Inspiration Evolves

Henna Lace Hands by Jaidra

I draw inspiration from a million places, and rarely is it a linear process. Sometimes, I see something, and it sparks an idea. Other times, I have a dream, read a book, listen to a piece of music, or feel an emotion that just has to be expressed on silk. I write this blog for others to view my creative process, but also as a spur for myself. Writing about my process allows me to analyze it, and draw a better understanding of why I do the things that I do.

In this instance, amazingly enough, there is a clear progression of inspiration that I managed to get photographs of. It began with a henna client sending me a photograph of a henna design that they wanted. I used that photograph as inspiration in creating a design for their henna piece.

Henna Leg by Jaidra

Some of my favorite aspects of the design were the spirals with "leaves" that I think look like fern fiddle heads.

I decided to use the fiddle heads in a larger henna piece that I did on my own leg this past Sunday.

A good friend of mine saw a photo of my leg piece on facebook and suggested that I use the design in my silks. My silk process uses water based resists that block movement of the dye on the fabric, but doesn't protect the silk. I would like to get some batik materials and try out some of my intricate designs on silk, but right now, I can't afford it. So, instead, I painted a small 11x11 silk with blue washes, went over it with stop flow, and then painted my fiddle head design on using black dye.

Fiddle Head Inspired Silk Pocket Square

I followed my small silk up with a larger 21x21 piece. The fiddle heads became less intricate, and I filled the space with these and leaves and chose a fall motif to celebrate the fact that summer is coming to an end.
I was really happy with the final piece, and even though the silks bear little in common with the original henna design, all of them evolved from the same design element. I don't think I'm done with this one yet, either - who knows where the fiddle head may take me next!

Fiddle Head Inspired Fall Silk Painting

Finding Inspiration in the Storm

Storm Goddess on Silk

I've been doing a lot of figure work lately, and had begun moving towards more representational work as opposed to the very abstract pieces that I started with. This one is a move back towards my abstract pieces, drawing on inspiration from nature and movement - she's a storm goddess, whether conjured up by a storm or creating the wind, I will leave it to the viewer to decide. I used 7 different washes of blue for the figure and a range of greys, greens, browns and water to paint the background. The leaves blowing by introduce just a hint of color. I'm in a tumultuous place spiritually right now, and the intense weather that so many of us have been seeing recently really lent the inspiration for this piece. I can't wait to steam set and iron this one to see how she turns out.

Silk paint emotions

 Inspiration comes from many places. One of the things I learned early on in my life is that I'm happiest being happy. Many artists will say that they suffer, and that their suffering imbues their art with more feeling. I am not creative when I'm in emotional pain. Usually, instead of creating art, if I am hurting or upset, I curl up in a little ball and cry it out until I feel better. Sometimes I get drunk...yes, I know that alcohol is a depressant and that drinking to feel better doesn't work, that it's a horrible way to deal with my problems and that I will be judged for admitting it, but I figure that as long as it doesn't become a problem and I do it in the comfort of my own home or with people that I love and trust, then I can drink when I want to.

Every now and then, I have emotional pain that I can't cry away and I can't drink away, and it NEEDS an outlet. That's when I try to create with my pain. It never works. I can not express depression, loss, misery, or heartbreak through art. I express joy through art.

But I tried, and though the piece I ended up with was not as poignant or expressive as I wanted it to be, it did turn out to be a pretty painting.


And, most importantly, it did what I needed it to do, let me vent my emotions, take a step back from what I was feeling, and lock the pain away. I then had a few glasses of wine, called an old friend, cried some more, and woke up feeling purged, refreshed, and ready to get on with the art work that I do so well - Joyful art.

 I know that one of the purposes of art is to pull on the heart strings, so even though I do not often create art that expresses pain and the darker emotions, I certainly love others' work that does. Yet, when I paint, I am expressing joy, peace, a connection to nature, a fascination with imagination, and other generally pleasant emotions. I like to bring joy to others. I want people to look at my work and smile, feel peace, dream, and hope.

So, yesterday I put aside the darker emotions that I was feeling earlier in the week and chose to work on an idea I had been wanting to play with for a very long time - the wood nymph emerging from her tree.

I began with a sketch of the female form, focusing on where she would still be attached to the tree. When I transferred the sketch to silk, I made a few changes, choosing to elongate my nymph and increase the amount of hair she had, both for aesthetic reasons and because I could use the hair line down the left hand side of her body as a separation point for the dye.

When working with the resist lines, I am constantly trying to think ahead (like a chess or nine-ball game), I want to determine where the dye will want to go, how I will apply the dye to silk, where my color change lines will be, what techniques and colors I want to use, and whether or not I will have time to finish dyeing the area before the dye dries.

I was very satisfied with the outline of the piece, and started my dyeing with the leaves and some of the nymph's hair. I mixed 7 different shades and washes of green and applied them randomly to the leaves and some of the hair sections, then filled in the tree canopy with the same colors in spot dye application.

When it became time to fill in the body of the nymph and the tree, I started with the tree nymph's extremities, using a light red and brown wash and mixing in some darker browns. I wanted a slight textural contrast between the nymphs body and the bark of the tree, so I dyed the areas of the nymph that were separated from the rest of the tree by a resist barrier first, and then began on the arm, head, and leg that were open to the rest of the tree.

I used darker browns and some lighter browns over the top to create a patchy texture on the bark of the tree.

I then filled in the hair of the nymph with yellow and light reds. I checked all of my resist lines and then filled in the sky with a few light blue washes and water for texture. I chose olive and dark greens for the ground and used water to fade out the sections. I was extremely happy with the "rolling fields" feeling that I was able to create along the base of the piece.

Once I was finished, I let the dye dry and sat and stared at this silk painting for a few minutes. It's everything I wanted it to be, and more importantly, everything I needed. I feel peaceful again.

The Creation of a Peaceful Piece

We live in turbulent times, to say the least. Today I felt the need to create something that not only brought me peace, but that would hopefully bring this emotion to the viewer as well.

Sketching Ideas

For this piece, I began with the idea of a woman in lotus position. I used a google image search of "lotus position" to help me visualize what I wanted the central figure to look like.

After much frustration and sketching, I realized that though I may eventually revisit some of these drawings for a yoga inspired piece, that I wasn't going in the right direction.

I knew that I wanted this particular silk to be bold in color throughout the central figure, so I focused in on the idea of the chakras as a focal point with the person playing mainly a background role to the color.

Final Sketch

After taking a short break to let myself recalibrate mentally to this new idea, I sat down and quickly sketched the figure to the left.

I had my focal point.

I then began the process of transferring the design onto the silk. At this point, I made some pivotal design changes. I decided to make the figure more gender neutral by making the curves in the body less pronounced. I also chose to keep the crown chakra within the top of the head, as opposed to radiating slightly above as it was in my original drawing.

Resist Outline

I chose to rework the idea of a lotus flower - though I still wanted to include the lotus in the design, I didn't have room on this silk to have the flower be a central aspect of the background like it was in my sketch. I chose instead to include a smaller flower behind the central figure and mirror that with a flower underneath the figure.

The figure was crowned with radiating lines.

I kept the chakras overlapping but open so that  the colors would fade naturally from one chakra to the next.

Chakras

When I started painting, I chose once again to work from the center of the piece outward. I kept the resist lines in this painting very large, so I wasn't as concerned as I normally am about flooding my lines, but I sill enjoy painting the figure first and following with a background color.

The chakra section of the figure was the easiest, as I knew the color order and placement before I began. I chose to paint on dry silk. I know there are two schools of thought on this, but for me, I find that the colors are more even when placed on dry silk. Wet silk is easier to fade, but dry gives a more even color where there is no fade.

To aid in the faded sections, I used water liberally over my dyes. I also tend to fade the lighter color over and into the darker color. One technique I use for this is painting a section of lighter color, placing a line of the darker color where I want the fade to end, and then going over it with the lighter color and water until the two lighter color sections meet.

Focal Point Finished

Remember that it is extremely important with professional quality silk dyes to paint wet to wet - if the dye is allowed to dry (and it dries fast) on the white silk, there will be a very distinct line. These lines can only be removed by going back over the dye with water or more silk dye.

Now it's time to paint the rest of the figure. I started with the legs - and chose a blue to purple fade because I thought it would look nice. It was only when I stepped back that I realized I was creating another mirror effect and decided to follow it through the upper body as well.

I chose a red, magenta, and orange color palette for the lotus behind the seated figure, and following my theme of mirrors.

*sidebar - though originally the only play on mirroring was having a flower both behind and below the figure, it became a deliberate (and I think very important) part of this painting when I painted the figure itself. I hope that my audience will not just note the occurrence in shape and color, but in the theme of the painting itself, for certainly to have peace without we must have peace within - and we are all a reflection of our surroundings as well as those that we choose to share our lives with. Peace begets peace, much like love begets love, and though there are always going to be oppositional forces to these, it must all start within.

I chose the green to blue fade on the base of the silk both for the very "natural" feel that I believe this color combination evokes but also from a land to sea or land to sky sort of perspective. I wanted the base of this piece to be both bold and serene, and this color combination seemed perfect.

Background Started

I decided to use a yellow/orange and blue/purple color palette in the radiating lines at the top of the piece. I continued painting on dry silk and using water and a very large brush to create the fade at the tips of the lines.

At the end of the day, I am extremely pleased with this piece. It honestly turned out even better than I expected it to. The colors are vibrant and bold for the most part, but there is a harmony in this one that is not completely planned. When I began, I was searching for a way to express my own hopes, as I feel that the best way to combat darkness is with light. This one is full of light, and I am filled with joy - and an overwhelming sense of peace myself. I will sleep well tonight.

Fin

Artist's Block

There are days when inspiration packs a bag lunch and heads to the beach...I wouldn't mind doing the same.

Sometimes I stretch a piece of silk and the next thing I know I have a finished scarf, ideas flow like a river and colors seem to combine themselves...beautiful things happen and at some point after the sun has gone down and long after I should have stopped to eat something, I come up for air and stretch my tired fingers in amazement at what has transpired. Those are really great days.

Then there are the other times. The stretched fabric stares at me, defying me to mar it's purity with something so crass as color....maybe I just can't decide what to paint, or I have a concept but no shape...whatever it is, it's almost physically painful - to need to create and be unable to. These are the days when my ridiculously large collection of fiction books get re-alphabetized by author, and my fabric swatches get refolded and put away in size and color order. These are the times when I barricade myself in the bathroom with an old toothbrush and a container of baking soda - because NOW is the time that I'm finally going to conquer the miscolored shower grout.

Occasionally I am able to reroute creativity into another art form - movement really helps at these times, and some of my best choreography work has occurred on days when the silk refused to speak. Yoga also helps, or just going for a walk - but there are always days when nothing will come, no matter what I do.

I've come to both loath and respect my creative block days - if I never had them, I'd never have a clean apartment, and that in and of itself is a reward. Also, there's the miracle that occurs when you finally push through....something happens to break the dam and creativity comes flooding back in. Today is one of those days. After almost a week of staring at a single piece of silk on a stretcher frame, 5 am sleeplessness had me sketching, and now I'm waiting for my resist lines to dry so that I can put dye to fabric.  This piece is one I've been trying to get my head around for sometime and will hopefully turn out to be one of the pieces I will display at my very first art show in April.

Inspiration is back, and oh it does feel good.