Studio Doings

Life is settling back into a more comfortable routine, and I couldn't be more grateful. I don't think I ever realized just how much a creature of habit I had become until something huge came along to shake up my tidy little world.

My studio lures me as it always has, though my hours spent in it have decreased dramatically. That's okay, though- it makes my creative time more energized and focused.

My design wall is humming with fabric, something it hasn't seen in a few months.

I've kind of gone bananas for using my hand prints as a design motif; I love the large scale straight line/inverted "U" marks they make. I know, I know- I'm not the first artist to discover that I have hands, prehistoric cave wall artists were doing this eons ago- but the lovely simplicity of painting my hand and pressing it to a surface is particularly appealing to me right now, so I'm just going with it.

It led me to thinking of my hand as a discharge agent, so out came some old painted and hand-dyed fabrics.

(36" x 45")

 

This piece of fabric is nearly two years old. It was originally hand-dyed, and then a simple screen made with contact paper squares was used to add textile paint. I was totally lost after that which direction to take the piece in (I know now what I didn't know then, of course- never start surface design with paint), so it got folded and put away. But this week, it came back out to receive some hand-printed discharge marks.

 (detail)

I gloved my right hand, made a discharge pad out of a plastic tray lined with paper toweling soaked in Clorox, and began making impressions all over the fabric. After I had reached the discharge effect I was looking for, I plunged the piece into cold water, rinsed it thoroughly, and neutralized the bleach.

Now it wants to come out and play with the other pieces on my design wall, some of which were also discharged in the same manner using my palm prints.

In other news, the basil is doing beautifully... maybe next year I'll try growing some other herbs.

I signed up for another year with the Brooklyn Art Library to do The Sketchbook Project 2012. I chose the theme "Writing On The Wall" and when it arrives and I start working on it, I'll post photos to keep you updated. I hope everyone reading will seriously consider getting involved in this awesome project!

And finally, May is my month to choose the theme for The Sketchbook Challenge. I hope you'll join me over there, and work along in your own books with me and my fellow artists!

Happy living!