Art Cloth Network

One of the things that I love about creating ArtCloth is the planning and scheming, followed by experimenting and testing, leading to the creation of my work.

Each time I handle the cloth, adding layers of art techniques, I experience a new excitement. Occasionally I learn what not to do, but more often I learn a new trick and see things in a new way.

Experimenting and playing with imagery to create tools to use to add various textures to my backgrounds is an important part of my process. Like many artists I manipulate photos in Photoshop or with a photocopier to create imagery to print on my cloth.

I also love to play with paint and ink on watercolor paper to find interesting surfaces to use for my textures. I learned this trick while studying with Jane Dunnewold for two and a half years in her ArtCloth Mastery Program. By applying white acrylic paint to watercolor paper and then using India ink washes over the dried paint I can create patterns or designs to manipulate further by enlarging, cropping, and enlarging again. Then I take this fabulous imagery and make thermofax or silk screens and use them to print my backgrounds.

Below are some examples of the process:

 

 White acrylic paint on watercolor paper, dried; India ink wash over it;

sat for 5 minutes, then was quickly rinsed.

 

The image was then scanned into Photoshop and inverted.

  

Afterwards I enlarged and cropped the image and then turned it into a thermofax screen.

In my next post I will share some ArtCloth created using screens inspired by this process.

Until then, I think I hear a tube of white acrylic paint and India ink calling me!

Off to the studio! Cheers!

Jeanne