©2013, Paula Kovarik
I love how the morning light in my studio skids across my work table. It gives me a way to see where the bumps are working and where they might be a bit too much. Continuing this challenge of a higher loft with the wool batting I am using, I am starting to feel more comfortable with the 3D-ness of it.
©2013, Paula Kovarik
The photo on the left of this image is a detail shot of a quilt I am working on. On the right I turned it 360 degrees. Isn't it interesting how the shadows on the left make the piece look concave but the same pic turned upside down looks convex? Since I was turning the image to see if the curves were balanced (an old trick for judging layout) I was confounded on how different they looked. I had to shoot the piece again by turning it upside down to be able to have a fairer comparison.
©2013, Paula Kovarik
Working on a piece for the Earth Stories exhibition sponsored by SAQA. This is a large piece that has stumped me several times. I was 3/4 done with it back in February when I realized that I had ruined it. That piece is still residing under my work table in a tumble of frustration. I guess it proves to me that I can not do too many things at once...ending my business...taking care of my ailing mother...reinventing myself in the transition of ending my business and starting to work full time in the studio. It was all too much. Then, mom got worse. So plans went on hold.
For now, I am making progress. Slow, step-by-step progress. I still tear out 10 stitches for every 50 I put down but I am finally seeing results. And that is a blessing.
I can't really post whole shots of the piece due to honoring my committment to the show organizers (who want the opportunity to unveil it in its entirety at the opening along with the other pieces). So here is a detail. This little section is in the rural area of the quilt. There are rural and metropolitan areas depicted. I am using a wool batting that is fluffier than my normal bamboo choice, so it is significantly more dimensional. It is the story of a river running through it.
This fleeting shadow on my studio floor reminded me of a wonderful show I recently saw of Carrol Cloar's work at the Brooks Museum in Memphis (The Crossroads of Memory: Carroll Cloar and the American South). His studied observations of life in the south, sense of design and mastery of his medium inspired me to see the world differently after I walked out. That is the power of art.
The earlier version of this pattern (see July 7 post)) was about compartments that fracture across the surface. When I add color it reminds me of something Dubuffet might design for fabric. The second version below holds a layer that adds a sense of web-like syncopation that I like. Buried within, rough ladder shapes repeat vertically. Must look up the significance of that. Why ladders?
ladders, ©2013, Paula Kovarik
ladders 2, ©2013, Paula Kovarik
