Grayscale Studies: Painting with Acrylics and Thread on Black and White

Hello, I am finally emerging after spending most of January in the studio. It feels so good to be blogging again. I have been doing a study on black and white using both representational and abstract art. I had intended to add touches of blue and chartreuse green but only minimally as accent colors. These pieces all started off from muslin or black Kona cotton. The first two pieces were done using stencils with acrylic textile paints. By changing placement of the stencils, I have created two similar but unique compositions. The stitching on the white is done with varying shades of gray with the background filled in with white thread. It's opposite set on a black background, shows the bottom leaves that quilted with very dark gray thread and ending up with lighter gray leaves at the top. Here, the background is filled in with black vertical quilting patterns. The two

contrasting pieces evoke quite a different feel to them. The white appears more calmer while the black one has a more bold like appearance. I love the way the contrasting thread on each of the pieces creates an airy like pattern. A similar study using representational stencil patterns on black and white are shown below. The quilting on each piece is quite different. On the black background, I quilted a triangular pattern for the filler background with black thread. I wanted to keep the design, bold and not detract from the composition. Using black thread accomplished this mission however, it seemed like it was a lot of work that the viewer never really sees. To change the outcome of the white piece, I opted to quilt the background in a zentangular pattern with dark gray thread so that the quilting could actually be seen from a distance. Two very different feelings for sure!

Next, I turned my attention to abstract designs. These studies are not quite as obvious as I had no stand alone abstract stencils. Here, I used  both stencils and stamps in combination with one another creating an array of abstract art. The first piece is a simple stencilled sphere with no embellishments. Simple straight horizontal lines act as a background filler. The second piece is stamped and stenciled allowing for lots of white negative space which gives it a lighter feel. An array of straight lines that representing different geometric shapes are quilted using both white and

gray thread in an unobtrusive manner. Both evoke a very modern feeling.

Yet another piece was created with stamps and stencils on a black background where most of the piece is filled with design by using white and varying shades of gray acrylic paint on stamps and stencils. The final piece was created using a Gelli Monoprinting Plate on a white background with black paint. I absolutely love to play with this fun tool. Where you see a lot of the bold white curvy lines, I have used mark making tools to remove the black paint and create design elements.

Another layer was added by stamping with gray acrylic paint and adding accents of blue and chartreuse green. Here the idea was to create some unusual abstract patterns. This has been an interesting study using black and white acrylic paint and thread. I always find that I learn so much when I work in grayscale. If you would like to read more about my earlier black and white studies, I invite you to visit http://freespiritartstudio.blogspot.com/2009/10/naturescape-gray-scale-series-part-1.html. Thank you for stopping by. I hope you have enjoyed visiting and I wish you much happiness in your creative journey.