Textile Card - Columbine

Textile Card - Hand dyed Linen with Stitched Columbine Flower

When the work of an artist is purchased, he or she often knows little beyond that someone liked it enough to buy it.  I had a chance encounter in the local grocery store with a couple who received this card from the purchaser of my work. For artists to hear praise of an our work is so very motivating.

If you had an artist's work that you get pleasure from viewing, don't hesitate to remind them.

Butterfly on Textile

Hand (dye) painted Cotton 6 1/2" square

When painting 6 1/2" squares, several are painted at once on one piece of fabric with thickened dyes. Then the fabric is batched in plastic in a warm place overnight or longer. The fabric is then rinsed, washed and ironed dry. Currently this panel is hanging in my studio and this particular butterfly image grabs my attention. The variegation in the purple suggests reflected light and thus movement. Notice the triad of colours.

Commissioned Hummingbirds

Hand (dye) Painted Square

A delightful little guy isn't he? What a pleasure to work on a commission of bees, birds and butterflies. For this one, I used artist licence and painted the hummingbird to provide an analogous colour scheme of green, blue and purple. Look at all the white background just waiting for free motion stitching!

Watercolour Sunflowers

Watercolour Sunflowers 3 in 1

My neighbour Dorothy plants sunflowers along the edge of her garden every year. The row of flowers are near the road and provide enjoyment for all who drive by. Thank you Dorothy!

Several weeks ago, sitting on the edge of the road I spent a pleasant couple of hours starting these paintings. Today I finished some details on the paintings, sitting in my own garden, as finally my own 'Russian Giant' sunflower heads are open.

An Almost Blank Canvas

Hand dye painted 4 1/2 X 6 1/2" cotton
ready for embellishment

What fantastic weather we are having which means tourists are still coming to our area. Today when I checked at the Creston Card and Stationery Store where I sell my textile cards, I noted people are still purchasing. That means I best get busy creating! What do you see in this little hand dye painted piece? Free motion stitching will add the details.

'Scarlet Runner' watercolour (sold)

'Fall Vines' dyed textile (sold)
 

Cooler weather gets me thinking of certain plants - Virginia Creepers and Sunflowers. Our Virginia Creepers haven't turned red yet so any new art work, containing them, will have to wait. However, I have started painting sunflowers. Not my own sunflowers as we tried a new variety this year and all they have done is grow tall. A ladder would be needed to paint them and perching on it with a paint palette doesn't sound fun! Look for the sunflower painting soon but for now note the difference you can create using two different mediums (watercolour and dye painted textile) using the same subject matter. 

Colour Layout of a Quilt

Quilt Layout

Using Joen Wolfrom's 3 in 1 Color Tool, the fabric pieces for this quilt were separated into 24 different colours. Four inch blocks in each colour family were sewn. Here the blocks are being arranged according to the colour wheel with a gentle blending of the colours from one colour family to the next. Let the sewing begin!

Clotheline Series

 

         

 Burano Island, Venice, Italy

the painting that started the 'Clothesline Series' 

                                           

This 'Clothesline Series' is an ongoing series which has been in Art Shows and in Galleries in the Kootenays. As the fall weather approaches I already am spending more time painting outdoors and will be sure to include more clotheslines as subject matter. If you are interested in having your clothesline painted contact me at egidman@kootenay.com.

What is this interest in clotheslines? I have never had a clothes dryer in my home and after seeing the beautiful clothes hanging in Italy I started being proud of that fact. The promotion of energy conservation is my goal and aren't those clotheslines just so artful. I encourage everyone to hang dry their clothes whenever it is practical.

Check out the post of Aug 30, 2012 to see a clothesline that was sketched on a sewing machine!

'Work Clothes' - Sold

'Breeze' - Sold

'Erikson' - Sold

Over dyeing Dark onto a Light Background

Hand painted with light liquid Procion Dyes

Over painted with thickened Procion Dyes

A new experiment! The light yellow, pink and blue liquid dyes were painted onto cotton that had been soda soaked and dried. The experiment was to try over dyeing without washing in between these two steps. Would there be enough soda ash left to activate the second layer of thickened dyes? YES there was! This opens up lots of possibilities in providing depth by building up layers of dyes. In the past, I had always washed and re-soda soaked each layer. Definitely more experimentation is needed but this result looks promising in being able to complete pieces more easily by eliminating extra steps. If you have ever tried something similar, please email me with your results.