Layers of Color

A thoughtful day of remembrance…especially since I live so close to D.C. It is painful to watch some of the ceremonies. I am just hearing President Obama give his talk tonight..very uplifting.

I’ve spent time today in the studio, finally, completing some of the color samples of resists. I’ve been doing two layers of resists on each fabric, using the same resist but different techniques. For example, on one piece I used a bristle brush to apply the resist, let that dry, then applied a wash of fabric paint, set the paint, removed the resist then added another layer of resist using print blocks, more paint, again setting the paint and finally removing the resist. Below are some of the 8” x 12” color samples:

Two samples of oatmeal resist and one of cornmeal resist

One sample of glue stick as a resist, the other of uncooked wheat flour paste

Controlled "breach" printing with uncooked wheat flour paste

One sample of cooked wheat flour paste, the other, uncooked wheat flour paste

In the Studio

I’ve spent the last week working in the studio. My husband was up in NJ all week. My son is back at college. So I was able to spend three full, uninterrupted days working on my grant project: “Kitchen Resists”—using common household materials as fabric resists. Since I’ve gotten through the black and white samples of about 60 resist recipes, I am now focusing on some color samples. I’ve been picking out some of the more successful techniques within each resist and layering some on top of the other. These are the 8” x 12” samples. I also plan to do more ½ yard samples or perhaps some scarves, in which I combine different resists. As you can imagine…I’m really “into” layering when it comes to creating painted and printed fabric. I’ll have more examples of layered fabric in future posts. In the meantime, here are a couple of photos showing how things are looking in the studio.

Some of the color samples in process

Organizing the resist samples in folders

I’m learning some important things from this project. One is that even though it can be tough to keep interest up in a long term project, I see that I’m capable of “plugging along” even when things have occasionally gotten boring. If it weren’t for the grant, I might not have explored as many resists nor taken the time to try as many techniques with the different resists. Another thing I've learned is the importance of being organized. My art coach, Lesley Riley (Artist Success) was a tremendous help with that in the earlier stages of the project. I’ve broken the project down into manageable steps; I’ve created a schedule that I’ve managed to stick to; I have all my samples in labeled folders and all the folders are grouped into resist “types” (see photo). I will soon be photographing everything for the grant presentation. So, more photos to come!