ipomée

on cotton

40 x 55cm

she grew wings

on cotton
68 x 88cm
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This one made me realise (again) the limitations to the size of batik I can do at home.  And the fact that exhasperation leads to a 'wanting to get this over' mood; and the abandoning of the detailing I had wanted initially.
Until I can move to a big 'proper' studio (no more dyeing on my kitchen counter and sink); I think I'll go back to smaller sizesd batiks.  Who knows, it might end up being the incentive I need to decide to move.

stream

batik on cotton

54 x 73cm

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more of the water fascination
also the first batik I've done with as many layers of colours - around 13.
I'm not sure of the result - again very illustrative...

water lily

batik on cotton

54 x 73cm

my new fascination with water..

sycomore 'helicopters'

batik on cotton

37 x 40cm

reminds me of childhood days and spinning the 'helicopters'

red butterfly

batik on cotton

46 x 46cm

more summer inspiration

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I messed up on the perspective; but really like the texture on the red wings..

blue butterflies

batik on cotton

48 x 117cm

summer inspiration

B-) dreaming

batik on canvas
58 x 82cm

the only planned part of this batik was the eyes.. everything else 'happened'... wax filled brush in hand.
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thicker canvas is strange to work with, it reacts very differently to the wax, has to be dyed on both sides and for longer times...
I've been wanting to do a purple toned batik for a long time

poppies 03

batik on silk with embroidery
48 x 68 cm

During the poppy phase I had tried one out on silk.  Not completely satisfied, because of too many crackles , I had kept it aside with the idea of trying out embroidery at some point.

So : my second attempt at embroidery (well, simple running stictches really), + the use of beads.
Quite fun to do.  It's good to try things out :)
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experimenting with back-lighting the batik.

bird of paradise

batik and sequins - on cotton
48 x 69cm

Where I grew up in the Sivalik hills (Dehradun, India); the house was built on terraced land overlooking a river, and hills.  We have quite a big garden, mango and litchi trees amongst a variety of flowering trees, a patch of land dedicated to a Eucalyptus 'forest' and tall lucious bamboos growing wild in the dark slopes where the monsoon rainwater runs off towards the river.

Even though over the years, the neighbouring fields have been sold and converted into residential plots with more and more houses, more people, more noise; our little pocket still retains its 'green-ness'.  One of the beautiful memories I have of this house is the amount and variety of birds which stopped, nested, or just visited.  During spring, on rare occasions we would see Birds of Paradise.

This is my ode to them and to the magic of my childhood.
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On a more technical note : I am experimenting with adding embroidery onto the batiks.  First of all : I need to learn a LOT about embroidery (was always more of a tomboy); and second : I'm not certain the sequins were the right choice, even though I like the rainbow shine of them.  I figure I need to leave this for a while, then take a fresh look to see if I want to do it again, differently.