New Work - In Dreams I Slept in a Cabin

In Dreams I Slept in a Cabin

I am pleased to share my latest work, In Dreams I Slept in a Cabin.

In Dreams I Slept in a Cabin, detail 1

It features a needlefelted center panel, made with bits of wool and silk, heavily embellished and stitched.

In Dreams I Slept in a Cabin, detail 2

Surrounding the cabin are delicate and detailed cyanotypes of ferns.

In Dreams I Slept in a Cabin, detail 3

It also features collagraph prints made from plates I constructed.

In Dreams I Slept in a Cabin, detail 4

It's a large work, 55" high x 94" wide. You can read about the design and construction in reverse chronological order by clicking the In Dreams I Slept in a Cabin tab in the right sidebar, or go here.

In Dreams I Slept in a Cabin, detail 5

The short version of the inspiration for this one: This piece stems from a dream where I lived a simple life in a cabin near the river, lulled to sleep each night by the sound of it flowing, and awakening to its fresh beauty each morning.

The long version is more complex. I worked on this off and on for many years, and along the way my relationship with the imagery deepened. I think this one is a good example of the adage about putting my ideas into art because words seem insufficient. I leave it to you, the viewer, to examine it and form your own reaction. Enjoy!

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In Dreams I Slept in a Cabin, WIP, part 4

I did my usual thing and painted a length of cloth to serve as the backing for In Dreams I Slept in a Cabin. I began by laying the cloth on my driveway and splattering textile paints on it.

Some targeted spray from the hose spread the paint around.

I went back in and added some yellow for highlights. As it dried, the paint wicked around and settled in the small folds in the cloth and the cracks in the driveway. After setting the paint, rinsing, and drying, it looked like this:

Normally the back is not seen when the work is displayed, but I know it's there and I want it to look unique and be appropriate for the work. It also brings me pleasure as I am doing the quilting.

Lots and lots and lots of quilting! This is a big one, and it took a substantial amount of time and attention to do it up right.

Up next, the big reveal.

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In Dreams I Slept in a Cabin, WIP, part 3

As I was progressing on the collagraph cabin panels and the cyanotype ferns, and the needlefelted cabin center panel, I began work on the patchwork that would unite all the elements.

I used a mix of authentic indigo prints and cyanotype prints. There's always a few cyanotypes that have some sort of minor flaw, or that just don't fit into the particular work they were made for, but that still have lots of great design elements in them. It was fun to revisit the stash and pull things to use for this application. I made long, wide patchwork strips on a muslin base, then sliced them up and used them as connecting elements.

My cat knows he's not allowed up on the work table, but at one point I left to get a fresh cup of coffee and came back to this. I appreciated the feline stamp of approval.

More to come, stay tuned!

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In Dreams I Slept in a Cabin, WIP, part 2

In this post I'm detailing how I made the center panel for In Dreams I Slept in an Cabin. I started with some roving laid down on rayon/felt, as shown in the previous post. I had some silk scarves I painted as gift items; one was too blotchy as a scarf but I realized it would make an ideal river, so I felted that on.

From there I blocked out the cabin, the surrounding woods, the sky, and the fields on the other side of the river.

This was a lot of fun to make, I enjoyed adding all the details and building up the scene.

Once I had it where I wanted it, I added backing and batting and further detailed it with stitching. Here's a look at the back of the panel, in progress.

I've been doing this type of panel for the River series works for several years now. Most have been more abstract, but each one is a nice balance of challenging and fun to dream up and then stitch. Here's one from The River Ran Deep:

The Longest Day:

In Dreams I Learned to Swim:

Ice Jam:

and If I Woke at Dawn:

More to come, stay tuned!

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In Dreams I Slept in a Cabin, New Work in Progress

It's a new work for you, but I've been working on it, off and on, since 2014. I was filming an instructional Quilting Arts Video workshop and some segments for Quilting Arts TV.

One of the techniques I demonstrated was collagraph, using found objects to make a plate, then using a Gelli plate to print onto fabric. I made a bunch of these prints as step-outs and finished prints.

When I was back home I finished the step-outs and printed some more of them, in various colorways.

I also did segments on cyanotype printing, and did a bunch of these fern prints.

I had vague ideas of using all of these in a quilt as some point--they were all good prints and made me happy. So from time to time I would stitch on them, using detailed outlining and echo quilting.

Somewhere in there, I also started a felted river panel. Here's the first layer of wool roving on a piece of rayon/wool felt. Doesn't look like much yet, but this is comparable to the underpainting for a painter, it's setting up the forms and base colors.

Much more to come, stay tuned!

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Experiments in wet cyanotype - part 35

 Cabin fever hit hard after a winter full of frequent snow and ice storms. While waiting impatiently for spring, I did a few quick wet cyanotype prints, just to keep my hand in.

 All of my hardy perennials were under snow cover, so I turned to the evergreens for foliage. The first two prints are of arbor vitae, the other two are Pieris andromeda, aka Pieris japonica. I was willing to sacrifice the buds on a few twigs for the cyanotype gods.

 All four prints are on cotton sateen that I previously treated with the cyanotype chemicals. I sprayed the setups with water and sprinkled on a few grains of washing soda, and set them out in the cold winter sunshine. Temperatures reached the low forties F.

 I shoveled this deck off numerous times lately, and finally gave up on one corner of it. My studio assistant was engaged in the process as always, and set himself up for supervisory duties.

 Here's the finished, un-rinsed prints after about five hours exposure.

 The grains of soda ash make very pleasing little sparkles sometimes.

 Other times, with perhaps just a bit more water trapped under the glass, the colors and swirls can get pretty fancy.

 This one looked especially promising. They sometimes change a lot when rinsed out, so I always like to record this transitory stage.

 Here are the finished prints. I am quite pleased with them all, and can feel the printmaking obsession sinking back into my bones.

 Both the arbor vitae prints have a lot of nice detail.

 Here's the wild one! I lost a bit of detail in the flower buds, but I can always add that back in with stitching. I love the purple tones in the leaves.

 This one is a real gem.

If you are a regular reader, thanks for stopping by!
If you are new here, you can follow all 35 parts of my wet cyanotype adventure, with all the tips and tricks and images, by clicking on the Wet Cyan tab in the top header, or by going here.

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