Video Showing the application of Resist onto Silk Using an Air Pen Pro

After many, many requests over the years I finally made a video showing how to use the Air Pen Pro to apply resist to silk. You can watch the embeded version below or use this link to watch it on You Tube: Watch the Video on You Tube

When You Know You Should Put Down The Brush but You Don't

Last night I was beyond tired and I didn't feel well. The painting I was working on had been fighting me and I was getting really pissed off at it. I knew I should put the brush down and go back to working on it the next day. As a matter of fact I tried doing that....multiple times! I would go in the living room and attempt to watch a movie with my hubby but I kept getting up and going back at the studio and in a state of half anger and half anxiety I keep doing more to the painting. Suddenly I realized I was so pissed off at the painting that I wasn't even watching what I was doing any more I was just plopping more dye on and then it hit me is a massive wave of anxiety and regret.... SH** I ruined it!

So I didn't sleep all night. I tossed and turned and gnashed my teeth thinking is there anything I can do to save it. Don said he thought it was fine and that I should leave it alone. He agreed that I had probably gone too dark on the siding but his advice was to "Leave it alone, it's fine". Well I awoke this morning still exhausted and still not feeling good and when I got down to the studio it was clear that I was still hating what I had done to the painting. The night before I had told Don there was one thing I could think of to do before steaming that would either solve the problem or ruin the whole painting. "Don't do it!" he said. So at 7:00 this morning I stood in my pajamas in my studio mopping my painting with tons of alcohol to erase the part I didn't like. I scrubbed it with paper towels, I scrubbed it with a toothbrush and Q-tips soaked in alcohol. I scrubbed and mopped and scrubbed some more for about 45 minutes. Then when they dye was sufficiently lightened in the areas I didn't like I began to add new layers of dye in a calmer more centered state. The all of a sudden it had arrived right where I needed it to be. I literally put my hands in a prayer position and looked up and said 'Thank you God!"

I tried to tell myself it is only a painting and that it didn't matter if one painting was ruined but it did matter...a lot. It mattered too much, I know, but that is how I am every painting means the world to me and has ties that go very deep into my heart. This morning I think I finally figured out why, maybe that will be tomorrows blog post.


Here are the two versions:

The siding was way too dark and sloppy. The angrier I got at it the more I just hacked away at it until it was a mess. The yard lacked definition. There is salt on the grass in this photo lifting some dye in an effort to add texture

This photo shows the painting after the removal of the dark siding lines using alcohol and the addition of more shadows and texture in the grass

Saying Goodnight to God Under a Full Moon with My Love

Life seems to have gotten really busy lately. My Dr has referred me to another Dr in her practice that specializes in adreanel failure and that has meant a change in meds and diet which is always confusing and a bit stressful at first. We have also had a few meetings with our realtor to go over our price reduction on the house. Plus I am trying to get these spring silk paintings finished so I can move onto a custom order that was ordered months ago. Then there is the pile of tax paperwork that gives me the eeby geebys every time I walk past it. On and on you all know how it goes and the chronic fatigue makes it even more challenging but I do count my blessings that I am able to function more these days.

For most of my life I have stepped outside to look up at the sky before I go to bed. Even when we had the farm in the Northeast Kingdom and it was 25 to 30 degrees below zero I would go out and spend a moment "Saying goodnight to God" as I call it. Last night I asked Don to come out with me and he was tired but I talked him into it. We stood under that amazing full moon and felt so blessed. We don't know where all this is going to end up, my health struggles, Don's new Lyme infection, selling and buying a house in an election year never mind a recession. But last night as we stood bathed in the moons brilliance saying goodnight to God, we somehow knew it was all going to work out just fine.

Working on the painting with the chickens

Don snapped some photos of me in the studio yesterday

House with Art Studio 4-Sale in VT Price Reduced

UPDATE THIS HOUSE HAS NEEN SOLD

 

Steaming Silk in Interfacing; Sheep Painting After Steaming

 

I steamed the sheep silk painting this morning using a different method for rolling the silk than I normally do. For years I have been rolling in framers paper, 2 sheets of paper between each painting and then a final piece around the whole roll to protect from it drips in the horizontal steamer. I do it a little differently for the vertical bullet steamer but will save that for another post.

There has been a lot of chat on the Silk Painters International (SPIN) Facebook Page about how people roll their silk to steam it. The discussion reminded me of a time when I had used interfacing to roll my silk in for steaming. I was commissioned to do some large paintings for a magician and stage actor to use in his stage shows.The paintings were too large to steam in my horizontal steamer but there were a lot of paintings in the order so I bought a bullet or vertical steamer. My framers paper roll was too small to roll the big paintings so I started asking around and found out that a lot of my friends that had actually studied fiber arts in collage had been taught to roll the silk in interfacing for the steaming process. The idea being that it was more gentle and flexible than the paper which can be ridged and cause wrinkles, and because it is a non-woven synthetic interfacing the dyes simply would not adhere to it and bleed. You can just keep using it over and over again and throw it in the washer when needed. You can sew pieces together to get the size you want, the sewing part is easier if you wash it first to soften it up. Also be sure that you do not buy fuseable or heat bond interfacing. You want just the old fashioned sew-in kind with some weight to it, not the really thin stuff.

I still added a piece of paper as the final wrap around the bundle to protect from drips. It may not be necessary but I wasn't in the mood to find out on this painting.

Loading the silk painting wrapped in interfacing and an outer layer of paper into the steamer

After 2 hours of steaming the painting came out of the steamer damp but in excellent condition

When I washed the painting the dye was extremely well set and there was very little surface dye coming of in the water. After washing I rolled it in a white towel and there was not staining from unstruck surface dye.

The wet painting drying on the line after washing, waiting to be ironed.

Silk Painting Almost Done

I have a Dr appointment today so this will be a quick post but I am just about done with the silk painting and will most likely be steaming it this afternoon unless I do any more tweaking.Here are some photos I took yesterday of various stages during the painting process. I have not taken a photo of the finished piece yet because I kept adjusting it last night. I will photo it before and after I steam it and will post photos tomorrow of the finished piece.

Adding Some Dyes to the Sheep Painting

I layered in some dye on the sheep painting yesterday. I was really battling fatigue so I didn't get as much done as I would have liked to but today is another day!