Knowing your own taste

It is a truth universally acknowledged that an artist should have a singular “voice” or style. 
People say this is important to be be recognizable, but I think a much better reason is that the only way to become really really good at something is to practice it over and over and over.  If you’re practicing a lot of different things at once, you simple won’t get as much practice at one thing.  And am I guilty of this !!! I should definitely heed my own advice once in a while!

Having a clear style  is partly the result of much practice and experience, but also, I think, of knowing your own taste.  In my workshop “Developing your Own Voice”, one of the things I ask people to do is to bring a dozen or so pictures of works they really love – no matter what the medium.  And pictures of their own work that they really love.  Two groups of pictures.  

The next step is to develop a list of descriptors. 
The list of descriptors could be based on many things; I began with a  list that some friends and I developed after a long evening of discussion of our own and other’s art quilts!  An evening of considerable libation I may add!!

Our list included the following: originality, technique, attention getting and holding, compositional success, communication, tension and the mark of the human hand. 

To those factors, I would add: size, format, colour palette, edge treatment, abstract/impressionistic/realistic, subject matter, passive/active, use of negative space, mood, movement.

The way to develop the items is to look at the pictures one by one and write down the key things that attract you:

for example, one of my favorite quilts is Farne Islands:

The things I like about this quilt are:
the unity of subject matter and colour
the variety of textures
the restlessness
the overall size and shape

so I can begin my Definition of My Style with these items:

a) unified subject matter: taking one subject and portraying it with variety.
b) a controlled palette – not necessarily monochromatic but definitely not “cor blimey!”
c) textural variety
d) a lot of movement – interestingly this definitely fits me as a person – I remember a friend half my age complaining that I was the most restless person she had ever met!
e) a fairly large size, horizontal format.

Then I could take another artist’s work that I love: Red Landscape by Dominie Nash.

 

What do I like here?
a) the controlled palette – everything is related to red
b) the mystery
c) the strong diagonal movement
d) the dynamism
e) the fairly large size and horizontal format

 

If I repeat this exercise with a dozen piece, I will find a clear description of what I really like in my own and others’ work and if I focus on this type of work (well for a while at least, remember the restlessness!), and practice practice…not only will I be clearly delineating a style and a taste, but also should improve.

well, here’s hoping at least!….and, if you have been, thanks for reading!
Elizabeth

Elements and Principles:line and texture

Line

Line is not used much in the art quilt world as a predominant element though its secondary value is significant. In traditional whole cloth quilts, line is created by the quilting stitch. The stitched line also creates texture of course. Surface design techniques can create line too. Line is a more delicate element and, I think, is more appropriately used in a smaller format – where the viewer is drawn close to the work. When does a line become a shape and vice versa? I think a shape should be considered a line when it’s so thin as to be one dimensional….so even though I’ve used very skinny shapes in many of the black and white series of quilts – I do think they’re shapes not lines!!

I have experimented with a very bold line in the piece that’s going to be in this next Quilt National – trying to make the line really stand out – here’s a detail.

Texture

Texture in quilts is seen as the pattern on the cloth where the shapes are generally so small…they are considered more as a surface variation. If texture is a dominant element, then the other elements should be somewhat subdued. I think you have to be careful though because using texture might lead technique to predominate rather than the overall design. I’ve run into this problem with my drowned city series of quilts.

I’ve found that the shibori texture is so strong, you really have to let it be the dominant element. Trying to use it very occasionally within a piece is extremely difficult as it stand out so much. You have to balance it very thoughtfully.

What I found worked best was to have all the fabric shibori patterned, but some of it with a very low contrast of values, and some much higher contrast.

It was also difficult to get shibori pieces into shows because I’ve found that jurors either like shibori or don’t! one judge dismissed a piece as “too much shibori!”.

Of course for us shibori lovers, there can never be too much shibori!!!

I’ve always admired Jan Myers-Newbury's, Sylvia Einstein’s and Nancy Halpern’s quilts and they love to use highly patterned fabrics in a multitude of textures. If you notice they are successful because they allow the texture to totally predominate and not fight other design elements. If they added in strong, solidly or boldly coloured shapes, the compositions would not work as well.

Overall, it's important to think and plan carefully, choose the element you wish to predominate, don’t have a battle of the elements!

And, if you have been, thanks for reading!

Elizabeth

Elements and Principles: value

Color is experienced in three basic ways: hue, intensity and value. Of these three, value is probably the most important in determining whether or not a composition is successful. Research shows that even in tiny infancy we focus on sharply different values – the mother’s hairline and eyebrows – rather than bright or saturated colours. Values are the primary visual shape maker – we see the darks and the lights first. A successful composition, therefore would be one where the light and dark shapes were interestingly arranged and reasonably well balanced

People with experience can differentiate 10 or even more values – from white, through 10, 20 30 (etc) % grey all the way upto black. For myself I find 4 levels of value works sufficiently well.

Once I’ve made some outline sketches of my subject matter, then I like to try out different value patterns – varying the effects of light, medium light, medium dark and dark within the piece. Two aspects are important: first ,mood and second, value relationships. Do I want this to be a low key piece, lots of dark values, giving an evening or night time mood? Like in my pieces about the old city in late November.


Or do I want a very high key – the white landscape of a cold snowy day?



Secondly, I want my value shapes to be interesting and also to relate to each other, intertwining to pull the design together.
If you look at the next two quilts, both in colour and in black/white you can see how I've tried to arrange the very light and very dark values to create an interesting shape - as a whole.




and again in Greenhouses:


squint if you can't see it!!!

Manipulating values is also the way in which a focal point can be created – surrounding an object with a highly contrasting value on 3 or 4 sides will really make it pop: i.e. to make a light shape come forward, surround it on 3 or 4 side with darker values.

Look at Vermeer paintings to see how very beautiful and effective this can be!

You may have to ignore the actual values in the photograph (or whatever source you’re using) to achieve the effect desired. Yes! You are allowed to do this!!!! The value contrast should be high if you want to emphasise the area surrounded. Obviously the same effect can be achieved with a dark focal point surrounded by light….I love this back lit effect!

Plan values in the value sketch, then sort fabric according to value before beginning to cut!
I think it’s difficult to make an exciting quilt with only mid values unless you have some very saturated colours, or some very strong textures or other dynamic design elements to make up for the lack of value contrast.
Don’t worry too much about color initially – add it gradually, but get the values right from the start.
And, if you have been, thanks for reading!!!
Elizabeth

Elements and Principles: shape

I’ve read quite a few instructional art books now and they all begin with an outline of the basic elements and principles - the strange thing is they tend to vary these!!! But of course that’s artistic license, right? Sometimes, even, elements are described as principles and vice versa! It’s actually quite straightforward though: the elements are the things we arrange in the two dimensional space formed by the backcloth of the quilt, and the “principles” or guidelines are simply suggestions on how to make an interesting arrangement.

I usually begin my workshops with an overall discussion of these but there are many more nuances in choosing what to arrange and where to arrange it than can be quickly remembered. I know my work will be stronger if I can become more aware of these nuances. So over my next few blogs or so, I’d like to take a look at some of the concepts particularly as applied to quilts I have made.

Shape

Once I’ve decided the principal concept, or main idea of the piece, drawn a number of rough sketches and decided upon the size of the piece, I outline a rectangle on the design wall. This is equivalent to the painter selecting a canvas or sheet of paper and a lot of sketches. I then quickly put in the background colour – like a wash of colour behind the main painting. Much of this fabric will get cut away later in the construction of the piece.

The next step is to make the shapes!! This is the most basic thing – the patches! We are the shape makers! As quilters, we have a great advantage in that we can make a tangible shape that we can move around very easily. Cut out interesting shapes: they don’t have to be realistic, it all depends upon the main concept and your own aesthetic style. I like to hint at things, so often will make a shape that has some of the characteristics of the house (or whatever) in the original sketch, but not all. Painters know that it’s important to involve the viewer. Don’t just spell it all out for them. Also as human beings we tend to see value shapes – the darks and the lights….remember when you were a child and you’d see a tree or a monster in your room at night? Then when you switch the light on it’s both the shirt hanging on the wall+its shadow + the coathanger! We add the dark shapes (or vv) together to make one value shape. I try not to cut shapes that are an exact replica of the object in real life. Remember Nicolaides (The Natural Way to Draw): “it is necessary to rid ourselves of the tyranny of the object as it appears!”

You also don’t have to include every single shape just because it is there in the original scene. Alex Powers calls this the Mount Everest theory of making art!

How big should our shapes be? I think it’s important to look at a lot of art to see what you respond to..e.g. if you look at Milton Avery or Diebenkorn you’ll see scenes reduced to a few large shapes. Arthur Dove does this too. So firstly, I would prefer to not have too many shapes (even though I break this rule a lot!!). I’ve seen various numbers mentioned but a good starting point would be somewhere between 10 and 15 shapes (this is overall shapes: the shirt+ the shadow + the coathanger). It helps to have the average size of the shapes in proportion to the size of the piece. (e.g. the average size of 12 shapes in a piece of 12 square ft would be one square foot).

Obviously though, you would want some variety in size.

If you have more than a dozen or so shapes it gets difficult to arrange them – for the ideal is to consider the relationship of every shape to every other shape as well as the relationship to the sides of the rectangle. How many shapes can you juggle? To achieve fewer shapes, group them, or zoom in on your main idea. This is something that you would do at the sketching stage, of course.

Too many small shapes are more likely to cause problems than too few big ones.

In the quilt above, A new day, you can see I've made an arrangement of value shapes, I've added chimneys to rrofs, sides of houses to roofs etc to make more interesting shapes then arranged them into a value pattern that alternates lights and darks across the piece.

Once I’ve cut some interesting shapes then I begin to arrange them within the rectangle I’ve outlined on the wall. At first I follow my sketch, but soon I find it better to relate the positioning of the new pieces to those already pinned onto the wall. You’re aiming for an arrangement which is balanced but not so much so that it is static. Here’s an early quilt of mine (Aiming High), you can see that the arrangement of the basic shapes is very static, too symmetrical. Also a little top heavy. I’d do it differently now!

There’s a number of different ways you can begin your arrangement…I generally start with some of the bigger shapes. If arranging flowers, I always begin with the biggest. But another possibility would be to begin with the focal point or area, the greatest area of emphasis in the piece, and then work out from there. This is the area of greatest contrast and greatest definition. You can see it here in Aorist at the only place in the piece that doesn't have soft curving lines.

But not every piece needs to have a focal point.

A quilt I just finished, Five Mills Rampant, is more about alternation and reversing than about one specific visual point in the image. The focal point in that piece is much more abstract. So in that piece I began by establishing that value reversal.

And so! I must look to my shapes!

And, if you have been, thanks for reading!!

Elizabeth

Elements and Principles:colour

One of the basic elements that we 2D folk get to play with is colour – when I start a workshop and everyone introduces themselves (briefly!), at least half of them say they love colour and that’s what really gets them enthusiastic about making work. But when I look at publications about art quilts, and catalogues from shows, what often strikes me is a rather over the top “cor blimey!” colour scheme in many pieces. I’m finding this out myself with learning to paint in watercolour. The paintings look much better if I just mix up 3 or 4 basic colours to begin with and add in no more than that. In my workshop at Arrowmont I ask people to bring only white fabric, and on the second day having given a brief talk on developing good colour schemes, we dye the fabric for the quilts using a limited palette – the results are gorgeous.

The basics of designing with colour are covered in a little paperback by Wucius Wong called Principles of Color Design (1987); most libraries would have a copy. There’s lots of complex stuff you can get into, but the basics are very straightforward. Colour varies in 3 ways: hue (what colour is it?), saturation (how strong is it?) and value (how light or dark is it?). Like people, when you put different colours together they have an affect upon each other! You’ll look paler when standing next to somebody brighter, greener when standing next to somebody redder and so on!!

I always advocate choosing a colour scheme at the outset…imagine being an interior decorator and turning upto someone’s house with a whole truckload of different colours and saying hmmm let’s have these 6 in here, and these four in here and…..!!!!!! nearly as bad as beige, beige, beige – and we’ve all seen that too of course!

There are a few different ways of choosing a scheme: Wong advocates picking a dominant colour and then going from there, you could also begin with choosing a format (monochromatic, analogous, complementary etc), or begin with a famous painting that you’ve always loved, or something gorgeous from She Almighty. I suggest people build color idea notebooks and then when you’ve chosen the Main Idea for your piece, you can go to the notebook and look through to see what scheme works best for your idea.

For myself I notice I go through phases with colour. At one point I was very much into a purple and amber look – this was all based on a photograph I took one late November afternoon in my hometown of York, ancient streets, dark purple sky, all the shop windows lighted. I’ve been through a red phase, and a grey one! Even a black and white one!
Currently I’m thinking a lot about very strong red and blue together!
please take a look at my website for all my phases! Some examples from all these phases are below……

Shambles

Red Shift 4

City of Mists

Overture

Strange Beauty

So…how is your colour today?
And, if you have been, thanks for reading!
Elizabeth

Metaphor

Metaphor has long been used as a source of design by artists. Pilgrim's Progress, the Inferno or Gulliver's Travels are classic illustrations of the struggles of the hero to reach his/her goal - as seen today in reality shows like Project Runway (alas destroyed by greed!) and ANTM where the protagonists have to undergo various trials to win the hand of the fair prince (?Tim Gunn!!!) or princess (Tyra Banks?)!!!! (plus the loot, of course!)

Metaphors in art can be obvious, I think of the target pieces that both Beans Gildorf or Mary Ann Jordan have made, or much more subtle and personal - I'm reminded of the broken circle quilt in an early Quilt National made by the lady (so sorry I forget her name, please comment if you know it) who was dying of breast cancer.

An interesting design exercise would be to sit down with an issue - personal or general - and think how many ways could I depict this delight, this joy, this sorrow, this concern, this issue etc.
A new grandma could make a wonderful piece based on drawings of tree buds - full of swelling promise. Both more subtle and more universal in meaning than a flat Bubble Jet set print of the new babe.

Having got the urge to make a piece about X or Y (and you know how fascinating X and Y can be!) - don't be too literal - think how many ways could I depict the idea, thought or feeling? Stand back and sort through them and don't be afraid of Metaphor!

here are some examples from my work:

The Arrogance of Calm

I made the above quilt when I was worried about the apparent indifference of our previous president to the dire events that his policies were creating.

City Blocks

This quilt likens the higgledy piggledy development of our cities to a jumble of child's building blocks!

Wheels

Sorry about the bad picture! this 4 part quilt is in Gate 29, concourse E of Hartsfield Atlanta airport - 35 feet high hence difficult to photograph. The architect asked that the artists commissioned to make works for the gates on concourse E think about some of the work of an airport and its connections and effects. My metaphor of wheels within wheels within wheels was an attempt to show all the different skills working together within the airport, but also the circling out effect of an airport.

Jaunty Ladies

These ladies are out on the town for the night all dressed up in their fine glowing colours and jostling each other in their gaiety!!!

And, if you have been, thanks for reading!
Elizabeth

Musing on Muses

Milltown

I’ve finished my 6th industrial landscape (photo soon) and started immediately on #7, and #8 is already crowding into my head. I began to wonder where ideas come from…I know playing with Photoshop always sparks possibilities – and looking at other art. I wish I could teach a workshop where everyone had a computer with Photoshop loaded on it! I’m not a PS expert by the way – but you really don’t need to be. I use probably 1% of the program – if I learn a new trick I try to repeat it several times, otherwise it’s soon gone!

Cogitating upon the source of ideas, I picked up an old book lying around (and if you saw my house you’d realize that was very true– there are piles of art books on every piece of furniture!) Art Synectics by Nicholas Roukes. His main thesis is that bringing different things together can lead to new creations. Sandburg is quoted: “poetry is the achievement of the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits”. Synectics is really a modern term for alchemy - you put an unlikely mix into a pot, cook it and voila! E.g. neon lights and birds’ nests! Wouldn’t that be fabulous? Or even better, nests made from that laser fiber you can beam light through…giant ones with cushions in would be lovely – definitely a cure for seasonal affective disorder! Of course there’d have to be room for the tea tray with the pot of tea and jug of milk! the heat from the lights could be harvested to boil a kettle! I’m teaching a class called “Coaxing the Muse” at Arrowmont in July. I have several different exercises, I think it would be fun to have people try hyacinths and biscuits!

Roukes also gives several examples of analogies – e.g. an ear of corn and a high rise building, or a tree and the human vascular system. And of course many diagnostic questionnaires now use the tree branch system of continually splitting into yes/no branches. Town planners use it too, and I once heard a lecture on artificial intelligence and they were trying a similar model.

Analogies in poetry yield wonderful pictures: Sandburg’s “the fog comes in on little cat feet”..actually our 25lb cat most inappropriately named Thistle sounds more like a galloping horse as he approaches the bed for the morning feline alarm call!

Designs can be lifted from anywhere though She Almighty (Peter Hoeg) has some of the best ones. Aerodynamics and the building of air craft came from the study of birds.

Roukes defines and lists possible sources of analogy:
a) logical: where there are similarites in design, function or structure in very different things e.g. streams →rivers and streets→roads.
b) Synaesthetic analogies: visual, aural, taste – any sense. A musical rhythm can be compared to a visual one: in designing quilts one could take a piece of music as a start for a quilt.
c) Affective analogies – a person’s ideas disgust us and we think of them as slime; a child’s face can radiate joy like a sunbeam in a gloom ychurch. So if we wanted to make a quilt about joy we might consider a radiating design with light values as a focal point.
d) Paradoxical analogies: and of course there was a whole series of wonderful quilts based on oxymorons – sadly I wasn’t asked to do one! Though my whole Industrial Landscape series is an oxymoron in a way. Industrialization embodies the conflict between our need for energy and manufacturing and the effect it has on the environment. I want the quilts to show that push/pull – the positive and the negative totally intertwine.

Which reminds me – I’d best get back to work!
And, if you have been, thanks for reading!!
Elizabeth