vernissage in Paris

It was a hectic couple of days in Paris. A 600km drive, arriving just before the city got 'buried' under snow. A very very slow drive to l'Ami Pierre the next morning to hang up the batiks, only to realise I'd got the times wrong, and had to wait until mid afternoon.  But with their loving help, some coffee and some wine it got done.  Then followed a very stressful drive home (10km in 1 hour); because even though my car has all weather tyres, most Parisians don't.... and other cars slither and skitter in front, behind and around!

The vernissage the next evening was lovely... AND it's always lovely to meet up with friends!  I was having so much fun that I only took this single photograph.  I'll try and take some more when I go back at the end of the month.

Now I'm back home and taking a break from batiking.  Concentrating instead on the work to be done in the house.  The idea is to get most of it done before summer;  So at the moment I've traded in my wax and dyes for cement and tiles!

le fauteuil orange

on cotton, 35 x 42cm

'no blue' forest

on cotton, 36 x 42cm
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I realised after framing all the batiks for next weeks exhibition in Paris, that there was a LOT of blue, too much.. so I decided to add some colour to the collection.  

hers

on cotton, 55 x 46cm
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and this completes the 'set' for the MadderMoon gallery in Singapore (have to send them now for them to arrive in time for the exhibition mid march)!! It's been a bit hectic.
http://maddermoon.com.sg/Exhibits.htm

his

on cotton, 46 x 55cm
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to 'come back' to a classic!

psychedelic

on cotton, 55 x 46cm

the armchair

on cotton, 55 x 46cm
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I wanted to try sketching directly with wax. I used the djanting and allowed it to drip as I was working.

It's not easy to sketch with a djanting - it's a continuous flow, so it has to be continuous lines, and with wax there's no going back.
Used the crackle effect after a long time.

lake 10

on cotton, 50 x 70cm
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experimenting with heat fuzziness for clouds.  It's a little too literal again, but as an experiment, it worked pretty well.

One of the cats jumped up directly onto the batik while I was dyeing it - ended up with a blue stomach - and I ended up with weird smudges.  Had to re-dye it after first trying to wash off as much blue off her stomach.  

spring mayhem

on cotton, 50 x 70cm
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am playing around with the half fuzzy / half sharp images.  After the first accidental discovery while drying over the wood stove, I'm now trying to control the fuzziness by melting the wax in smaller portions with a hair dryer.  Until I actually saw the final batik from a distance, I was pretty convinced it would just look messy (well it IS, but I kind of like it!).

field of gold

on cotton, 46 x 70cm
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playing with foreground and background