Fishermans Fantasy

19 Trout
I have a thing for trout. Have I mentioned this before?
A trout swimming in the water is one of my favorite sights.
I've challenged myself to depict native trout in a pseudo natural environment.
This is the third in my trout series.It is by far my largest attempt. It is 50" wide. I know it is not very likely that this many trout would be traveling so closely together in the natural environment, but it just looked better to me with a lot of trout. Artistic liberty.

Everything in this piece is hand painted - the water, the rocks, the fish.
I stamped the dots on the fishes backs using one of my hand cut stamps.

A layer of sparkly tulle from the give away covers this entire piece. Actually, it is several pieces overlapped to create more interest and dimension. The tulle has the effect of muting all the colors - the water as well as the fish and stones. But the sparkle it adds probably justifies the use of the tulle.

Tulle and Tyvek

This representation of a wildfire started as a piece of 100% cotton - handpainted with Setacolor fabric paints. I laid it out on a flat surface, applied my colors to damp fabric, crumpled it and left it to dry. I was satisfied with the result.

Then I received a gift of a box of tulle from a tulle manufacturer. At that point, I realized I had more tools (no pun intended) for creating depth and realism to the look of flames and smoke.

I used a glittery red tulle for the flames, and a crumpled gray for the smoke.

Using Tyvek to create the trees was almost an afterthought. I used Dharma pigments to color the Tyvek. I like this product because it has a very intense pigmentation and also bonds very well with the slippery plastic surface of the olefin.

This small piece is practice for a much larger one that is intended for the Elements Gallery opening in August.

I am sharing some of the tulle that I received from the manufacturer. Would you like some free tulle? Find out how at the Salvaged Threads Blog.

Heat Gunning

When I learned that the fiber content of the tulle is nylon, I decided to try blasting it with a heat gun. I took it outside and also put on my respirator.

Here is what a small flocked piece looked like after a second or two of heat blasting.This tulle has been embroidered with rayon thread. The thread didn't melt, but the tulle began to shred right away. This seems to create some interesting possibilities for using this stuff.
I am taking my Beaney and Littlejohn books to the Gallery with me today to study up on their techniques for combining stitch and heat.