SAQA Imagination 1X4 Call for Entry
I was so intrigued with the size limit when I started thinking about the Imagination 1X4 call for entry. I found that I really enjoyed the limitation of size and the possibilities of exploring my imagination.
I could spend hours looking for shapes in clouds, my coffee or a piece of ice-dyed fabric.
When images appear, a journey begins and my imagination discovers deeper meaning in found images and invoke unexpected emotions.
This piece represents letting my imagination wander to allow images to appear intuitively. Many images repeatedly appear and have meaning to me so I knew I wanted to include a few of them. Trees appear as a symbol of renewal and growth. Often a Raven will appear reminding me to be aware of the shadow side of who I am. The one white raven is a symbol of strength, optimism, pure honesty, and an element of trust.
I started with Arashi Shibori dying and rolled the fabric on the pole on a diagonal to create a V shape. I wanted to create an illusion of drawing the eye up while leaving enough blank space to add additional color. At this point I didn't know if I wanted to add thickened dye before rinsing or rinse and then paint. A plan was starting to form.
Here is the reveal which made me very happy.
I decided to rinse the piece and put it back in soda ash to add thickened dye. My plan was to add a tree, moon and create a background to represent the Aurora Borealis. In hindsight, I did this backwards. I should have painted the colorful background first. Once I painted the tree and the moon with thickened dye I knew that I would run the risk of the dye on the navy blue tree running into the bright colors I wanted to use on the background and also the moon need to stay bright white.
So I put it aside and started working on the figure.
I decided to hang my piece upside down and lightly mist it with water. I then sprayed the surface with acrylic inks and added more misted water as needed. I used a freezer paper circle to mask the moon.
Time to think about the background around her face.
I auditioned several colors
And eventually settled on a green hand dyed piece.
Stay creative,
Paula
Comments