October 22, 2013

A New Textile: "Lime Green/Black Ground"


Lime Green/Black Ground, hand dyed wool on linen, 11 x 10 in.


In my occasional Figure/Ground series (more of which you can see here) I am trying to compose a piece whose shapes are balanced in importance, so no shape becomes the primary figure but flips back and forth from foreground shape to background. I thought that by using an intense yellow-green, along with the curve pushing in from the right, the black shape wouldn't take over the composition. I'm not sure that the balance works, though, because that black shape is so dominant. It does move forward and back for me, becoming first a deep background space and then a shape in the foreground. 


Lime Green/Black Ground, detail


One way I try to equalize the shapes is by hooking a line of wool around each so that one shape doesn't seem to slide behind the other. I also hook in straight lines, horizontal and vertical, rather than following the shape, in order to prevent an illusion of form. I'm not sure if my choices have achieved my aims, but I suppose that it doesn't really matter, since I like the piece anyway.


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