When I thought about what to do for Resolved Sample 2, I wanted to do something that I might be able to frame. Just looking at a wall didn't seem too appealing. I thought of the quote by Joseph Campbell and that's where I got the idea for the door.
What I was trying to do was to create a wall with a door in it that leads to a colourful world beyond. Sian mentioned using perspective so I thought that a door would require a certain amount of perspective if it were open. Obviously, my piece didn't work out as expected. I think I would have to alter the perspectives of the stitches as well. I did manage to keep the patterns relative to where they would be if it were a door ajar.
I realized quite a while back after I had already started on this final project that I was copying reality too much. When I talked with Syl & Cynde, I began to understand that we were probably to use the idea of a wall - it's patterns, textures, shapes, and colors - to interpret, not to replicate. Oh. Ok.
Nevertheless, I am glad that I did aim for similitude because it gave me a chance to make an attempt at using what my eye was seeing to match colors and patterns as much as I could. That was fun and interesting.
The other thing I did was to mix rubbed and dyed paper shapes with the stitching. I had wanted the picture to flow from a 2-D visual wall to a 3-D texture with some loose pieces in between so as to not have a clear beginning and ending for the two sections. I like the way it came out, sort of, but it's was too heavy on the left/stitched side and much lighter on the paper side. Standing back, I should have left more space between the rocks in the stitched section. I think that might have allowed the door to come out better. As it is, the door gets lost within all the stitched rocks. It is not very well defined.
Looking at it now makes me wonder how a B4-sized canvas could possibly take so many months to complete, but I have learned so much on this course:
* There are more stitches than the up-down-up-down that I did in high school.
* You can make colors even when you don't have the one you want in the crayon box (thread box).
* Wax and paint don't mix, and that's good sometimes.
* You cannot hit Command-Z to undo stitches. You have to take them out one at a time.
* It's a good idea to keep a Band-Aid handy
* Even when you really want to work on a project, life sometimes gets in the way.
* I will never look at walls in the same way I used to.
And I'm sure there are many, many more things but my eyes are closing and I have yet to finish packing. Off to Umpqua for 2 weeks - hopefully with some time to play with Cynde and Sylvia and Georgia!!!
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p.s. Sept 21, 2009
Have just finished putting the resolved sample 2 onto a frame. Will be giving it to a friend.
