Challenge 12 Mosaic

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from that first lullaby

that your mother sings, music is part of our lives - it's woven into our fabric. 

We live with nursery rhymes, TV jingles, theme songs, camp fire singalongs - we can't escape!  We turn the radio up when a favourite song comes on, so we can belt it out along with the radio - right?  I know I'm not the only one that does that!

Right through our lives we are surrounded by music.  Anthems at the beginning of sporting events. Graduation ceremonies - all that Pomp and Circumstance.  Weddings - that first waltz, right through to a funeral march.  Even nature - bird songs, whale songs, the lovely musical sound of a waterfall.  It's all around us, and in us.

I started out doing some weaving - 

thought that would work, so I created some fabric paper by gluing some sheet music to a piece of muslin.  I spritzed it with some ink before the glue dried to give it a bit of colour.  Once it was dry, I sliced it up and woven it into a piece of satin.

I had some fabric with music on it so I pieced it  with some random fabric to make my piece bigger.  Next step was to create a stencil using freezer paper, and then using paint sticks, stencil a treble clef on to the fabric

I also quilted a woven area into one section.

I needed something more with the treble clef, so I painted some fusible interfacing, cut out some notes and stuck them on.  Decided they were too black so rubbed them with a little paintstick to tone them down a bit

then finished it all off with some quilting - the words "Music - Woven into the fabric of our lives" and a few extra notes and treble clefs

Do you have music in your soul?

DISSONANCE

This variety of triangles with differing fabric patterns in an asymmetrical arrangement produces a feeling of  tension and dissonance. This is not  how I generally view the “music of life”, but I wanted to break out of my traditional method of approaching our challenges. A literal interpretation of music and its beauty was not intended.  After looking at some examples of “modern art” I was struck with the idea of creating something which was not literally musical, but rather portrayed an aspect of music which is almost antithetical to the harmony one usually expects and appreciates. 

For a previous project, I had fused and cut out triangles, but that idea failed to come together. The fabrics I used are a combination of commercial, hand dyed, acrylic monoprints and digital inkjet prints. The quilting, although parallel, hopefully enhances the dissonance theme. The arrangement of the pieces follows no set pattern. The placement of the black lines and the shapes going off the edge of the composition are intended to increase the tension.

Dissonance
17 5/16"  x 18"

A Tribute to Frank Mills

So what do you think of when you think of music?  Opera, Rock 'n Roll, Jazz?  It was a question I asked myself when Janet suggested this theme.  First I thought of portraying a musical instrument; something like this:

 

But this wasn't striking a chord with me.  I thought perhaps rendering the image of a great musician might do the trick, something like this:

 

 

Nope this wasn't sounding the right note for me either.  Okay, more research and I thought, hmmm maybe a well know album cover, something like this:

 

 

This "mouldy oldie" was not going to play nicely in fabric.  Maybe I was taking this too literally, so I browsed my music collection and heard this:

 

 

This provided the harmony that I needed to get me started and on my way to completing a piece for this challenge.  So my tribute to Frank Mills is my interpretation of this particular melody in fiber. 
 

 

Thank you Janet for bringing MUSIC into my studio. If you step over to my blog, you will see how I put it all together.

Music - On Stage, Singing and Dancing

Music began in my sketchbook .... dangling notes, dancing ....

....perhaps the notes shouldn't dangle .....

 .... was winter on my mind?

 .....I kept thinking of "every good boy deserves fudge" .... did you learn your music lines with those words?

 ...and finally getting close to my final plan .... five notes .....

I did make a final sketch but didn't take a photo of it .... just started digging into my fabric stash .....

 I was thrilled to find that I didn't have to create "rhythm" background, as I already have this dyed piece in the colors I wanted.... but I did dye the yellow/orange and red strips to match .....

Decisions.... how to add the notes .... machine zig-zag, machine stitch cord, or ..... I finally decided to hand stitch the cording in place......

 ....it was lacking something. I wanted the treble clef to be dancing and singing with the backup of notes, but this wasn't it ... so I added the dance trail of the treble clef as it had entered the stage .... seemed to tie the piece together and ground the treble clef......

 ....but those notes were too stiff so I ripped parts out and tried to make them a little more graceful.....and I added another cord next to the original cord of each of the white notes. I'm hoping the music show is ready to go!

 Thanks Janet for a fun challenge!

Musical Interlude

It's relatively quiet in our little group, so I thought a little musical interlude might be nice.  Here is a shared piece from YouTube.

On another note, just in case you're curious here is a sneak peak of what is waiting in the wings.

Picture is not as good as it could be, but it gives you an idea.

The music of life

sometimes it is smooth and melodious - everything feels good - life is good.

 

 

 

 

Sometimes it is jarring and discordant - it can set your nerves on edge and upset the balance and cause stress. 



The latter appears to be the music of our lives these days.  With that in mind, and to get us all back to a relaxed, creative state, the reveal for the music theme - our 12th theme, will be postponed to January 12, 2014 - the 12th on the 12th.  Seems fitting, doesn't it?

Now we will be able to enjoy the music of the holidays and really get creative with our pieces!

the 12th challenge

"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything." 
Plato


Use music - lyrics, images, feelings, instruments, notes - whatever strikes your fancy, to set "flight to the imagination" in creating your next challenge piece.  Make it mixed media!

 

Reveal will be November 30, size 16" x 20", horizontal or vertical,

Have fun!