Challenging Fabric Painting

Like I said, painting fabric is more challenging than it looks.  Especially if you use sort of thick paint to get hard edges, as I did. I wanted to create two coordinating fabrics: one with an allover pattern of sorts, and the other with large scale high contrast patterning. It was this second one that really humbled me.

I started out with some large sweeps of my brush and I liked them pretty well.

Challenging Fabric Painting. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

But, I wanted to add color to the background. And that’s where I went wrong.

Challenging Fabric Painting. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Can you say “ugly” boys and girls?  I wasn’t sure if I could salvage this and I allowed myself a few hours of discouragement.

Clearly, it needed some unifying elements, so I started adding stuff.

Challenging Fabric Painting. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

That helped.  But, do you know how long it took to draw all those little shapes?  Enough to dissuade me from using it all over.  I did like that one area, however.

In the photo below you can see both fabrics.  For the one on the right, I added large aqua circles, which also helped. I certainly didn’t love that fabric at this point, but I felt like I could judiciously use selected parts.

Challenging Fabric Painting. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Then, I tried again with my desire for a high contrast, large scale pattern.

Challenging Fabric Painting. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Challenging Fabric Painting. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

This time I left it alone!  This was my final collection of fabrics, some of which are folded in this photo.

Challenging Fabric Painting. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

I can’t say I was elated with this menagerie, but I felt like I could do something with them. What, I wasn’t sure! Maybe I’ll figure it out by the next post.

Ellen Lindner

 

8 Responses to Challenging Fabric Painting

  1. Valerie johnson July 30, 2018 at 7:25 am #

    It’s a wonderful self created piece of fabric to finish a fabulous piece of art! Can’t wait to see what you create…….

    • Ellen Lindner July 30, 2018 at 11:25 am #

      Thanks for the encouragement, Valerie. I’m optimistic.

  2. Carolyn Stewart July 30, 2018 at 9:29 am #

    Well, I loved it when you added the background color because the color was a unifying element! My least favorite was the last one. It looks “unfinished” to me. Good exercise…in the vein of Jane Dunnewold!

    • Ellen Lindner July 30, 2018 at 11:26 am #

      Yes, you’re right, Carolyn. I’ll either need to use small parts of that fabric, which was not my original intent, or alter it some more. Still thinking.

  3. Jody Wigton July 31, 2018 at 7:46 am #

    I really like the second piece of fabric you painted!! I like all 3 but liked the second the most! Can’t wait to see what u to with them! I love Pat Paulys stuff!!! How big was you fabric piece??? What kind of fabric is it and what kind of paint are u using and go u use a fabric medium with it?

    Jody Wigton
    Jwigton107@comcast.net

    • Ellen Lindner August 2, 2018 at 1:01 am #

      Hi Jody,

      I’m glad you like my “ugly” fabric. That gives me hope!

      These pieces were fairly large, about 30 x 40 for the first two. I used the PFD (Prepared for dying) fabric that I’ve had for a while. I used fabric paint (Pebeo Setacolor) and acrylic artist’s paint with fabric medium added, (although I think not enough.) Next, I’m going to try painting with thickened dye. I’ve played around with it before, but never seriously. Now, that will change!

  4. PAM KETTNER August 4, 2018 at 3:24 am #

    Ellen, I especially like the piece with the red running through it. It gives just enough contrast to make it more interesting. Keep up the good work gal!

    • Ellen Lindner August 4, 2018 at 10:27 am #

      Thanks, Pam. That one’s definitely my favorite, too.

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