New Ideas and Better Habits

Creativity and new ideas can be elusive at times. I notice that my new ideas (at least the ones I like) have often come when I have a measure of balance in my life. If things are out of whack, for whatever reason, my ideas dry up and the frustration sets in. I’ve recently been experiencing a “dry” period and the new art work has been slower in coming.

So I’m ready to try something new and I’d like to invite you along on this short journey. I remember watching an interview with Andrew Wyeth (I think), where he talked about painting and being in the studio every day. Some days he liked what he was working on and some days not, but the habit of working every day was what grounded him. By comparison, my practice has been to work many (many!) hours in a row, then not for awhile.

So, in the effort to develop better habits and new work I am going to take Wyeth’s lead and try a little experiment. For the next week, I plan to post a new drawing or painting each day.

Stay tuned for the results!

Painting with Dye

Back to work now that spring vacation is done! Spring has arrived so I can work outside!
Here are the photos of the next steps of the batik process. I am painting on the dye today. Here is the waxed fabric before I start to paint.





I have started to paint with yellow paint that I will mix with some blue to create green.







Adding some green paint now to fill in the leaves.









Now I am painting the back ground with the bright blue paint.









Here is a close up of the finished piece of fabric. After drying for 24 hours I will rinse it out with hot water to remove the soy wax and excess dye.










The finished fabric. More steps to come soon!

Spring Really is Coming!

I saw the evidence today! Flowers blooming in my garden! I have also been working on some new work this week....something with flowers! It all gives me hope that better weather is coming! Enjoy the sunshine!