In my last post, I mentioned how much fun I was having working with using the Khadi paper as a dimensional form. The paper takes the ink very well, I can stitch through it easily and it is sturdy enough to hold a shape. I also mentioned that I was somewhat concerned about these pieces being a bit of fluff - not to be taken seriously. But I think I have travelled beyond that and accepted that fluff or not, they are good jumping off points for the future.
So, a couple days ago I was on a roll and made several pieces, just having some exploratory fun. The first one was some rice paper left behind by a previous artist and I used matte medium for stiffener and dropped ink of the surface. The stiffened paper held up under a bit of stitching and a little stick helped hold the vessel at an angle.
This idea of stitching a bowl then led to a boro-bowl in black and white with a few little egg-lets inside…
Then I went to make a support structure for another vessel where it has a bit of form to it…the blue fabric is special too me as its linen that my son uses in his bakery when he makes bread - I dyed it indigo…
Every Saturday in Kavala this is a huge market at the waterfront…there is everything for food, fresh produce, herbs and spices, household goods and more…I had noticed a vendor selling yard goods, specifically for drapery and there was a fabric that “resembled” line, they said it was cotton but a suspect is a synthetic - no matter, my inks work on it!
I painted some pieces with dilute ink, trying to get a terracotta type colour - I think it worked well. I wound strips around a plastic water bottle and made lots of random cross stitches with a variety of threads. I cut the bottle down so it supports the vessel but is not visible - excited clapping and jumping up and down!
It worked well, so I tried it with the same fabric - which frays beautifully by the way… but this time with another colour ink, which is labelled Paynes Grey but really leans far over to an indigo - love it, love it! Great success on this!
The third image is a couple of painted paper vessels with wrapped cord…just because!
All work and no play…not this girl! We took a day and went by bus to Phillipi - you know the place, right? Philip of Macedonia…Paul’s Letter to the Phillipians and all that! Fabulous walk through the forum, the ruins and then the museum. Of course I focused on the vessels…here’s a link to the website if you’d like to read further: http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/1/eh152.jsp?obj_id=3376
Those glass pieces just leave me in awe…I am totally in love with the colours and translucency!
And now that I have your attention - I would like to invite you to be part of my Mentorship Programme at Mastrius - an online community of artists, like yourself, that would benefit from the advantages of regular meetings resources events and more. I am thrilled to be part of this group and my community begins in June. I’d love to see you there!
You can get more information here: https://www.mastrius.com/susan-purney-mark-mentorship/
Or email me with questions: susanpm@shaw.ca
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