Fabric Painting Day III

And here's one I did earlier today. The paints were different, started out lighter, and I used some metallic paints. This one was left for four hours with the salt on, but the metallic paints did not spread. Still, I kind of like the results.

Fabric Painting Day II

And here are these two fabrics after they have dried some. Phil Beaver wants the fabric to take about 4 hours to dry before the salt is removed. So far, if I leave the salt on for that long, I am not happy with the results because the light spots get way too light. I took the salt off after about two hours on these pieces.

Fabric Painting Day

I spent this afternoon painting some fabric for the holiday fabric exchange next week at the Fibervision holiday celebration. I really like the results of the technique taught by Phil Beaver at Quilter's Escape in May of 2007. Phil is a great teacher and the retreat was well run and great fun. These are two pieces right after paint, water, and salt are applied. I will post the results later.

Fibervision at the Elverhoj Museum of History and Art

The artists of Fibervision had an opening reception tonight at the Everhoj Museum of History and Art in Solvang, California. The reception was well attended and there was nothing but praise for the work itself and the setting it was in. Congratulations to all who participated in this show and special thanks to Lorna Morck for riding herd on the artists and for convincing Esther Jacobsen Bates, Executive Director of the museum to give fiber art serious consideration.

It's fall in Santa Barbara! We have a few trees that actually change color, the sky is clear and blue, the temperature is between 75 and 80, and, best of all, Project Runway is back on television. My favorite time of year and one of my favorite television programs. Life is good.

Symphony Afternoon

I just returned, on this gloomy and dreary day, from an afternoon at the Santa Barbara Symphony. It was an American program and while both Melody and I dreaded the Gershwin "American In Paris", we were looking forward to the guest musician, violinist Tai Murray. She is 25 years old and just by stepping on to the stage, she raised the energy level of the entire orchestra. The piece they played was the Barber "Violin Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 14". Ms. Murray played the piece with joy and verve which left us gasping at the level of her talent and energy. Brava! We left the concert to a beautiful pink, blue, and grey sky of clearing clouds which matched our mood.


Oh, and the Gershwin was definitely a cut above the ordinary, too.

PIQF October 2007

At PIQF last month, I took a class with Lyn Worley. The fabric was hand-dyed by Lyn and we created the surface design in the class. This is hand-dyed habotai silk, stamped and free-hand dye discharge, stamped and free-hand gold paint. Don't know what I'll do with it, but right now I am simply enjoying looking at it.