Inquiries about the techniques I created for many of the textile paintings in my WILD MYSTERIES show of 2007 led to offering a one-day workshop on February 12, 2008 at Marblehead Arts Association, Marblehead, MA.
I had never tried teaching these methods before, but was confident students of all levels would be able to bring at least one work to completion during the 10 am - 4 pm workshop.
Large tables had been set up throughout the Marblehead Arts ballroom space.
Instructed to bring scraps of recycled threads, yarns and fabric of all kinds, people showed up with huge bags of amazing materials. Everyone shared what they had, so if you needed a striped silk or a black cut velvet, you were sure to find it somewhere in the room.
One participant's fabric source was apparently the cutting room of a local couturier - great idea. The thrift shop is another good place.
Step one: choose a large piece of linen or loosely-woven, light-colored material to serve as your canvas and lay out the basics of the composition.
Affixing with pins, add smaller compositional elements, playing with the effects of various prints and textures.
Bunched-up yarns and other stringy things translate beautifully into natural elements, even from a short distance.
The final piece will be tacked lightly with stitching - either from the back or front (if you like the added texture) and then stretched over a board for framing.
Though I've experimented with layers of matte finish Krylon spray to seal textiles - and it's held up pretty well over decades - to be really safe from dust and humidity I prefer framing textile paintings under glass with a channeled molding that prevents the piece from touching the glass. Framing under glass will also flatten out some of the three-dimensionality or "impasto" of the piece, allowing it to read more clearly.
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