Tag Archives | Collage

Abstract Design from Scratch

By Ellen Lindner on April 25, 2019 in Uncategorized

Have you done any abstract work? I have and I often find it difficult to come up with the original design. One exercise that’s been floating around via Pat Pauly and others it to randomly cover an index card with fabric scraps and let that become your design. So I tried a few.

Some of these (like that last one) were real dogs, so I tried a more deliberate one.

It was only slightly better.

But wait, there’s more! If a composition isn’t appealing try visually cropping it to see if you can find a more pleasing design. Like this.

I do this with paper or cardboard L shapes. With them you can easily crop the image much smaller. It’s important to rotate it, too, as this often helps the design quite a bit.

Here are a few more crops.

I think these are much more dramatic than the originals (although they may still require some editing!)

You can also do the same exercise with printed photos. I had several vegetation photos which I stacked and cut into mostly squarish pieces. This was my first arrangement.

It already had good contrast and interest, but there was a lot going on. I rearranged a bit more, now confident in the results I knew I could eventually get. This was that second arrangement slightly cropped.

But, I took it even further.

That would make a pretty great quilt, don’t you think?

I’ve found this technique to be useful and have just finished an abstract quilt designed in this way. I’ll get it photographed and show it to you soon.

What tips do you have for designing abstractly?

Ellen Lindner
P.S. This is one of the tools Pat teaches in her “A Dozen Ways: Design for Art Quilts,” a class which I recommend.

Derek Gores at Foosaner Art Museum

By Ellen Lindner on February 21, 2019 in Uncategorized

There’s a fascinating exhibit at my local art museum right now. It features the work of Derek Gores, who makes collages from magazine pages.

Like this.

Isn’t it wonderful? As you can see, he interprets things in a somewhat abstracted way, which I think is VERY compelling. Check out this detail shot.

Don’t you love it? Here’s another one, about 12 x 12.

And the detail shots. The eye:

And the mouth.

Are you blown away yet? How about this?

In his collage, Gores let the woman’s dress disappear into the background. The museum curator took it one step further, finding matching wallpaper to add to this one wall. Brilliant!

By the way, several of Gore’s pieces have a high fashion sensibility. In them, he often adds a cat, which is a whimsical nod to the cat walk. I love that!

Probably the most memorable piece in the installation is, in itself, an installation. It’s a 3D collage filling an entire room with hanging pieces of paper. You can walk all the way around it, but the image is only discernible when viewed from front and center.

Can you tell what it is?

Here’s the reference photo.

This is just a taste of this amazing exhibit. I’ve seen it three times and I’ll be going again this week, because I keep taking people to see it. If you’re in the Melbourne, FL area, you’ll WANT to see this exhibit! It’s at the Foosaner Art Museum, which is free, through March 23rd. If you can’t make it to the museum, I encourage you to check the collages on his website.

Now, I want to grab some paper and a glue stick!

Ellen Lindner

“Ahead of the Storm” Completed

By Ellen Lindner on October 29, 2018 in Uncategorized

In the fall of 2017, hurricane Irma set its sights on Florida. Although Floridians don’t get too excited about most hurricanes, this one was a category 5, the strongest possible. It’s path was hard to predict, so ALL of the Florida peninsula was in the strike zone. As a result, widespread evacuations were ordered and everyone took the storm very seriously. The outcome was over 6.5 million people evacuating, over one-quarter of the state’s population!

As you might imagine, this mass exodus created a new set of problems: huge traffic jams, gas shortages, and a lack of available hotel rooms. All of this factored in as I (a Floridian) designed this piece.

Ahead of the Storm

The swirl of fabric strips was a bit of play that I had done a couple of years before. It served as the perfect starting point for the composition.

I hand stitched the name of the hurricane, as well as some text about the evacuation issues.

I made this quilt for a call for art named “Forced to Flee.” However, I sold it right away, so I won’t be entering it after all.

My best patron, my mom, was the buyer. Shortly after purchasing it, she meekly asked, “How much trouble would it be to remove the word ‘Irma’?” What? That’s the main point, right? But, I got it: she had no relationship to that particular hurricane and preferred something generic. Now, I wouldn’t do this for anyone else, but for my mother, what could I say? Of course, I removed it.

Afterwards, I thought it looked a little empty in that corner, so I added “Category 5,” much smaller. I forgot to take a picture of the revised version, but this computer edited photo will give you a pretty good idea.

I have to admit I think it looks better and my mom loves it.

Have you ever altered a piece of art after finishing it? Or after SELLING it?

Ellen Lindner
P.S. We didn’t evacuate for Irma only because there’s a shelter just down the road. We knew we could get there quickly if needed. Fortunately for us, it only side swiped us as a much weaker storm. We tend to measure the strength of storms in the number of days the power was out. This one was only a few hours!

Two Days with Pat Pauly

By Ellen Lindner on March 30, 2018 in Uncategorized

I was lucky enough to take a two day class with Pat Pauly. Fabric was flying and Adrenalin was flowing as she challenged us to work without a lot of planning.

Two Days with Pat Pauly. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Pat talking about the inspiration for this quilt.

The purpose of the class was to teach us various ways to jump start an abstract design. One way Pat does that is by making small collaged “postcards.” These can later serve as quilt sketches.

Like this, with the sketch on the left and the quilt on the right.

And then the students tried it. Anita Krug had especially good results. Wouldn’t these make great quilt designs?

And Karol Kusmaul made a very interesting composition by cutting up and rearranging calendar pages.

Doesn’t this look like fun?

I’d say everyone in the room pushed well beyond their comfort zone. And we learned a lot!

If you ever get a chance to take a class with Pat Pauly, I highly recommend it.

Ellen Lindner

Sally and Pam’s Art Demo

By Ellen Lindner on February 27, 2018 in Uncategorized

At the recent SAQA retreat, you could work on your own projects or take time out for one of the many excellent demos. One of the first I attended was put on by Sally Dutko and Pam Richardson, as they explained their process to us.

Sally’s work was used for most of the in-progress examples. As you can see, she collages paper and fabrics onto a base support.

Then, she stitches a grid and coats everything with a clear medium. (This gives it “tooth” for other media.)

Finally, she adds paint, stitching, more collage…whatever she thinks it needs.

On the one above, she finished the edge with satin stitching, and mounted it on to an artist canvas. An intriguing process, great work, and a professional presentation!

Pam’s work provided most of the completed samples. This small piece was created in the same fashion as Sally’s, but mounted slightly differently. Here, a canvas was wrapped in fabric and the artwork was applied.

I especially loved this beach scene of Pam’s. She used a variety of techniques and media to achieve her desired result.

Can you find the tea bags she used? And look at that reflection. Isn’t it effective?

“Stray” threads and an unexpected bright bit of fabric complete the composition.

What talented women! I got an Adrenalin surge from seeing their work!

Ellen Lindner

Quilting and Cording

By Ellen Lindner on December 19, 2017 in Uncategorized

When quilting my latest piece I decided to mimic the swirls/curves in the background.

In addition to machine quilting, I also added some hand stitching around several of the curved shapes.

My main reason for doing so was to add contrast to the white curves in the light areas. I intended to stitch around all the curved shapes, but the effect was so subtle I changed my mind and used it only in the lightest areas.

Next, I turned my attention to the main motif. I thought it needed to be set off from the background somewhat. I considered:
– Lightening the background around the motif with colored pencils, chalk, etc.
– Using tulle to add a dark shadow around parts of the motif.
– Adding a dark line around the motif, by adding cording.

I was leaning toward the cording idea, since I had used it previously. I did some auditioning and started in. I hand stitched a black cord in place. That is, I used a cording stitch to capture the cord and secure it to the top of the quilt. I did not pierce the fabric with the cord.

Here you can see the effect before and after the cording.

I think it set it off perfectly.

And here’s the entire quilt, ready for facing. Almost finished!

Have you got any suggestions for a name? I’ve got one in mind, but am still slightly undecided.

Ellen Lindner
P.S. Here’s what a hard/precise tulle shadow looks like. It’s very effective in adding definition, but only if you want to show the top element just slightly above the background. I wanted this motif to float, so it wasn’t appropriate here.

Corn Fields and Such

By Ellen Lindner on October 12, 2017 in Uncategorized

After separately creating the two men for my “brothers quilt,” it was time to work on the background.

I finished up the rough draft of the sky and added the far tree line, (with a piece of blue fabric marking a future silo.).

Next it was on to the corn field in the foreground. Since the reference photo was taken in November, the corn had already been harvested and the short golden stalks were all that was left.

I wanted to create the texture of the messy corn stalks, but not too exactly. So, I used lots of print fabrics to convey the vegetation. My plan was to use large scale prints in the foreground, like those shown below, and smaller scaled ones in the background. I hoped this would add a sense of depth.

It worked, but required a good bit of tweaking. (And a lot of pins!) Here is what I think will be the final corn field, below.

Distant fields had much more subtle texture, so I auditioned near-solid fabrics for them.

Here they are, complete. I’m happy with the sense of depth. That will be enhanced when I add the small buildings in the distance.

Next it was time to start adding the green fields and grasses. Here it is, in-progress.

I’m getting close to completing the design of this background. I still need to add the foreground grass and the buildings. Then, I’ll have to glue it all in place.

FYI, here’s another quilt where I used the scale of fabrics to add to the sense of depth.

Ellen Lindner

My Brothers: Clothing

By Ellen Lindner on October 6, 2017 in Uncategorized

I’m happy with the way the quilt featuring my two brothers is developing. Here’s my brother Ricky almost complete.

After making the face of my other brother, Todd, it was time to work on his jacket. First, auditioning fabric.

Here it is, in-progress.

All these little pieces were eventually glued to the muslin base and to each other.

Selecting fabrics for Todd’s pants was more challenging. They were sort of Army green; not a color I tend to stock. My first attempt:

No. I decided the color was too bright. This was my solution. Much better, I think.

Now that I’ve completed the two men I’m just getting started on the background. I’ll make it much looser, which I’m looking forward to.

So far, I’ve just worked on the sky. Some of it looks a little strong to me, but I’ve learned not to cast judgement until I can see everything together.

As you can see in the photo above, I’ve drawn the background fields and barns onto the muslin base. I’ll reference these as I continue.

Ellen Lindner

“Spring Forth” Complete

By Ellen Lindner on September 1, 2017 in Uncategorized

After many distractions, I finally got back to working on my Red Bud quilt. I decided to name it “Spring Forth,” because I was captivated by the way the Red Bud blossoms pop right up out of the trunks.

Spring Forth

I got lucky with the background fabrics. Many of them had colorful dots which worked well for implying more blossoms. I love it when the fabric does the work!

As you can see, I abstracted the flowers quite a bit. That was fun!

Find more details, dimensions, and purchase information on the Spring Forth web page.

Ellen Lindner
P.S. I’m the queen of cropping. It VERY frequently improves the composition. Which I sorta noticed in the second image. I really like that composition, too.

Now I’ve Done It

By Ellen Lindner on August 24, 2017 in Uncategorized

Well, now I’ve done it. I’ve dipped my toes into learning more about abstract design and have become – what is it the Borg say? – ASSIMILATED! At least for now.

I “blame” Jane Davies. She wrote an excellent book, which got me going. It’s called “Abstract Painting, The Elements of Visual Language.” It was that last part that attracted me. I didn’t want to do any painting, but I DID want to learn Jane’s way of approaching design, because her pieces are wonderful.

So, I started STUDYING her book, doing every exercise multiple times and creating a few more of my own. (Like I said, “assimilated.”) My plan was to do my own exercises in fabric and thread, rather than paint.

The first was to experiment with mark making. Not only in the shape/line/thickness of the mark, but also in the technical materials and processes with which the mark was made. I did this.

It was a good reminder of ways to add marks that I don’t use very often. Like that sketchy stitched multi-line near the top. That’s pretty cool, right?

Jane is brilliant with line and after reading her approach and looking at her examples I was ANXIOUS to use more of it.

Next, I did collage exercises with various prompts. This one was meant to be shapes I don’t use that often. I used primarily scraps and altered their shapes very little.

Note: I was NOT trying to make great art here. The emphasis was on learning, so I purposely ignored balance, etc. I just played and it was exhilarating!

Next, I shifted to magazine pages as my collage material of choice. This one was my response to a high contrast assignment.

This was great fun. I used shapes that were not in my usual wheel house, with a variety of edges. And by now I was getting enamored with the idea of line, so I found myself adding it even when it wasn’t requested.

Here’s the low contrast result. (See that low contrast line again?)

The next assignment was to create a composition with lots of negative (background) space. No problem.

But then I got myself in trouble. I decided to emulate Jane’s example of painting over elements, adding new ones, and completely altering the piece. I did NOT have the skill set for that! Here’s my result.

Oh my gosh! Can you say “hideous?” Not wanting all this effort to go to waste, I decided to look for viable small compositions within this larger one. I used white paper to isolate small sections and found many wonderful options. I photographed each one.

Okay, so all those little compositions made me feel better about this piece. Not that I really felt bad to begin with. I KNEW I was experimenting and learning, so I wasn’t expecting awesome results.

This is just the beginning of what I’ve been up to. I’ve got lots more to show you.

Ellen Lindner

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Tag Archives | Collage

Abstract Design from Scratch

Derek Gores at Foosaner Art Museum

“Ahead of the Storm” Completed

Two Days with Pat Pauly

Sally and Pam’s Art Demo

Quilting and Cording

Corn Fields and Such

My Brothers: Clothing

“Spring Forth” Complete

Now I’ve Done It

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