Three days working with talented FRCQ artists, creating, learning, listening.
"Trees" was the exercise. Talk about unlimited options. I have always been fascinated with trees. I suppose most artists have been at some time in their career. Not that I have a career----. I learned about trees from my Godmother, Helen Turner and from May Watts of the Morton Arboretum outside of Chicago. At age 6, Mom and I took a class together learning the names of trees, the shapes of their leaves, special things about them. There seem to be more species in the east than here in the Colorado plains and foothills, even the mountain forests and waterways. Illinois, where I grew up, is at the edge of the of the native forest and the prairie. It is a place of mixed ecology and there are changing plants and trees and landscapes that continued to evolve as the cities replaced the open space, as cultivated fields replaced prairies, as suburbs replaced farms.
There is just too much to think about in the wide open subject matter of trees. Symbolisim, genealogy, ecology, texture, color, shape, line, singles, bunches, forest edges, aspen glades, were all options. Simplify - start with one tree, start with the trunk, show it in its place. A TREE IN SITU.
I have a great stash of commercial fabric and I chose pieces that would work for me, close up grass, tree line farther back and a fall foliage as a canopy. I usually work in smaller pieces with more organic shapes. This piece is larger and the fabrics became a horizontal stack creating depth with a lot of interest. The tree was a hoot, stripping warp and weft to create texture.
Here is a picture if the top in its unfinished state. Maybe I will be able to post future updates.
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