Digital Design On Fabric

I muse over life I capture through the lens. Inspired by global travel, my current work is developed through digital alchemy, printed on natural fabrics and enhanced with surface design. I strive to create imagery with color, pattern and repetition to produce a magical moment in time.  

 In ACN’s last call for entry, “Anything Goes”, my juried piece was digitally developed in Photoshop with an image of a Vietnamese girl working on a tourist boat. 

After printing on sumptuous silk charmeuse, I applied potato dextrin and thickened dyes. Her Tapestry (30x60) depicts a woman’s simple life working day to day on the Mekong River, “a tapestry to feel & see, impossible to hold”.  

Most recently I created art quilts with a water theme.  I will take you through a series of steps to give you a better understanding of how this process works.

In this example I began with a photo I took while at the Amazon in Peru.

Next I went into an app www.picmonkey.com and redesigned the photo

Next I went into a folder of scanned images I use to layer the design.  I chose a fabric I had stamped (Hand-carved) with inks.

This is the result of adding the layer.

Working with the same app and photoshop I eventually got this result and had it printed on cotton.

 I enhanced the piece by painting with metallic inks and fusing with foil.  I free-motion quilted and bound.  

                                         

 Can You Hear Her Calling? (23x36).

Over the past 15 years I have intensely focused on learning about and working with dyes and numerous surface design techniques on natural fabrics as my canvas. Coupled with a passion for photography, my current work utilizes both mediums through digital technology. After exploring digital design and printing on my own, I took a full time class at RISD in Providence R.I., followed by classes at Cape Cod Art Association and Quilting Art Quilt Tahoe (Jane Dunnewold). I am passionate about creating digital design on lustrous silk and other natural fibers as art cloth and quilts.

I hope this gives you a better understanding of how this works.!