Garden at Dusk

Here is my new piece, Garden at Dusk. I chose two dark values of blue/green and indigo for the final colors. I brushed these on in four layers on the open areas of the cloth (i.e. not covered with rice paste resist), drying between each layer. I then added a few accents/shadows using a very dark value of indigo and black pigments.

After about 5 days, the paste was soaked off in water. I wanted to keep this piece simple and high contrast because I think the design works pretty well with just two values–dark and light. The paste crackled a bit and so you can see lines across the surface of the background where the color got through. The pattern you can see around the edges is the pattern woven into the linen (damask).

Back to my original inspiration – The Robins, so inspiring to me this spring, left this nest under our back porch roof after only one bird fledged from their second brood. Three perfectly formed beautiful blue eggs in a home of mud, twigs, grass, and other dried plant material from the garden.

 

 

Results of katazome on canvas

Here’s the result of the piece shown in progress in the previous post. I decided not to add any text over the water in the central portion; anything else would make it too busy. I used Surikomi Bake (dyeing brushes) to paint on multiple layers (3-4) of natural pigments  using soy milk as the binder. I enjoyed working with the canvas. Katazome materials and techniques are so elegant and adaptable; it is a  joy to use them to explore ideas like this.

Goings on …

in the studio

I’m getting back into the studio finally after starting a new job this
fall. I thought these (below) were going to be napkins for the household
(estate sale vintage linen damask) but they are turning into something
far more interesting – don’t know what yet. Started with ecoprint
bundles around my favorite fall leaves simmered in madder; then painted
some natural pigments on that … followed by a rice paste layer of my
water stencil, using some thin tracing paper as a mask. More pigment
layers and curing to come.

My daily walks along the shore frequently appear into my work.

From December 6 – January 15th I will be in a 3-person show in a pop-up/window gallery in downtown Minneapolis. You can find the details of the show by clicking the postcard image, below.