Yesterday, the photographer George Forss came to the farm to take a picture of the view from the house. His partner, the aritst Donna Wynbrandt came with him and while Jon took pictures of George taking pictures, Donna and I sat on the porch and talked about one of her new paintngs that we collaborated on.
It’s called Lecturer and Attentive Young Scholars, Donna did the painting then stapled torn pieces of paper with drawings on them to it. I took the painting to my studio and on my machine, removed the staple and stitched the small drawings to the painting. I knew what the sound and feel of the sewing needle going through the paper would be like even before I did it. (I’d describe it as satisfying.) With each stitch the thick pieces of watercolor paper seemed to melt together becoming one piece. I love the ink lines of Donna’s drawings, they actually remind me of my stitched lines, so it was natural for my lines to integrate with hers. She gave another of her paintings to a friend who is a seamstress, I’m so curious to see what she does and how it differs from what I did.
When Donna turned the painting over, I knew she’d be as intrigued by the shapes of the stitching on the back as I was. We decided the next collaboration would start out with me stitching shapes with different colored threads and her making sense of them with her painting and words.
And the Bedlam Farm Barn Fairy Notecard Give-A-Way is still going on until 4pm when I’ll announce the winner.
Whoa; this is an intricate bout of energy and vision!
Cindy
Love this! Roger creates collages and mixed media pieces all the time, but he’s not thought about stitching items to canvas. What a great idea!
A very long time ago, one of my older sister’s friends who is an artist created a self-portrait in oils. She stuffed the central image with batting and stitched around it – I’ve never forgotten that piece. Even as a child, I was intrigued by it.
Sue