Some of the best memories I have with my Mom (and I have a LOT) are the two of us playing and experimenting together. This piece was created during one such playdate where we decided to experiment with four paste resists.
You get to make up a big messy batch of flour and water and finger paint it all over your fabric. Then, you have to entertain yourself for a long enough time to let it dry completely---not a hard task when the two of us get together.
Once the flour paste dries, it cracks and you can then paint over the top of the flour with ink (and where the cracks in the flour paste exist, the ink will reach the fabric. It reveals a fun and unique texture using this method and it reminded me of lots of bare tree branches crossing one another.
I used this method to create Many Winters, creating a mask to maintain the outline of my tree and then did some texture quilting once the flour paste was washed away.
We are having an early re-entry into winter this week with the snow falling again today covering the landscape in a blanket of white (which is good...as temps are forecasted to dip into possible single digits, the plants and trees will need any blanket they can get!)
I celebrate the explosion of color of the other seasons, but there is also a beautiful magic in the simplified palette of winter. It invites you look deeper than just the surface and see what might be revealed beneath the layers that are cracked and worn. It is a time to dive deep and nourish our own root systems---what are we taking in and up from our surroundings--is it feeding us well for growth come spring? And if not, what can do to change that in our lives.
Winter has much to teach us.
