Collage #50

Collage #50 was made in response to a conversation I had with my dear friend and fellow artist, Linda Friedman.  I was telling her how laborious my job search has been. She minded me of the story of Sisyphus eternally shoving a boulder up a mountain. 

The back ground of this collage is the list of companies and positions that I have applied to so far in 2015. The list is partially concealed by the mountain made from distressed bleeding tissue paper that I adhered with soft gel medium. Unlike Sisyphus, I have hope that I will finally rest the boulder at the top of the mountain permanently. 

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Collage #49

Collage #49 again using bleeding tissue paper. First I laid light brown tissue paper on the white journal page and spritz it with water. After the tissue paper tried, the distressed tissue paper was removed to show a nice pattern as the base of this collage. I randomly adhered distressed light brown and light blue tissue paper with soft gel medium then splattered copper acrylic paint.

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Collage #48

Collage #48 was made using more bleeding tissue paper. The white journal page was stained with orange bleeding tissue paper that was spritz with water. Once the orange bleeding tissue paper was dried, it was peeled off the journal page to expose the orange stain. On top of the orange stained I used soft gel medium to adhere the green distressed bleeding tissue paper and dark green non-distressed tissue paper. I decided not to add any stitching because I like the look of the layers on their own.

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Work in Progress: 18" x 36" mounted piece

I'm working on a piece of fiber art that will be mounted on a 18" x 36" stretched canvas. This piece will be exhibit with Beyond the Edge Fiber Artists group. I can't show the whole piece until after the exhibit has started but here is a preview of sections of the piece.

I love the raw, primitive style of this piece. 

Initially, I wanted to hand stitch the whole piece. It became clear to me that a section of the denim area that has to attached to 3 layers needed to be machine stitched. I was concerned that the machine and hand stitching would throw off the piece. Now that I had time to look it, I think both types of stitching work well together.

This piece is almost done except for the decision of how to hide the section where the rusted fabric meets the denim. Right now I'm auditioning different sizes and shapes of leather.

To be continued...

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Beyond the Edge Fiber Artists - "My Inner Self Portrait" exhibit

The Beyond the Edge Fiber Artists' exhibit called "My Inner Self Portrait" is traveling to Savannah. I first blogged about the exhibit in here.

Mancuso Show Management

Quiltfest Destination Savannah

March 26 - 29, 2015

Savannah International Trade & Convention Center

Savannah, GA

A fine arts fiber exhibit exploring aspects of self-portraiture. In this exhibit the artist was asked to look beyond the mere physical and instead present an inner view. The art work may reflect how the artist sees themselves at this time, or at a formative moment in their life. Each piece reveals something unique to the individual and at the same time, that which is universal to all.

My piece is called Becoming Me is included in this exhibit.This artwork is a part of the “Peel Away The Layers” series that I started when I was approaching my 50th birthday.  I realized that I was peeling away the layers to become the woman that I am today.  Underneath the layers is a slightly wonky, colorful woman. 

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Collage #47

Collage #47 is another piece that using remnants from other artwork. I cut up the purple fabric in uneven squares and rectangles on randomly machine stitched on top of cut up book pages. Then I got the idea to machine stitch lines on top of the book pages echoing the outline of the purple squares/rectangles. It was easy at first then as I stitched closer to the spiral spine of the journal it became increasingly difficult. 

Collage #47

close up of the machine stitching near the
spiral spinal of the journal

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Collage #46

I started Collage #46 by loosely painting a wash of yellow acrylic paint on the ground so I didn't have to stare at a blank white page. My 2015 mantra of adding more layers to my collages was playing in my head. I pulled out an old wavy lines stamp that I made with Speedball Speedy Cut Carving Blocks and printed with it using blue acrylic paint. If you've been reading my blog this year, you know that I have a slight obsession with bleeding tissue paper. I cut up orange, yellow-orange and turquoise bleeding tissue paper and decided not to distress them. I liked the clean, transparent look of the tissue paper on top of the painted ground. After adhering the tissue paper with Yes glue, I decided to stop and considered this collage finished. 

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Collage #45

Collage #45 was made from trimmings of another larger artwork. The materials are old book pages, used tea bag papers and red thread machine stitched. This collage was fun to make. I like the look of the uneven pieces layering on top of each other. 

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Collage #44

Collage #44 is an example of the traditional cruciform design. I like the contrast between the washy ground with straight edge paper. This collage could have been pushed further by adding more papers and paint but I like the simplicity.  

Beyond the Edge Fiber Artists - "My Inner Self Portrait" exhibit

The Beyond the Edge Fiber Artists' exhibit called "My Inner Self Portrait" is traveling to New Jersey. I first blogged about the exhibit here.

Mancuso Show Management

The Quilt Fest of New Jersey XI

March 5 - 8, 2015

Garden State Exhibit Center

50 Atruim Drive

Somerset, NJ

A fine arts fiber exhibit exploring aspects of self-portraiture. In this exhibit the artist was asked to look beyond the mere physical and instead present an inner view. The art work may reflect how the artist sees themselves at this time, or at a formative moment in their life. Each piece reveals something unique to the individual and at the same time, that which is universal to all.

My piece is called Becoming Me is included in this exhibit.This artwork is a part of the “Peel Away The Layers” series that I started when I was approaching my 50th birthday.  I realized that I was peeling away the layers to become the woman that I am today.  Underneath the layers is a slightly wonky, colorful woman.