I struggle with throwing anything away. Especially fabric. There comes a time when a piece of fabric either becomes clutter or needs to take on a new life. This fabric resulted from a Gelli plate experiment. I wanted to see if I could create an interesting background by adding thin layers of fabric paint with Gelli plate pulls. I've been very successful doing this layering on paper so why wouldn't it work on fabric? The fabric absorbed the paint instantly and as long as I used a thin layer the results were quite nice. I didn't have a plan for these test pieces so they were stored away (for a couple of years)
While doing a purge I found them again. This one was definitely less than beautiful and had a bit of a plastic feel from the multiple layers of acrylic fabric paint. Since it was a big piece (42x42) I decided to challenge myself to see if something beautiful could come from this piece that I thought was destined for the trash bin. No plan- just play.
I pulled out my Stabilo All pencil and any circle shape I could find within arms reach. A plan was starting to form. I would add color on top of the existing paint and then cut it up and piece it back together.
I then grabbed my Derwent Inktense blocks and started to add the color.
I started to really like where it was going. Do I really want to cut it up? I took a picture and decided to play around with the composition.
Maybe I will quilt it to see what stitches will add. Then I could still cut it up if I wanted.
It was getting better. I like the texture the stitches added. But it need more. I misted the entire piece with water and added more Inktense wet. This added the contrast I was looking for.
Here is the finished piece. I decided to not cut it up-yet.
Stay creative,
Paula