Cancellation, Completion and Carrying On

Yesterday I was very disappointed to learn that the 'Mark Making on Fabric Intensive' workshop I was signed up for with Hilary Young this week was cancelled! I had washed my fabric and done some brainstorming with respect to a theme in order to choose the most appropriate supplies to bring, as well as organized other aspects of life, so I decided to go ahead this week as if I was at the workshop in my studio, attempting to create a meaningful piece of complex cloth without a teacher. I dyed fat quarters today, and am especially pleased with the ones pictured above - although the colour of the last one is much more blue then the photo shows. I just love the excitement of unscrunching the wet fabric to see how the dye has taken - what designs and colours have resulted. One piece that sat in bright scarlet and yellow for hours came out largely white because the dye hadn't penetrated the folds. The middle photo is silk and I also dyed some linen and cotton. Some pieces I will over dye again to improve them to my satisfaction. I also added the binding, sleeve and necklace to complete 'Entering The Flow'.

Back into the Flow

Day two of the workshop with Martha Cole and I brought this quilt to work on. After quilting the pink hair, I wasn't happy with the brightness of it, so I used purple pencil crayon to shade it and added yellow and white crayon to the flowers - note the coloured upper two and the untouched lower one to compare the difference. Then I didn't like how purple I made the hair and Martha saved the day with a great tip - cover it with masking tape, colour over the tape with pencil crayon and ample pressure, remove tape and voila, alot of the pencil crayon colour is taken up with it! So I was able to get the fabric back to a shaded pink again. We talked about our skill sets with respect to fabric as a way to clarify what we might put into play, and to become aware of what we like or dislike, what we're profficient at and what we want to try. We also rated ourselves on a scale of our visual preferences - again to raise awareness of our particular way of working. And Martha treated us to a show of some of her work - much of it largescale enhanced digital close up photos on fabric of trees. I am really appreciating her professionalism, as well as that of the other participants - and seeing everyone's evolving work.

'Entering The Flow'

I've made changes to this piece, adding more value contrast around the mouth, nose, front shirt strip, sleeve, etc, and removing the collar, which seemed too constraining. Somehow, the small flowers that were formerly gracing her hair and chest seemed lacking in vibrancy and didn't contain the feeling I want to express, so I've added three large blooms and I am seeing her as about to enter that state of creative flow, which is symbolized by the flowers. I'm feeling pretty pleased with how this is looking and I may begin adding handstitching, next. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you can see there is a second face - in profile on the left - that I think looks eager to enter the flow and the lips on this face read more like a tongue, stretching to taste the unknown. She is grounded, solid, still and open to what surprises lay in store.