Late again writing my blog for last week. I focused in a little bit, but not much. I have finished all my fabric painting (for now) and have been stuck in cow hell these last few days. I am making forward progress; however insignificant it may seem.
These abstracted flat sheets have surprised me in a few ways, namely the amount of paint used, the work surface, the effect of water, the importance of prep, and the lack of control. The paint I’ve been using has been big tubes of Blick acrylic paint, combined with water and Dharma Trading Company pigment dye to get a more viscous quality to really allow for flow to happen. Initially, I was using gamsol to assist in the thinning of paint until Prof. Brotherton informed me that this was horrible for longevity, and all the alkyds and gamsols are strictly for oil paint usage and are possibly toxic when mixed. Even though I am sure he is right, the blue canvas I worked on has an effect like no other.
This brings me to the work surface, probably the biggest factor I had to control that I didn't realize. The thin cotton fabric I was using allowed bleed-through of whatever was happening on the front to the back. If the fabric is placed on a non-smooth surface (i.e., towel, concrete, stainless steel), whatever impression the work surface leaves on the fabric will influence the final dye outcome. I really had no idea that this would happen and was very pleasantly surprised with the results. My initial plans were to create a blue-painted sheet to use for the sky, then a green-painted sheet to use for the ground. While my initial attempts were alright and I planned on using them regardless, the reverse side of both pieces was so much stronger than the front side, really capturing the intended feeling I failed to capture on the front.
This was entirely by mistake and really reminded me of the overall lack of control you have in the work you create. Unintended decisions can work so much better than the plans you want to adhere to.
Water and prepped surfaces also had a final effect on what was being done. The blue surface was prepped with matte fixative, left to dry, then coated with a thin layer of water before working. The continued application of water is what allowed me to push and pull the various colors that I was applying. I didn’t use any fixative for my green and worked with a stronger water-to-paint ratio than the blue, done unintentionally, but I think this ultimately helped the paint/dye to take on more details from the underlying surface. The front came out much ashier as a result, with really faded color. I think I better understand how to control that finish now, especially after the work done for the red and brown sheet I created.
Now understanding what I did during the first 2 sheets, I went into the painting of the inverses much more prepared. My area was prepped with wayyyyyy more cover, making cleanup a 15-minute process compared to the 2 hours it was last time. I turned down my paint usage tone, relying more on color creation through dye, something I am much more experienced with, and allowed better color range, especially on my reds. The process was largely the same, but I did not prep these surfaces prior to painting, which ended up resulting in much more water being needed. This didn’t have an effect on my process, as these were left to dry over the weekend and didn’t pose any issues when I came back into the lab.
As I write this on a Wednesday, I’ve already cut up the brown and green sheets full and cut off the undyed excess on my red and blue sheets. Full pictures of the red and brown pieces together will be in next week's blog.
I'll talk more about my stitch studies in next week's blog , as I’m still trying to put together what I want to say with them and how I’d like them presented.
Lastly, I finished a few sample paintings as I worked on my large red and tan canvases that I really liked. Ill ultimately probably have to continue work on them but I feel a lot more confident in my canvas work.
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