Tuesday, January 08, 2013

series finale

What was originally planned as a small, hand-stitched piece has ganged up with some other cloths and may turn out to be the largest in the Karma series.  Way to early for anything more to see. It's still brewing.

I know a lot of visitors came here for their daily  overdose of color and must be grumbling over this series. My motto has always been "fuck 'em if they can't take a joke" but this foray to the polar ends of the rainbow has been deadly serious for me and feels like a fork in the creative road. I won't know for sure until I take up with the colors once again.

Way back in the day at SVA we learned about black being the absence of color and white being all colors at once - or something to that effect. Keep in mind the teacher sold loose joints from his shirt pocket.  Any way I mix it, paint (in my hands) can't approach the complexity of cloth in black and white and all the stops between them.

I used to be impatient with the necessary techniques of cloth and raved about wanting to fling paint to achieve my vision, but, through this series, I've finally come to appreciate that cutting, trimming, pinning, basting, and stitching have forced me to take the time to consider at each step, keep one foot in front of the other and my eye on good design principles as each piece develops. It only took removing color from the equation for me to finally get comfortable.

6 comments:

Mary Ann said...

Black and white is the base of all art. And the most difficult to master. So YOU GO GIRL! I like your series and I have spent the last year and a half doing mostly black and white. In fact my QN piece is . . . black and white!

Kit Lang said...

It never occured to me that people "came here for colour" although it's true that a glorious explosion of it is your usual thing. I love the black and white and all the variations you find in it.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you make from this position of comfort!

Anonymous said...

Actually, it's WHITE that has all the colors... but anyway, bravo on this venture out of your comfort zone... I'm certain you're right that it will impact how you use color down the road.

Deb Lacativa said...

Thanks dee...I made the correction..gee, I wasn't even a customer back then!

arlee said...

Colour, all colours, no colours--i come here to see the magic you make with whatever hue you are feeling---and now i'm getting back to colour myself--and white variations :)

Judy Sall Fiber Art said...

I'm a color junkie myself, but I come here because you are an original, and your process is so incredible to watch! No matter what you are working on, I get something from watching your progress... thanks!