Many years ago I took a fabric painting class from Hollis Chatelain who’s work I greatly admired.
Of course I didn’t want to make quilts that looked like they were done by her.
I wanted to learn the techniques she used.
She was an excellent teacher.
While going through drawers looking for something the other evening I found this piece I started in her class.
I usually work fast, but this technique didn’t allow me to finish this in the class time.
I put it away along with the fabric I had also hoped to paint for the borders and intended to finish painting it.
One of the problems was I didn’t even know what colors I had used. I was concerned that if I used different colors it would be so obvious and take away from the beauty of the piece.
The overall design on the piece is a tessellation I quickly created from an index card.
This close-up shows the area of the tessellated shape you saw in the last picture.
I broke the tessellated shapes into 5 different units. I hope you can see the pencils likes I drew on the fabric in this gray scale image.
When I unearthed this I decided that rather than finish painting this I could combine it with some of my hand dyed fabrics to create a more pleasing composition.
In this photo I am auditioning some possible fabrics I could use with it.
I believe this is going to be something that will take me a while to resolve.
This will remain on my design wall so I can look at it as I am working on other things in the near future.
When I resolve it you will be the first to know!
9 comments:
OK...you are surprising me every day lately!!! This is a great piece to work with!! I was one of those who actually painted a face from Hollis' class...loved it!! I've done several pieces using her thickened dye technique....your piece is so unique. You'll have to send Hollis a pic when this is completed!! She'll love what you've done!!!
My friend took a 5 day class with her last summer and although she learned a lot - she found the teacher rather grumpy throughout. Dye thickening is on my list of things to do this summer - but I was wondering. . . .what is your thickening method?
When I look at this piece I see it finished using black as a background. Perhaps using hand dyed thread into the black to finish the design. Then I ask myself who am I to make suggestions to Kay S? Just the way I see it.
I can't wait to see what comes from this beginning. I think you are so right in not trying to continue painting. It is so hard to copy the colors and even the style you had that day.
I do the same thing Kay. I have things piled and grouped by idea, some get tucked away and some advance. It took 10 years for me to learn not to hate myself for the unfinished work...just as long as it took for some following idea to finally bring something out of hibernation and on to being finished. I am surrounded with my ideas and that's just how I live. Time and experience have taught me to trust myself and also the process.
Sue Kaufman
This is already gorgeous!
I love tesselations and tiling patterns and yours is lovely! I like the idea of complementing the painting with your hand dyes and can't wait to see how you finish it.
Love the colors, it is very abstract and will go well with your hand dyes. Have fun!
Well Kay, your painted piece of fabric is absolutely lovely. I can't wait to see how it ends up whenever you get it done. Maggie Winfield
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