Saturday, June 25, 2011

Exploring More 3 Dimensional Wild Flowers


I am continuing to explore different flowers while still providing a soft sculpted 3 dimensional aspect. It is a place my art is taking me these days and I am really enjoying the ride. This piece was completed in May 2011 for an upcoming In Stitches Emagazine article. The background is a painted piece of muslin from a demo in my Artful Coloring class. The leaves are made from layered materials I had previously assembled at the Misty Fuse booth in Houston last fall. I love having leaves on hand for different projects. Since cleaning my studios, I have reorganized everything such that I have a drawer dedicated solely to leaves, one for stems, another one for flowers, etc... This has really helped me to explore different ideas without fully having to commit to any particular design. And best of all, when I feel like putting a garden together, it is so much easier and it also helps provide diversity to my work.
I really love the idea of painting and stamping/stencilling backgrounds to have on demand. As the amount and types of finished leaves continue to grow, I find myself engaged in trying to put together different flowers to accompany them. I have decided to use paper as a model for my flowers before transferring them to fiber. This had helped me tremendously. I currently have a 3D iris modelled in paper that needs to be transferred to fiber and I am hoping to get back in the studio soon to put that plan in motion. Still there's the little scrub jay that I need to finish... So many ideas, so little time! 

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh so lovely, Barb. What a beautiful garden you create.

Barb Forrister said...

Thanks, Dee. It's a great time for exploring. So many flowers in bloom this time of year!

Mary Couch said...

Here I am again... the flowers and leaves are beautiful, but I really focused in on your background stitching of additional leaves as part of the quilting process. Very clever and very effective! A new inspiration for me.
Hugs from Mary

Barb Forrister said...

Hi Mary,

I love making the 3 dimensional flowers and leaves. One thing, I have learned from this is that after having the overall design in place, the background must be quilted before attaching the 3d elements. Otherwise, the stitching is very difficult. Thank you for your kind words. Hugs! Barb