work in progress: colour

A spectacular opportunity just came up (the kind where you can see the heavens open and hear the celestial hosts singing just for you), and I am embracing it with everything. It will be particularly  interesting to use this conduit to document the different stages of the venture.

My work is very process oriented, and though this is a project I have been working on and off for a good while, I decided to start from square one, on a clean, fresh sheet of sketchbook paper.

So far this week, the agenda has been about colour and colourways that can easily relate to a broader audience (the designs will be part of later posts). It kicked off with the selection of a number of samples (mostly paint chips and embroidery thread) to get a general idea of what was "speaking" to me (no colour whisperer jokes, please).

From left to right: 1-The "weeding" process begins. 2-Sketchbook page. On top, the final  colour selections represent the general targets. The middle section has the pigment compounds. When one is (finally) on target, the date is stamped next to it, to better identify the chosen one. The bottom section has the printed swatches (on cotton) from these formulas.

The next choice came from my immediate surroundings, and it represents the house from our wonderful neighbours (B&R) across the street. I've always admired how the colouring subtly changes depending on the time of day and the time of year. It requires the eye to average it into the perfect neutral, making it extremely relevant to the products I want to print. This fabulous, very elusive hue, took three days to translate well on to fabric, and is now referred to as B's House.

From left to right: 1-A "swatch" from B's house. 2-Pigments are mixed in a translucent base (vehicle) so that it is ready to be tested on fabric (with the aid of a small silk screen and squeegee). 3-Swatches of various substrates (cottons and linens) from different concoctions, the number of passes were recorded as well.

By yesterday afternoon, there was an overabundance of swatches on the studio's printing table, which is tremendously helpful during the editing process.