Xanth and Gesso Experiments

I am going to try and explain what the heck I did

I will admit I had to do a couple of new pieces 

to help me remember

I big reminder to make better notes

(or any notes at all)

The commonality between these pieces

is that they all begin as dipped or painted with 

Xanthorrhoea Resin (Xanth)

and then after they dried were

painted with tradtional gesso

I am working with plants dissolved in methylated spirits

which is a type of denatured alcohol

the idea here is to pull the Xanth 

through to the front

which I did by accident the first time

These have been dipped/soaked in 

methylated spirit (meths)

on the left is cotton fabric 

on the right a book page

both cloth in puffball and meths

left just a dip

right a 10 minute soak

these are both paper

and have had a shape painted on the back

with the Xanth

then into meths with a little Xanth 

contaminating it

on cloth

here I have painted on 

a shape with a mix

of skim milk powder

titanium dioxide pigment

and water

here it is after drawing into it with a Pitt Pen

and then dipping 

the bottom half in Puffballs

and the top in Bloodroot

I did give the white areas a bit of a wipe

a white line after dipping

soaked in meths

dried

drawn with a brush pen 

then painted with white and wiped

old pieces done

with some technique like above

but no notes taken so 

I am not entirely sure

I think I need to do more

these two were drawn with

a thicker Xanth and Puffball mix

before dipping causing them to bleed

working back into pieces with pencil

and a white gel pen

drawing with thicker puffball 

after dipping

If you have any questions

or even just to let me know what you think

and if you are interested in more

please leave a comment

x te

Mark Making on Gessoed Fabric

Small Samples

On Cotton Fabric that has traditional gesso applied

this is a mixture of calcium carbonate (whiting)

and rabbit skin glue

Marks were applied 

and after they had dried they were

dipped into a jar of Xanthorhoea resin

dissolved in methylated spirits

(this is an Oz equivalent of using Shellac)

except for the girl

see her notes

Permanent Ink

Sumi E Ink

Sharpie

Sharpie Girl

dipped into

Puffball

and

Bloodroot

both dissolved in Methylated Spirits

x te

More Studio Assemblage

The entrance to the studio complete with netting to keep out the swallows
My actual space is up the back to the right
out of sight

and this is what it looks like now that Dan
has filled it in with a big glass sliding door

Inside still needing some work
but there is now some naturally dyed silk curtains up to screen off the back section
where Dan's stuff is kept

Things start to look a little better when places
to put art go up


So this is my studio coming along ready to open at the end of September
The floor has now been painted
so I can now start the final process
of putting it all together
Signs have been ordered for the highway

Today is abysmal pouring rain so not much happening
except staying warm by the fire

I also taught a wonderful small group
over in Northcliffe this week
Lots of all Natural Mixed Media Techniques
and I was lucky enough to receive
2 treasures in return
Some Bloodroot
and
some Madder root

So both will be being planted
in my dye garden for fuure fun

x te