Petroglyphs at Dinosaur National Monument

 While visiting Dinosaur National Monument, we  drove to the end of the road, because we wanted to see the terrain, as well as the petroglyphs in the area.  This was our first stop - up the trail - in the sheltered alcove - we saw what we call the alien (below)

Polymer Clay Fossils?

 My original idea for this piece included the addition of polymer clay fossils as embellishment.  I wish I could audition these on the design wall, but I just have to settle for looking at it on my worktable.

As I contemplate the proportion (will I trim away some from the bottom of this piece?) I must also contemplate the addition of the 3D polymer clay fossils.  I am surprised by how much I like the color variations in the fossils - they kind of complement the colors in the sky.  Not sure they really add anything, though.  For what it's worth - my 7 year old grandson, Airus likes the polymer clay fossils.  Opinions welcome.

Quilting Adds!

Here it is after quilting and trimming.  I am thinking about the size / shape and wonder if some of the black needs to be removed from the bottom.  As it stands - the black is a bit overpowering. But maybe that's OK - the message is about fossil fuels -vs- alternative energy.  Perhaps it should be very dark and brooding......  thinking about that.

Masked Area Revealed

This is how it looks now after I have block printed it twice - the first time with the transparent paint was just too faint, so I printed it again using Setacolor opaque black.  It is still not really where I would like it to be, but I remind myself this is a practice piece simply intended for troubleshooting.  I will do things differently on the final huge piece.  Next - I will do the quilting - which always seems to make a big difference.

Printing Over Masking Tape

Here it is after the paint dried - before I ripped the tape off.

Setting Up For Block Printing

Here is a shot of my worktable as I prepare to block print over the fossil fabric.  I am going with purple, black and brown transparent Setacolor paints.  I have puddled them all together on the plate I use for my palette.  I will daub my sponge brush into the paint so I get all three colors on it and that will be daubed onto the stamp for printing.  Stay tuned!

Dinosaur National Monument

24 Hour Sale at Interweave!

Hey, I just learned my instructional DVD is on sale at Interweave through tomorrow!  Great prices!

Here is the link to the DVD on the Interweave site.

Masking Off Before Block Printing

 After a lot of contemplation, I have decided to mask off some areas of the fossil printed base before doing the block printing.  As I place the tape, I am thinking about fossil fuels that might be formed in veins underground......

Full View of Fossil Fuels vs Wind Energy

Here is the piece as it stands right now.  I am working through it and welcome suggestions.  The proportions are definitely off, but this is just a practice piece for a much larger piece.  I find it better when I remove the bottom 4" or so..... I plan to overprint the fossils with block printing, but am not sure what color paint will work best for that.  I think something dark......

Adding Details to the Sunset

Here is a detail of this current project - a work in progress.  At this stage, I have collaged the fossil printed fabric to the bottom (which I think is overpowering at this point - however, I have another layer of printing to add).  The sky has been screenprinted and then block printed over the top with Setacolor Gold Metallic.  Then - I added the windmill screenprints.

This piece is supposed to be about the controversy between different sources of energy.  Wind energy vs fossil fuels, in a nutshell.  I feel the proportions are off as far as the relationship between the fossils in the foreground and the windmills.  However - this is just a practice piece for a much larger one.  In that one - the fossils might be the correct size, actually.  If not, I can make them smaller.  . . . .

Gold Printed fossil fabric

 I want the fabric collage on the bottom of this piece to be dark because I will be adding dark images to the top.  Because I used gold for screen printing the sky - I thought maybe gold metallic paint would be good for the fossil printing. I used a commercialy dyed black fabric.  The printed fabric really glows and is beautiful.  I am not sure if it works with the sky, though.  Stay tuned.

Screenprinting the Sunset

 I decided to try screenprinting with metallic gold paint.   The prints are converted from my grandmother's recipes that were written in an old ledger book for the Road District.  The picture above shows the full piece (which is about 30" wide).  The images below are details.

A Smaller Sunset Collage

I have put together this smaller collage of fused hand painted sunset fabrics.  It is about 30" wide and I feel I can experiment with this smaller size as I figure out what to do with my much larger piece (which must be 72" wide).    A different fabric will go on the bottom - this is to be a landscape - so it will be the ground.

Dinosaur National Monument - Travel Log Tuesday

 More details of the dinosar bone wall inside the observation building at Dinosaur National Monument.
We visited about a year ago.

Collage of Sunset Fabrics

After painting a lot of sunset fabrics, I felt like I had enough to put together a large sunset collage.  This piece is potentially for a special exhibition - the size needs to be 72" wide x 72" high.  It would be very difficult to paint a single sunset fabric that size - furthermore - it might not be very interesting.  Plus - it would not be in my style, really.  So here we have my collage. ..... It is up on the design wall and it is so vibrant as to be quite overwhelming!  I do have plans to overprint this with multiple layers......but I am sort of stymied at this point.  I know what printing processes I wish to do, but am wavering on the colors.  I usually make a trial piece to troubleshoot, so that will be my plan with this one, also.

Blue Painted fabric

 This piece of painted blue fabric was gently scrunched after painting - creating those wrinkle lines across the surface.  The plan for this piece is to cut it up for a collage.

I folded this fabric in half when I painted it to get it to fit on my work surface.  The paint soaked through to the bottom layer just fine.  Lately, I have been layering fabrics for the painting process - especially when I am also painting something sheer like silk organza or cheesecloth.

Painting a Sky

Here's a painted sky that is still wet on my work table.

More Painted Sky Fabrics

 I've painted a lot of sky fabrics lately.  This top one looks sort of stormy to me.

These two pieces are about 30" wide x 45" high.  Cotton broadcloth.

Pieced Sunset Fabrics

I tried sewing strips of the satin sunset fabrics together and did not like it.  So, I tried cutting it up and piecing in more strips - which I also do not like.  This will go into a drawer - it's not going to work for my current project.  But it might be useful at some future time. . . . Back to the drawing board.

Painting Sunsets

 I've been painting a lot of fabrics recently - I am working towards a group of handpainted sunset sky fabrics for a very large piece I will be doing for an exhibition.  My current idea is that I will build a fused collage of sky fabrics rather than have a single hand painted sky fabric.  All of the fabrics above are satin acetate - which really glows.

This is a mix of cottons and synthetic fabrics - all painted with Pebeo Setacolor Paints.  I have them arranged on the design wall here to get an idea of how they might look collaged......

Dinosaur National Monument

 Last May, we visited Dinosaur National Monument in north western Colorado.  The observation building has been under construction (and closed to visitors) for a couple of years.  This facility offers indoor viewing of a natural deposit of many dinosaur fossils. 

 They have chipped away just enough of the stone to reveal the fossils.

The place is HUGE and we were almost the only people visiting - it was early on a weekday.  What an awesome experience!

Rows of Block Prints

 I don't really have a plan for this fabric that has been block printed......(unusual for me).

I don't expect to do anything further with this fabric.   I guess it is sort of a sampler.

I think these printing blocks have a lot of possibilities - they would be smashing as a border.  Or as stand alone prints.  I could go a totally different direction with these prints, but that is yet to be seen.

I just wanted to share.  I think this is a really exciting and successful group of printing blocks.

More New Printing Block Rows

 Here are some closer images of the block printed rows I introduced yesterday.

New Block Prints in Rows

This is another group of block prints done in rows.  This piece of fabric is about 60" square.
 I showed these printing blocks in previous posts:  here and here.

New Printing Blocks

 I tried out four new printing blocks on a single length of hand dyed fabric.  I've already shown you closer details of three.  A closer detail of the fourth one is shown below.