CAN YOU FEEL THE RHYTHM?

 I am interested in translating movement to cloth.  I take my inspiration from music and dance.  This is a very broad subject so I needed to narrow my focus.   My brush idea sprang to life while watching a Dale Chihuly  video.  He stands over his large paper and uses household brooms to apply his paint.  What a wonderful way to apply movement and physical action to my artwork.  I began using various brush marks that I make while listening to different types of music.  I use commercial, found and hand crafted brushes.  A few of them are shown above.

Here, you can see an example of these marks.  In this piece, Continuum I, I was listening to the Bach Suites for cello.  I placed the brush marks directly on the hand dyed fabric using black textile ink and a small wisk broom.

Another one of my favorite tools is soy wax, brushed on a 24" x 30" silk screen and also directly on the fabric.

                         The results after multiple layers of dye printing.

In my most recent work, I am exploring layering.  One set of brush marks, made on one piece of fabric, inspired by one piece of music, and another set of brush marks, inspired by a different piece of music printed on a sheer fabric.  This gives me the ability to combine multiple layers of brush marks and music.  Like the notes on a music score, the possible combinations are endless.  What is your creative rhythm and how do you get there?