The highly talented Carole Waller and her partner, Gary Wood, an innovative potter, are currently holding their summer exhibition at the studio where my textile painting and dyeing course is being held. Last Thursday my good friend and neighbour VP and I visited it. May I commend VP’s wonderful photographs and post to you? I forgot my camera and VP has a fine way with words.
velvet
In experimenting, silk on July 2, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Silk velvet. Gorgeous, sumptuous, tactile fabric. Last week at my course with Carole Waller, I painted on silk velvet. This time, I took an idea and a colour scheme in my head and after 3 weeks of working with the Procion dyes, had a better idea how to create the colour scheme I wanted. I even experimented on bits of scrap paper before I began, making colour notes about how I achieved different shades. I began to find myself wanting to get some dyes to play with at home. I think this has been a slow burn desire, but there’s probably no escaping it now.
The dyes looked a little different on the silk velvet than on the paper, but were true enough to the original intention. I wanted to create a mosaic effect, just to see how the dyes behaved and learned that painting with the nap allows the colours to blend, across it keeps them more separate. By the end of the session I had achieved the first piece I was truly happy with. The colours seem to sing when the light catches them in one direction, to whisper when viewed the other way. Yesterday I painted a silk backing for the scarf. I will collect that next week and can then put the 2 together to make a glorious winter weight scarf.
Now I am wondering if printing with a silk screen on velvet will work. One more week to go and much more to do and to experiment with. And there are rumours of another course in the autumn….
a golden summer, doors open and close.
In musings on July 1, 2009 at 8:48 pmI am sitting here in contemplative mood, the scent of roses tumbling in through the open door, the first hollyhocks nodding their heads very gently in the lightest whisper of a breeze. High summer. July and the year turning already towards the shorter days. Difficult to believe at the moment. It is hot and the evening light is bright. This year we are having a summer.
On Sunday we watched the last of the fledglings fly-Tom’s lovely girlfriend graduated as a doctor and we were privileged to be there to see her. Both our children and their partners are graduates now; all have been able to spend the golden summers of their youth in places like this…
I have felt privileged to be able to walk in these courts and green spaces too, as we have watched our younglings fly free on their own wings. I will miss our strolls in these gardens and although they all still live in Cambridge, the direct link is now broken. We have quietly pulled one door closed behind us, and walked through to a new place.
I am still adjusting to the view on the other side.
