Imagined spaces

I find that having some type of structure helps rather than hinders my creativity: Work within a restricted color palette, use a select set of papers or fabrics, use only organic or only geometric shapes—you get the idea.

I created this series during a workshop on the Art of Fabric Collage at Penland in July. For the first week, we all worked on eight-inch square black museum board, first using just gesso and acrylic inks, and then moving into incorporating fabric. I had a remnant whose blue and gray palette I loved, in a pattern reminiscent of rippling water or rain. In the first two studies, I aimed to fill the space of the canvas, and restricted myself to using blues, grays, and black. In the last two studies, I aimed to create negative space, and added a warm orange-red to the palette.

I had never used a sewing machine before (well, that’s not completely accurate: I used one in junior high school, far too long ago to remember anything); so I used these studies to learn how to use the free stitch feature of the machines in the studio. The pieces combine sewing, tissue paper, fabric, acrylic ink, and colored pencil.