Category Archives: Inspiration

Conversations with cloth

Posted on by Linda Matthews
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Time FliesThe year is half done already!

I guess I’m saying that more to myself than you because it seems to have gone by so fast. It’s also birthday time for me which means a mid-year “sit down and review how things are going so far” as I generally do this time every year. As I get older this seems to get more interesting. Particularly this year. Particularly now.

When I sat down a few days ago and looked over all the things I’ve achieved this year like writing a book and preparing new online classes, and the dozens of other small things I’ve done, I suddenly realized that not only have I taken huge steps to redefine my business, but my business has also begun to redefine me. But in a very good way.

My goal this year was to build my business from a place of joy and connection. A business that was fulfilling for my heart as well as my bank balance. That might seem like an unachievable goal, but as I focus on doing only those things that bring me joy, it seems to be working.

So as you might notice, my website’s just had a do-over. You like?

It’s a scary thing to remove the business face of me that I’ve had for so long as artist, designer and teacher, and replace it with the heart of me which is a cloth whisperer. But now it also lets me reveal my stories on a more personal level which I know you’ll want to hear as much as I want to tell.

I hope you’ll enjoy what’s yet to come.

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Fabric painting on silk – not so difficult

Posted on by Linda Matthews
2

For the art book sampler for my upcoming online class I chose to work with soft flowing silks and sheers because they are as beautiful to work with as they are to look at. I’m a bit like a magpie when it comes to bright shiny things, so I have a good collection of silk fabrics, and for this project I took apart an old hand dyed silk patchwork jacket that I no longer wear, and I instantly had a selection of fabrics where all the pieces are already color coordinated. I like it when things happen without too much effort.

However the colors of the fabric pieces were all a little on the dull side, so this weekend I decided to add a little brightness to the mix to balance the color selection, so I rummaged through my stash and came up with some lovely silks and sheers suitable for fabric painting.

At first thought painting on silk fabric might seem a little challenging, but you can paint on silk fabric just as easily as you can paint on cotton fabric, and for these pieces I used one of my favorite fabric paints – Jaquard Dye-na-Flow. These paints are like colored water so the colors mix and blend together similar to fabric dye.

I wanted a variety of coordinating colors with some visual texture, so after I painted the fabric I sprinkled each piece with some salt and pinched the fabric into little mountains. I also toned down all the colors with a touch of black so they weren’t quite so bright.

This is cotton lawn which is very light and sheer, painted with a blend of blue and purple and this is how it looks still wet from the fabric paint and sprinkled with a little salt.

Fabric Painting

After the fabric has dried you can see how the salt has drawn the color, and how the mountains have separated the paints into light and dark shades creating beautiful visual texture.

Fabric Painting

This piece is silk habotai which is very soft and thin, painted in a bright blue. You can see bits of black that didn’t blend in properly but this actually gives a nice contrast to the color.

Fabric Painting

This is some very thin silk charmeuse. I *love* how the colors turned out on this piece; it’s an aqua blended with blue and looks like a foamy sea.

Fabric Painting

This is a synthetic silk type fabric but I like it because it has a nice crinkled surface. The colors are orange blended with a golden yellow.

Fabric Painting

And this piece is a cotton lame which already has a beautiful shimmer to the fabric. I painted this one with Jacquard Lumiere metallic paint and it finished with a beautiful sheen and sparkle.

Fabric Painting

Once added to my collection of dark and medium tone colored silks, they now balance the color selection by providing some lights and semi-brights. I think I do much better with fabric than I ever will with paper.

Silk Fabric

If you’ve never tried painting on silk, it’s very easy and produces beautiful results. And if you’re looking to try these paints, I usually find Dye-na-Flow in my local Joanns or Michaels stores, but you can also get them online at various places including Dharma Trading, where you’ll also find a nice range of silks suitable for painting at good prices. (No affiliation, just a satisfied customer)

If you want more information on my upcoming online class, you can visit the store for full details and pricing. I’ve also just added payment by installment to make things easy for you. You’ll find details of the installment plans by visiting the store and selecting the Titivations online class that you’re interested in, and in the description for the class you’ll see the link to pay by installment.

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How to work with focus and intention in two simple steps

Posted on by Linda Matthews
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Speed BumpWhen I was writing the introduction to my new book I was challenged to explain in only a few words, the reasons why I was writing, first of all such a short book (only 18 pages plus front and back cover), but also a book that takes a fairly simple technique that normally fills a paragraph or two in other books and expand it into 18 pages.

This wasn’t an easy thing to do. Explaining the reasons why, in only a few words. And I really had to think about it for days. In fact it took me longer to think of this phrase than it did to write the tutorials, instructions and the information for the rest of the book. It kept me up at night.

Slowly does it
But the phrase that finally came to me was “slow work”. Working slowly with intention and deliberation. And apparently I’m not alone, there’s a whole movement of “slow” people out there. Slow cooking. Slow cloth. Who knew?

For me, “slow work” is about the process, the journey. It’s about being an explorer and looking deep to discover new things. And an experimenter trying different methods of doing the same thing by wondering “what if?”. It’s about slowing things down and paying attention, and being consciously creative about my work. It’s about looking at things from a different perspective, from a different angle, and taking time to enjoy the things that I do with passion and curiosity instead of rushing through it with little memory of the experience.

Avoiding speed bumps
Slow work is the anti-thesis to this fast-paced world in which we’re sometimes forced to live. And I can see with sudden clarity that the challenges I sometimes face when I’m working usually happen because I’m in a rush to get *there*, wherever *there* is. The challenges are like speed bumps, small obstacles, forcing me to slow down and pay attention. And usually there really is no *there* to get to and no big rush to get to it, it’s just the way we’ve been taught to do things. But you can change habits.

The advantages of working slow
The advantages of working slow are evident in the results of your work and the way that you feel about it. Working slow is like a meditation and will leave you with a peaceful, stress-free experience, and sometimes that feeling of “flow” where time becomes meaningless.

It also shows in your work, in your attention to detail, in the quality of your finished piece. I’m often called a perfectionist in my work, but I’m really not and I can show you in a million ways how I’m not. It’s just that I take the time to enjoy the experience of my work, and it shows.

The steps
Two simple steps is all it takes to start to become mindful about what you do.

  1. Set a timer
    Grab your kitchen timer and set it for at least 15 minutes, or more if you have time. If you don’t have a timer, invest in one; this is by far one of the best tools you can ever own. Using a timer gives you permission to work for the amount of time you set yourself without the pressure to feel you have to be somewhere else or doing something else. This allows you to focus solely on what you’re doing knowing that there are no other distractions.

  2. Enjoy the experience
    So now that you have no distractions for fifteen minutes or more, take time to enjoy the experience of your work.

    3. If you’re beginning a new project; enjoy the experience of gathering your supplies. *Feel* the cloth; hold it in your hands and watch how it drapes. Look at the color and pattern and consider it’s possibilities. Pick your thread with the intention that it will serve a purpose to either hold your project together or add decoration to the surface. Each item of your supplies is important to the end result.

    If you’re already working on a project, give your attention to the next step by thinking about how it will add value to the end result, or how it will affect the overall appearance. Consider possibilities.

It’s not difficult to learn to work slow, but like any habit it takes time and sometimes effort to insinuate the habit into your lifestyle. It’s also about retraining yourself to believe that you deserve to feel good about what you do. Doesn’t this excite you?

… Continue reading →

Possibilities

Posted on by Linda Matthews
6

I haven’t had a lot of time these last few weeks to play with my visual journaling pages, however I took a few hours over the weekend to do a little more work on my “Poppies” page. You can see where I left off here.

When I pulled the page out to work on it I noticed that the images that I’d glued down were lifting a little, so instead of gluing them again, I stitched them instead. The paper is very thick so it supported the sewing without any problems and I used a yellow thread for a nice contrast.

Visual Journal Tools

And then I decided to add some words by painting a section of the paper and scratching the words into the wet paint. This didn’t turn out well.

Visual Journal Tools

I didn’t want to throw away the images because they turned out so well particularly with the stitching, so I tore them up and stitched them onto my green background. It actually looks really good although I think there’s still something missing. I’m going to leave well enough alone for the time being and take another look at it this weekend. It has possibilities; what do you think?

Visual Journal Tools