New Progress on the Bike Boys

Building the background

This week I’ve managed to add more background.  You can see some buildings taking shape, along with another onlooker.  Even though

this piece is done in neutrals, I still want each element to be unique.  For me, that means giving each it’s own set of fabrics.  Thechallenge is to find a wide variety of fabrics from which to choose.  Although I just started cutting and fusing fabrics, I’ve been thinking about this project for over a year and have been collecting fabrics for at least that long. I was pleasantly surprised when I realized that I actually have all of what I think I will need to do this piece.

72 fabrics from the stash

As I choose fabrics for the background, I’m thinking about how to give it life and make it interesting.  Some of my previous backgrounds have been just solid pieces of fabric; a kind of blank canvas from which characters pop forward.  I think that has been a weakness of my previous work and I want this to be so much more.  At the same time, I want it to stay in the background and play a supporting role, not compete for the viewer’s first attention.  To this end, I have chosen to narrow the value scale.  I won’t work from white to black, but, rather, from a very light to a very dark gray.  In this way, the contrast in my values will not be as dramatic as in the foreground.  Also, I’ve chosen cooler colors.  The grays that I have picked are on the bluish side.  They will take a back seat to the warmer neutrals that I will use in the foreground.

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