Mixed Media Painting on Linen Canvas

While on the topic of linen,  I'd like to share with you the work of Karen Bagayawa whose paintings are done on hand made linen canvas.

Upon discovering Karen's paintings a couple years ago, I fell in love with the stunning colours and texture of her work, but little did I know that Karen's paintings involve the lengthy process of weaving her own canvas with unbleached linen.

A visit to Karen's studio during the recent Eastside Culture Crawl captivated me as she shared her weaving and painting process while we walked around her creative space. Here's a window into the richness of her work! 

An abundance of sage for colouring

Inspiration from the Garden

Salvia officinalis - our culinary sage bush of 7 years

Solar Dye Magic

 Three concoctions (left to right) - sage dye liquid, sage dye liquid with

old copper mesh (previously used to repel slugs in the veggie patch) and 

sage dye liquid with rusty bits of iron found in the garden's soil

Colour Wonders

Dye colour liquid only on all fibres - no mordant

dye with copper (top left), dye on its own (top right)

dye with iron (bottom)

The Wondrous Work of India Flint

Shortly after taking Charllotte Kwon's Natural Dye Workshop at Maiwa, I discovered the stories and tales from the prophet of bloom - the words and muses of India Flint.  It is with great enchantment that I peruse India's blog - always discovering treasures and detours on and off the path of natural dyes.

To put it simply - I absolutely love India's work, especially her eucalyptus dyes and regional approach to dyeing. I can't wait to take a workshop with India one day.  Hopefully down under where the gum trees abound!

But for now, I shall experiment with India's book at my side. A great source of inspiration, Eco colour is full of stunning images and information to guide me through my dyeing adventures - starting with plants and flowers from the garden.

A Colourful Thrum Project

" Painting with Thrums " is my latest piece of weaving and the inspiration for this project came from the desire of exploring what it would be like to weave an entire piece of fabric with mostly thrums of different lengths and colours.

In my post Treasuring Thrums, I touched on colours and textures with a couple of photos: a colourful warp created with the longest lengths of thrums and the weft thrums at the start of my weaving.  I did not have to weave very much to discover that the blending of colours was going to be the true essence of this cloth.

Several more threads of fine silk and silk/wool blend got woven together; nests of tangled yarns found their way into the cloth, and knots from the warp ends were added for texture.

And like watercolours on a painter's palette, a multitude of colours were blended together and woven in the warp.  I nearly made it to the end of the warp before running low on thrums.

A perfect opportunity to explore a different finish. I'm not sure yet what will become of this new piece of cloth, but for the moment - one thing is certain - I keep on treasuring thrums!

Treasuring Thrums

Thrums ... THRUMS ... Thrums
Thrums are full of colours

Thrums offer lots of textures
Thrums are simple treasures

Silk thrums in the warp

 

Silk thrums in the weft

Let's see where those thrums take me and as Misao-sensei would say

"Let's adventure beyond our imagination"

Colours of the Oregon Coast

I treadled a lot in August and September.  However, it wasn't so much while seated at the loom or behind the spinning wheel, but rather from the saddle of my bicycle.  A wonderful cycle touring adventure along the Oregon Coast and through Northern California.  The coast line of Oregon was spectacular, the Redwood Forests majestic, and the pace of cycling ... well, perfect to immerse oneself in the moment and truly enjoy the scenery.  

A pleasant discovery on my way to Cape Blanco was the Wild Rivers Wool Factory in Langlois, South Oregon.  A gem of a store selling and featuring locally produced fibres and finished products from local artists and artisans.  As I walked in, a colorful skein of wool cut my eyes and wanting to know more about my choice,  I asked about the type of wool.  "Well, that would be Romney and the sheep's name is Hyacinth - she lives up the road."  Now, that is 100% local wool!

Another pleasant discovery awaited me in Portland - the annual festival Art In The Pearl.  It is there that I discovered the textile work of Kimberly Morris , a local weaver who crafts amazing rugs with "the belief that all things functional, should be beautiful, easy to care for and last for a long time."  The colours of her hand-dyed, hand-woven wool rugs are absolutely stunning!  Her rugs have a story, watch this segment on Oregon Art Beat.

Photos of my "Cool Cross" Scarf

Very colourful - I love every single colour!

 
Flat - the way it was woven on the loom.

3-D - the warp off the loom

My "cool cross" scarf - a very "cool" way of weaving a three dimensional scarf.  It is my new favourite!

A marvel of burnt orange

I recently finished my Saori piece on the Artisat , and still marvel at the orange burnt colour. In working with one colour of a single yarn, I wanted to explore density by grouping the weft and by playing with different amount of spaces between threads. The contrast is fascinating - especially when the fabric is held in the light. It was challenging to capture the true essence of the fabric, but for an "aperçu" - here's a few pictures.

Nature ... a source of inspiration

Today, while gathering lavender, I sat in the garden and watched the bumblebees dance between flowers. The vibrant yellow of their bodies was such a beautiful contrast to the dark purple of the lavender flowers. And as I bunched up the sprigs of lavender to dry in the sun, a multitude of greys and purples suddenly revealed themselves.