Faces of Innocense
Some years ago I was in a surface design college level class with much younger students. They were not the tidiest of creatures–and left yogurt cups of liquid dye or dye paste when they had finished their project. None of them seemed to know how to wash up or clean up after themselves either–and I found myself cleaning the counter-tops and re-washing the equipment so it would be dye-free for the next user—-all on Sunday mornings after church–which meant I was in the lab by myself.
I had prepped a piece of muslin with alginate–thus stiffening it and making it like a piece of very nice water-color paper. There were several fairly full cups of liquid dye sitting near the sink to be cleaned up—I used them to paint this image—using as inspiration a photo I had taken earlier of three little girls waiting for their much older sister after a football game.
After painting it–I steamed it–and then rinsed out the alginate. It then sat in a to-do pile for a long time–
Now it is finished except for stretching it on a frame. I used felt as the stabilizer and decided I did not like it—too slippery—so it’s back to a decorator cotton or my favorite –non-waled corduroy.
Here is the original painted piece…
and now the completed piece…
Sylvia Weir Art 