I've spent the last three weeks trying to solve a major computer crash, so Saturday's paint day was a refreshing change. British quilt artist Maureen Thomas, www.aquiltartist.com, is here visiting friends Judy Mathieson and Pat Scoville, so Judy decided to have a paint party/class and twelve lucky Sonoma County quilt artists were treated to Maureen's fabric paint techniques. Maureen uses Jacquard's DynaFlow paints and talk about instant gratification! I usually dye fabrics and use paints as a surface design, but because the paint dries quickly in the California sun and it requires no batching, fabric can be painted and used the same day!
Creasing diagonally and applying paint to the tops of the wet pieces created this effect. Little splotches of iridescent paint were dripped over the paint. Our day included a British lunch which consisted of cucumber-salmon sandwiches, tomato and watercress, basil and chicken. No crusts! Wonderful scones with lemoon curd. The British don't drink iced tea, Maureen said.
I used Liquitex fluid acrylics on my pieces. I didn't water them down as we were working on wet fabric but I found Maureen's fabric has a nicer hand so I'll try watering them down next time.
The Liquitex reacted exactly like Setacolor on my sun prints and that is a good thing to know. Dynaflow does the same. These are Nandina leaves from Judy's garden. I also printed her fern fronds.
Freezer paper resists work well also. The freezer paper was ironed on before painting. They allow the paint to wick under the paper for a soft edge. The stars were added after painting. See how sharp those edges are.
Another good piece of news, My piece "New Moon Created" has been chosen to tour with the SAQA "Fibrations" exhibit. Computer complaints: Can't find my quilt log anymore since the crash. Or my pictures, but I can't recreate those. Oh well, Back to creating art tomorrow!
