Colorful Threads

"Spinning Sun" by Madeleine Appell

 The Pink House Gallery is currently showing "Colorful Threads." It's all fiber art and includes the art quilting of Madeleine Appell, the silk paintings of Lynne Taylor, and the embellished screen prints and eco (or botanical contact) prints of Cris Winters. Lots of fun smaller art and objects for sale as well.

"A New Day Dawning" by Madeleine Appell

"Seascape" by Madeleine Appell

"Up Spear Hill" by Lynne Taylor

"Sunset on the Lake" by Lynne Taylor

"Uplake Twilight" by Lynne Taylor

"Spring Enhanced" by Cris Winters

Detail from "Peony Leaf Fantasy" by Cris Winters

While this exhibit is in place, I'm preparing for a Fiber and Mixed Media Art Juried Show that opens at the Pink House Gallery on August 5th. More information and an application on my Juried Show 2016 page.

Magical Process on Silk Scarves

Great group with their colorful new scarves.

My friend Lynne Taylor taught another workshop at the Pink House Studio recently that involved applying color to silk. (She taught a workshop on silk painting in August - see my post from August 14th "My New Studio in Service!").

Lynne showing us how it's done.

This time, she taught us how to draw on the silk with Sharpie markers and then to move the color around with rubbing alcohol. It was much like using watercolor paint - lovely and somewhat unpredictable results that are permanent after heat setting. And because there is not an issue with the type of fiber used, the method works on cotton and blends as well.

Lynne brought an incredible array of Sharpies for us to try. Huge range of colors, a variety of tip choices including a brush. Even Sharpies specifically for fabric! There was also a range of results from the various pens too, when the rubbing alcohol was applied.

By the way, some ventilation is required once the alcohol is brought out. It gets pretty strong! 

Alcohol sprayed on the drawings on the silk.

Note the marks on the green square made by the spray.

Sharon's silk scarf with a spritz of alcohol.

Sharon's scarf with more alcohol applied.

 The first set of lovely scarves.

Carefully-rendered drawing with alcohol applied to the dots on the left.

Carefully-rendered drawing with alcohol applied very freely, including spitz.

The similarity to watercolor painting is very appealing to me. As you can see above, being careful with the drawing is not worth much in the end. Love it!

Happy Holiday Gift Gallery!

The gallery is filled with colorful handmade lovelies made by my artist friends (and a few by me, at long last) and after some errands, my open signs will be out. For today, the bookkeeping, labeling, and other undercover activities will take a back seat to getting my "bouquet" of little balsam firs and white birch branches out in the garden arranged, lighted, and decorated with my new pink Christmas balls. (What color did you THINK I'd choose?!)

Below are some of the items in the gallery, and please go to my Holiday Gift Gallery page above to see more. I am gradually adding more to that page, so check back again. Prices range from $10 to $75 - just right!

Jean Poole's 3D fabric bags. $15 -$25.

Linda Smyth's colorful note cards. $15 for pkg of 4.

Lake Champlain painting by Linda Smyth - for your camp! $65.

Linda Smyth's watercolors in painted frames. $45 each.

Fanciful Birdie House by Lynne Taylor. $49.

Painted Box with sliding lid by Lynne Taylor. $35.

 And if you really can't decide, you can buy a gift certificate for any amount, to be used for an art class or some artwork. She will be grateful!

 

Lynne with Wax and Dye

My finished pieces on Lynne's frame.

A couple of weeks ago, I traveled through a blizzard and minus degree temperatures to make good on a long-planned visit to the studio of my friend Lynne Taylor. She paints, she woodworks, she sculpts, she dyes. She is an all round fantastic artist!

The Lovely Lynne

The focus of this play date was to have Lynne teach me how to paint on silk with fabric dyes, as she does when she makes her beautiful scarves. So, I helped her set up the fabric (several types of silk, also some rayon and cotton) on her large frame.

Then Lynne showed me how to paint on the fabrics with liquid Procion dyes. I loved watching the dye spread across the fibers differently on each of the fabrics. Next she got out her wax and related tools, and things got really interesting! A new way of thinking about surface design developed as I played with what dye and wax could do as partners. Some experiments worked better than others. My absolute favorite is this raw silk with several shades of turquoise. The texture of the silk was wonderful to work with - very nubby but soft. I want to wear this one.

I'm loving all this fabric play. Next: do something wonderful with them!