After I started school, I’ve been away from working in my studio for far too long. Junk piled up, and my work table became a pile of unused clutter and a place to sort laundry. But- with a few days free, I cleaned it up!
And found I was ready to get back to making some art! 
Posted in Uncategorized
I’m playing- experimenting with collage, drawing, and dyeing on silk chiffon. It’s GREAT… though I don’t know where this is leading me…
Posted in Creative Process, Uncategorized
Tagged collage, creative process, drawing, hand dyeing, Silk Painting, sketching, textiles
I’ve started experimenting on silk chiffon. Wow- what a great fabric. Soft, strong, and it takes the dye great. I started the underdrawing with my silk dyes, dried out so the lines would stay, and also used magic sizing on the chiffon. 
Here the dyes are drying a bit- when the water evaporates almost all the way it works great for delicate lines and brushwork.
The drawing worked wonderfully on the magic-sizing prepped chiffon. 
After steam setting the drawing, I painted it as well, again with the silk dyes and magic sizing. The chiffon works great- the colors spring out vivid, and the details very sharp. 
And the transparency- it fascinates me. I love the chiffon with just the drawing, and then again with the painting effect. 
I’m linking up to Nina-Marie Sayre’s Off the Wall Friday– check it out!
Posted in Sillk Dye techniques, Uncategorized
Tagged hand dyed silk, silk chiffon, silk painting technique, textiles
Following last week’s setbacks, it was hard to tell how close these paintings were to completion. A few more steps on each, and I called them done.
I’m linking up to Nina Marie Sayer’s Off the Wall Friday here. I am ready to check it out for my weekly inspiration!
I’ve used this steamer for years- it is coated in teflon, and the inside bottom is scratched and therefore compromised, so I took it from kitchen use and devoted it to studio use. However, if you let teflon pans boil dry they can release a toxic fume. Well, I let this one boil dry- it did smell TERRIBLE and I think it made some smoke. I quickly aired out the house, but decided then and there to get another steamer.
Here’s the new one! But- I found it doesn’t work as easily as my old one! And… found out the hard way…
After steaming my three Winter Tree Series paintings , I found that I had areas that washed out, faded areas, fugitive dyes,and dye transfers. Wow. I rarely had any of these problems before.
I think that the new steamer has more problems with condensation- and also the lighter inside of the pot may not keep the environment as hot. I’m working now to save these paintings…
After a redesign of some areas on my silk quilt, I have begun hand stitching. Momentum begins! While stumbling forward with no plan in place, I am starting to invent a bit of a visual vocabulary. 
Some sense of motion and coherence are starting to appear in this quilt- it has been a long time coming. I particularly like the stippling effect on the black silk- I plan to continue that in the black areas, while opening up the line in other spaces. I have linked up with Nina Marie Sayre’s Off the Wall Friday; check out the fabulous textile art there…
Posted in silk quilt, Uncategorized
Tagged hand dyed textiles, Hand stitching, quilting, silk qullt
This week I constructed the modern quilt top I’ve been designing. Th goal has been to keep it very simple, using an offset square within a square design, and keeping lots of negative space around the blocks. I was gifted the wonderful batiks, and I dyed the pink solid fabric. When I started working on the layout on the floor, of course my cat had to join in. 
Here’s the finished quilt top after damp ironing it- on the line outside…Now the next task is to QUILT it… the hard part begins! I’ll link up here at Nina Marie Sayre’s Off the Wall Friday, and check out the other textile artists’ work. 
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged cat playing with quit fabric, finished quilt top, hand dyed fabric, Modern Quilt
Another work in progress is Water and Rocks, from a recent sketch. The drawing layer came out nicely- the dried dye I used to “draw” with seems quite vibrant on the white silk. (Sometimes I find that my greens do not have as much luminosity when used this way…) So- my challenge here is to move forward while retaining enough simplicity to reflect the sketch.
On another note… Thank you to a generous textile artist for providing some major inspiration. I have linked up to her Off the Wall Friday. And have really enjoyed her blog. Thanks, Nina-Marie, for your insightful writing on your creative endeavors, and on your lovely textile work!
Let's talk silk painting! 