Upcoming LARAC Show -Moonlight Over Spring

It is a golden evening after days of rain. I walk up the hill behind my house as the sun gradually lowers to the mountains. There is a breeze but the air is soft and sweet. The spring peepers are in loud chorus in the nearby swamp. Their sound is all encompassing. It both grounds me and has an expansive effect.
I hold my hands up to keep the direct sun rays out of my eyes as I face west. The view is spectacular, as always, yet it is different. Farms, fields, forest, and mountains are highlighted by the late day sun and contrasting shadows. The field before me has a mix of grass and alfalfa and it appears translucent with the sun shining through it. It seems to be in a state of heightened existence. The new leaves in the treetops are emerging from buds of many colors; white flowers, leaves of yellow green, darker green, pinks and reds. As the leaves on most trees become full, the ferns sprout. The resulting fiddleheads are a delicious treat and spring tonic.
I walk back down the hill as the sun hangs momentarily above the mountains and casts a golden light on all. This is the magic moment at the day's end. Once the sun disappears, the colors in the sky become more brilliant but all else is shade.
Back inside I'm dyeing the ribbon and rolled silk that my batik hang from. The LARAC members show will run from April 30 through June 13. The piece I'm putting in is a colorful celebration of life named "Moonlight over Spring". This work presents the coming to life of the earth in spring and shows a visual representation of the forces and patterns below ground that I spoke of a couple of weeks ago.

Cross sections

Here are several examples of what I mentioned in an earlier post about the cross sections showing what is going on above and blow each of us everyday.

Now into Mid-April Thoughts

April 16th morning I woke with the usual back pain and stiffness. With a cup of coffee and my kitties fed, I walked up the hill behind the house as the sun came up.It was cold (38 degrees), but the light rain during the night had freshened everything. The grass had jumped out of the ground, and distant trees had more green in various subtle colors. Wisps of fog rose in patches between the hills and fields. A train rumbled north in the cold distance, it whistled a steady yet mournful sound. Clouds obstructed the sun and I practiced my Qi Gong exercises looking out at the expansive view below. This is my favorite spot to practice early morning Tai Chi and Qi Gong in the warmer weather. I have studied with Mark Tolstrup for over eleven years; classes in Tai Chi have been a moving meditation and help keep me limber and grounded.
He has a class on seasonal Qi Gong that has done a lot to improve my life and help me to accept the seasons. It has helped me to become still and look, listen, and feel what is going on around me. This has helped me with my artwork.
I head back down the hill with a light sun on my back. How welcome the brightness and warmth of the sun are and how comfortable I now feel after the gentle circular movements I have completed.
I have been doing some small areas of direct painting on some of my batik. The wax is applied with a tjanting to create lines that completely encloses small areas. The dye is painted in the middle, being careful to not bring the brush too close to the wax line where it could jump beyond. This is very similar to the Serti technique; a French method of painting on silk. The word Serti means fence, and a rubbery substance called Gutta is applied as a resist to the dye and as the enclosed area for silk paint to be contained. When doing my batik these painted areas are coated with wax before being immersed in the next dyebath.

Enjoying Spring!

My new kitty, named Champion, is home after spaying, having drains in her leg removed, and is getting friendlier everyday now. She still gets medicine, but afterward she gets a tiny treat of Easter ham and a lot of patting. She purrs and plays. It's great!
Today is cold, but partly cloudy. The forsythia are bright yellow, the shadblow trees have bloomed their lacey white, daffodills have raised their bright faces, and the grass is incredibly green. The past week has been very warm for this time of year and I've enjoyed several early morning walks up the hill behind our house. The earth has come alive and there is the sweet smell of the earth awakening. Those warm days the air softly moved, songbirds sang in all directions, and the brook rushed out of the hills over hundreds of small waterfalls.
As I stood at the top of the hill, the morning shadows accented the panorama below. The view is always breathtaking, but those days in early spring there is a euphoria when looking out over God's country. Spring!
I'm working on some pieces showing garden themes. I like to show cross sections that suggest what is going on below the earth, as well as the plants above the ground. There are many layers to everything and I like to suggest patterns and forces beyond our normal vision. Many of my jewelry pouches work with this theme and many batik that I've recently finished, but have not mounted on dowels or carved hangers yet.
It is close to the time when I will mix up many dye baths for the fabric that has been waxed for the first stage of dye. All sizes and themes need to be sorted ahead so the dyeing will progress smoothly. Not to be forgotten, is dyeing the rolled silk and ribbon used to hang the dowel holding the batik.

Animals and Spring

My new kitty has been back at the hospital as the abcess on her leg was getting worse and causing her a fever. She had some surgery on it and a drain installed and is now home.
Giving her medication by mouth does little to make any cat friendly, much less one who lived off in the woods beyond a manure pile and jumped from round bale to round bale for adventure. She is getting a little friendlier each day and is actually meowing hello and rubbing her head on the edge of her shelter.
The sky this morning shows a promise of sun. There is a strip of fog between the fields and the mountains. The mountains are light and airy blue and the strip of fog a pale gentle blue. Today it is to reach the high seventies and last night the chorus of spring peepers rang out over the countryside for the first time this spring.
Over at Dancing Ewe Farm the lambs are being born and soon I will be milking the sheep on days that Jody and Luisa head to the Farmers markets to sell their Italian Artisan cheeses.It is a beautiful farm with many sources of inspiration for my batik.
With such cold and stormy weather at the end of March (out like a lion), I have been in my studio working on silk scarves. Dyeing the scarves takes very little space compared with dyeing batik. I like to dye the batik outdoors, as most batik are large in size and when they drip between the dyebath and rinse containers the lawn is the better place to clean up.
Painting on silk is a lot like painting on a wet sheet of watercolor paper. The dye spreads on contact with the silk. The colors are translucent as they are with watercolor and batik. When I want a crisper line, it must be brushed over the design after it is dry. I love to do images of the Adirondacks, natural patterns, the sky, the forests, fields and animals, especially horses on my scarves.
The silk scarves are dyed with silk dyes. The silk must also be prewashed to be sure it will readily accept the dye. The dyes I am currently using require an afterfix process to set the dye. when completed the scarf may be washed in cold water. The color will hold.
The lambs are fed and it is a glorious afternoon with small flowers appearing and buds expanding on shrubs and trees!