GirlMeetsArt

All that jazz

Chris Raymond — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 14:14:36 PDT

I’ve been really digging into the whole concept of combining sewing, fabric, paper, and ephemera into collage. In fact, I’ve signed up to take a workshop at Arrowmont this August called “Automatic Drawing” that is offered in the Textiles area.

This piece is a collage I did a LOOOONNNNNG time ago that I discovered while cleaning up my piles of crafts supplies; I really like the energy, the variety of marks, and the color palette, and I can easily see this being a jumping off point for some free motion stitching and fabric collage.

Sketching with thread

Chris Raymond — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:40:24 PDT

Last summer, I took a fabric collage workshop at Penland. I made friends with another student, who has a fabulous studio in Churchville, VA, where she dies her own fabrics, among many other talents.

When I went down to visit with her in January, she gave me free rein over her fabrics, and I started working on this piece, purposely trying to combine clashing colors just to see where I could take it. And that’s where the piece stood for many weeks, before I bought my first sewing machine, and with free motion foot attached, began playing with using thread as a pencil.

(To be honest, I actually spent many hours trying to analyze where I should take this piece, and not doing much of anything because I didn’t want to “ruin” this masterpiece. After giving myself a swift smack upside the head, I plunged in over the weekend and sewed merrily away and just let go.)

While I am not really smitten with this piece, and I still can’t decide which way is up, I am pleased with the color palette, the overall sense of movement, and the fact that I shut down the internal editor and just did something!

Forks and spoons

Chris Raymond — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:13:49 PST

I signed up for the 2012 Sketchbook Project, choosing the theme “Forks and Spoons.” Unlike last year’s sketchbook, “Make Mine a Double,” which had a narrative focus, I decided this year’s would focus more on exploring a variety of mixed media processes and techniques. Choosing a concrete object as a theme would free me from the distraction of deciding on the content. I took these photographs to use for some contact-paper image transfers, using some vintage silver spoons I found at local thrift stores.(Alas, no vintage forks could be found!) A later post will show pages from the sketchbook.

Remembering Green

Chris Raymond — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 19:28:04 PST

Now that it’s heading into winter, I’m longingly remembering the lush green foliage at Penland, NC this summer. This piece developed from experiments taking rubbings of leaves onto polyester scraps.

I loved the transparency and luminosity, adding to it with gold stitching. I then cut out a stencil and painted onto a piece of cotton fabric, and attached the polyester squares with French knots.