Things are happening...

More progress this week. I have worked in the bird cage area and added a series of red line grid blocks in between the bars.

This involved a lot of tedious tearing of masking tape to define the areas.

The red gives a great lift to this piece and I plan to use it elsewhere as well.

The line grid silk screen is one I made some time ago, along with another of a grid of dots. Both have been most useful elements to add to a piece. I usually mask off an area in which to screen the line grid or dots grid.

Not stuffed up yet....

A couple of 'pulling it all together' things have happened since last I blogged. I have added more colour to the centre row of spirals, followed by some black highlights. I then wanted a grid of printed dots so cut out squares from a piece of graph paper so that I wouldn't go out of alignment.

Graph paper in position and dots printed using a wine cork.

Details showing spiral additions and dots.

This week I received acceptance into the Changing Threads exhibition of contemporary fibre and textile art at The Refinery Artspace, Nelson. My successful submission is below and is from my Fibre Reactive solo exhibition last year. I loved the way it looked on the dark wall in Expressions.

© 2009 Diana Parkes, THE THREE SISTERS, dye and pigment on silk, overall size 46cm x 142cm / 18" x 56"
The exhibition is on at the Refinery Artspace in Nelson until 10 April and they promise to put the exhibition on their website so I will give you the details when this happens.

The last detail...

The final detail to my latest piece has now been added. I wanted a bird, one that was taking flight, escaping its fate and flying off (hopefully) to a better future. I googled caged birds and came up with a parrot which appeared to be preparing for flight.

This is one of my first drawings.

I wanted to pare it down to just a few lines and, after several attempts, reduced it to this.

However, I decided I had gone too far. I wanted it to be a stylized interpretation but with more volume. Many drawings later I had what I wanted and here it is as a freezer paper stencil ironed on to the fabric.

White textile paint painted over the stencil.

The stencil has been removed to reveal the bird. In this photo I have also worked further on the background.

I am now into the really scary bit, where I need to pull it all together. This is very risky as I could easily stuff it all up, and the whole piece heads for the reject bin! This does happen occasionally sooooo..... fingers crossed!

Some text....

My next application was to add some text which further endorses the content of this piece. It is easy enough these days to select a font and size on the computer and trace these on to freezer paper. I have kept the letter cut-outs as I may use these in the future, if I actually remember that I have them!

Prepared freezer paper ironed in place...

Black pigment/paint rolled over the freezer paper.

Lettering is now done. Still more to happen....

Progressing well.....

Following my previous blog I received three comments about my current piece. I was asked whether it was turning out as planned, whether it was proceeding as I intended and had there been drastic changes; and that I needed to be brave to paint with dye on fabric instead of a canvas.

The short answer is that this is just the way I work. I enjoy the unpredictability and challenge of not quite knowing how things are going to work out. I very quickly get bored if everything is worked out ahead.

The longer answer is that I often start with some content ideas in mind although sometimes these may surface after starting. I like my work to be edgy, to have a purpose, a message, some thoughts on a topic. This keeps the work interesting for me as the artist/maker and eventually, I hope, the viewers. Using dyes on fabric is perhaps an unusual choice of execution but in today's art world all materials are valid. Dyes are a challenge to use artistically but that also is why I use them.

In this particular piece I am using caged birds as a metaphor for lives that become trapped within their environments/circumstances and that freedom to make choices to 'escape', move on, need to be considered at all costs. A difficult recommendation as we know that this is not always possible. This piece is to acknowledge this as well.

Thank you for your comments and I hope I have answered to your satisfaction.

I wanted to break up the flat colour in the top right corner, so discharged with a 'texture'. However, I wasn't too keen on the result so decided to over-dye.....

..... with a purple which I now think works much better. Unexpectedly I have a bird's head and beak appearing here which was not intended and I am not sure how I might be able to take advantage of this.

Full view with the addition of some screen printed skeletal birds which further endorse the intent of this piece.

More progress....

Here I have added a bird cage which is part of the theme for this piece. Colour has been added to the lower half and also to the top left corner. Parts of the top left and bottom right (between the lines) then got discharged to give a contrast.

Then I painted the top right corner a dark brown which makes the central oval more prominent (more about this corner next blog).

After leaving any dye application to cold batch overnight, I always hose the cloth on my driveway (seen here from the deck above, and around, my studio). This hosing releases any surplus dye and avoids back staining particularly when I want areas to stay white. I don't pre-soak the cloth in a soda ash solution as the surplus dye will strike on the white areas. To avoid this I add the soda ash to the thickened dye solution instead. After hosing the cloth still goes through a washing machine cycle. Any one piece may have gone through up to 20 washes before completion.

All washed and ironed. More colour has been added to the top left and bottom right corners as well.
Yet more to do.....

Working Again

After my weekend away and also attending some NZ Festival of the Arts events, I am back to work again on my big piece. It is quietly coming together.

Some patterning on the left side achieved with freezer paper resists. Then a dye wash over the top.

Here I have taken a large oval shape and discharged some colours within this space. The letters form the word 'escape' which is the theme for this piece.

More next blog.....