TURNING NATURE'S ARTISTIC LINES INTO FIBRE ART

I've written only 2 blog posts since the pandemic started in my area. Like me, many of my artist friends felted blocked from creating for the first few months. Other than simple projects and finishing others, my focus turned to the outdoors, lots of walking, and to some projects around the house. Over time I did manage to get back into a creative mode, which for me is therapeutic. And while I haven't completed many new fibre art pieces, I have been able to play and experiment which is leading me in a wonderful new direction. 

Writing - and blogging - also felt like a chore. The enjoyment was lost. But I think I'm now getting my groove back and my hope now is to post once or twice a month. But if I don't, I plan to not feel any guilt. What matters is that I continue to create.

But I digress.

Two of my three posts since the virus hit here were about the faux chenille technique, otherwise known as fabric slashing. This is the technique I've been playing with, experimenting with various fabrics and some interesting materials, with adding dimension and embellishments. 

But to back up a bit first, having spent much time outdoors over the last months, I really began to look for and "see" the lines in nature - very artistic lines - which I am now attempting to translate into my fibre art.

This piece was based on the marks of the emerald ash borer on the ash tree. It's sad how many of these beautiful trees have been lost, yet the marks of the ash borer do have a certain beauty, a beauty I've tried to capture here. I used 7 different fabrics, sewing, cutting and tearing, heat distressing, and adding hand embroidery. 

Adding some dimension to this fibre art rose was trickier than I thought it would be. It was too flat at first after mounting it onto canvas, so I added some batting behind the middle sections, adding a bit of surface shape. It turned out not too badly I think. Next time I would add the batting and scrunch the surface more before mounting. 

I'm very pleased with this piece below. It's based on a piece of corrugated cardboard (see photo) that had been outside our shed in all types of weather. The colours and patterns on the distressed cardboard captured my attention, and I then interpreted it into this work,. It had 7 different fabrics: old cottons and linen, denim, a piece of indigo & rust dyed cotton, tulle, and a metallic fabric all mounted on a black felt background. Some beading completed the piece to add some of the smaller marks. This was the first time I had worked with denim, a fabric I will definitely use again. It goes with everything, as we know from wearing blue jeans, is soft and has a beautiful nature colour. 

There are others I've been experimenting with, incorporating alternative materials, and adding embellishments, in both 2D and 3D formats. I'm not there yet, and at least one project has me has overwhelmed. So I'm also turning for now to smaller dimensional works that are quick to finish, using these same techniques. But more on that in a future post.

Stay creative!