Work Shop with Hollis Chatelain

Before I get to the workshop with Hollis I wanted to show the first place winner of the LMQG 24th anniversary challenge. This was created by Cathy Terry congratulations Cathy.

Our workshop began with Hollis explaining to us how to prepare the dye, fabric and preparing the area where we did the actual painting. Hollis demonstrated how she held the brush and applied the dyes. She then set us free to starting our own creation.

I took this photograph several years ago and have made a few small fused pieces using this image. I have always liked this close-up image of a geranium.

image before washing.

Image after washing.
This is the painted piece before it was washed. The color washed out a lot more than I would have liked. Hollis suggested that some of the colors wash out more than others. The red I chose happened to be one of those colors. To make up for the lost of color more dye should be added to the water when it is made.


Hollis wanted us to do a second piece and I chose this photo of a sunflower.
Image transposed.

My painted image after washed.

I did not get a photo of this piece before washing, I'm hoping that I can get that wonderful light with the quilting.

Painting with dyes is not an easy thing to do but Hollis was so encouraging. When I would say something about not being able to get the look I wanted, her reaction was "and just how long have you been doing this"? As with anything this technique takes time and practice.

I'm not going into the details of this class because this is Hollis' technique and she would be the one to tell how it is done. I will say that twenty of our members took this class and all twenty were blown away with Hollis as a teacher. She spent every minute of the class teaching. One of the best if not the best class I have ever taken.