she is

on cotton-silk - 100x100cm
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a profound realisation about the limitations I have working from home.. I shall take this as a learning experience.

- 1st problem is to try and find a stretching frame and work position that is adapted.

2nd problem - is the dyeing.. I need bigger dye tubs and the possibility to make a bit of a mess - which I can't do in my kitchen.

3rd problem - I think I had a problem with the mix of wax, the dosing of beeswax and paraffin.  The background was supposed to be very detailed, but somehow the little lines all disappeared in the last dark dye.

I like the idea I started out with, but have to rethink exactly how to get what I want.

experiment in wearable batik

One of the things about the batiks I make is that I use cold water dyes, without fixatives, which essentially means that they're delicate and not colourfast.
That in itself is not a problem - its art, its like working in watercolours.

But, I've been reading about how people make clothing with batik, and decided to try it out, just to know.  Bought the soda ash, did the batik, a simple idea of tree silhouettes, dyed it in 2 colours, let it dry.

Then ironed it out, and took my biggest pot, and boiled it.
What they never talk about on the internet is how to get the wax out of the water, or how to get the cloth out of the boiling water without taking some of the floating wax with it.

To cut the story short - I made a MESS!
(then spent 2 hours cleaning up)

But, I now have my first batik shirt!

I ran it through a wash cycle.. ironed out the few granules of wax still clinging on. (I think I'll have to get it drycleaned to get it completely clean).

girl in the red scarf

on silk
26 x 35cm
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A few years ago I used to do clay modeling with a group of people, we shared the costs of getting a live model.  Sometimes, instead of doing clay I sketched the model.. this is based on one of the sketches.

I would like to get back to working with live models some time..
and then work on getting hands and feet right.

the lonely chair

on silk
34 x 22cm
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a return to smaller sizes, and to working with silk

mouths & noses

Mouth 2
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Mouth 1
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On silk - approximately 15x17cm

a fun experiment based on the idea of making a graphic element for a t-shirt..

a really really old drawing

Papa working on a batik.
I came across this drawing today - one that I made when I was 10 years old!
(I have to thank my mother for saving and dating our drawings and paintings)

It seemed funny and apt that I find it; it was such a familiar sight.

le gros 2

on cotton
49 x 49cm
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Still fascinated by the big belly!

le gros

on cotton
44 x 46cm

a lot of adrenalin

Today was the vernissage (the opening) of the exhibition.  An exhausting but lovely evening; lovely to see quite a few peple I hadn't met in a long time, even if we didn't have th time to ally catch up.  I was so busy chattering away, that I almost forgot to take photographs, but finally remembered when we sat down for dinner.

I found a quote that makes me feel better

"Nothing exists until it is observed.  An artist is making something exist by observing it.  And his hope for other people is that they will also make it exist by observing it."
William S. Boroughs