, however, that’s not true. For me, I will have either used up a favorite embellishment that can’t be replaced, or I need a small number more of what I have already used in a piece. It’s those times that all of the problem solving experiences that making art instills in those who practice it for awhile come into play, and you have to get creative with what you have on hand. Sometimes, I delight in what I’ve come up for as a “solution”, when in reality, what I end up using may have been the second or third choice to “fill in” for some part of what I’m creating. May you have many of what I call those “happy puppy wiggles” of satisfaction over your own creative wonderfulness!

How have you ever used a material in a different way?

Did you go through a specific series of steps or did your aha moment of discovery just come to you?

Why not leave a comment as to your thoughts on this posting. Please take a minute, fill out the form by clicking on the “comments/no comments link” at the top of the posting, and then share your ideas with the rest of us. We all grow when we share our thoughts and impressions, so why not join our growing community of those who appreciate art quilts and textile arts. We’d love to hear from you!

You can see more of my art work on my web site at www.fiberfantasies.com

Going Around in Circles – On Purpose!

Detail of embroidered gold orb on organzaWhile I often bemoan when I feel the futility of when I’m “going around in circles” in my life, sometimes I want to do that, or at least include them, in my art work. (Maybe it’s my love of buttons, most of which are round.) The detail shot on the left is a circle that I coveted to have as part of my fabric stash. It’s a golden orb about 3 ” or 7.5cm in diameter, on a field of pale blue organza and embroidered flower motifs that I bought just for the circles. I knew at the time that I would never use the rest of the fabric, it was really expensive, (about $35/yd(m)), but I HAD to have it. You understand, right?

Detail of orb motif used in the art quilt "Butterflies and Beachballs"In the center and to the upper right of this detail shot is how I used those orb motifs in the art quilt “Butterflies and Beachballs“. The wedges of the circles, I filled in with gold beads, but left the arms of the orbs uncovered. Despite the opinion of many, I do not cover every square inch of the surface area of my art quilts. I do like to leave some of the original fabric to show through so people can get a sense of what the material looked like before my beading instincts took over.

Batik fabric circlesThese batik fabric circles were used a lot in my early quilts. I used them so much, that a friend finally wailed,”Nance, quit using those batik circles!”. I like motifs that have distinct delineation between themselves and the background color and clean divisions in the parts of the interior of the designs. Fortunately, I still have a lot of this fabric left, as it was purchased back when I bought 3 yards of any fabric I thought I’d like. My budget often puts on some constraints. However, an even bigger consideration is the bend in the shelves on which the fabric is stored. Who knew that a “few” lengths of dress-weight material could create such a weight load.

Detail of batik circles in the art quilt - "Dinner for Three on the Banks of the Cabernet"The batik circles worked well, I feel, in this detail shot of “Dinner for Three on the Banks of the Cabernet” -1993. It’s from my “Wines of the World” series, which I’ve yet to write about. The inspiration for the piece was a lagoon that I saw in the savannas of Venezuela which was purple/red (like a Cabernet) from the tannin in the local vegetation. The batik circles here played off the rubber/plastic grape clusters that were sewn to the surface of the quilt. In the upper right is an example of one of my early attempts to stencil on to fabrics. I quickly gave that up, because at the time, there were no textile paints intense enough to give me the color saturation that I wanted.

Metallic circles bonded to velourSometimes I cut my own circles if the size is not what I wanted. These metallic circles (about 1/2″ or 1.3 cm) are bonded onto a short pile, black velour. This is one fabric that I wish I had bought more of as I found out the hard way that the metallic foil, while thicker than sequin material, melts when you try to iron it. Sigh… I found a good brand of iron cleaner in the local fabric store in the notions section that got the sticky mess off the sole plate of my very expensive iron. It lived to iron another day. When I was little, I hated to iron my father’s shirts, and tablecloths. Who knew that I would pick a profession that often requires a lot of ironing, Of course, I don’t iron my own clothes!

Detail of art quilt - "Laughter"This is a detail of the art quilt, “Laughter“.Showing in the top middle and bottom right of the photo is where I made circles out of circles from the shiny fabric shown above. It was a little hard to cut between the velour to make the circle because of the alignment of the foil circles. Even harder was to cut out individual circles and attach them, as there was so little fabric around each circle to sew into. That experiment with the individual circles was quickly abandoned. There are also some of my favorite embellishment materials, shi-sha mirrors from India, here shown in the bottom of the photo, banded in gold and edged with tiny pearls.

Going around in circles, or at least using them as design elements in my art work, is not such a bad idea. There are lots of round materials from which to choose, as the shape tends not to catch on things when used on clothes and slips easily through buttonholes. Besides, it’s a great conversation starter when asked what do I do for a living. I can blthely say, “I go around in circles. However, only the very best ones!”

 What are some of your favorite shapes to utilize in your art work? Why do you think that you’re drawn to them?

Why not leave a comment as to your thoughts on this posting. Please take a minute, fill out the form by clicking on the “comments/no comments link” at the top of the posting, and then share your ideas with the rest of us. We all grow when we share our thoughts and impressions, so why not join our growing community of those who appreciate art quilts and textile arts. We’d love to hear from you!

You can see more of my art work on my web site at www.fiberfantasies.com

A Fan of Fans

Fans from my collectionWhen I was in high school I learned how to carry and flirt with a fan. This was in the late 60s in the southern USA, and while they certainly had been put to good use before the days of air conditioning, when I was growing up, they were rarely seen. However, as part of Miss Libby’s Charm School, where I learned “table hands”, so I could look alluring across the table from a guy; how a lady lights her own cigarette (I’ve never smoked in my life); and just in case the need should arise, how to carry a fan. The photo on the left shows two from ones that I’ve collected when I traveled, and the top,black one, I actually have used at a gala. I put a ribbon loop with the lavender flower on it to go around my middle finger to go with an evening dress in the 80s. Such pretentious days!

Detail of an indigo fabric with fans from JapanSo as I became a quilt artist, I was naturally drawn to fan-like shapes. Here is a motif from a piece of indigo fabric from Japan. I imagine that the image is a stylized flower, but to me they look for all the world like fans. I wish I had bought more at the time, as I have only a little left, but I’ve used the shape in several of my art quilts.( I’ve yet to figure out a way to utilize the terrific geometric lines in between the fan shapes yet, so those pieces get thrown away. There’s only so much room in my studio….sigh!

Detail of a beaded version of the fan from the Japanese fabricHere is a detail from the piece “Japanese Irises” that utilizes the fan shape from the fabric shown above. It’s not as elegantly curved as the actual fabric design, as the size 10 seed beads are larger than some of the printed curved ends in the fabric motif. Another problem is finding beads that are close in color to the original fabric. Color is a very important design element for me, and the pieces are first composed using the balance of colors and shapes in the original fabrics. Then part of the fun for me is finding buttons and beads that complement the fabric choices that I’ve made to give me the effect that I want. It’s not always possible to find the exact colors of beads to match the colors in the fabric, so compromises sometimes need to be made.

A batik fabric from AfricaThis is an example of some of the “batik” fabric coming out of Africa these days. While the images and techniques are not traditional, they have big, bold prints that are a lot of fun. The fabrics however, have a lot of sizing in them, so the “hand” or how it drapes, is pretty stiff. That can make it harder on your own hands if you plan to do a lot of beading on the piece, as pushing needles in and out of stiff fabric thousands of times can wear on your fingers. The fans from this fabric that are utilized in the next photo are the ones that are shown vertically on the left, although I have used the gold ones that are show horizontally a number of times, too.

Detail of an art quilt with a beaded fan motif.Angels of Darkness, Angels of Light” , is the art quilt from which this detail shot is taken. I blogged about this art quilt earlier, so if you click on the above link, you can read more about the story behind it. Here in this blog, I’m focusing on the blue fans in the lower left and middle bottom. I used blue bugles in the outer semi-circles, and then scattered plastic blue crow beads nearby to carry the color out into the rest of the nearby surface. In Japanese landscaping, that would be called “borrowing the view”, where a large feature, such as a nearby mountain is framed by a circle cut into a fence, and then a much smaller version would be built in the garden to suggest a mountain. I use the same concept in spreading out colors and shapes in my art quilts.

Semi-circular shapes tend to lead your eye around the outer edge, which suggests some movement and then grounds your eye back nearby as it lands at the end of the curved edge. I feel that the result is that movement can  be suggested in a small area. There are a number of fabrics on the markets these days with large circles on them. Cutting them in half allows for two shapes from the same piece. I encourage you to try them out in your own work, and see what  excitement you can create for yourself.

What shapes do you tend to repeat in your work? Why does that shape speak to you?

Why not leave a comment as to your thoughts on this posting. Please take a minute, fill out the form by clicking on the “comments/no comments link” at the top of the posting, and then share your ideas with the rest of us. We all grow when we share our thoughts and impressions, so why not join our growing community of those who appreciate art quilts and textile arts. We’d love to hear from you!

You can see more of my art work on my web site at www.fiberfantasies.com

To find out how to buy my art work, please check out “How to Buy my Art Work” in the “Pages” section to the right of this blog.