Recent Work -part of an exhibition at Glen Vista Gallery in Kalamazoo, Michigan, May-June, 2016

                                                             Bright Spot  -  2016

Duet  -  2016

Swing #1, 2 - 2016

                                                             The One That Got Away - 2016

Recent Work...

Misty Morning  -  3/2015

Inlet -  12/2014

Apogee  -  11/2014

Born of Water

New piece just finished which has been submitted to the MI ARTS competition at Holland Area Arts.  This piece holds a variety of meanings.   It is , in a sense, interactive because I challenge the viewer to find faces throughout the piece.  Some who have already viewed the piece have found even more than I intentionally included.  That is exactly what I was aiming for.  It is an exploration of human being's relationship to water, with a whimsical nod to the historical myths surrounding water and its resident creatures.

Tulip Time Poster Entry
This piece was among the top 20 entries from which this year's Tulip Time Poster was chosen and will be displayed in one of the business venues downtown Holland, MI during Tulip Time - May 3-10, 2014 for Viewer's Choice voting.

Primary Tulips  © Lynette Williams

One of Three

I am excited to get going on the 3 textile fusion (aka: fabric collage) art pieces I must finish by Nov 22.  I am re-creating for the St Joseph Oakland Mercy Hospital 3 pieces I had originally completed in smaller sizes.  The new ones must be 20" x 30"  and the reason I am so excited is that I have the chance to improve them.  The first one I am working on was completed , I think,  in 2009.  I believe I have grown as an artist in the last 4 years and hope that these pieces will reflect that.
Here is the original.

Girl On Beach - Fabric Collage
© Lynette Williams

And here is the new piece currently in progress.

Girl On Beach 2 - Fabric Collage
© Lynette Williams

The original holds a certain charm for me even though I may think the second one has more detail or is more technically proficient.  Maybe it's like a favorite song that has been re-done.  I often don't like the re-makes as well even though they are more advanced in recording or instrumentation.  Who can explain why that is ?  It just is.  I guess we must conclude that they are just different -  the one not necessarily better or worse than the other.  Products of a different time.

More updates soon !

LW

That Time Already

I can't believe its time to think about next year's Tulip Time....as in the poster competition for it.  I almost didn't enter this year because of time constraints, but I got an inspiration and ran with it.  I cannot share the entire image but I will hint that I have gone in a bit of a different direction than previous years.  Here is a sneak peak :)

fabric collage by Lynette Williams

lynettelwilliams.com

To be continued......in February, 2014

LW

Lifespan

It's been a slow year for collaging, much to my chagrin.  But I have recently been working on this piece of my mother.  I wanted to show the transitions of life....how we change but also retain a part of who we were.  I obviously had a complete  photographic record of my mother so she was an ideal subject to use.

Lifespan ©  Lynette Williams

I have faded one image into the next and found it quite a challenge at times to find just the right color fabric to use.  I used sheer fabrics as well which can also be very challenging.  My purpose in doing so was to explore the process of taking bits of our former selves with us as we transition to the next stage of life.  I found this piece very rewarding, not only because it was my mother and I contemplated someone that I knew so well, but also because I was stretching myself as an artist to explore a different way of using fabric to exhibit the idea that was in my head.

Next challenge is to reproduce 3 previously completed pieces for St Joseph Oakland Hospital in a larger size.  Updates to come !

LW

Tulips On The Rise

more @ www.lynettelwilliams.com

Beneath the white blanket of snow, down under the brown cold earth are the beginnings of glorious tulips.
Even now they are going through their yearly cycle of growth that will burst into wonderful colors and shapes in April and May.  Tulips are really big in this area.  Tulip Time in Holland, Michigan is one of  the country's largest tulip festival and plans begin early to celebrate this exquisite flower and the Dutch culture it represents.  Every year the festival highlights one particular image of the tulip on a poster and other items. Until very recently this image was commissioned from a particular artist.  Three years ago the process changed to a competition whereby artists can submit their interpretations of the tulip and the festival.  The top 20 artists' images are chosen and announced.  Then the jury has the difficult task of choosing one image for that year.
I was honored to be among the top 20 artists again this year and last night enjoyed dinner and the company of the local arts council members as well as local sponsors and the Tulip Time board members.  Highlights included the details of the upcoming festival in May and the unveiling of the winner - Maggie Schultz and her beautiful watercolor - "Clothed In Splendor".  The other 19 images will be displayed in downtown Holland during Tulip Time  when the people's choice event will be held.  Viewers of all the artwork can vote for their favorites and awards will be given for the top 3 .  It was a wonderful display of local and regional talent and I love seeing the variety of artwork that comes from this event.

~LW
www.lynettelwilliams.com

Up in the Frigid Midwest

This time of year is the perfect time to do indoor projects.....including hobbies and art.
And as the beginning of the year seems to make
 us more introspective,  what a great time it is to exercise our creative muscles !

 If you are a painter, writer, musician, filmmaker or artist of any kind,  take advantage of technology by finding podcasts about your particular area .  But also think outside the box and explore other
disciplines.  For example, I sometimes listen to podcasts about film because the verbal description or critique of a film can conjure up images for my artwork.  It is also a means of inspiring me to create when I find myself in a slump.  And I don't mean watching a movie !  I find it is a great exercise  to listen to words about something to stimulate creative ideas.  They have a far different effect on creativity than watching a video.  Listening to a book on audio can have the same effect.
I am a firm believer that all of us have more creativity than we think we do.  We often don't think we are creative simply because we are not open to the idea that we can create something.

    "Think left and think right and think low and think high.  Oh, the thinks you can think up                  if only you try."  ~Dr Seuss

All it takes, in some cases, is to just try something, however small, and keep trying.  The key is to start, and then build on your successes. 

So on this last day of the first month of a new year...... I encourage you to create something... be proud of it ...and continue to create things!  It can be a very satisfying occupation of your time.

"Every child is an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up"  ~  Pablo Picasso

Guest Artist - Christine Penna

There is so much variety in how we all see things and how we interpret what we see.

Unique styles of expression are very interesting to me. That is why I am always excited to find other fabric collage artists who are willing to share their work.  

 Today I am showcasing the work of Christine Penna from Redding, California.  Her style is very loose, which I like, and she uses surface threads and stitching which adds another dimension to her pieces.  She gets her inspiration from paintings and from life.  Locally, they call her the  "scrap lady"  because she goes around the quilt shops on sew days to collect all of the scraps that the quilters would otherwise throw away -  a woman after my own heart :).

I will let her explain how she began "painting with fabric"

"When I started learning to quilt, I very quickly decided I didn't like the "traditional quilting and piecing process"  I admire them but don't have the patience for the preciseness of the process and I tend to get bored!

Years and years ago there was a article in Good Housekeeping about creating pictures using fabric and it stuck in my brain.  After I started looking for another way to use fabrics, I found the wonderful world of "Art Quilts" and got hooked!  Living in a rather small town I didn't have access to taking classes so I just starting reading everything I could find on the Internet regarding threadpainting, collage work, fusible applique, etc....................

The Memorial Quilt of my dog was my first attempt at putting together a collaged piece!  I printed the picture of the dog and fused it to the background piece and then just started cutting, piecing and sewing!  (the yarn on the tree was the result of working late at nite after a few glasses of wine!  I just call it "whimiscal").  It was also my first attempt at threadpainting which I enjoy!

Fabric Collage by Christine Penna

The other pieces were the result of trying to recreate some paintings I came across with fabric and thread!  I tend to try to do pieces that draw the viewer in a little deeper..........................

                                                             Fabric Collage by Christine Penna

With each piece, I try to explore different techniques and styles.  I really enjoy the challenge of creating a fabric and thread piece as if it were a watercolor or oil painting.

Fabric Collage by Christine Penna

Fabric Collage by Christine Penna

My next project will be a landscape using all those hundreds of little pieces of fabrics I've been collecting the last year!  I think I will try to use the process where you slice up a bunch of fabric into spaghetti-like pieces and group them into little color piles and then using Bonash powder, fuse them down on a background piece."

I look forward to seeing that particular project.  Thanks, Christine for being willing to share your artwork !

Keep up the great work ! 

 

LW

Completed Art Prize 2012 Entry

Title :  Top Heavy
Medium:  Fabric Collage
Dimensions:  4 ft x 8 ft

More about the rationale behind this piece at :
        http://www.artprize.org/lynette-williams/2012/top-heavy

A Bit of Whimsy

A while back I submitted some artwork for a cd jacket to a musician - Annie J Dahlgren  - looking for said art for a soon to be released cd.  The process of making this piece was a bit different in that  the image was conjured up form the lyrics of a song which is to be the title track of the cd.  My interpretation may be a bit literal but I saw some analogies between the cat and her cigarettes and I couldn't resist.   Below are a few snaps of the original layout and the finished product.  If you are interested in the lyrics, they may be found here :  http://alleycatcd.com/lyrics/ 

I believe the cd has not as yet been released but I am curious to know which of the artwork submitted was chosen for the cover.  There were some great entries !!

~LW

 

Showing progress so far of my 2012 Art Prize Entry

Another Nameless Face

I have come to feel as if I know these children whose images I am creating out of snippets of fabric.  As their features develop so does their character.  My soft life has not prepared me for such adversity as they see daily.  May we who have so much never lose sight of our responsibility to the rest of the world.
Here are some of the latest additions to my Art Prize piece.

And a bit of progress on the "other side" of things.  This piece is meant to focus on the plight of millions of children around the world whose "reality" is a daily struggle to survive - contrasted to my life - our lives - which by comparison almost seems "cartoon-ish"  because of the comfort and over-abundance of "stuff" we have.

Given my self-imposed deadline of August 15th ,  I see a few late nights ahead.
Much is yet to be finished.
Better keep cuttin' up !
LW
 

Art Prize

Somehow I managed to delete the post from Sat, June 2.  Clever of me, eh?  Thank goodness for that backwards arrow.  So I am copying and pasting and then adding a new image I have been working on today for the Art Prize collage.

(previous post)


Art Prize is a large local open art competition held in Grand Rapids, MI.  Last year artists from 39 different countries entered the exhibition which is held from mid-September to early October.  It took me a long time to decide about doing this, but, I have finally committed to enter this year.
 Over the past year or more I have been repeatedly confronted with the fact that even though I am not a rich person by usual standards,  I have great wealth compared to so many around the world. The piece I am working on for Art Prize focuses on the children of the world who for a variety of reasons barely have subsistence and struggle daily to survive.  Their living conditions are deplorable and many are orphans left to care for younger siblings.  It also focuses on our part in this scenario as those who have so much ! . Here is a part of the much larger piece I am working on  ( 8 feet wide x 4 feet high).

still tweaking these but wanted to show progress so far

 

Come back to check on my progress as I will be posting updates to this project periodically.

Thanks for stopping by :) ~ LW

 

“We can ask no greater joy, than to go gently through this place that has been given to us, and make something out of it. Not necessarily to fully understand it, for that might be an impossible task, but to honor it in our own way.” – Robert Genn, painter and author of The Painter Keys.

It's official...life is too busy !  But, for me, in a good way.  I have managed to finish 2 commissions and a birthday gift in the last couple of months !  Here are the results...

The Path # 1,1   by Lynette Williams - fabric collage on panel

I have been concentrating on developing depth in most of my work lately.
 Life is traveling into the unknown and this piece suggests to me the idea of choosing a path in life and how important it is which  path we choose to take.

Home  by Lynette Williams  -  fabric collage on panel

A commissioned work depicting a family farm that is no longer there.  The trick was to piece together from a couple of family photos a semblance of what was once there.  Again, trying to achieve a sense of depth and include all of the elements the family remembers from the farm.

The Path   # 1, 2 by Lynette Williams  -  fabric collage on panel

Living near Lake Michigan,  I am privileged to see it often and enjoy the inspiration it provides.  It has been a favorite place to be for most of my life and continues to be a favorite subject for my art.
This piece was commissioned by someone who lives nearer the lake than me and walks the beach almost daily.




Can't wait to start "cuttin up" my next project.
LW

And now..for something completely different !

I have been exploring something a little different.  I know I have a lot of UFOs (UnFinishedObjects) that were in previous posts, but when inspiration hits, you have to run with it.  You never know what may come of it.  Besides, those projects aren't going anywhere.  They will still be there when I am ready to pick them up and finish them. And I am confident they will be even better for having some space to  "grow".
  I have been intrigued with the monochromatic of late.  My fabric hunt for these resulted in some interesting combinations.  This series will be called "Monochrome Garden" or "What my flower garden might look like at midnight".  Some will have a hint of color like this one.

More to come in future !
LW

American Avocet

This fabric collage was commissioned to co-ordinate with a particular room, so the colors were chosen accordingly. "American Avocet "  was inspired by a photo of this bird seen locally and it will reside in the home of an avid bird lover.  It is a mid-western and Pacific coastal migratory bird that inhabits marshland, beaches and ponds during its breeding season.  It turns gray in the winter.  Its bill, very long and thin, is used in a side to side motion in the shallow water to search for crustacea and insects.

"American Avocet"    by Lynette Williams

                                                              Fabric Collage    14" x 11" on cradled board

Being a mother, I cannot warm to this bird.  It does not feed its young!  They fend for themselves.  But incubation is shared by both parents  -  a very redeeming quality :) and it is a very stately looking bird. 
More birds are in my "collaging " future.  I like this version of being in touch with nature....especially in the dead of winter.
Till next time
LW
                                                        

Guest Artist

With a sigh of relief, I am taking a day of laziness.  Up to almost the last minute I was extremely busy, with everyone wanting something sewn to embellish their home before Christmas.  What a joyous time of year!!  I love to celebrate the birth of our Savior and build wonderful memories with family and friends.  But it can be a very busy and tiring time!!  Now it is time to relax!
The continued struggle to find time for Fabric Collage was never more evident than in the last 2 months.  Hence, the lack of posts on this blog.  I am taking this week between Christmas and New Year to rejuvenate.  Included in that rejuvenation will be some finished Collage pieces.  One is a late November birthday gift for a friend and another is a commissioned piece to be given as a Christmas gift...also late :(.

I am pleased to have been in recent communication with Dattatreya Phadke.  He is a Pathologist in Novi, MI who has enjoyed doing many forms of art since childhood.  Among his pursuits are handmade greeting cards, acrylic, one-stroke, watercolor and watercolor batik painting as well as photography.  His education and career in the medical field has prevented him from pursuing art in a formal way, but, he uses his spare time to satisfy his creative flair.  His most recent addition to this list is his experimentation with fabric on canvas.   His first piece is called  "Harmony"  which he did with whatever bits of fabric he could find at his home.

"Harmony"

                                                             12" x 12"  Fabric Collage on boxed canvas
                                                                                  by Dattatreya Phadke



 Since that first endeavor, Dattatreya has enlarged his portfolio.
I really enjoy his style and felt compelled to share his art.   

"Bird of Paradise"
11" x 14" Fabric collage on canvas panel
by Dattatreya Phadke

   










                                                 
           


 In this piece, Dattatreya achieves a beautiful blend of colors.  The background is gorgeous but does not over-power the birds of paradise flowers. 

                                                 
       

                                                                         In Bloom 
                                                     11" x 14" Fabric Collage on canvas panel
                                                                                     by Dattatreya Phadke


 I love this vibrant suggestion of a flower in full bloom.  I think balance and texture are the keys to this pieces' success.

In a piece such as this, the selection and placement of color is crucial and that is what Dattatreya does very well.

                                                                       Snail Trail
                                                  11 x 14  Fabric Collage on canvas panel
                                                                by Dattatreya Phadke

                                                                   Fall Splendor
                                                                     11" x 14"  Fabric Collage on canvas panel
                                                                                      by Dattatreya Phadke

                                                                            
Dattatreya found inspiration for this piece from a photo he took in Traverse City, Michigan this fall.
Beautifully done !

I hope you have  enjoyed these as much as I have.  Thanks to Dattatreya for his willingness to share his art with us !  I am looking forward to seeing what he creates next.
Till next time !
LW

The Paper Garden

I am reading a book titled "  The Paper Garden"  by Molly Peacock.  I want to own this book !  It is not only interesting but just a beautiful book !   It is about a woman named Mary Granville Pendarves Delany who lived in Great Britain in the 1700's and at the age of 72 began her "career" as , what we would today call,  a paper collage artist .  She noticed one afternoon that a piece of colored paper matched the dropped petal of a geranium.  She began cutting petal shapes out of the paper and her fascination began.  She called these creations  "flower mosaicks"  and completed nearly a thousand cut-paper botanicals in the next 10 years.  Remember, she began at age 72.  That is amazing, not to mention inspiring !
She always painted the paper on which they were mounted with black watercolor and..."once dry, she'd paste onto these backgrounds hundreds ....of the tiniest dots, squiggles, scoops, moons, slivers, islands and loops of brightly colored paper, slowly building up the verisimilitude of flora"  ( p.4).   Mrs Delany's niece donated hers works to the British Museum in 1895 where they are bound in leather-edged volumes and seen by appointment!
"The Paper Garden"  credits Mary Delany with the rudimentary creation of collage at a time when paper of all kinds, including wallpaper, was handmade.  She actually did use some wallpaper but mostly she would paint rag paper with watercolors and cut the pieces for her work from them.  Here is an example of one of her most famous and most popular images - Damask Rose.  Mrs Delany was 80 years old when she completed this !

The author counts 71 pieces in the main flower .













Mrs. Delany is said to have poured herself into this endeavor as  
" employment and amusement"  to fill the void after the deaths of
her beloved sister, Anne, and her husband, Patrick, whom she called her best friend.

I am looking forward to reading the rest of the book but am already tremendously inspired,  since I too have started on an artist's journey rather later in life than most.
LW

  For more on the life and works of Mary Delany you can follow this link :
http://www.britishmuseum.org/search_results.aspx?searchText=Mary+Delany