Colour!

 

 

As you can see from the dyed silk, my dyes have arrived and I can feel myself getting enthused again for colour.I have tied the silk which is 12mm weight habutai with rocks and then painted on several colours.I am thinking of selling pieces worked in this way but arriving at the right price is a bit of a problem as they are quite labour intensive. The "painting" on the half fortyfour gallon drum appeared by itself. The drum had been cut in half to accommodate a fire to sit around at night- and this image emerged- there is something very comforting about it.

To all that responded to my challenge of sorts there is 15 of you from all over - can I ask that you email me ( 3 of you have already) so that I have a record of everyone.Some of you already have quite well developed ideas, others need to begin. I always find charting a useful way to work with ideas- so on a blank piece of paper- think of an idea you would like to work with and then write down associated ideas that arise from that idea- ways you might work, associations, alliteration, artists who have worked with the idea, history,aculturation- creating a map of sorts- this idea also comes with other names ( mind mapping for instance)but I actually find it useful to think of as a map/chart- we are visual artists after all- in that way you can make the idea an island or a cosmos of its own- and of course we will be exploring as well.You may find it useful to have a blank A4(legal) paper size journal, or other art journal to work in with conjunction with the actual book you will be making, to record, to store, to experiment and to research.This will be the beginning. You can work in cloth and/or paper whatever you wish- for myself I will be using both from time to time and I love soft cover books and I have been using momogami papers which I have sewn and stabilised with cloth to make covers- but more on that later. I intend to write a bit of structure for those involved- like a beginning middle and end, types of materials you may need ( but I bet most of you have these already and probably some I don't have already!)- and as I stated in a previous post I would like some commitment to try and finish the project because it is about developing your won work.Ok I need to go explore how I will set up the blog-I am inclined to use blogger , though I know how to use wordpress as well- simply because of the way posts scroll in length rather than as a labyrinth which I find a bit confusing with wordpress.And I am, open to more joining in.

Ohh and I have found the perfect place for us to work- a monastery near Urbino in the Marche countryside of Italy, make sure you check out the image gallery- the scenery is wonderful, the lanes perfect for musing( having recently been close to this place- wish I had known!) wouldn't it make a wonderful place for an artist residency and inspiration centre in real life? In my dreams......! And maybe a bucket of gold will fall out of the sky!