Starting out

I have considered blogging for a long time. Sometimes I am so excited about my work in the studio that I can barely contain myself and I just want to share it with the world.

Yesterday's project was to make my gift for the "Women of Artistic Vision" Christmas gift exchange. The theme is "Elbows". Each member is to create a unique gift offering with that theme. I thought I would just bring one of my groovy handbags to wear on the elbow, but I came across this site with some images of Leonardo da Vinci's drawings. Here is the link to that web page: Leonardo's Drawings . The one for the arm bicep movements captured my imagination and I knew I must use it in some way to make my gift for the "Elbows" exchange.

First I made a screen. I pulled out some silk organza, which I dyed using Colorhue dyes (here are instructions for using Colorhue dyes).

I dug out some of the first fabric I had ever handpainted and decided to use it for a background. Then, I pulled a couple of pieces of commercial fabric to use as borders. After the handpainted silk was dry, I screened on a series of images of da Vinci's arm studies.

I spent a lot of time messing around with the arrangement to get a look that I liked. Then I fused it all in place and machine stitched. I put the binding on while Airus was napping.

I am satisfied with the outcome of a few hours messing around in the studio!