Art and Whimsy on Clothing

I have spent the last few months playing with color wash  dyes, and having a lot of fun with it. (Once I learned how not to make the colors turn to mud LOL!)

I have so far found no video on using them on fabric, but I have been playing with dyes for years, and this product allows me to get the colors I want to be wearing these days.

Finding a  batik method on fabric with them has been a learning experience, as the water based resists melt if you don't cure them long enough. With the color wash, melting resist can create some cool effects, if not the one I was hoping for. For this rib knit shirt, I added color wash dye to the resist before painting the moon flower and the leaves.

I was getting so frustrated trying to use wax and such over the years, especially since I paint botanicals and want good detail! I was also getting tired of painting on white Tee Shirts. I want color!

The colorwash sprays on in brilliant colors, that blend and mingle in the moistened fabric. After it cures for at least three days, I rinse out the extra dye and reveal the design I painted into the fabric. The colors are muted after rinsing, just the way I like them! I did use a purple sharpie to outline and add details. I also blended in some green on the leaves with copic markers for more detail. Once the fabric is ironed the colors are washer safe.

It's a long process, but one I am happy with.  I can't show more photo's right now, because I am giving them away for Christmas!  I did take photo's and will post more after the holidays.

Sending holiday wishes to all for a magic and colorful winter season!

As if I don't have Enough to do

There are times when there are a thousand things I should be doing, like making the mulch pile in my driveway disappear, billing and accounting, spring cleaning, enjoying the mountains and local creeks....the list could go on....

But, my garden is mulched and mowed and beautiful in this mornings spring rain, and I have so wanted to paint the flowers of my garden, but with a twist.

The last few weekends, I have been obsessed with painting my spring garden onto every old white T shirt I have. I have always loved hand painted clothing. I have collected the supplies needed for years, as well as the art skills. I have also become completely bored with painting on rectangular squares of paper.


My daughter, Morgan, knows of my love for hand painted clothing and gave me a beautiful, simple sun dress with one morning glory painted on it that she found in St Croix.  Little did she know how that simple, white sun dress had inspired me to try again.

It had become clear, looking into my closet that I had not really bought any new clothes in about a decade. That was when all the good cotton seemed to disappear from the clothing stores. I hated the idea of having to go to a mall and buy clothes I hated. So, I invested in an assortment of good cotton blanks, short sleeved tee shirts and tank tops. Even some bamboo socks!

While I waited for the blanks to arrive in the mail, I dug out my old Procion dyes, beeswax, and the chemicals needed to fix the dye on the cloth, and thicken it for painting. I had to search for instructions, and information I had on the techniques I wanted to use.

I felt like a mad scientist, mixing Urea, soda ash and dye in my kitchen, while my mind had about 20 or so ideas for what I wanted to paint. Peonies, poppies, bleeding hearts, all soooo beautiful and in full bloom right now!

My house is on the market, by the way, and who in their right mind would turn their kitchen into chemical chaos on a weekend, where by some miracle, someone would want to view my home? 

After spending lot's of time watching you tube instructional video's, I pulled every piece of white cotton used clothing I had in my closet and began experimenting, knowing I didn't want to learn on my new cotton blanks, knowing the potential for mistakes at first try. After two weekends of experimenting I have four shirts I would be delighted to wear in public.

I feel as though a whole new world has opened up for me!  So many ideas, so little time.  


I'll be wearing one of these to a picnic today, and now I know what everyone is getting for Christmas this year.  

Silence is Golden

I have been silent as the season turned toward Fall. I figure there is so much being said in the world at any given time, I thought I would just shut my pie hole for a while and paint some of the seasons flowers. I also have had to rebuild my computer and get all the printer/scanner things working again.

I have some neighbors with four Belgian Shepherds who bark all day long at anything that moves. It was getting difficult to relax at home ever....I requested that they find a way to train their dogs not to bark for 8 hours a day while the family was away at work. They finally got barking collars that are working beautifully. My garden is peaceful once again, and I am loving the silence. So os Finn, he never participated in all that barking, I think it was wearing him down as well.

This is a little Japanese anemone flowering away in my fall garden. We had a huge windstorm in Blowing Rock this week, what the deer haven't eaten the wind demolished. Everything is being cut back. The nights have been chilly and the blooms don't like it.

The season of leaf raking has begun, and little fall color to boot. Because of our wet and cool growing season, half the leaves have just dropped due to fungal disease.

Gratefully, the Roses love the cooler weather and they are putting out another round of bloom in golden fall sunshine. I had to paint one.

I don't feel as though this rose portrait is finished, but I thought I would share it since I got my scanner functioning again.

I have been fussing with the software all day! Now I can shut the computer down and go paint on this fine Fall afternoon.

Enjoy!

Gentle Rains

We have just finished up five days in a row of rain.

This morning the sun is shining brightly and the dogs are having a play party outside to celebrate.

During the gray gentle days, I painted a sprig of my helleborus, cut from the garden. I think we got quite a few inches of badly needed rainfall. Yay! All the spring flowers are so happy and bright this morning.

I also planted the seeds for May planting in the garden. Heirloom tomato's, peppers, parsley....I am so missing the clumps of fresh parsley from the kitchen garden. Normally I have some all winter, but not this one, for some reason, they all root rotted.

Before the rains came in I sprinkled grass seed on the patchy dog trodden lawn. I had to laugh at myself staring at it the last five days, just watching the grass grow. Perfect timing...What a simple life I lead.

Not for much longer though, the rains have caused us to feel behind at work, there will be much catching up to do indeed. Fortunately, Matthew is available to help us 3 days a week most of this month, so we are one person stronger than we were last year at this time. Thanks Matt! 

I had a great time with the Highbrighten garden club on Thursday. Such a nice group of women they are. I spoke about night blooming plants and fragrance in the garden. My favorite subject!

I won't dribble on in this post...the sun is shining and I need to go outside and play~ 

Enjoy!

Veggie Doodles

As the US collectively shivers in the arctic chill of what is being called the coldest winter in decades, we are heading for the deep freeze here in NC as well. 

Nothing much to do except paint and putter. I am working on my statue paintings in the studio, but I am having more fun painting the veggies when I take a break from the larger projects I am attempting. I keep the moleskin notebook and a travel box of Sennelier watercolors on the kitchen counter for my doodles. This means I only have a few colors to work with and have to really think about mixing the colors I want. I used this travel set when I traveled to  Italy, the cappuccino's I indulged in after a delicious meal  kept me awake at night, so I painted two paintings that I ended up framing and showing.  I am realizing I have good luck with Sennelier paints. Maybe it is because they use honey as part of the formula for their paints. They do look yummy enough to eat. 

I had a lot of fun with this cabbage. It is great practice. I am getting better with mixing greens. For years I was struggling with how to mix colorful, but muted, green foliage. I may keep working on this one a bit more. So far, I have doodled in short spurts on this cabbage for a week. I am also painting a very bright red pepper.  I suppose painting the vegetables is keeping me from getting too lonely for the summer garden....it will be here soon enough. In the meantime it is fun to dream about those beautiful vegetables on paper, and take long wintertime naps with the 97lb brown fuzzy Finn dog.  

Spring Renewal

I finally got to the fire. I love fires. All the debris piled up from last year has become carbon ash. The pile of debris has been removed, creating space for orderly compost bins....less chaos,more order in the garden. A clean pallet open and ready for the new.


The neighborhood dogs entertained me while the fire burned. It was a smokey wet fire. The smell of the burning twigs and debris was a grounding influence. A 'be in the present moment'~ moment.


I recall a memory of a fire on this date two years ago. It is ritualistic.


I mulched the area around the garden shed. Mud has been splashing onto the sides. I have a lot of mud scrubbing and sanding to do before I can stain the wood siding on the shed. The mulch will curtail the splash during the spring rains.

I was performing the same ritual in my garden last year, my daughter was about to give birth, I wanted my garden to be cleaned and prepped for the new season of new life.

Spring flowers are appearing in abundance. Early squill, daffodils, and hellebore's herald the new season. While tending the fire I heard peepers in the background. The earth is pulsating with new life.

Earlier today I gathered with a local group of artists. An inspiring group of talented women.

I hope to get to know them and their artwork better.

Learning Yupo

As I mentioned in my last post watercolor is an unpredictable medium to use.

I am doing fairly well using watercolor paper at this point, but I am also fascinated by the effects of watercolor on Yupo, a synthetic paper originally designed for printing. This paper feels like plastic. It acts like plastic, which allows for much dripping and sliding of paint on the surface. It does not absorb water or paint. It can be completely wiped off. It is difficult to layer without making muddy color and can be challenging to do fine details. It dries with bright brilliant color.

I had experimented with it a few times and wanted to know more about working with Yupo techniques. Yupo paper is great for watercolor pencil.
I especially love the earthy colors of the Derwent Graphitint pencils

I recently rented a video Called 'Dancing with Yupo' from a website that specializes in workshop videos called Smartflix. It is great way to get to do a workshop in your own home for much less the cost of buying the CD or attending a painting workshop. Often when I paint during a workshop, the end result is pretty bad, but if I apply the techniques learned in the workshop to my own sketch or idea it comes out much better than I had hoped.

I had done this sketch of a hydrangea years ago, and decided to trace it and see if I could manage to produce anything at all.

This was the result.





The painting looks better in real life I think. But I thought I would share my experience.
I tried photographing it as well as scanning to reproduce the image. This is the scanned image that would not fit completely on my scanner. The edges are clipped in the photo. The painting looks wonderful matted and framed.

The transparent layers are the result of lifting off layers of wash with tissue and embossing with a small paint roller. The white of the flowers were wiped out with tissue a wet brush and wiping technique that lifts the transparent color off the paper.

Working with Yupo is a loose and enjoyable way to create some thing interesting. Especially after doing a few tight botanical portraits. This shifts the energy into a little fun and whimsy that surprises.

Here is a web demo that illustrates how it works.

Enjoy!