…Like Going Back to Where I’ve Never Been…

A new, hopefully quick, project has come along.  An AQF*, Marilyn, tells me about new opportunities (calls for entries, artist talks, possible marketing niches, etc.) as she hears about them.  This one is for hub cap art.  It will be an installation at the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft in August in conjunction with an Art Car month/event.  I’m sketchy on the complete details, but essentially they are looking for pieces of art created from hub caps, and the deadline for submissions is right around the corner.

[AQF – henceforth shall mean “Art quilter friend” – I figure if kids today can come up with another “LOL” or “OMG” or “BFF” every time you turn around, I can make up my own acronyms!  Apologies in advance to any company, organization, event, or product out there already going by the initials “AQF.”]

Although I have other ideas percolating and several things I need to get started on for the State Fair, I thought I could squeeze in this challenge.  After hearing about it, an idea immediately came to mind, and soon I was on the lookout for a renegade hub cap as I drove home from work…and there it was!  It was laying in the gutter one car up, driver’s side, as I was stopped at a red light.  As the car in front of me slowly edged up with the changing of the light, I was able to open my door and snatch up the hub cap without even having to get out of the car!  It seemed meant to be.

It’s a plastic hub cap (aren’t most of them these days?) from some Ford vehicle.  Because it’s rather scratched up, I thought to paint it, and that’s just what I’ve begun to do.  Knowing this needs to be a quick turnaround project, I found myself jumping right in and grabbing my usual acrylic colors, just like when I was focused on painting several years ago as my primary art medium.  In fact, I grabbed many colors, probably more than I’ll need – because I like to keep my options open, and I work intuitively.

I started at the center of the hub with a bright cadmium yellow, then blended in some alizarin crimson, followed by napthol crimson as I worked my way out to the edges.  A sunburst of color developed before my eyes, and it was like I had just been painting yesterday.  It was instantly familiar, but amusingly new.  It was, after all, a hub cap, and I’ve never done that before.  And, my plan includes beads and fabric – paint on a hard surface combined with beads and fabric:  that’s a completely new combination for me.  A whole new range of possibilities comes to mind.



Center piece (to be applied) - fabric and beads
(approx. 2" diameter)



Really, this is the way I work.  I frequently try new crafts and techniques.  Eventually those processes turn up incorporated into a creation, usually quilting.  I just didn’t expect I’d be going as far back as painting.  Sure, I’ve been playing with dyeing, but that’s not exactly the same as painting.  Even the little bit of watercoloring I did on the recent elephant piece wasn’t what I’d call “painting.”  It was more of a subtle wash to fill in the white space.

It feels like I’m going back to something familiar, but not to a place I’ve been before.  I suppose it’s like driving along the highway.  Even if you’ve not been to a particular place or along a certain road, the trees rolling by the window can seem much the same as the ones you’ve zipped past before.  The occasional hill, valley, turn in the road, or mountain can seem familiar, even though new, if you’re traveling within your own region of the country.  And so it is, for me, in thinking of combining painted surfaces with art quilting.  Odd, but intriguing.  I can’t wait to see what’s around the next curve…and how this project comes out!  Stay tuned.