Small Scale Artwork for a Cause

 

 

Stepping Stones

 
Tomorrow night is the last chance to bid on over 200 small scale artworks.  The silent auction benefits Say Si, a San Antonio based organization that focuses on providing art education and opportunities for middle and high school students.

The exhibition features work by local and regional artists in a wide variety of styles and media. My piece is pictured above. You can view a slideshow of the exhibit on Say Si's website.

All bidding is done in person, however this year they instituted a "buy now" feature. Individuals can purchase online and circumvent the auction process by paying 50% above the listed retail price. Details about the closing reception are available at www.saysi.org.

Soy Wax Batik on Paper

I've been playing around with using the techniques from Vibrant Color (mixing soy wax with dyes) on paper instead of fabric.  The look on paper is different than on fabric because the paper is not as absorbent.  I used acid-free, 50# sketch paper for these pieces. The dye and wax mixture was applied to the paper in a variety of ways, then steamed just as you would for fabric. After steaming, the paper is rinsed, dried and ironed.  Each piece is then brushed with several coats of water-soluble varnish.

I used the paper batiks to create a number of miniatures on canvas.  Some of the canvas edges have the added texture of screenprinting, metal leaf and sand. Below are some detail shots of the paper batiks.  You can view the finished miniatures on my website.

If you have tried this on paper, I would love to hear about your results

Time for Something New

I've had an interest in working with acrylic paints and mediums for the past year.  I allowed myself some play time last month. I really like using gel mediums to build up texture. Some of my interest came from using resists for so long. Oatmeal, grits, tapioca and potato dextrin all create such a wonderful dimensional surface on the cloth. When they are washed off, the resulting pattern is interesting, but I like the idea of real texture, not just visual texture.

I created a number of small studies.  In most cases, I started by building a textured surface with joint compound or gel medium.  Then I applied layer upon layer of sheer color. In a way, that is much the same as I do with my cloth. Some were really awful and are in the trash. Some are okay, and are awaiting more layers. Here a photos of a few of the pieces that I like.

New Small Works

In between my other deadlines this month, I have finished two smaller pieces from fabric I created at the ArtCloth demonstration I gave last month. The above piece, Bamboo Sunrise, was created from half of the cloth pictured below.

I added three additional layers to it - brown stamped bamboo leaves, some yellow screenprinting and a bit of gold leaf.

I overdyed the other half of the fabric, to tone down the orange. The first overdye was in a pale tobacco. It was too dull and didn't move the piece forward. I overdyed it in orange, but I discovered that the yellow dye I purchased on clearance doesn't seem to work well on cotton, so it turned pink! I think it has some potential, but now there is very little value contrast, so this might be a good candidate for screenprinting with bleach.

The second piece, Texas Wildflowers, was created with two fabrics from a deconstructed silkscreen. I layered the silk organza on top of the noil to print. I forgot to add soda ash to the print paste, so the colors on the organza are very pale. The noil is darker because I screened through the deconstructed silkscreen with thickened dyes.

I overdyed the silk in orange and printed it with a new thermofax I created that looks (to me) like a flower. This is one of the thermofaxes that came out of my design explorations days. I added a little bit of copper leaf to the noil (using the same flower screen) and layered the silks over a wooden frame. Both of these are already spoken for, so you won't see them for sale on my gallery page.

New Small Works

I finished up four more small pieces for my ArtCloth Demonstration on July 18. These pieces are all stretched on a 10" x 10" frame. The piece pictured above, It Is Written, is silk organza, with soy wax resist, screenprinting, discharge, metal leaf and stitching.

Seaweed is from the same cloth as above.

At the Sunrise is a 2-layered piece. The bottom layer is cotton with monoprinting, soy wax resist, handpainting and metal leaf. The top layer is hand-dyed organza.

Stepping Stones also has 2 layers. The bottom layer is a silk/soy blend with multiple layers of screenprinting and metal leaf. The top layer is screenprinted silk.