I’ve been keeping quite busy lately. I’m trying to paint my art supply room ( I hate painting) as it needs cleaning out and organizing very badly. I decided if I was going to rip it apart, I should paint it too - it is all white and y’all know how I feel about the absence of color - Ack!! Notice how I completely passed over the most disturbing part of that last sentence? A whole room that is just art supplies - very scary! So, by dribbles and drabs, I’ve been working on that. I also taught a new sock class recently which had to be written and was all about the options of toes; sock toes, it was fun!

And I’ve just started another of my Toe-Up, Two at a Time on One Needle Socks class. In fact, sock knitting must be hot because one filled up so I schedule another immediately following it and it’s full too. Cool beans!

But I’m also taking an online art class with Laura Cater-Woods. It’s called Idea to Image and it’s also an artist coaching group therapy class Laura is brilliant and has really helped me clear some cobwebs in my brain.

So, I’ve just started a new piece. I’ve decided to be brave and let you see the steps I’ve done so far. First, I want to keep this as non-objective as possible for a piece that actually has objects (I just learned a new term “non-objective art” is art with no recognizable objects in it; abstract). So, I’m trying to represent the theme of the work with just color - well, so far. Think — grape vine on a stucco wall. First blush at my idea was a water color.

Then, I added a sharp black, fine line to see if i like the contrast with soft color. I do.

Then I got out my fabric (silk noil). I decided that I’m a chicken and put in a few resist lines to represent the grape vine idea. The resist is Elmer’s Blue Gel School Glue - it works very well for this.

A better look at the resist.

Then I played with color!

It’s a bit more yellow than I planned but this is only the first layer of color. Since this is a wall piece, I don’t have to worry about how many layers I add and the fabric getting a stiff hand. If this was garment fabric, I would be very concerned but - I can explore this concept without that consideration.

Off to play some more!

Deb H