Sunday, May 9, 2010

Whispers On The Wind

After months of work, the new series debuted yesterday evening at the Langhenrich Gallery in the Unitarian Universalist church in Fort Wayne! The series is a tribute to my mother, who passed away May 23, 2009.

The piece above is Voices in the Forest, a digital collage on rust-dyed fabric. The backing is also rust-dyed fabric and includes the quotation: "How quiet the forest would be if only he with the best voice sang!"



These digital collages, such as Secrets of the Butterfly Fairy, above, combine vintage artwork and photographs I have taken.


There are 12 pieces in the series. They all, including Naptime Escape (above) have cold-forged copper "frames" that have been flashed with a propane torch (takes longer than it sounds) and sealed with Earth Safe Finishes Sealer to prevent color change.


You can see the stencil layer in most of the photos, including Mushroom Girl (above)

All collages were printing in black and white, even Invitation to Tea (above) and then color was added with Earth Safe Finishes watercolor recipe for fabric.

How High The Moon is a particular favorite! The delicate rusted tie-dye background enriches the moonscape with texture. The moon is highlighted with a shimmering gold metallic paint, the stars are white metallic, and the tree is heavily textured with free-motion stitching.



Guarding the Gerberas is on heavily rusted fabric. It was one of the original two compositions that led to this series. I learned a lot about printing on rust-dyed fabric!


The background fabric for Flight Lessons (above) was rusted with springs from the seat of an old chair.

Morning of the Unicorn features distressed mylar wrapping paper cut into shapes and then stitched to the background.

12 comments:

Robin said...

Love love, How High the Moon.
Congratulations on your showing.
R

ann said...

Congratulations on a wonderful series! You should be very proud.
Wishing you JOY on your journey,
ann

Gerrie said...

Beautiful, Beth!!

sonora.jones said...

Beth, you know I love your Gerberas! Nora

Unknown said...

Looks good! What size are these?

Carole said...

Beth, these are gorgeous... a beaaautiful series. Congratulations on your show!

Art by Rhoda Forbes said...

Fabulous series, I love the colors you achieved. The gold pressed pieces are such a wonderful addition to each piece.
Wonderful work.

Anonymous said...

Very nice series and a wonderful tribute to your Mother. I believe she see them too. I have both your books and now starting my first altered piece as part of a postcard exchange. Your talents obviously go way beyond photo manipulation and threadpainting. Thx for sharing.

fabricpixie said...

I love your series, and like you, How High Moon is my favorite but all of them are wonderful.

You have a great talent for 'seeing' and creating with your rust dyed fabric. I love to rust dye, but have difficulty 'seeing' and deciding what to do with it.

thank you for sharing

warm quilt hugs, sue in CA

Jeanne Turner McBrayer said...

These are gorgeous, and I am very intrigued by the cold-forged copper frames. Very unique!

伯函 said...
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janice pd said...

Beth, these are gorgeous. I lost my mother this spring and your tribute to yours is inspiring.