Spring Training

Spring brings baseball to Arizona.  March is probably my favorite month...sunny days, young players full of hope, pale-skinned tourists talking about the bad weather they've left back home and geometric patterns mowed in the outfield.  
 
My major filter is a visual one.  As I sit watching a game,  players' shadows or patterns in the grass are settling into my psyche. This composition started morphing in my imagination. It's a collage with sand paper, newsprint (baseball box scores) and painted paper.  As I wove black strips of paper into the "field", as if diagramming balls flying off bats, there was a snarl over home plate.  A nest?  So I added the origami crane.
 
By cutting the red shapes I needed from a painted paper for that first collage, I inadvertently created a stencil.  Using this, I painted a series of the geometric pattern in a progression of colors.  These became the basis for a series of watercolors and weavings....
 
This one was created by cutting up the orange sheet and weaving it through the yellow one.

​Paper is stiff and a little hard to weave, so I tried weaving ribbon into the purple one. The composition was flat and missed the mark.

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​​So I went back to paper strips on the most neutral painted "print" I had created. This seemed much simpler, direct and effective. I also liked the way it reveals the woven pattern as a strong design element.

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And so I was on my way -- beginning to think in new ways about my paintings.  I had painted patterns in my work for years and now I began to explore other (old familiar) ways to include them in my watercolors.

I couldn't help getting side-tracked a bit, carrying this basic painting to the computer and eventually  fabric designs.  At Spoonflower.com you can use this wonderful site to print your paintings on a variety of fabrics, gift wrap, even wallpaper! Here are three designs that sprung from my baseball field beginnings. 

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Hope you enjoy coming along on this journey with me.  If you'd like to receive occasional updates from my studio, please subscribe for updates. Many thanks ~ Candace ​

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