Thursday, September 3, 2015

The Blues

Well, not really.  Just some blue stripes.  I keep circling back to stripes, going over my Pinterest pages, being fascinated by this most elemental of formats.  What is so compelling about stripes?  Look at Sean Scully, or any of the artists I mentioned in my last post about stripes

I was recently looking at images of the Gee's Bend Quilts - if you haven't seen them, take a look - and found the ones made from work clothes ("britches quilts") particularly moving.  Here are a few maybe finished small stripe paintings inspired by all of the above.  There are more in the works, all blue, but maybe they'll morph into other colors, I don't know. 

12"x12", acrylic on canvas

9"x12", acrylic on canvas

12"x12", acrylic on canvas

If you were to do a series of stripe paintings, where would you start?  How might you narrow your focus?  If you've done stripe paintings, where have they led you?

20 comments:

  1. It's easy to just regard stripes as lines across a page, but your #3 has broken the planes and given some to-and fro to the image. Just goes to show...lateral thinking is the key.

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  2. I have a series of messes right now, maybe I should turn them into stripes. I love Number 3.

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  3. Yes, the bits of orange/red, just enough to break up the blue and add spark, makes the third one my favorite, although I like them all - how interesting lines of blue can be!!

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  5. Here it is again...

    Jane, I have a Pinterest page called "stripes" loaded with the many, varied & different ways artists have painted the mark. Funny, I just showed my collegues my "Stripes" board this morning to generate lesson plans for my Line Lab series.. Such a simple mark with infinite painting possibilites! Trust me everyone can feel both challenged and successful making stripes no matter what your age.

    If its ok to post my board here it is... https://www.pinterest.com/misscostello/stripes/ Its a been a great springboard to show students many examples for inspiration/comparison. If only we could get Pinterest to give us the option to "slideshow" our board images.

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    1. Oh, thank you for this Pinterest board. It's fabulous!

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  6. I got to see the Gee's Bend exhibit when it came to Orlando some years back. I had never been that much interested in quilts or fabric art until then. WHAT a wow experience it was.

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    1. Lucky you! I am envious. I would love to see them in person.

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    2. very yummy inspiring board.

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  7. I have a Sean Scully board on Pinterest along with some of his you tube videos. I enjoy the way he speaks about his work.
    I haven't found myself interested in painting stripes myself but with such a narrow subject it seems like a great way to study the application of paint, layering of color, exploring color relationships where one color meets another, the thickness or thinness of the stripe.
    The possibilities are endless.
    It looks like your exploring some of those things already with your blue stripes. I love how the red peaks through in one of your works.
    The quilts you mentioned are wonderful. It makes me think about the Japanese boro quilts. Happy stripes.

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    1. EXACTLY! Use the stripe format to explore whatever you choose. That's what's so fascinating about simple formats. Glad you mentioned the Japanese boro quilts - actually quilts and clothing. I'd also been looking at images of those, and saw the affinity with traditional quilts, thus stripes....

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  8. I have never taken on stripes because i know they are harder than they look! My curiosity is peeked. i may take on your challenge. In the mean time, the last one is my favorite. It's the little peaks of red (orange?) that I like.

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  9. I have never taken on stripes because i know they are harder than they look! My curiosity is peeked. i may take on your challenge. In the mean time, the last one is my favorite. It's the little peaks of red (orange?) that I like.

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  10. in the first one, I like the difference between the painted stripes and the collaged ones. I might explore the soft vs. hard edges using both paint and collage. Cool idea - I always enjoy your blog so much, Jane!

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    1. Oops, looks like I'm mistaken. It is the second image that has collage, isn't it? Sorry!

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  11. Love the little bits of underneath color at the edges of the stripes. I have been doing stripes with my digital quilts....from photographed water ripples. I have more in the works. You can see them on my website if you are interested. http://www.charlotteziebarth.com/

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  12. Isn't it funny the obsessions we form as artists... I am fascinated by edges and the red peeking thru is really arresting...

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  13. I really love the variety of blues. It's a very soothing and relaxing artwork.

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  14. I loved the video of Sean Scully, watching him paint & talk about his life!

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