What a contrast a couple months make….In October I was just finishing my month long residency in Sardinia, the warmth and the sun. Now I am at the north end of Vancouver Island in the rain and the wind. An even stronger contrast - before I was with a group of 6 other artists who became friends - now I am on my own, enjoying a very solitary time in a little cottage with alittle art shed. The community of Sointula is small, the island has about 500 residents with basic amenities but lovely beaches and towering forests. The island has an interesting history of Finnish settlement - you can read more here: https://thetyee.ca/Life/2013/07/18/Survival-of-the-Finnish/
The cottage and art studio are lovely, rustic and quaint. The little cottage where Im staying was built in the 1920's and full of little quirks. My art studio is right beside with lots of natural light and looks out onto the garden below. I'm one block away from the ocean so my walks have been along the beach and of course, I've been picking up some sea glass!
I settled in quickly and got to work, I brought along a large ceramic pot and plastic bandages....my plan was to put plastic over hte pot, then add the wet bandages in a couple layers, let them dry and then stitch the dyed linen over it. so far so good, though the shed is cold when Im not there and the heat isnt on. If it were summer, I could put the pots in the sunshine....so the pots have been coming into the cottage with me to dry.
I looked at the large pots and figure that I'd make a template of canvas to figure out how to cover them with stitched linen. Making pieces in 1/3 sections didnt work well but in quaters it was fine. After a bit of adjustment and adding darts to shape around the bottom (old dressmaking skills come in handy) I made one up in linen, stitched the pieces along the seam and tried in on the pot. This worked fine but I think would be a bit saggy once the pot is finished.
I had stitched a band of fabric for around the top of the pot, it didnt line up with the stitching on the body, so Im in the process of making another one.
All of this process is experimental, I keep telling myself as another problem pops up. The sagginess bothers me and I'm just wondering if I'm better off to adhere each 1/4 piece straight onto the pot? I did a small test with diluted clear gesso, soft matte gel and diluted craft glue. The glue ended up being shiny (not good) but the other two worked well. I'm doing a larger test piece this week and will make a final decision. I have considered other products but I dont want a hard, rigid surface which might be an issue.
So, its test, test, test!
I've found a couple of vases at the thrift store and the shapes appeal to me - somewhat resembling an urn....those will be my next experiment. I want to make a series of small vessels that can intermingle with the larger ones...
I also tried forming the fabric over wet plaster, thinking I might skip the step of adhering the fabric down with some medium. That was a failure as the white plaster seeped throught he fabric and left an unpleasant cast to the exterior. This is an other example of testing and recording all this in my sketchbook.
I make a piece that had some of the plaster bandage showing around the top edges - I tried painting the white areas and that worked well - I used burnt sienna which is a very terracota colour. It's good to know that I can paint the plaster when there's fabric too - they blend well together.
Always trying new ideas and recording but I am beginning to feel that I'm moving ahead!
Thought for the day from Rick Rubin from The Creative Act: If you begin with a question and use it to guide an adventure of discovery, that's the work of the artist.
I have enjoyed reading about your thought process as you create.
Thank you, art is always a journey…isn’t it?