Looking good so far...

Two detail images of the progress on my new piece today. Things are looking good so far.



Yesterday I screened two sets of masked off stripes on to this new piece with my BIG silk screen. There was some surplus thickened dye left on the screen following this and I was in no rush to wash the screen as I knew it would wash out easily, even if the dye dried. By the time I had checked what I had printed, the surplus dye had migrated. It looked so good that I decided to let it dry fully and I plan to re-print sometime with some soda ash in clear sodium alginate (Manutex).

This week I attended the AGM of the Friends of TheNewDowse, a major art gallery here in Lower Hutt. I am now on their committee. I have been avoiding such commitments for quite sometime as I have been on committees for many years, and had decided I had done my dash. It amuses me that here I am again! However, I am looking forward to being involved and working with a new group of people. I am already The Friends Archivist and last year sorted all their papers since their conception in the early 1970's.

Peru again. Machu Picchu from a distance (centre, up a bit to the left). A quiet walk around to the Sun Gate (original entry/exit of the Inca Trail) gave this panoramic view back to the settlement. Note zigzag road up from the village of Aguas Calientes to MP itself. Buses speed up and down this road delivering and returning tourists.

Starting again.....

Life soon returns to normal, almost too soon, after travel, and I am back working again. This time I am not going to show you the whole piece as it progresses (sorry!) but will show some details, when appropriate.

This is to be a large piece; I prepared the silk/linen mix fabric 115cm/45" wide x 2 metres/79" length.

Using thickened dye I painted on some swipes of colour.

Then I decided to overdye the whole thing. Orange was the colour which came to mind and here I have painted over the original colours (on paper) to get some indication of an outcome.

Overdyeing worked well but then I decided that the colours were too strong for additional applications so put the whole cloth through a discharge bath. I do this often!

Ahhh, much better. All the colours have been 'knocked back' and give a better base from which to work further applications.

Nature's security works well in Peru! These cacti are planted on top of the stone wall.