The Wheels are Turning

The Wheels are Turning

Apr 12, 2017 | Creativity

The Wheels are Turning

A deadline always helps! The Mountain View show is coming up-only 16 more days. What that means for me is a lot of production. But what it really means right now is having fun and doing  my process in a different way. A-real-one-of-a-kind-way. It means being moved towards a piece of fabric, seeing an image in my mind that excites me and letting that be my guide.

Some of the journey towards a finished piece starts awhile before. For example, my husband and I went to our lawyer’s office and in the lobby were these paintings. Bold and colorful they were, with wonderful markings. I took pictures and back at my studio enlarged them on my phone to highlight the graphics I loved. Then I did some sketches inspired by them, from which I made screens. The colors I mixed were enlivened by the paintings palette and bold color-blocking.

To change it up, I am using pigment on to top of my painted cloth. Previously, I would silk screen the dye, let it dry and then paint my watery ground on top. What I found happening was the printed image was getting muted and blurred. Granted, I sometimes loved the areas that would bleed. But now, especially with black, I am wanting a crisp black image as the final layer. Or printing with color as in the red dots.

I was moved the other day to print on some indigo; black dots give it a tone on tone feel,  while the white prints give it an interesting contrast. I’ll cut the pieces up for overlays.

One more September thing…Stockton!

One more September thing…Stockton!

Apr 12, 2017 | Uncategorized

One more September thing…Stockton!

The Haute Couture Societé invited me to show and teach at the end of September. I drove the back way through the Delta region. Stockton was an important part of the shipping industry back in the old days. There is a revival happening around the port.

The Hauties, as they call themselves, were warm and welcoming. Liz Kusama had arranged the Saturday class and lecture, filling the hall with stitchers and fabric artists. I love these tight knit groups that commit to showing their work each month and supporting one another. And I have learned that a two day workshop is best, for really covering the information and letting the attendees have a chance to absorb it.

Sunday, we planted ourselves at the local yacht club, with nice light and a faucet outdoors. There was room to spread out. Of course, there was the Solvy portion of the class. Maybe people have done Solvy before, but I find it brings immediate satisfaction and results to be observed and discussed. Using my scraps brings new inspiration to the process, mixing it up for some different effects. We also did a lot of bucket dyeing and printed up a storm.

What I love is showing up to a hall with my bags of scraps and screens and not knowing what will happen. And by then end of the weekend there has been some good exchanges and maybe changes due to the process of seeing with new eyes. There is bonding and creativity triggered and flowing. I take great satisfaction from these interactions and also new ideas from my”students”.