Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Day Eight of Experiments


Oh my, time flies when you're having fun!


Well, mostly fun.  Sometimes fun.  Most of the times, though, these experiments are fraught with me wondering if I'm doing what I need to or should do to find a way forward with my images.  And the images I make will (at least some of them) become tapestry designs.

So here are some of the experiments--some wonderings along the way:


So, yesterday I began this large drawing on 300 lb watercolor paper using a couple of pieces of partially burned wood from the fire pit:

Fire pit here at Lillian Smith Center


A couple of "tool for drawing" I pulled out of the fire pit.


My wondering about this drawing is "What am I wanting to show here??"  I started with bold marks using the charcoal tools and then added grays by using a water-filled brush.  Not much time was spent with composition for this quick drawing but there were some things I liked about it so I though I'd take it to another stage.

Here's where I left it yesterday afternoon:


This morning I decided to work with some of the acorn dye I've cooked for three days and the rust solution that's been developing over the past couple of days.  I used a 22 x 30" sheet of 300 lb wt. watercolor paper to work with, taking some leaves from the yard and spraying over them with acorn dye.

Here are leaves laid out to be sprayed with the acorn dye...
... and after initial spraying with dye...
... and now the leaves are removed and the acorn and rust mixture is added by pouring it on...
Here it is after working on it with a brush for a few minutes.
Later in the afternoon I worked on both this and the painting I'd started yesterday.  Here's where I left both of them today:

Yes, I flipped it over... in fact, I worked on it from all directions today.  I kind of like it this way.


Here's the leaf painting that I started this morning, now with earth pigment added.  I need to do more work with it but like it pretty well, so far... at least, parts of it.


3 comments:

  1. It is really interesting to see how many ways you incorporate the-thing-itself into your images. I'm looking forward to seeing what tapestries will emerge from this period of experimentation.

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  2. Thanks, Nancy! I'm also eager to see what, if anything, will develop in tapestry form from these experiments. Sometimes I don't know until months later if something will be potential for tapestry design. Other times, I know right away. I knew with the stones painting from a few years ago that turned into the tapestry, "Because of Memory," that's in the ATB11 show right now. And I also knew with the big oak leaf painting I did last summer that I wanted to weave a tapestry from it, same scale and boldness. This time around--still unsure. But it's all good. I need to experiment.

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  3. Creative adventures! It looks like very productive fun to me Tommye.

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