Umbrels

Now with umbrels!  I'm still thinking about how I want to incorporate the indigo dyed silk organza net into this piece.

WIP - Queen Anne's Birds

Some detail shots of the stitching thus far.

Queen Anne's Birds!

Now with some stitching, I used a varigated thread in blues.

I have yet to decide if I want to include the indigo silk organza net layer.

My Creative Process: Decisions, Decisions

A few blocks of digitally printed silk organza layered over the digital image.

Medium value of indigo dyed silk organza net.

A very light value of indigo dyed silk organza net. 

I haven't made a final decision yet on the ove rall directioni of the piece.  I have, however, toyed with the idea of playing off the Queen Anne's Lace that's part of the digital collage.

Indigo and Rust

My Creative Process Part 3 of 4

The more I think about my creative process, the more I don't want to think about the it!  While I'm a process oriented artist, I'd rather be "doing" the process than simply writing about it.  So today, in pictures, this part of the process of writing about my creative process is all about auditioning a piece in progress.  And I'll probably post more photos in the next day or so as I work towards completing this piece.

Digital printed cotton fabric, printed from one of my photo collages, layered atop a piece of painted timtex.

I've been having a very hard time bringing myself to cut up, stitch, or otherwise use this piece of fabric.  And that is odd.  Odd in that I could easily print a hundred more of this collage onto fabric, paper, or whatever, so why not???

A digital piece of fabric that I printed from one of my photo collages, layered atop a piece of painted timtex.

And now with a digtially printed sheer silk organza fabric layed atop the other two layers.

And now with a layer of osage orange dyed silk organza layerd atop the previous two layers.

This piece will go through many auditions, layers, etc. before the first stitches take place, and once I start stitching I will then start auditioning more layers once again.

My Process Update

I'm behind the 8 ball, actually the truth is closer to I'm behind the 95F and I have NO central air or air conditioning 8 ball and in reality just didn't feel like posting an update today.  See everyone tomorrow!

Sketch and Note Books



Sketchbooks and notebooks all a part of my creative process, even for natural dyeing.  I keep swatches of fabrics in the notebooks with notes on how I acquired the color.

Area Show:43

Corn No. 51 was accepted into the MacNider's Area Show: 43, now to pack it up and ship it off!

8.5x11 inches matted and framed to 11x14 inches.
Natural dyed and compost dyed cotton fabrics, digitally printed cotton fabric, machine stitched.

My Creative Process Part 2 of 4

Stage 2 of my creative process is to take notes, if I haven’t been doing so already, and to start auditioning my materials for the new work/series.   

My drawing desk on which I keep a piece of white butcher paper.  I like the white paper as it allows me to draw on it, take notes, and audition darkers objects such as these letter press blocks.

For those of you following my blogs you know that I have a large inventory of supplies to work with: these supplies range from naturally dyed fabrics, to handmade papers (many I made myself), inks, paint, threads, beads, shells, rocks, etc.  Actually, what I have are collections.  Collections that I have been creating and adding too since I was about nine years of age.

Some natural dye materials for dyeing fabric and fibers.

Rusty objects for dyeing fabrics and papers as well as for inspiration.

 

Shell bits and rocks from one of my collections, these live on my desk.

As part of the creative process I audition many of the objects in my collections, and image library, sometimes it's a series of phrases I've read in a book that inspire a piece.

My Creative Process Part 1 of 4

I recieved an email from a follower earlier in the week asking me about my creative process, how do I get started, etc.  The email contained all sorts of questions, images of her very lovely work, etc., but the gist of the story is how to start the creative process for a piece.  The more I thought about it, and wrote to her, the more I realized that I there was a blog post(s) in the anwser.

For my latest series of stitched stories, Corn, I started out by looking at images in my photo library.

And I start thinking about the theme, what in the photos captures my eye design wise?

I also spend thousands of hours staring at fields, ditches, corn plants, grain bins, silos, etc., in varying light and seasons studying how the light moves and bounces across the objects, studying how they change shape and form in different lighting.

The next thing I do, and this can be days, weeks, months, or even years later, is decide if I want to work in fabric/fiber, encaustic, or with paint.  I admit sometimes I work in all of those mediums just to see how it'll turn out in the end, what I thought might be a great idea for fabric bombs and turns out to be exquisite when worked up in wax!

 More tomorrow!

Natural Dyed Fabrics

Screen printed natural dye extracts onto cutch dyed silk dupioni.

Screen printed osage orange onto cochineal and lac dyed silk crepe de chine fabric.

I've been looking for a piece of natural dyed, compost dyed, mono and screen printed silk fabric I surfaced back around 2006, I'm finding everything but that particular piece of fabric!!!

Future Art Cloth

A large tub filled with muslin that overwintered in the tomato garden.  Will be washing this batch tomorrow, about 30 yards worth, and then putting it through the paces for bundles and immersion dye baths.

Corn No. 54 in Progress

Corn No. 54 in progress, before stitching to show the patterning of the compost dyed fabric.

Fabric Stash 053112

I'm still sorting through my fabric stash of natural and compost dyed fabrics trying to find a lost piece of pigment painted fabric.  I still haven't found the piece I'm looking for, I may just have to repaint some fabric so that I can work on my project!

eBook Issues Resolved!!!

I found out this afternoon that some of the eBooks on CD are no longer working with the latest version of Adobe Acrobat (Mac version) if you bought one of my eBooks on disc and it is not working to please let me know when you bought the book(s) and I'll send a digital download instead.

Mark Making with Nature eBook is available for digital download in my shop!

WIP - Corn No. 50

Yes it really IS assymetrical!  It's waiting for it's frame.

Sorting Fabric

Sorting fabrics for future projects, and more specifically looking for a piece of pigment painted fabric that I've been really wanting to work with in a new project.

Rust dyed commercial fabrics from 2005/06 sitting atop a pile of hand painted fabrics from 2003-2006.  The log cabin block piece I made back in 1994 when I took a hand dyeing class from Priscilla Sage at Iowa State University.

Bound Resist fabrics, top, from 1994 and screen printed hand dyed fabrics from 2005.

Some of my older hand dyed and hand painted fabrics that I've been sorting through for various projects.

A pink piece I made from my screen printing squeegie scrapings, from a class I took with Tim McIllrath in 1994.

In Today's Email!!!

It's emails like this one that make really make my day, my week actually!!!

Dear Kimberley:


I downloaded the 4 book e-package last night. Just wanted to thank you and let you know that the process worked very smoothly. The download went without a hitch – even on my sometimes glitchy laptop. The books look very professional and crammed with great information. Now to find time to read and learn!

Best wishes,

Jenny

Thank you so much Jenny for your kind words!  I can't wait to see what your results!!!

Jenny has been rust dyeing some already, check out her work on her blog sevengablehouseart

Pear Tree Dye Project

The wind took out my beloved pear tree last week, so this week we will be cutting it up into managable pieces, the leaves, bark, and smaller limbs will be used for dyeing fabric and yarn.  Am thinking of breaking out the large cast iron cauldron and making up a large dye vat.