Luscious Moss - And The Urge To Paint it!

I love moss!!

I was so happy to get these pictures, on a recent trip to Oregon.

It had stopped raining and the sun was peeking through.

But I was really cold. (I'm such a wimp!)

I began with this gorgeous view from a window, before I put on my layers of clothing and braved the cold outside. (Wimpy, wimpy, wimpy!)

No words necessary ~

Lalalalalalaaa... oh, sorry... I can't shut-up for that long.

Glorious moss!!

What wonderful paintings these would make!!

As some of you know, I paint silk accessories now, like this scarf.

I used to paint fabrics for dancers as well as for the stage. A ton of fun!!

This is my granddaughter as a kid, wearing one of my pieces in "Firebird".

She just turned eighteen!! Slow down, girl!!

But before I became a silk-painter, I painted in oils. Here are some of my paintings.

I've also painted landscapes on silk, using silk paints. This is one of them.

So, not only do I have to decide which photographs to use as inspiration for a painting,

but also which medium to use. Decisions, decisions!!

But fun decisions!! I'll let you know the outcome. ~

"A single rose can be my garden, a single friend my world."

- Leo F. Buscaglia

"A garden is a friend you can visit anytime."

- Unknown

"A little garden in which to walk, and immensity in which to dream."

- Unknown

"I have a rock garden. Last week three of them died."

- Richard Diran

There are SO many things to love!

I love "Followers" and comments too!

(Thank you.)

Signing off for now,

gabriele

Silk Painting - A Special Scarf For A Special Lady

I love painting flowers!

This is "Parrot Tulips" - a 42" x 42" Crepe de Chine scarf.

I was commissioned by my friends at the Betty Ferguson Foundation,

to paint a silk scarf for this years "Woman of Honor" -

the fabulous Jacquie Petersen.

I was told that her favorite flower was the Gardenia.

(I can almost smell it! Yum!)

The first thing I did was freak-out just a little,

because white flowers are the most difficult to paint.

Jacquie, are you sure you wouldn't rather have red Roses, blue Poppies,

yellow Sunflowers?! :)

I snapped out of it - and gathered my supplies.

Brushes -

Dyes -

Silk flowers for inspiration -

Look! I even found a cute, white-flower tea pot! (I'm so easily amused.)

Getting down to business -

I made a drawing of what I had in mind.

But wait! Before I go any further, let's play a little game.

As some of you know, this is my little friend, Mel-Mel.

Unlike "Eleanor Rigby" who's already 'wearing her face',

Mel-Mel's is still 'in a jar by the door'.

(I haven't painted her little face yet. It's SO tiny, it's big-time intimidating.)

Anyway, I've hidden Mel-Mel in some of the photographs. :)

Can you find her? How many times?

* (I'll tell you at the end, but NO peeking!)

OK, moving on -

I checked out my silk 'color-chart' to see which colors I wanted to go with.

Even though the flower is white, there are pastel colors involved.

I realized that I had a color-scheme already planned-out,

from a white flower I'd painted before. That saved me a bunch of time!

I hand-washed the silk.

And hung it to dry.

I attached it to the stretcher-bars.

I set up my dyes and did a little testing on a scrap-piece of silk.

I sketched out my design with a disappearing-ink pen.

(Not to be used on checks.)

I used a light color for my linear-underpainting.

After it was dry, I outlined the entire design with a water-soluble resist.

I used a hair-dryer to speed-up the drying process.

Then I painted. (The part I love the most!)

I used a little Vodka to slow the dyes down, so that some white areas remained on the flowers.

Some artists use Rubbing Alcohol, but I'm allergic to it and don't like the smell. Nasty!

(How many of you are making Vodka jokes right now?!:)

DONE!!

Well, the painting part of it anyway.

I rolled the scarf in several layers of paper.

Then taped it up.

I stuck it in a steamer - and steamed it on the stove for three hours.

Unwrapping it after steaming is fun, because the colors are more intense

and it's like looking at it for the first time! Ahhhhhhh

Then, more hand-washing -

More drying -

Some ironing.

And finally, here it is - "Gardenias For Jacquie".

Here's a photo from a previous post,

"Silk-Painting - Going With The Flow".

It's me, in my studio. I love my studio!! I love silk-painting!!

(I love comments! I love Followers!;)

* (Four times.) :)

Signing off for now,

gabriele