VIneyards / a "figure / ground" study

This is week 4 in my class Working in A Series 1 with Lisa Call.  There are 6 weeks left in the class.    It is going by really fast!  The work has been intense, at least for me, as I approach the assignments each week.

There is a different dynamic when I am just creating as opposed to completing an assignment for a class.  I think I feel like there is a lot  more pressure.  What if I choke on the assignment and hit a snag?  Well I kind of / almost did this week.  More on that in a bit.

This weeks assignment was about proportion, scale, and Figure and Ground.

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If you are not familiar with Figure and Ground, it basically is what comes forward in the composition or the prominent subject (the Figure)  and what recedes or is the background (the Ground).  Is there depth and dimension, or is the composition flat?  Either answer is legitamte depending on what the artist is trying to portray.  There are more things to consider too but that is a simplified defintion.

This week I had a rough start.  I sketched out my idea and then started to implement it.  The first pass I did not like what was happening with the line aspect in the piece.  Begin again.  Piece #2 was not going together as I had hoped.  It felt forced as I was working on it and it was NO FUN.  Both pieces ended up in the trash.  It was late so I went to bed.

The next morning I started again.  Now mind you, I had over 40 fabrics pulled and neatly stacked on my work table to pull from.  I selected 3.  The third round for my composition was now on track.  I knew what I wanted and it was more about taking away than adding; not always easy to do.  You know the mantra, "Less is more".

I completed piece 3 and put it up on my design wall.  Not quite there yet, close, but no cigar.  I knew in my heart what I needed to change.  Piece 4 or Vineyards 6 was FINALLY born.  There were a lot of birth pains for this piece.   I took a big gamble with piece #4 and switched up the colors from the previous piece.  The reason it was a gamble was because I was really hoping the colors I selected would read as "Figure and Ground" but I was not sure.  I trusted my gut and proceeded.  At this point, what did I have to lose?

Here is Vineyards 6:

Vineyards 6 measures 12"x18".  It was all about scale and line with this piece, and iterpretng  a vineyard during high season when it is filled with foliage and fruit.  I played with scale to magnify as well as create distance in the fields.  

Notice how things don't line up exactly but where they do, that is an important part of the piece.  I really like what is happening on the right side where things line up, merge and the surprise of the patterned detail.

In my critique this week I listed the things that I would do different on the next round.  I think it would be a really viable exercise to create this piece one more time, implementing those changes.

Getting to this simplified abstraction of a vineyard was not an easy path for me this week.  I am really pleased however where I finally ended up.  One thing that I also realized when creating this post was cropping this image as I did at the top of the page was also an interesting composition.  See how this works?  One idea leads to another and another.......

On to the next assignment.  See you back here in a week.