a Commission

I was contacted by a friend, Joni, in a gallery I have been with for years, Art 3, Manchester, NH.  here They took me on as a newbie when I first starting pushing my artwork out of my studio.
Last week she phoned me with a commission for the Elliot at Rivers Edge which is part of the Elliot Hospital in Manchester, NH. Great! But it needs to be done before March. OK I can do this!
After looking at some of my previous art, she decided that the piece is to be a combination of digital fiber, holographic imagery and painted/silkscreened fabric with a water theme.
I sent a variety of pix to her to choose from, my artists price and got the approval to go forward.

original image

image simulation 

Next, I worked on the photo to enhance the colors, change the hue to meet a slightly different color scheme and divided the photo into parts that will be sewn together. I needed to figure out the size of each piece and the painted borders to fit her size requirement of 30x40.
     Next to the printer! I use inkjet prepared fabrics. This coating gives the best colors, makes it permanent and are UV protected. My Epson printer Ultrachrome inks are guaranteed for 200 years, light fast and water resistant. I feel confident in the durability of the finished work.
I choose a durable canvas for this project. I ran a couple tests to see which setting gave me what I wanted, then cut and printed the fabrics.

printed canvas and organza ready to sew

I like to allow this to dry at least over night before sewing or ironing. I feel it has a chance to set and won't smear when I iron it. These fabrics are practically water proof then.

     While I wait. I paint the fabric I will use for the border. I choose a hearty cotton duck and got the color palette out that Joni sent me. I want the colors to work with the image, playing off the contrast of blue and orange, while enhancing the room it will be displayed in. This is the fun part. I really enjoyed painting on fabric. 

     While these dry, I go back to production work for Craft Boston which will be coming up in March. here

In addition to my art which is now hanging at my solo show at the Lincoln Levy Gallery (see previous post), I did a line of silk chiffon kimono and scarves. They are in various stages of dyeing, painting, ironing, labeling. Plenty of work. 

But this allows my mind to gestate on the commission piece... more later!