Finished

This is the third piece in a series I have been working on for the last couple of years. I don't want to say too much about it other than each piece deals with growing up in the South during the sixties--the way things were, the way things weren't and the way things might have been. Here are links to the two other pieces:  http://playingwithtexture.blogspot.com/2011/08/in-between-eco-dyeing.html#links and  http://playingwithtexture.blogspot.com/2012/03/finale-i-began-my-interior-life-on.html#links

Happy Weekend!

Random Hearts

It's a good day

                                                                                                         for

some random acts of kindness.
Happy Valentine's Day!



TEXTURES OF ECOPRINTS

Yesterday I was going through all my ecoprinted fabrics and was struck by the variety of textural prints a leaf can leave on fabric. There are these flat, but definite prints that look like they were made with a rubber stamp.

Or there are more colorful prints that have a look of being layered with color.

Then there are ghost prints, leaving barely an image.

  Ghost prints with veins. Probably more of a resist print here but the vein printed. Amazing!

 Two color pigments in one leaf that each printed instead of combining together and producing a muddy print.

 Prints that look like they were made with pigment on a pin-head. Reminds me of stitching.

Prints made from the mingling of dye pigments and the folds of fabric.

Watercolor like images

and those defined by iron in the dye bath.

Awesome veining.

Resist prints with a iron outlline.

 Mirror images with texture provided by the fold in the fabric and string binding.

  The magic of iron

A three dimensional print

and the difference between a print using the top of the leaf and the under side.

This is what I love about ecoprinting. You never know what you are going to get. You can't MAKE something happen and no two prints will ever be the same.

Red Cabbage and Sage

Been scrounging around for printing materials. Not much outside, but inside the refrigerator veggie drawer, I found some
beyond the edible stage sage leaves and a little red cabbage. With alum mordanted watercolor paper, linen and cotton I sandwiched it all together and steamed it between a couple of ceramic tiles. The fabric barely printed, but the paper gave me this lovely watercolory print. Love the blue and yellow green.

The Value of a Photograph

I know one is not supposed to post anything but perfectly beautiful work, but where's the learning experience in that? So here'e a little stitching I did this morning. I liked all the stitching until I saw the cropped photo. Will be ripping this afternoon.

Gray Skies Are Going To Clear Up

Gray skies are going to clear up, but in  the meantime, head on over to the blogs of some of my favorite artists and let them inspire you on how to make the most of winter's favorite color.
http://www.inleaf.blogspot.com/

http://spiritcloth.typepad.com/spirit_cloth/2013/01/patches-of-grey.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SpiritCloth+%28Spirit+Cloth%29

http://clarabellacraft.blogspot.com/2013/01/winter-light.html

                                                                    http://pdlugos.etsy.com

Where have all the honest people gone?

I'm not one to rant publicly but this really bugs me. Today I went to pick up artwork left over from a gallery here in town that hosts a holiday market every year. It is a juried event in which they invite local artist to sell their art at a gallery that has a fair amount of traffic. Supposedly it is a win-win situation for the artists and the gallery. The artists get a 60% commission (Not so great but it's the going rate.) and they get to show their work in this well known gallery. The gallery makes money because they are offering art from 30 area artists who are not part of the coop. So there is far more high qualilty art available than on a regulary basis.

So back to this morning. I pick up my items and realize that one item is not accounted for. Stolen. Then I realize this gallery does not inventory the items that come in nor do they insure any items damaged, lost or stolen. Yep, it was in the fine print and I missed it. LESSON LEARNED. LESSON LEARNED. LESSON LEARNED.  I've had art work stolen before at another gallery, but it was insured and I received reimbursement for it. In my mind I'm thinking this can't happen again, but IT DID. It's not a huge amount of money. But it is the time, effort, meticulous attention to detail that I put into my work that is the big loss and the big hurt. I do what I do because I love to do it, and I put it out into the world with good faith that someone will value it and appreciate it. I guess not.

Even with this, the biggest hurt is that this gallery that SUPPOSEDLY has such a good name and reputation treats artists who are not in their coop so poorly by not caring insurance. Artist are regularly undervalued by the general public. I find being undervalued by your peers pathetic and only adding to the issue of artist not being able to make a living at what they love to do, or anything close to that, impossible.

A fellow artist shared this with me. "I once read an intro to a beautiful book by a photographer who in the intro said something like 'if you are poor and you steal this book, you will rob me and the shop owner of our rightful compensation. But I will also take it as a compliment that you would risk jail time because you love my book so much." That helps some but I do wish there were more honest people in the world and more of an atmosphere of  artist helping other artist.

LESSON LEARNED AND END OF RANT.