In the last month, July 2021, or so I’ve had a lot of ins and outs with family situations and my mind has been scattered. Well, life has its twists and turns. For some reason I found myself in my art work area one afternoon, confronting three bottles of fabric paint and some white cotton yardage.
I had originally bought the white fabric to make mask interiors. I’ve got a big collection now so this fabric is just hanging around. It’s maybe 44″ x 30″? 24″? I didn’t measure it. I just laid it out on the table and started painting. Did I mention that my fabric paints were black and white? Not enough scope of color for me, so I grabbed some of my acrylics paints. And, I have some acrylic paint markers – supposed to work on all surfaces, so things should be fine.
I started working at random, starting in the lower left corner. Now I have this image.
Next, I am going to decide what its next stage should be (I believe it will involve sewing). I showed it to a friend and she has some ideas. I’d welcome anyone’s suggestions here, too.Then one afternoon I will find myself in the basement again…what will happen this time?
Claudia McGill and Her Art World 
Very powerful but I will say more in an email xo
This seems like it is quite beautiful.
And there they are again – your people, your distinctive take on the human species.
Even in your “scattered” state, you are prolifically creative. And we are the beneficiaries.
Thank you. This cloth thing, I had no idea it would turn out to do this. I have since bought some more fabric pens and hoping for a chance to do some more things like this, but maybe smaller, I want to try out the finishing aspects before I go after this bigger one. But I do have more cloth in large sizes too…hmmm…so tempting.
I know, I love her stylized people and animals as well, what a cool idea yet again, Claudia.
Thank you. It was easy to do and the materials such as the fabric and pens/paints, not expensive. I figured I had nothing to lose!
This looks great so far. I like the idea of doing some kind of stitching or textile work on it. I look forward to seeing how it evolves.
I’m getting some ideas as to how to treat it, and I think for this one it will be very simple. I do not want to interfere with the painted images but I also do not want to emphasize one part over another (such as might happen if I echo-stitched around each figure). And then there is the idea of, batting or just another light cloth layer, or what color of thread?…I am getting there, but not yet. I might try some things on some smaller creations first.
Hi Claudia, this is so good. I would be very happy to have made this piece. Personally I would go another thin cloth layer or the thinest of battings, particularly if you are hand stitching. Just that little bit extra helps.
One very useful tip that I picked up from a workshop I am currently doing is to make sure your brush clean up rag is a similar piece of good cotton. So as you wipe your brushes etc the days paint ends up as a potential base for new work. I did this a few days ago during a gelli-printing session and I swear that that rag is better than most of my prints!🤣
Thank you for what you said, it makes my day. This piece was sort of done impulsively and I surprised myself somewhat. You know what, I did buy more fabric markers as a result, and I hope to try some small ones, or maybe more bigger ones. It was fun. Thank you for your reccomendations. I have been thinking along the same lines myself. I think the piece mostly needs more wweight and not a lot of interference from stitching. I am going to investigate battings and I agree, the thinnest I can find, or I will stick with a light canvas cloth backing. I have to do machine stitching since my eyes are not good enough for hand work any more. I was thinking of just doing simple vertical straight lines down the piece, spaced maybe 2.5 or 3 inches apart? I think white thread, except for maybe in that black section at the top. Do you have any thoughts about this? I would welcome them. Thank you. And as for your tip about the rag, I totally agree. Both on having something like this available (when painting I usually have paper or even a canvas or board to wipe off exces paint) and I have t hought the same thing – the inadvertant piece was better than the one I was working on. Sometimes I think I should just shut my eyes and paint!
Fantastic! I look forward to seeing what you do next!
Thank you!
Claudia, I have some ideas for machine stitching. I will take the time to copy your image and will draw some possible stitching lines for you. I think just a grid or straight lines by themselves could detract from the overall piece.
Be back to you shortly.
I will email the ideas to you.
Much better use of the fabric than mask interiors (smile). Love the composition!
Sometimes just getting out the materials and starting in is what it takes. I did buy more fabric markers. They are cheap and fun to use. I hope to try more of this kind of thing with them – the closely woven cloth worked well for it (vs T shirt material which was a bust).
I sense there are strong feelings in this piece. And you mentioned adding sewing, which immediately caught my attention. If you quilt it (ha!) it would add even more depth to the image.
I’m tossing ideas around in my head, Leonie who you may know has given me some things to consider, and that has led to more ideas…The piece does need some weight to it and finishing. Within the limitations of my eyesight and my skills, I will get there. I am enjoying thinking about it. I also bought a couple of sets of the fabric markers. They were cheap and fun to use. Now who knows where that will take me???
I too have had fun with fabric markers. Do you know about Inktense pencils? Made by Derwent. They are expensive but magical
Yes, I have some of these, a small set. I have used them sometimes to color drawings or just on their own. I love the depth of the colors.