Hiatus

Since completing my latest piece last week, I have been doing some 'housework' in the studio. This means that I have been cleaning up and making my work surfaces vacant for when I start the next piece (see photos).

I have disposed of any unused dye mixes, made sure all the equipment is clean, and washed the drop-cloth on my large printing table. I am always reluctant to tidy up as I go, or tidy up too soon, just in case I need to return to check something out. The unused dyes would have become inactive but then I could, if required, use them as a reference to match a colour or mix up more. Design scribbles are glued into my workbook, but not the failed scribbles! Paper and freezer paper templates are thrown out or saved for recycling.

Finally I have documented my latest piece, using a format which includes size, date, inspiration, materials used etc. This is really essential and a godsend when this information is required at a later date; it certainly saves on getting the work out again. The final job is to get the piece professional photographed, and I usually like to take two or three pieces at a time.

And now it is on to thinking about the next piece. And that is chiefly what I do, think, and then think some more. Occasionally some reference is jotted into my workbook but mostly it goes on in my head.

Finished

My latest piece is now finished, and mounted. I am very pleased with the result. I would love to show you the whole piece but am reluctant to do so just in case I wish to submit it to an exhibition, where whole images must not have been seen on the Internet. The inspiration was, of course, Peru!

© Diana Parkes 2010, A Sense of Place; 133cm x 188cm / 52.5" x 74"; silk/linen and cotton cloth; dye, discharge, textile pigment

In this piece I have used the four letters, one in each corner, which spell out INCA but with the N reversed. This was the starting point for this piece. According to my research, a prominent Inca leader learnt how to read and write after the Spanish arrived but somehow he reversed the N's in all his written works. Whether this was deliberate or unintentional it is not known but it was interesting to see it continued today in Peru on major signage and branding etc.



Mounting this piece on the border-painted canvas backing looks great. The eyelets (grommets) worked out well too. I got these done at a local canvas goods maker / repairer and whereas I thought they would be brass, I was offered black eyelets and responded 'yes, please!' They have all sizes and were very cheap to get done. Very small eyelets eg. shoe lacing size, are best done at a shoe repairers.

Presentation of work

I consider my latest piece to be finished. It is currently resting, like a good roast, and time will determine whether it has indeed reached the end of its road. In the meantime I am considering its presentation.

I have been giving quite a bit of thought to presentation this year, and have made some observations while on gallery crawls, mostly to art exhibitions ie not textile exhibitions. It has been an interesting exercise and I think I have now come to a new possibility.

First I had to do some experimenting and used an earlier piece of work which I don't intend ever to exhibit. I decided to use a heavy canvas (in NZ called calico duck) for the backing piece, and paint a border using a low sheen, water-based interior house paint.

Initially I felt I needed to prime the canvas, so did a test with textile pigment and a house paint undercoat. Once painted over with the colour I decided neither was necessary - see centre portion of test which shows paint coverage without any priming.

I painted a border around another piece of canvas. Because I had not washed it prior to painting, the border area shrunk which made the centre area pucker. Not good!

I repeated this experiment with a pre-washed piece of canvas. Success, it remain flat! The dyed art work is to overlap on to the borders. I did mount the rejected artwork on to this and was pleased with the outcome.

And here are my borders being painted on a very large piece of canvas, to accommodate my latest piece. I have already hemmed the top and lower edges, before painting, but left the sides raw. I painted the front side twice (to get a perfect coverage) and an underside border just once so that if the edges curled they would reveal the same colour.

Next I will get metal eyelets punched into the four corners. I get these things done professionally as it is very hard to get them perfect with equipment here at home.

Good news

From July 9th to August 7th, the works from my exhibition last year (those unsold, that is, plus a couple of new pieces), held at Expressions, Upper Hutt, are to be exhibited again at the Art Gallery Papakura, 10 Averill Street, Papakura. I am looking forward to seeing everything displayed again, in a different setting, and to a new audience.

Yesterday I received news that a grant application to the Creative Communities Scheme Pakakura District, has been accepted. This will help in couriering the pieces to and from the gallery, and other additional expenses in preparing the work. This certainly helps with the overall success of the exhibition. Very pleasing indeed.

Herewith a couple more details of the latest piece. It is almost finished and I am preparing for the mounting processes.

More lino prints

Have made good progress on my piece this week and feel I am nearing the end. I have added some Inca house ruins, seen at Machu Picchu and elsewhere. They seem to have the same basic stone structure but minus their thatched roofs for obvious reasons. I did another quick lino design which worked out well.

Inca houses printed, then the top window spaces discharged to give some contrast.

Machu Picchu and some Inca house ruins, without roofs, top of photo. The delightful baby llama was less than 24 hours old!

A restored thatched house, bottom left.

Grand-daughter has been here again this weekend so more progress on 'the dress'. Curved hem on skirt caused some concern so Nana is to replace it with a hand rolled hem, as any Nana would do!

Inca Woman

This week I have been working on my lino print and I am very pleased with the resulting outcome. There is something therapeutic about quietly sculpting the lino and watching the design slowly reveal itself. It didn't take too long either. The next exciting thing was to do some test prints. I did several of these on paper to fine tune the results, then worked on fabric. I used black textile pigment for this printing. Printing on the fabric leaves a slightly different texture than on the paper, but I decided I liked this. Then it was the nerve wracking process of doing it on the latest piece. Whew, fortunately it worked!

I often feel I am too tight with some of my drawings and a lino print, by its very nature, seems to loosen things up a bit.

The actual lino cut on the left, and one each of the paper and fabric test pieces.

And here she is, quietly making her away across my new piece!

By now you should have gathered that this piece features Peru.....

Busy Day

Eldest grand-daughter (almost 16) is to attend her first school ball in a few weeks. Needless to say this requires a new dress! Last weekend I helped her buy a pattern and the fabric, and yesterday we cut out most of the pieces and now have the bodice almost completed. She is doing the work and Nana, of course, is guiding and watching closely; she is a willing student so all is well.

I have sewn my own clothes since about her age (a very long time ago) and am able to sew a garment without following instructions, relying on experience and intuition. However, when I was preparing for her visit I started to read the pattern instructions only to find myself somewhat challenged! What a lot of decisions to make, and all seemed complicated to interpret. Enough to put any newbie off making clothes!

In the meantime I have made good progress on the latest piece.

Another small detail.

I want to put a lino print on this piece and here I am beginning to sculpt the lino.