Do you plan out your background arrangements when you design an art piece? Sometimes I do. Sometimes I don't. I recently attended a class about design and the topic was about formatting the background first. Our teacher showed us that if we place our main object of attention onto a plain background the piece was a bit boring. But if we arranged a recognized formatted background first and then placed our main object on top of that, it was much more interesting. I went back and looked at some books on design I had at home and sure enough that topic was covered in those books, too. But our teacher,
Carolyn Land, did such a great job showing us how it was done and was much more convincing by showing us with her examples. She also showed us many more hints. I highly recommend you take a class from her.
So I went home and did homework and practiced each type of format. I monoprinted papers in coordinated color sets and made one of each format.
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| one set |
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| second set |
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| third set |
And here's an example of how to use them. Imagine if you wanted to make an art quilt of a basket on a mottled background. You could fuse or appliqué it and then quilt the background and it would look OK. But it would look much better if you first set up a background with one of those layouts.
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| basket added |
The background gives a place to anchor your object. Now realize, these are only paper cutouts. It would look much more attractive with fabric and stitching. But it gives you the general idea. So if it sparks an interest in you, perhaps take a look at some books on the topic of compositional formats or look some up on Pinterest. And practice some of your own. I'm linking this to
Off The Wall Friday where you can find other art quilt blogs. Please make comments on the artists posts so that they know you stopped by. Thanks for visiting.
As someone who works by instinct I found this very interesting. I shall look with different eyes at the things I like and at what I do; it's always nice to learn something, thanks.
ReplyDeleteSome artists do this naturally, by instinct. And once they are good at, they can break the rules and know how to make the piece still look good.
DeleteI had never really thought about this concept but it makes a lot of sense. Thank you for sharing :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm always on the lookout for concepts about design because that is where I spend most of my time. I can't just throw things together like some artists. I still struggle in this area.
DeletePiecing the background makes a big difference. Why use one fabric when you can use ten? I like your paper samples, they really give a good example of where you are going with the idea.
ReplyDeleteNow, If I can just make it work in all my actual art quilts...
DeleteVery interesting, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteGlad to pass on some information. I'm always thankful when other artists pass on what they know.
Deletethanks for sharing this idea. I am still thinking a out how I work, being too disjointed is bad. I really need one of those year long classes that challenge you to find a place to light.
ReplyDeleteAs I make more and more pieces, I settle on a process and evolve into colorways and styles that please me. I think it happens naturally over time. A long term class in design could help, though.
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