When we started on Friday with our tjantings and flowy ink, and Gerry reminded us that we weren't to try to make anything attractive but just to be spontaneous and have fun, that really liberated me. I figure I can make unattractive stuff as well as the next person! So away I went.
My first pieces had big swoops of line and splodges of paint and those are now torn up, waiting to be put into artful compositions.
I kept squiggling and splodging paint and having tons of fun.
I had fun experimenting with drawing onto wet fabric, which resulted in a sort of eerie, streaky effect.
Then I started working on how to control the quality of the line I could get with the tjanting, and how to wash paint over the drawing while retaining a clear line. MORE fun.
I loved using the tjanting so much that I started drawing fat-quarter-sized pieces of all over patterns, which will be fun to cut up and use for something...
On this viney one, I loved how the greens I mixed separated into the water wash to make a yellow halo. What a lovely accident!
And by the end of this, the piece of muslin stretched under my painting surface took on a very artful look too. (Many people in the room exclaimed how much we liked our muslin under-surfaces almost better than the actual paintings we did!)
I can't wait to start playing with this fun fabric....but I have returned to an inbox full of real-life work, not to mention a family I've barely seen for 3 days. Ah well, this will be waiting when I come back to it.
I love every one of these pieces. As much as I loved the shibori, I think what you have been doing suits me better.
ReplyDeleteI love what you have done. Every piece speaks to me and if I saw them commercially, I would snap them up. Glad you had such a fulfilling class. Cheers.
ReplyDeleteWow -- what a fantastic workshop and some great fabric pieces to play with later! Thanks for sharing such fun work.
ReplyDeleteDianne
ReplyDeleteI've heard from other gals I know that Gerry is one of the best teachers that they've had. They showed some pretty cool work from her class, yours is also really great, esp the rainbow colored blocks.
Dianne,
ReplyDeleteFind some time to keep going! These are just beautiful and I would not hesitate to buy them. Don't you hate it when you're on a great artistic roll and your "real life"gets in the way?!
Diane, these pieces are fabulous. You have found your calling. I anxiously await seeing what you do with them....more please.
ReplyDeleteWow, wow and wow! Gorgeous results ther Diane - and look at how different everyone's results are! Love it.
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of inks/paints/dyes do you use with a tjanting tool? I've used them for batik, but never with anything else...
ReplyDeleteYou couldn't get better advertising for a class. Where do I sign up?
ReplyDeleteWONDERFUL pieces!
I hope they're dancing in the back of your head as your are working on your legal briefs or whatever. Sometimes I come up with a much better design when "real life" takes me away and the only designing I can do is in the back edges of my brain.
i agree that your blog entries show off the class beautifully. i googled gerry and didn't come up with anything. does she have a web site?
ReplyDeletewould you provide more details about the materials? did you use a medium with the acrylics? what type of ink were you using? i'd like to try some experimenting so any tips you can provide are welcome.
i'd love to figure out if gerry is coming here - colorado - any time soon :-)