TextileArtist.org‘s seventh workshop was hosted by Gregory T. Wilkins, an artist most recently exploring abstract mark making. I can appreciate this, but this workshop was another that I wasn’t too excited for. Again, though, it is all about experiencing new techniques and I can be wrong about my expectations so I always try to give it a go at least once! (Some may remember I thought archaeology would be super boring. And while playing in the dirt to find bits of old discarded and broken trash may not be that thrilling, it still IS playing in the dirt, out in nature, with good people, learning cool stuff – I was clearly off on my expectations!)
I used some acrylic paint and smeared it on in a few places. I started with green, because since Boy seemed drawn to the “garbage art” so much, I thought he might like however this would turn out. Then I added some beige smears, and to throw it through a whirl, I added some purple.
To further add some random marks, I haphazardly cut out two variants of posterboard and traced around them with a sharpie in various colors. Yes, I thought, Boy will like this.
I didn’t like the flatness of it though, and so I cut it into uneven strips and sewed them back together. I had thought to cut it into more pieces and mix up how I sewed it back, but decided to leave it just as is. To add the texture, I simple unraveled some of the fabric all around for a nice little fringe.
Lastly, since I had my sewing machine out and I don’t use it that often, I decided to add some random marks using a zigzag stitch in black. A little plucking later, to free up some fringe that got tacked down, and I had an odd little piece of mixed media. I don’t know about you but it screams 1990s to me. And Boy did in fact love it. The girls at the guild suggested I could turn it into a mask – that’s a great idea!
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