Colorwashing

I was thrilled to receive photos of Monet's Garden, stitched by Joyce DeMattei and finished into a beautiful box by Marlene Custom Pillows.  In workshops stitchers are encouraged to "make designs their own" by changing the size or quantity of flowers/petals, to use beads instead of or in addition to the French knot centers, etc.  Joyce's addition of beads and the way in which she varied the flower sizes are very pretty indeed! Thanks again for sharing.

On the studio front I have been continuing to work on my colorwashing techniques, as mentioned in my last post.  Shown are photos of the final version of the Harlequin Hearts canvas with the design outlined.  The design was marked first with a Pilot ultra fine point permanent black marker SCA-UF.  Then the colorwashing was done using Adirondack Color Wash in 5 colors.  The picture at right shows the original bottle of Stream Color Wash with the bottle transferred the diluted mixture to for spraying the canvas.  It is available in 12 colors and available at Joggles and other online sources.  The mixture is greatly diluted:  1/4 teaspoon to 2 ounces of water....the dye is very strong so there is the potential for a wide range of colors.  The colors can also be mixed. The colors can of course be used as they come but the spray bottle gives a combination of spray and splatter.  That can be a good thing....just not for this application.  The spray bottles I found are by Judi Kins and give more of a mist....just what I need....great for layering.  Even so, I found I needed to rinse the sprayer every ounce of so to reduce small amounts of splattering. 

So, to get back to the Harlequin Hearts canvas.  I used five colors, starting at the upper left:  Butterscotch, Lettuce, Bottle, Stream and Denim.  I sprayed the first color in the area where the true color was to be then extended the band a few inches.  Then the second color was sprayed, overlapping the first color by a few inches, and so on.  Because I used a very diluted solution I was able to layer colors without fear of have the color become too brilliant!  

After the canvas had dried I took it to the ironing board.  I sprayed the (one) selvage with clear water and pressed it first to shrink it slightly to match the rest of the canvas.  Then ironed the canvas with it set on cotton/linen (no steam) to set the color.  The canvas was allowed to airdry for another 24 hours before taping the edges. 

The original Harlequin Hearts canvas was colorwashed with Acrylic washes, mixed from basic yellow, red and blue.  However, when washing 15 to 24 canvases at a time in preparation for a workshop, that can become a little cumbersome.  Also, if you are a little afraid of trying to mix paint colors to this degree, this approach of layering washes of color might appeal to you, even if you are not preparing two dozen canvases at a time.  I'm happy with the way they have turned out and excited to have students try they hand at it with another upcoming project.....the POPPIES pilot......in June.