Sunday 30 August 2015

Display Challenges

A few years ago I took a workshop on "Painting on fabric with Dyes". The instructor was a local artist, Eileen Gidman. ( - http://eileengidman.blogspot.ca/) 
As with all workshops, I had a great time, learned some things and managed to create a number of reasonably decent pieces.
Garden Favorite
My problem was - What do I do with them now? I am not a quilter like Eileen and most of the pieces where the wrong size or shape to make a pillow, so the pieces just sat around.

Recently I decided that I had to do something with these fabric paintings!
 For Garden Favorite I added a border and painted Morning Glories using acrylic paint and fabric medium. Then, I made a pillow using a piece of green fabric for the back.
The colors aren't an exact match but it looks pretty good I think.
Flower Basket
I attached the two larger dye paintings to stretched canvases so they could be hung - gallery wrapped so no frame is needed.
Poplars in Fall
I think this will increase the chances of these pieces being sold because they will actually be seen now that they are hanging on the wall and displayed on the bed.

I had a challenge with how to hang another painting recently. It was a 4 x 6 acrylic on canvas board. Of course, I didn't have a fame that it would fit and it sat on a shelf for a few months before I figured out what to do with it.
Blue Flame
Although the background looks a little purple in the photo it actually matches the painting very well and the red frame really finishes the whole thing.

Although I have a very busy month ahead of me I decided to enter Leslie Saeta's upcoming 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge for the month of September. Check it out here -  http://30paintingsin30days.weebly.com/ 

I hope you will follow along with my progress during the month as I work to improve my skills with pen & ink.




6 comments:

  1. That pillow is gorgeous Val!! Love what you did with all your paintings!

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    1. Thanks Leone, sometimes it take a while to figure things out - lol

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  2. Very creative ideas, Val! I love seeing these works of art hanging or functional! Glad you're doing the 30 in 30. Me too. We'll all support each other!

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    1. Thanks Laurie! I appreciate the words "works of art" and "functional". In the Art Club I belong to a number of the people consider things like the pillow to be craft and not suitable for display in an "Art" show. Thanks for commenting.

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  3. These are great Val, awesome pillow idea! I love Poplars and Blue too. Best of luck in the challenge, so glad you will be taking part :)

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    1. Thanks for your comments Sheila. I am trying to plan out some of my pieces for the challenge now, so that when I am busy that day's piece will be easier to do. Are you doing the Challenge too?

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