MORE SILK INSPIRATIONS

The creative juices are flowing at the moment, and I have been working on the background for a seascape, using silk paper.

Actually, it is not just silk paper, because my bundle of fibres includes some wool, and also some artificial fibres. There is also a bag or two of dyed fibres from some unidentified animal. I say that, because they do not behave like silk or wool. They are smooth and curly...perhaps a dog or goat? I have had them for a long time, and just cannot remember where they came from. Some of these curly bits were used to create the white foam of the waves in the middle ground.

Nevertheless, I have used a mixture of fibres, in order to include a fuller range of colours and textures, and have bound them all together with a textile medium. (I can't wait to order more silk from the Thread Studio in Perth!)

This morning I fixed the silk paper to a background, which included some silk fabrics for the distant sea and sky.

The piece was too wide to fit completely on my scanner bed. So I have taken it from two different angles. One thing I have decided as a result is that the proportions of an A4 sheet are much more pleasing than my original proportions.

Now the fun begins. Out will come all the embellishments...fancy yarns, beads, shells, tiny buttons, charms, lace and net.

There will be some embroidery, and some of the yarns will be couched on. I suspect I will end up putting some darker green grass and foliage shapes at the base, to give the piece some "weight." I can also see that I may need to soften the horizon a little...perhaps some thinned white paint?

I had not realised before how useful it is to put an image of a work-in-progress onto the computer screen in order to assess the balance and harmony. It beats squinting at it from a distance!