Wednesday 18 February 2015

AND HERE

Next stage - non horse inspired pieces.  This one just popped out, not the best way, I cannot resist the pleasure of mark making on the silk.  But I did try to stick to some of the colours in my still life. I might use a black background to get this very dramatic effect (picture 2)



Piece 8 digitally enhanced

Piece 8 again with dye added, still wet and mottly

Piece 9 My textile take on the painting project

Pleased with this one (above), it looks like a real painting! I just did an "abstract" of the still life I am working on.  This is much better than the actual painting.  It looked a bit paler when dry today but I am hoping steaming has brightened it a bit. Actually it needed a bit more work, so I painted over it (below), using dark red and green. See what like when dry and steamed.

Second version of Piece 9  (before steaming)

Issues with a few small marks, which I brushed over with black dye



Piece 10 inspiration

Grhhh   Piece 10 did not work

Wanted to create something that would reflect the colours and textures of the "inspiration", but should have done the blue wet on wet first, let it dry, then put in black lines.  Effect is all about texture and contrast.  I will have to do more on this one, but it will lose the connection with the idea. Actually when steamed and washed and viewed through tie template, it is OK.
It was uneven because I had not dissolved the black dye properly, so made up some more dye and added some marks.  I steamed and washed this today and so far it looks OK.
Great breakthrough with the tin sheeting for the steamer.  It works very well, there is hardly washout of loose dye in most cases.

Piece 11 first stage


Losing a bit of focus today, had a play instead of thinking a lot (Piece 11)  but at least I used colours from the painting project.  Will review this one tomorrow, but it looks OK through tie template, will probably require building up.  It is still wet in photo. Still damp next day, left to dry.  This looks paler when dry but has some nice marks and colours so will let it go through as is.


Well, duh!  I was trying to get a mottly effect with the blue dye (as in Piece 10 inspiration), so painted strips of clear water onto silk , then drew into it with pale dye.  It did not really run as I wanted.  Maybe I need salt or something for that.  It might just work as a pale and minimal tie.  Let's see how it dries. It came out exquisite, now need to wash it without getting any marks and have another look.

 This was supposed to be a simple but sophisticated one using the frayed edge of fabric across the tie.  But although it started out like this, I felt it might not work when cut, so I built it up in blue black and grey stripes.  It looks OK. To do as I intended would be quite complex and need photo stencil screen printing techniques to acchieve the perfection and sharpness to make it effective.


Piece 14   detail

Here I have just played with brush marks, using about 4 colours.  It probably works OK, have to wait till it is dry.  I intended to do another fray piece, but felt tired and decided just to do this.  Realising from the painting exercise that tonal patterns matter in textiles.  I have never understood that properly and often had difficulties.

Piece 15  Another wild one


 I intended to do another still life one, but again became seduced by the marks a brush makes.  This started as red and orange flowers, very loose, suggested by the fabric flowers in the still life, but it then morped into something else  It does bear relation to the painting through the colours, maybe this is a way I should try with the painting.

Saturday 7 February 2015

THE YEAR STARTS HERE





These are sections of some silk pieces I did for ties last year. It was a very busy year as I had a lot of other work to do at the same time.  I am now starting to make more for this year's shows. This time I would like to try and find a theme or subject that will hold for wall pieces as well as ties and scarves, as well as perhaps a framed piece on paper or other medium. As usual it is a rush because the tie maker needs the ties at least 6 weeks in advance and my first show is mid-April.