WEEKLY ART PROJECT #44; BARKING MAD

My mind has been a bit obsessed with tree bark lately!

I am working on some new art pieces for a small exhibition in February &...you guessed it...my new work is inspired by bark!

To inspire me even further, a friend has lent me this book.  Within these pages are the most incredible photos of tree bark from all over the world. It is such a visual pleasure to look through.  As a result I have spent a considerable amount of time trying to find & organise my own collection of tree bark photos... none of which come close to those shown in this book!

It seemed logical then, to use bark as my theme  for this weeks art project.

Time was in short supply, so I reached across my messy desk, grabbed a sketch pad, a view finder, pens & pencils & started looking at lines!

I was trying to find a place where I could adapt the deepest grooves in the tree bark into lines & from there, I could work out shapes & colour.

Once settled on a design & a colour palette that pleased me, I found some fabrics that were a close match.  A friend has recently given me some discontinued curtain swatches, which are a convenient size for these weekly projects.  They also contain fabrics of different weights & textures.  Having chosen mainly plain colours, I hoped that the texture of the fabrics themselves would provide interest.

For this project I had two different coloured outlines.  The outlines in the first colour were drawn on using a lightbox with the template/pattern/map underneath.  Once cut back, I drew the line guide for the second coloured outline freehand.

After cutting back those outlines, it looked like this & I was pleased to see a bit of textural variation coming through.  Cutting back continued ...

What this last photo doesn't show, is how thick the depth of the piece was!  It was a little like a relief sculpture!

I was very pleased with this outcome & love the flowing lines & colour combo.  Not a bad result when I started this today, completely lacking in motivation & desperately wanting to get on with my other work!