Though my lifelong artistic style has largely been illustrative realism, I am presently exploring abstract works that are highly dimensional, textural, expressionistic, and tactile. The inspiration to begin in this area of art was due to a dream I had, twice. In my own little world I refer to these works as 'fabrications', since I use fabric (100% cotton) in the construction of them, and they are indeed 'built' (fabricated) first, and painted later.
I am also experimenting with other means in which to get tons of texture and dimension without making the piece excessively heavy. For instance, 'Lava' was fabricated using tin foil and gravel. I generally visualize and work at a rather large scale, but am producing various smaller sizes at this time as well.
I create these 'fabrications' with very little forethought. The first 3/4 of the work is done intuitively, with the last 1/4 requiring quite a bit of careful contemplation and strategy. Fabric pieces range from 2" to 18" in any given direction, and are glued and molded into form. The pieces are various geometric shapes which I cut out in a rather whimsical fashion. Because of the deep, rigid openings and crevices in the dried fabric, paint initially has to be scrubbed and stabbed into the painting with a brush. It's quite a workout.
FYI:
- 'Fascination' is comprised of approximately 90 square feet of fabric, and over a gallon of
fabric glue.
- 'Lava' is comprised of approximately 4 square feet of tin foil
