I’ve just finished this new painting “Landscape Memories”, 4×3 feet. During the past months I’ve been longing to travel. The painting is about the layering of memories of landscapes I’ve visited, photographed, drawn. I’ve collaged wallpaper onto the surface. For me the wallpaper represents memories of/nostalgia for an earlier time.
Nicole wearing my scarves made from natural fibres~ silk, cotton and linen~ dyed with natural dyes~ Indigo, Logwood, Persimmon and Clerodendrum.
Sustainable, ethical fashion. Natural dyes are kind to the environment~ a safe way to produce colour on textiles. My scarves are for sale at etsy.com/shop/NaturallyDyedScarves
Some details of my recent hangings. A celebration of silk! Constructed using very transparent silk organza, silk cocoons which have been opened out and leaves from my garden. Dyed with Indigo and Persimmon natural dyes. I’m happy with the transparency I’ve managed to achieve looking through the various layers of silk.
Some new pieces for my exhibition, “The Density of Light”, at Visual Space Gallery. The hangings combine silk organza, silk cocoons and leaves from my garden dyed with Indigo and Persimmon natural dyes. These are the colours of my winter garden~ the soft browns of decay and the icy blues of winter skies. I love working with silk in all of its many variations and with these hangings I want to celebrate the luminous qualities of silk and its contradictions of strength and fragility.
I’m constantly amazed at how Natural Dyes all work so well together! Here is a combination of Logwood, Madder, Lac, Cochineal, Weld and Marigold natural dyes. Japanese Shibori resist techniques.
Cotton and Silk dyed with Persimmon and Indigo Natural dyes.
Two paintings from a series of paintings of Bouquets I’ve begun.
Linen Scarves. Indigo. Weld/Madder/Brazilwood. Logwood
Silk Gauze and Silk Organza, dyed with Persimmon and Iron Natural dyes, Copper wire, dried plant material. They are an attempt to express the fragility of the female body, a homage to all the many, many women who have been victims of war and abuse.
These scarves have both been dyed with Cochineal natural dye, which comes from tiny insects found on cactus plants. I’ve only used a bit of dye to give this soft pink colour. One scarf is Merino wool, the other is silk. Printed using Japanese Shibori resist technique.
Some experiments with natural dyes. Looking for interesting colours in the grey, brown neutral range. Using a bit of iron with weld and several other natural dyes. I’m happy with the complexity of the colours of the various combinations.
Two paintings of the leaves of my Hydrangea Aspera, summer and autumn.
Oil on canvas with silver and gold leaf
Very soft Indian cotton with a tiny gold flower pattern.
Dyed with Indigo, Logwood, Madder, Cutch and Myrobalan natural dyes.
I brought home some wonderful silk from my recent trip to Japan. The silk is so fine- Gossamer- lovely to work with. I’ve been dyeing it with natural dyes, Indigo, Madder, Logwood, Cutch, Marigold, Weld and Iron
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My latest creation! The silk is from saris that I found several years ago in Calcutta, deconstructed, and then dyed with Indigo and Persimmon natural dyes. The Magnolia leaves are painted with fabric paint.
On display at Circle Craft on Granville Island, Vancouver, until the end of August 2017, as part of their 45th Anniversary Exhibition.
Sitting in the garden on a dark, hot summer night the plant forms seem to grow larger, darker, more mysterious, sometimes even a bit menacing.
On a cold winter day there is a stark beauty and emptiness, expressed so well by Wallace Stevens in the last stanza of his poem “The Snow Man”.
“For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.”
My garden is a constant source of inspiration, both visually and metaphorically. I am fascinated at observing the seasonal changes, from the soft, hopeful greens of tender shoots emerging in spring, through the vivid colours and overgrown exuberance of summer and early fall, to the stillness and melancholy of muted browns and purples in the late fall and winter garden. As I experience the aging process of my own body and am confronted with the death and loss of family and friends, the natural cycle of death and rebirth that I witness in my garden seems a surprising source of solace and comfort.
This series of dresses is my attempt to evoke the various moods and emotions of the changing seasons of my garden.