Small improvements




I know, I posted the pictorial panels


yesterday. I had thought that they were done and just needed to be bordered in the luscious heavy black silk. I was wrong. This is also why work always takes me longer than I expect. I end up making unplanned for improvements along the way. The pieces take longer-- and it is so worth it.





First of all, baby Moses needed simple facial features. The fastest way to add those was via Shiva Paint Stick and a stencil. The little round mouth stencil was courtesy of a hole punched with a standard hole puncher. The eyes, Exacto knifed out of the same piece of paper. Voila... Moses has a cute baby face.





Then I noticed that I hadn't covered the outer edges of the panel in fabric. So I cut watery shapes out of shantung scraps. My clever buddies at the Creative Machine list taught me the brilliant trick of using a glue stick to hold down fabric for applique. No, you don't need to use a fancy made for fabric only glue stick available at a premium. Regular .99 Store glue stick works just fine. Our apartment is just upstairs from a .99 Store so I love using supplies from there when I am in need of something right this minute.



The additional watery bits looked great, but they made the burning bush panel look a bit bleak in comparison. So I added some random hilly shapes in those lovely not quite colors that shantung comes in, a sort of grayish green, a sort of yellowish grayish tan. All colors that would make me look ill if I wore them but look wonderful together and have that southern Israel desert look.




If I were writing for an art magazine I might say that the biomorphic shapes lend a certain congruence between the panels. But i don't write for an art magazine so I can say that it makes the two panels look like they belong together.

When I was working on the arts and crafts staff at Camp Ramah in 1982, Channa, one of my fellow staff members told me that any art work you do will be vastly improved if you frame it, and even more improved if you frame it in black. I can't tell you how often I have followed this wise piece of advice. It makes mediocre things look good and good pieces look amazing. The panels are now framed in black 40 momme charmeuse and now I'm working on getting the rest of the tallit constructed.

Comments

  1. APpreciate yourobservations & comments on how to work with color. Now I get it that Imostly work with colors I'm attractedto, which probably means the colors I wear alot. It does take courage to work with color the way you do, particularly in this complicated peice and I learned from that. You sort of made it look easier than it probably was...OK, I'mpaying attention toyour comments on color as well as techniques and other practical tips. Thanks.

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  2. "If I were writing for an art magazine I might say that the biomorphic shapes lend a certain congruence between the panels. But i don't write for an art magazine so I can say that it makes the two panels look like they belong together."

    ROFL. Thanks for that injection of humor. I just found your blog (although I feel as if I 'know' you already from CMN and PR) and am reading oldest to newest....

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