Paint, dye and glue

Today I painted one of the blue glue gel resist pieces I worked on yesterday - the one of the sun and water - an impromptu drawing. The photo above it is a glue sketch I did of Lawren Harris' 'Mt. Lefroy' - not exact but another experiment I've been wanting to try. I also did two more glue resist fabrics - a circular one of an art deco style fish on linen and another that is a mixture of random patterns and drawings. So it looks like I have more painting ahead! I also dyed the cave style fabric - hoping the dye stick drawings would resist the dye, which they did - and the other ugly fabric I received as part of the challenge to make ugly fabric better, and I think the golden yellow improves both.

Falling

After further designing of this quilt top, I am 'falling' for it in spite of the ugly grey fabric. The addition of the cascade of leaves and the pinwheel block mimicking their motion offers more interest and I've got it sandwiched with the edges finished in pillow-case style. I've begun quilting and will see where that takes me. I've also been washing fabrics in preparation for dyeing and doing more blue glue gel designs so they will be ready for painting tomorrow.

Ugly is in the Eye of the Beholder

At my last art quilt group meeting, we tried out Pentel dye sticks on freezer paper and transferred it to muslin by burnishing with a utensil of choice. I was aiming for a cave art style and reproduced it a second time by recovering the original after the first transfer. The top of the photo is the freezer paper version I drew and beneath it is the transfer. One member of the group had asked us to bring an ugly fabric which we are to transform for the better. Mine is the grey one. Of course, some people's 'uglies' were attractive to me. This is proving to be interesting - I've been thinking about how to mute ugliness in general - covering it up, amplifying beauty near by, altering in some way - or - exploring and potentially changing my perceptions. I wanted to try things new to me, so I went with a more traditional approach (measuring and quarter inch seams) - first choosing the Japanese yellow, grey and white fabric because I like it, then adding lighter and darker values for contrast, cutting all into 4 inch squares, then cutting further and repiecing. I still find that grey fabric terribly ugly, but it's at least muted by the addition of other fabrics and a decrease in size. When I was recently buying supplies for an upcoming class on making placemats that my quilt guild is offering, I started by trying to match a tablecloth that I have, and was successful in finding a potential border, base and backing. But the more I looked at them, imagining working with them, the more my energy dropped and I knew I had to instead choose fabrics that I love, so I did. When I brought them home, I saw they match a different tablecloth that I have, so that is a bonus. I've also found new storage space for my silks by combining the contents of two drawers into one.

Blood Cloth

Yesterday I overdyed this linen cloth with black, using clamps and a heart shape. I also dyed the largely white piece I'd dyed earlier this week and one more new one that is turquoise and cream. I plan to further their development. I also found a bunch of silk scarves at a garage sale but they smelled musty. After washing, then washing with vinegar added, then soaking overnight in a baking soda bath and then washing with soap again, they finally smell okay but have bled in places onto each other - which must make them 'blood relations'.

Meaning is the Key

I am feeling really pleased with how my cloth is turning out. I began today by writing text onto the quilt with fabric pen and then added lighter value pencil crayon to make the letters more legible. Then I added pattern to the moth wings with copper paint and sequin waste. Next I added cheesecloth to my brayer and rolled it through copper and black paint and onto the background of the cloth around the labyrinth - you can see this effect in the photo directly above(I was thinking of string theory and the universe). I made a stamp with a key by taping it to a wooden block and then stamped it in gold paint into the center of the labyrinth (photo above the one of the cheesecloth design). I then added feelers to the moths with felt pen (nocturnal creatures who navigate by feel, as I liken how we intuit and create meaning) and then cut a star out of craft foam to use to rub shiva paint stix over. The light stars drew my eye more then the central key, so I thought about how I might alter that - maybe make a trail of gold glitter leading to the key, through the labyrinth? But I was loathe to make it too gilt - I was aiming for some subtlety and a sense of the ephemeral. I ended up putting gold glitter on the stamp of the key to heighten its contrast and I think that works pretty well. You can compare the difference of the key before the glitter and after in the second photo from the top. Each time I made an addition to the cloth, I felt the risk of possibly ruining what I'd done so far - yet I also felt the pull to keep making it more interesting and infusing it further with what I was trying to express. On a different note, yesterday I signed up for Gail Harker's 'A Journey of Visual Discovery: Journals and Sketchbooks. Gail usually teaches at her Creative Studies Center in Washington, but she is here in Victoria in a few months to teach this course and its an opportunity to see whether I might sometime want to take more of her stitch-related courses. I have always kept journals and in recent years I include visual information, but I want to develop my sketchbook abilities further because I still tend to largely use text in mine.

Surface Design Steps

Here's what I've got so far towards developing my theme on cloth. I painted and stamped, as well as drew a labyrinth stencil on freezer paper and then painted it. I'm finding it both challenging and interesting to try to express 'the experience of meaning'- to capture something so illusive, visually. I also attended my quilt guild tonight, where Martha Cole presented an excellent talk, slideshow and display of her quilts. A bonus was that she also had some of the books she makes out for viewing, which are truly fabulous.

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'.