I found a very interesting book the other day, Connecting Art to Stitch by Sandra Meech. I've read the first few chapters and decided to start doing some of the exercises in the book. It's purpose is to show/teach you how to take your artwork and interpret it in fabric/sewing.
This first lesson was about doing a simple scene in shades of gray. I looked through my file of still life photos and came up with an old one I've always liked. It shows an ashtray on a table with a chair, looking down from above. I converted it to black and white in Photohop, and used a filter to simplify it.
Having read the chapter a few days before, I went out to the studio in the morning and started painting paper with acrylic paints in seven shades of gray going from white to almost black. That in itself was quite a learning experience. It took me a lot longer than I thought and I really enjoyed doing it because of all the things I learned. I was really impressed with the results, too!
But, I didn't think it all the way through, and I didn't do it the way the book suggested with tracing paper and charcoal. I just used the regular paper I would use when painting with acrylics - I should have used thinner paper. This paper is too thick for this project, but it takes the paint well!
I used a tracing paper overlay to aid in alignment, and cut the pieces out with an exacto-knife. The white edges of the paper show, particularly on the darker ones. I was very disappointed at first, but since it's consistent throughout, I think it looks okay.
This is 'Ashtray' in cut painted paper, approximately 8" by 10".
I really want to do this in fabric now!
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