This week, I focused on layering the vegetable netting in different colors to see how things started to interplay. The strong primary colors of the plastic netting really activate each other visually and I overlay with black netting and a network of sewn black lines to give a sense of depth. This wall installation now measures approximately 9’L x 7’H.
I have made some interesting changes on my piece called “Flight Pattern.” I had been working simultaneously on 11″x 14″ thread drawings in various colors but was resistant to the restrictions of the rectangular paper. I have now cut those drawings up and integrated them into the larger “Flight Pattern” wall piece in progress. There is something about the flow of color, the tangle of thread and the “leaves” of paper that overlap that I really enjoy. Reminds me of the Camellia trees outside my window.
With my sketchbook pages, it is often the space where I feel the most liberated. This drawing is from my studio journal from when I was working on “Constellation.” It shows my interest in certain parts of the installation having a focused center of gravity and weight.
I am currently working on collage elements for “Flight Pattern” which involves cutting images primarily from fashion and interior design sources and starting to arrange by groupings of color and texture. I then piece them together with my sewing machine and then will eventually attach these to pieced Duralene backing. This work is about fragmented color and how beauty feels most profound to me when it is imperfect and constantly reinventing itself.
This is a work in progress that I am excited about called “Revery.” It is made from plastic vegetable bags, the red, green and yellow plastic netted bags that hold ginger, avocados, and oranges. I sew them together, cut them up and sew back in a meditative pace as they slowly develop a type of web on my wall. I find it very soothing. I am attracted to the vegetable netting because it feels organic and malleable but yet is not. It is that place when both things can be true and I try to really explore that in my work.
This is a new “thread drawing” where I take bits of embroidery floss, cut them into shreds and then sew them onto the paper with my Singer machine era 1967. This piece measures 11″ x 14″. I call this piece “Byways” and plan to make a series of them in various colors.
The artist working on “Constellation.” Color photograph taken by Al Wong, © 2016.