Landscape Memories

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.

Wearable Art

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

Bouquets

Two paintings from a series of paintings of Bouquets I’ve begun.

Some dye experiments

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.

Indian Cotton

Very soft Indian cotton with a tiny gold flower pattern.
Dyed with Indigo, Logwood, Madder, Cutch and Myrobalan natural dyes.

Japanese Silk

 

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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Indigo and Logwood


I have been dyeing more scarves, a silk/cotton blend from India, using natural dyes.
A lot of Indigo and some Logwood.

More Scarves with Natural Dyes and Shibori

I’ve been working with silk from India, experimenting with combinations of Indigo, Persimmon, Rust, Logwood and Pomegranate natural dyes and various Shibori techniques.

Indigo/Shibori/Silk

Indigo Shibori Silk Scarf
This Indigo/Shibori/Silk Scarf is a good example of a few of the reasons why I fell madly in love with “Textile Arts”.
Silk is definitely my fabric of choice. The transformation by silk worms of mulberry leaves into the delicate gossamer yet amazingly strong threads of silk is magical.
Indigo is most certainly the queen of natural dyes. How can you not be in awe at watching the change in colours of fabric that has just been removed from an indigo vat change slowly from greens to those gorgeous blues? Pure alchemy!

Jamdani Dyed with Indigo and Rust

Jamdani Silk Dyed with Indigo and Rust

Jamdani Silk Dyed with Indigo and Rust

Silk Jamdani dyed with Indigo and Rust.
This is a piece of silk Jamdani fabric that I brought back from Calcutta last February. Jamdani weaving is found in Bengal and Bangladesh. It is a supplementary weft technique of weaving, somewhat similar to tapestry. The standard weft creates a fine, sheer fabric while the supplementary weft with thicker threads, in this case metallic red and gold threads, adds the pattern. Each supplementary weft motif is added separately by hand by interlacing the weft threads into the warp with fine bamboo sticks using individual spools of thread. The traditional art of weaving Jamdani has been declared by Unesco as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.