River Birch Stand

Stand of river birch that have died long ago, the basis for a new painting that is O'Keefe inspired.

Mad about Madder Root Natural Dye e-Class

Class starts tomorrow June 3rd!  Membership at the Natural Surface Network is required.  Cost is $30.00 (USD)  This class is a self directed class. 

 

Once you are enrolled in the class you will have access to video, instructions, etc. I will check the classroom daily for questions.



White Peonies

Heritage Rose

Old fashioned pink rose.

Pretty in Pink

Pink Peonies.  More from my studio tomorrow, I've been working hard in the yard/garden to get things done before the rains get here.

WIP - Barn

Now with pigments applied to the bottom section, it will dry lighter than what's in the image.  Pigment painting is all about layering and patience.

WIP - Barn

From the Barn Series - I dug this piece out of a box in my design studio tonight, for some reason the indigo dyed bottom two thirds faded and horribly so I plan to pigment paint this section.  I'll start with Mayan Blue and take it from there once it dries.

Mad about Madder Root e-Class

Available June 1st, 2011 a self directed e-Class dedicated to dyeing with Madder Root. Cost $30 USD

In this class students will learn how to use a traditional madder root vat to create a range of colors on silk and wool fabrics, ranging from deep scarlet to brilliant orange and everything in between. This class is self directed which allows students to work at their own pace.

Membership at the Natural Surface "IS" required and pre-payment is required before accessing class information.

Class will formally open June 1st, 2011 (12:00am CST that's Iowa)

Eucalytus Branches

Working on two self directed online classes, available June 1st through my network The Natural Surface

Community of Artists Exhibition Acceptance

Crow Field was accepted into the Octagon Center for the Art's Community of Artists Exhibition!

To Thine Own Self Be True

And I haven't been.  Last year I was approached by a big publishing house to write a book about natural dyeing.  They laid out what they wanted and as much as I try I just cannot produce a book for their formula. 

Don't get me wrong their formula is most excellent, it's just not me and when it comes to dyeing fabric, fibers, and yarns I put a ton of me into the work.  I guess that's the epiphany when writing a book about dyeing with natural dyes I'm writing about me and if you were to ask me what IS wrong with my first three books is they exclude me! 

The end result was I quit producing, I floundered, I quit producing cloth, finished works, and I quite writing about what I was doing.  Why I felt shame and guilt about this is beyond me, it was after all their formula and they didn't want to know about me they wanted me to fit into their forumla.

So with that in mind the books, the DVD's, etc. will soon change and you will be seeing less mind numbing instruction and a whole lot more of "me".  It's the effort of shutting out the other voices that tell you who you are and what you should be, that is the hard part.  I've come to the conclusion that those who insist, no demand, on telling you who you are and what you should be really don't care two whits about who/what you are or will be.

Coming soon, "the real me", get ready world because here I come!

Studio Window

My studio has a greenish cast to it these days as the light bounces off of the red oak leaves.

Love Knows No Bounds

Natural Dyed Silk Yoyo's

Details

Color Pencil Redux

I moved my watercolor pencils out of their larger tin and seperated them by color ways into tin mugs, I'm not sure if I like this set up yet or not, well I do for the greens and yellows.

Iowa - Inspiration at 55 mph!

Iowa - Inspiration at 55 mph!  Whenever I'm not driving I like to take advantage of the situation by snapping tons of photos, photos that are in motion.  Every once in awhile I make a squealing noise indicating I really want to stop and take more photos of whatever that has captured my attention at that moment, but by and large images taken at 55mph intrigue me!

Sandford Museum Solo Show

Installed, was hard to get a good picture of the entire set up.

Final Leg

The final leg towards my solo show, finishing up four pieces in the Prairie Series.

Prairie No.'s 9-12
Natural Dyes Cotton and Silk Fabrics.
Machine Stitched

I cut each of these panels off of their canvas stretched frames and cut them down to size, which varies, as I was unhappy with them.  With the addition of more stitching, and in some cases more silk fabric overlays, and then binding off the edges with zig zag stitching, they will then be re-mounted to 18x24 inch stretched canvas.  More pics later.

Journal Back Cover

Back cover of my newly retro fitted journal, and what can I say I'm a ham for very pretty papers!

Retro Fit Journal

At the beginning of the school year I purchased a couple of compostition books.  I cut this one down to 6x8 inches and then glued a piece of scrapbooking paper to the front cover.  Now to embellish the front, I will work on the back of the journal later.

Bleeding Hearts Fat Half - WIP

Fat Half - 45 inches long by 18 inches wide. Fabric paint on Poly/Cotton Sheer fabric.

Bleeding Heart Fabric Swatch

Bleeding Heart fabric Swatch, what remains from a three yard piece of fabric I dyed in 2002ish.  I started a fat half tonight in similar colors but didn't add the salt for the speckled effect.

Bleeding Hearts

Inspiration for a new series.

Harvest Series

Natural Dyed Silk Scarves

Flower Parts

Angel

Today - WIP

Natural Dyed Cotton Fabric - Cutch
Machine Stitched
Still have tons more stitching to add to the surface, and then some embellishments.
Size - smallish.

Favorite Colors

Just a few of my favorite copic colors!  The marker in the middle is the colorless blender.

Samples

Cynthia Wenslow asked on her blog if anyone else made samples, and my anwser is YES!  Consider it a hold over from art school where we were expected to make sketches and color swatches of EVERYTHING before we even made something.  But to anwser Cynthia's question... with the cost of supplies exploding I'm making more samples than I ever have in the past.  Above is a color sample of pink on black to see if it was possible, the anwser is YES with opaque pink paint on top of black fabric.

New Bits and Pieces in Progress

Spring Colors

Am entertaining some ideas!

Vineyards in Iowa

John and I went out earlish - for me anyway - this morning to take photos of a vineyard in progress.  Vineyards used to be a mainstay here in Iowa, just like potatoes and mangel beets, but alas sometime in the 60's they went the way of the dodo bird.  Ten years ago, however, the vineyard made a comeback here!  The mark they leave upon the prairiescape is unique, in comparison to corn and soy beans, and thusly my Prairie Harvest series will be including vineyards as part of the imagery!

Mini Canvas'

3x5 inch gessoed canvas with an alcohol transferred image.

Second coat of gesso, this time over the image transfer.  Once the gesso is dry I'll paint an image to go with the carrot.

More Antlers

Now that Deer Slayer is on it's way to it's new owner I am off and running with my next project.

The next project involves a gourd, pine needles, and antlers.

Deer Slayer Finished.

Silk and Sustainability

Organizing My Time

Making a new directive for myself, no more internet after 7pm!  My evenings will now be spent creating.  Ok ok I've decided that it's ok to watch Paula and Kerri on Ustream twice a week in the evenings! http://www.ustream.tv/channel/journalartista

Fabric is the Poetry of Life

Waits for spring and days that yeild blue skies and green fields instead of snow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9-pDSYPrio

DVD Availabilty

My DVD's are now available through my website, I have closed my Etsy.com stores.  The DVD is now condensed to two DVD's both sides are burned which helps to reduce shipping costs! http://www.kbaxterpackwood.com/e-Books.htm

Last Nights Desk Party

Journal pages, late last night.

Garden Journal Pages

Wet Studio Clean Up

Moved some of the paints to the corner shelves, these are fabric paints, so that I could have better access to my mixed media supplies.

I moved my mixed media bins to the shelves, who knew that having them more accessible would mean I'd actually use them!  The crates hold various types of papers and constructed cloth for using in mixed media projects.

Another view, that's Deer Slayer on the table. I need to have John create a rack so that I can put the computer up next to the ceiling, won't go under the table too much stuff there already.  Luckily the Gateway was is a rack server style unit and is meant to be flat not verticle!

Brushes, tons of them everywhere!  This weeks adventure includes a trip to the dollar store in hopes of procurring a couple of those cutlery baskets, I will use them for my paint brushes.