I tried out a different material - a cotton yukata fabric from Japan in blues and blacks. I quilted this with a twin needle to get slightly raised lines on a 12 inch square finished size ( CQ Journal Quilt size- cunning eh!) I marked off 2 areas with masking tape to the same proportions as the Thin Blue Line and painted with acrylics, varying the horizon line.
With the masking tape removed, I quite liked the contrast with the unpainted fabric. Not sure which horizon line/ proportions I prefer ( if any) - I'm afraid I 'fiddled', always a danger when working on such a small scale and the painting is not as fresh and lively as it could be.
I wasn't that happy in particular with the 'sea' part or the definition of the horizon line. I'm confident mixing blues in watercolour but was struggling in acrylics ( got round that in 'Strindberg Shore' by using indigo dyed fabric after a few abortive attempts). Maybe it needed a line of blue fabric introduced or a left unpainted? More experiments were required!My next experiment was a 1/4 scale sample piece to test out ideas and fabrics. I made it double sided - both main fabrics used were kimono/yakuta ( conveniently already a narrow width ) and painted with acrylics both sides. The woollen slubby fabric didn't work that well (at least on this scale) but I was pleased with the results on dark blue/black patterned cotton yakuta fabric which has a slightly starched finish.
Woollen slubby side
Cotton yakuta side
Cotton yakuta side detail
Next step scaling up!
Oh wow! I love how the wool side gives one view of the sea and the cotton side gives another. And so it is like any view of the sea - changing almost unrecognisably with the weather.
ReplyDeleteSandy (in the UK)
I'm doing catch up! Fascinating!
ReplyDelete