X's and O's

a series of quilted paintings
2006
various sizes

XO 1

XO 2

XO 3

cotton fabric, variegated rayon threads, fiber reactive dyes, textile paints, discharge paste, oil sticks, brush painting, screen printing, dye painting, discharge painting, over-dye painting (many repeats), whole cloth (or minimal seams),machine and hand quilted

In the summer of 2004, I started a series of paintings whose imagery focused on Xs and Os. I am not sure why I chose those figures, but I think it may have to do with the flow of my arm movements while I was painting them! My whole body was involved and the process was very physical. I made big sweeping movements to paint a layer of multi-colored dye panels of cotton, then washed out excess dye at the sink, later I painted large, free hand Xs and Os with a cheap brush and the discharge paste. All of a sudden, the panels took on a dramatically new look, filled with painterly figures in white. Next, I over-painted the panels with different colors of dye to reveal new colors for the Xs and Os and overlays of color on the “backgrounds”. This three-step process was repeated many times per panel, creating depth, mysterious colors, shadows, and movements. At various points in the process, I screen printed Xs and Os with textile paints on the panels. This added even more of a sense of depth to the work.Very exciting! And, don’t forget all the trips to the sink to rinse and then the trips to the clothesline for drying in the wind. Final drawing into the panels was done with oil sticks.

Next, I considered whether to keep each panel as a whole cloth composition or to join parts of two or more panels into a piece. So far, three have been completed and one is whole cloth and the other two have just two seams each, combining parts of two paintings each. There are many more panels for me to play with; I’d guess that I can make at least fifteen more finished quilted paintings of Xs and Os. Stay tuned!