Friday, April 24, 2015

Watchin' the Paint Dry - Off the Wall Friday

So, I have a confession.  Now that spring rush is done at work, I took a couple of days off to catch up a bit around the house and spend some major time in my studio.  Instead, I slept 5 hours on the couch. *Blush*

The good news is that I did get a couple of hours in the studio, painting my organza.  For the last month, I've been reading books and blogs on how other artists have treated their organza.  And you know what I found?  That they basically winged it.  So that was
what I was going to do.

Basically, all I did was play with paint, water, and the silk.  I sprayed it down with water and painted it orange with textile paint (remember I suppose to be working on my lily project - I'm partial to day lilies).  I mixed yellow in.  I used it as a base and made a monoprint with another piece.  I made another adding more paint -
less water.  It just went on and on until I ran out of time.
And space.

Which brings up another problem of this whole painting fabric thing.  Spring on Lake Erie is not a pretty thing most days.  We still have a lot of gray, cold, wet, weather.  Oh, and snow.  (Yes it
snowed today).  So, where to hang all of these to dry.  I mean if I wait for it be a warm sunny day to paint, I might never do any.

With a little bit of surfing, I found some really good ideas.  They have  indoor clothes lines that are temporary - they open and retract.  Very cool!  They have them in this model that does several or the single ones.  Now what I worry about keeping it inside is where does it go?  My studio isn't that big and who wants drying paint around their house?!

So my other idea is that my Victorian house came with a big wrap around Victorian porch.  What if . . . I. . .  my husband hung hooks up on the porch, then when I get on the painting mood simply strung line on the hooks.  It could stay a while and then taken down when the paint was put away.  Plus with the  porch  - it offers coverage from the rain, its right off  my studio,  and if these are a few drips it won't matter.  Now, I just gotta get Paul to do it for me. . . . grin.

I still have a couple more days off so I'm sure that I've gotten my nap in, I should get more done on this project!

So What have been up to creatively?

7 comments:

Jenny K. Lyon said...

I'm painting organza too-orange! It isn't as hard as I made it to be in my mind. I still need to play a lot more to get the look I want. Love your clothesline idea!

sonja said...

i painted today as well. It does not tax my hands like quilting and various stages of sewing does...i have over worked my left hand to the point of trigger thumb... now i wear a thumb brae to rest and remind myself to not to grip too tight. i painted fabric and coffee filters to be come bookmarks when i have a better grip.

Lynda said...

Thanks for the idea for hanging wet fabric. I had forgotten all about those pull out lines but love your idea. I'm deep in gardening but hope to do a bit of dyeing this weekend.

Gwyned Trefethen said...

Love the idea of a pull out clothesline. I use a collapsable clothes dryer in my laundry room/wet studio. I have a plastic liner underneath to catch the drips.

Shannon said...

I've always had a weird love for those pull-out clotheslines. I've only seen the single ones, but I think they always make me feel like I'm in a rustic old-west kind of place (bizarre I know, especially since I lived for many years in Tucson where hanging clothes out on a regular clothesline was a standard practice, so it's not the hanging out cloths itself that intrigues me).

Anyhow, I'm excited to see you use some of the painted organza. It never occurred to me to paint it and I don't know why not, I bet you can get some really cool color effects. The one piece you're holding up there looks like it has nice variety in the paint thickness/opacity which will probably be awesome in a quilt.

Shannon said...

I've always had a weird love for those pull-out clotheslines. I've only seen the single ones, but I think they always make me feel like I'm in a rustic old-west kind of place (bizarre I know, especially since I lived for many years in Tucson where hanging clothes out on a regular clothesline was a standard practice, so it's not the hanging out cloths itself that intrigues me).

Anyhow, I'm excited to see you use some of the painted organza. It never occurred to me to paint it and I don't know why not, I bet you can get some really cool color effects. The one piece you're holding up there looks like it has nice variety in the paint thickness/opacity which will probably be awesome in a quilt.

Angela said...

I hope you can get your man to hang that for you! It is a great idea.