Painting Fiber- Creating the Mood with the Muse

Painting fabrics is something I can do when I need motivation to get in the mood to work on other projects. I can paint without much thought or even thinking about color combinations. 

I never wash my brush when I'm painting but continue to use it as I add colors. This method of painting lends itself to painting in the moment, creative color mixes and listening to the muse.

Silk Noil, above, is one of my favorite fabrics. I love the texture, the nubs, the feel, even the smell. This fabric has been painted several times, each time I regathered it loosely and allow to dry before adding another layer of paint.
When I finish a painting session, I spray out the paint, collected in the brush, with water, on the cloth. This almost cleans the brush and adds delicate colors to the painted fabric.

 Silk Organza is another favorite. I use it often for layering. Most of the time I paint on damp fabrics to encourage spread. This piece was painted that way first. Then, I added blobs of highly diluted black on the dried fabric and allowed it to spread.

Occasionally I get into resists, which are included in my Fabric Transformations Workshop Series. This is a simple starch resist with 2 layered of paint. Love the texture!

And paper! A fairly recent addition to my work. About 10 years agao I took a workshop with Fran Skiles. It was delightful! She was one of those teachers that really changes your perspective on how you can do things. While I don't do what she does with my own work, I have fun playing with different papers. This is simple drawing paper used as a print off on painted fabric.

I have an Etsy shop where I sell some of my painted fabrics- you can go here to see some!