The Real Thing

Have you ever used the actual plant in your artwork? Although dried plants may not be archival into the next century, there are times when I have used them as records, souvenirs, and art objects.

Years ago, I used my plant press to dry and store ferns, flowers, and leaves for my framed plant and paper collages that I sold at art fairs and from my studio. I see them occasionally in friends’ homes and I kept a few for myself, so I have kept track of their aging processes. The news is good – all have fared well, usually changing over time from their fresh green colors to rich golds and browns. I always posted information on the backs of the framed pieces to the effect that the dried plant material could be expected to transform beautifully.

Fern collage 12+ years after framing

In some cases, I used plants as evidence of place. A few years ago, I was in a group of several professional artists who worked with students at Paul Smiths College in the Adirondack Mountains to combine science and art for an exhibition called “Emerging Patterns.” The project examined forest succession and the related ecological processes. One artist collected lichens, bark, and other forest materials to dye fibers that became her weavings. Another artist created paintings while sitting at the site. My own group of five works developed from a poem the course professor wrote about his sense of the site. I included the five part poem printed on sheer organza, my own site photographs on thin layers of molding paste imprinted with balsam fir and birch twigs, maps of the area, scientific articles written about past research there, and  dry American beech leaves collected from the site and encased in sheer organza. The leaves related to a section of the poem as well as to one of the dominant trees.

One winter while staying in Florida with my mom, I was participating in an online daily creative practice. Each day when I walked in local parks or on the beach, I collected leaves, small plants, and feathers that I embroidered onto my sketchbook pages. I identified each species and painted the backgrounds with watercolor. The 8 or so pages made a nice group that I framed informally together.

 

 

These little pieces have held up very well, and now I have a record of my trip. I plan to frame them individually for my gallery.

Three-dee-dee-details

Tired tonight.. Been a very long day, I have a broken foot, and I've been running an International Quilt Day, which was fun-but-hard
Soooo, I've done a very simple thing that has endless possibilities

Scrap of batting/wadding

Lay the Face of your intended shape Face Up

Draw the intended shape on the Back of the Back, and lay it Back Up (see what I did there? That's what we Englishpersons call a Play on Words...)
In the middle of the shape, cut a wee slit..

Apologies for the odd light on some of these..  My old Bernina, while resolutely treadled, has an electrical light, with LED bulb - it took me a couple of attempts at this and the colour is decidedly peculiar.. However
Sew all around, small stitches, start and finish Not on a corner, overlap the ends and ignore the thready things

Turn over, trim wadding/batting real close to the stitches

Trim the fabrics to 1/4 inch or so

Snippety-snip.. Snip all the curves, paying particular attention to the inward corners..

Turn out through the slit (remember the slit?) and press....

Here's a bonus - Neat Start Couching
I started with a doubled embroidery thread, rather long

Sew two or three small zigzag stitches over the threads

Pull the back end round to the front

Twist together and continue to oversew with the small ZZ stitches

Finish with some leaf-veins in ordinary stitch.  No end to darn in or force through the fabric..

Group?

Other shapes work - here's a basket of unfinished cats

Finished fishes and felines... Button eyes...

Silk fishy

Brocade cat..

Bigger and better - Merman and Mermaid in muslin/calico

Small boy comes into the shop and gazes raptly
"That lady's Rude!"
Me "Why is that?"
SB "She hasn't got her vest on!"
Time for fire, chocolate, and cat-on-lap...

Last of the Slasher Mysteries...

Sew on the grain - leftovers from the first two samples with a dark blue top layer

Cut through the top layers and not the base, this time the cuts are still on the diagonal but within the straight line squares
Some of the squares, I cut right through...
Washed as before..

Fantastic texture - the first time I saw this, it was used as a crocodile's back in a quilt

Leaf-on-top

The last few bits of those pinks and oranges, cut into a stack of leaves and laid on top of a background piece, then stitched and washed as before.  Keep the shapes simple, but the grain is not so important on these

Stitched, then washed...


Tomorrow, something completely different...