This is my teaching blog with demonstrations, news, and all things fiber art.
Here are selected detail shots from new work for my upcoming exhibit. This was juried in by the Colorado Springs Public Arts Commission, to hang from June through August in the lobby of the City Administration building. Come to the reception during the June First Friday Downtown Art Walk!
I like to start with the lightest color first in water soluble colored pencil; warm golds - then work my way up to deeper browns. The hair and eyes will need some fine point dark waterproof pen like a Micron 002. Add more c.p., then spritz with water. See how the colors deepen and soften? This is starting to look like a warm human being!
In June, there'll be a display of my work in the lobby of the Colorado Springs city administration building. This will be part of the Downtown Art Walk; dates to be announced soon.
Here, I've dyed some background fabric with liquid Rit dyes (cheap, easy to find, great results). Then, I ironed some plain white fabric onto freezer paper to stabilize it and prevent leaks underneath. Next, I drew a tree shape with sharpies, and painted it with liquid acrylics. (Three colors). Last, you see the piece with the dyed fabric in the background and the tree along with other appliqued elements drawn on fabric - all sewn down. I'll add a couple more leaves, but you get the idea!
It was simple. Select photos you already have in "My Pictures", add to a new album, then use the collage creating feature. There are lots of fun choices in the tool bar. For instance, you can have the program randomly create a collage, or you can place them like a mosaic, as I did.
First, I drew the Chrysanthemum with a Sharpie, then saturated the fabric with a water spritzer. I then dropped loose, dilute colors one at a time. (I let it dry in between each hue, otherwise, you get mud). After that, I stenciled, printed, added sparkle with white areas, and threw in everything but the kitchen sink!
Next, I'll stitch in black thread all around the outside of the flower to emphasize.
I used freezer paper cutouts for the dragonfly, then drew in details with a sharpie and used water soluble colored pencils to add touches of color. In the tree composition, I had already drawn the trees with a sharpie, then I put a butterfly linocut block into paint I had rolled onto the plate. For the leaves, I rolled the paint on the plexiglass, spritzed it to keep it moist enough to work with, then put cut paper shapes and real dried leaves down for a resist. When that was dry, I painted dandelion leaf and flower stencils for contrast in the deep blue.
I'm now doing a little finishing work, but basically it's done. The theme for this exhibit is: "Light, Hope, and Opportunity." Third world countries are mostly off the grid, but non-profits coming in can utilize the available solar and wind power to give people in remote areas a better life.
In this printing session, I did a cut paper resist with flower and leaf shapes. I also made use of the negative paint shapes left once I pulled the paper resist off - I like those even better yet!
There were lots of great fabric prints to use once I was done overprinting. (Moral of the story is if you don't like your results, go back in again).
