WAX AND DYE

November 25, 2012

sea 6

on cotton - 47 x 39cm
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thought I'd try something different from the mirror effect; I like the sky and the sea separately from each other; not sure they go well together.

November 10, 2012

on cotton, 40 x 100cm
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One of the challenges of this lake series is trying to paint on the wax symmetrically. Since there is no base drawing and that it's more or less just random dots it's difficult to copy and counter a natural hand movement. To top it off, I also have to try and dose and remember the quantity and heat of the wax at each brush stroke. (a freshly dipped brush gives thicker wax lines that 'spread' / if it's too late, the wax is too cold to penetrate the cloth).

There is also the painted dyes of the skies that have to be symmetrical. It's also a kind of personal aesthetic challenge : in normal life I dislike symmetry.

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I had to skip directly to lake 8 because lake 7 was a complete disaster / fiasco. One where I tried to be clever, and instead managed to make a complete mess and smoke up the house with cleaning alcohol fumes. I needed to calm down.

Blues are soothing.

November 07, 2012

lake 6

on cotton, 40 x 100cm

I was trying for a less dramatic sky.. I guess I got it, and I'm not sure, maybe its little too plain.

October 30, 2012

lake 5 (kind of)

on cotton, 40 x 100cm

This was going to be a larger version of the lake series.. then, I made a mistake!

My new place is heated with a wood stove. I discovered that it's perfect to dry the batiks quickly after a dye bath to dry them over the stove. Except that this time I forgot all about it, and an hour later when I remembered, the heat had melted the wax in the middle into a spreading oval. (its white because I had decided to bleach out the previous dyes).. so, since I didn't want to give up on the work I'd already put in, I decided to use it as part of the final image, and the rest happened around the white oval.

My 'abstract' version of the lake :)

The nice thing about having a wood stove (other than the warmth and the 'homely' wood smell); is that I no longer have to wonder about whether wax imbibed paper can be recycled. It's an ideal fire starter!!

October 28, 2012

lake 4

batikon cotton, 47 x 39cm

October 26, 2012

lake 3

on cotton, 47 x 39cm

Am trying to push this reflection on water idea as far as I can..
This is a debate I'm having with myself : at what point does it stop being batik?

The only wax used in this was the white reflection lines on the water. After that it was a series of painting on with the dyes. The wax line allowed me to work on the lower half 'wet'; and the upper sky dry.