Sunday 2 May 2010

A new day...

We get some spectacular sunrises here - I have never been what is known as a 'morning person' so sunrises aren't normally something I can wax lyrical about, except in abstract terms - but down here I often wake early enough to witness it - especially now that we are off daylight saving.  It is far more interesting when there are clouds to bounce the light off and create extra colours and shadows.

Interestingly, these photos are all of the same susnrise, taken over a period of  about 15 minutes.  They inspired me to get out my fabric paints and try some sky painting.  First attempts were a disaster - I was using the  liquid radiance paints I got when I did the Helen Godden class back in Dec.  Trouble is, they are very liquid indeed and I misted the fabric first so I just got puddles with all the colour migrating out to the edges of the puddle.  Then I remembered that Helen likes to paint on cheap as chips nasty unbleached calico full of sizing - as the paint stays exactly where you put it.  That's true, but I found that the yellowy undertone of the calico messed with the colours of the sky.  I tried some ordinary white undyed quilters cotton, without any misting, and things looked a little better - but I still need to minimise the addition of any further water - am still trying a few ideas, so will report back when I get a satisfactory result.  I also tried the Setacolour translucent paint which are thicker and got better results, but I am nearly out of them, so only had limited colour to choose from.  One thing about living here is that it encourages you to make do with  what you have, as there isn't anywhere to buy supplies.  Of course there is always the internet.....if I get really desperate!!

1 comment:

Doreen G said...

Now that is what I call worth getting up early in the morning for.