Week 3 of my online Pamela Allen class was the grand cubism challenge. This was a tough one but a great way to wrestle with composition. We started by looking at cubist paintings. For our own pieces, we chose an object and fractured it in some way. Then tried to find its essence and add bits that picked up on that or on details in the object. And we were thinking again about creating contrast to make elements pop and working with positive and negative space.
My first attempt was close:
Pamela's only critique was that the additional fracture in the pitcher made it a little hard to read. I took that out and also decided I didn't like the white bits in that background fabric so switched to the polka dots:
For my second piece, I played with a fern shape:
Pamela thought the fabric in the upper left had too many busy lines, so I switched that out and do like this version better:
I felt like I was working on a giant puzzle this week. I'd get one area right, but then it would throw off something else. Frustrating at times, but I learned a ton.
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7 comments:
I like how complex and interesting your compositions are here, Robin. The fern piece is my favorite; the green and pink combo is really nice and I actually prefer your original with the busier print in the corner.
Wonderful and great to see the before and afters... that first critique about the fracture in the jug really interesting.
You will have some lovely pieces after this class and such knew fabric placement knowledge.
Jacky xox
I like to see how making one change in color or contrast alters the piece. The second teapot and fern seem to be more cohesive in their composition. It'll be fun to see what you do with week 4 exercises.
these are fun! it seems like you are learning a lot... it ALWAYS amazes me how changing one little thing can force you to want to change a half a dozen OTHER things...
Looks like you're doing some really fun, challenging things in this course. Isn't it great to stretch one's abilities and approach?!
I've got 6 fabric assemblages laid out on canvasses in my studio right now so I do understand the joy of playing with the colours, shapes and textures of fabric as you do. Thanks for taking the time to share what you're learning from this class.
Looks so difficult, the fern piece is also my favorite!
Thanks everyone! I found in gluing the final pieces together, I agreed with Suzanne and went back to my original background on the fern piece. One of the problems with Pamela's critiques is they are done digitally, so she can show us how much better that piece of fabric would look with fewer lines in it. But then it's often impossible to find a fabric that does the trick. Lots of compromising.
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