February 26th Challenge

Oooops I forgot to do this yesterday! Somehow I missed a few days in my week.

This weeks challenge is all about spring, Spring Green!!! With St. Patrick's Day coming up I thought I could get a jumpstart on everything green by dyeing my fabric with osage orange and then overdyeing with indigo. My vat has survived the winter and quite well, of course it lives in my wet studio which is in the basement so that does help.

Rust and Red Challenge Piece

Rust dyed over setacolor paints, I am in love with a color called Bengal Pink! I especially like the way it looks with the penrod yellow (or is it penrod green?) regardless it's a most excellent combination. I'm not sure what I will do with this piece yet, probably piece it with some hand-dyed fabrics.

I should have the other two challenge pieces ready to photograph tomorrow.

February 19th Challenge

It's Tuesday again!!! This weeks theme is Yellow Yellow.

It's been very cold here in Iowa, and the theme here is Snow, Snow, and more Snow! Spring is what I'm dreaming of now, daffodils, tulips and more are what I'm wishing to see.

New Ideas

This weeks challenge has really got me going, I have all sorts of new ideas to incorporate with my rust dyeing.

I'll try to get some photos posted to my regular blog later today! Mixing medias is one of my passions when it comes to surface design, building rich and layered surfaces is a must in my studio. If you've ever wondered how those other artists created those pieces then stand back a momment and take a really good look. Now start counting the layers! That's right layers, it may not be evident at first blush but every master piece I've ever seen was built up in a series of layers. That's the secret!!!

Now back to my regularly scheduled studio time ;-)

Feb 12th Challenge

Spring - Sprouting New Ideas

Remember you need to use one natural surface technique in your piece, your free to interpet this anyway you wish.

Tuesday Challenge

I will post my pictures, I am temporarily without camera. If you have a piece you've finished for this week's challenge email me and I'll get it posted here and to the flickr folder.

Mean while this is the new logo for the challenge, I'll try to get a link created as well.

Flickr Album

I created an album for myself on Flickr, I'm putting my natural dyed fabrics and fibers in there, amongst other things. I didn't realize how busy I've been the last few years until I started going through my pics! Makes me want for warmer temperatures right now.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kbaxterpackwood/

I have several thousand other photos to upload so it's going to take awhile to do all of this! ;-)

Feb 5th Challenge

Rust and Red, since Valentines is coming up! This could be interesting! See rusting primer below two posts down.

Natural Surfaces Challenge

The Natural Surfaces Challenge:

You don't have to be a member of the group in order to participate but it might be easier if you want to be kept in the loop.

Each Tuesday I will post a new challenge topic, challenge pieces are due the following Tuesday:

Requirements are:

At least one natural technique must be used in your process: 18" x 24" to 1 Yard pieces of fabric or paper.

Yes you can combine paper and fabrics together.


You can join the group here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Natural_Surfaces

Natural Processes (And I may add to this list later):

Natural Dyeing
Rust Dyeing
Compost Dyeing
Iron Oxides
Clay Dyeing
Pigment Painting
Encaustic

Participants need to submit a web ready image of their images, along with process information, your name, website/blog link.