7/5/08

BARN BATIK

This batiked barn's still standing on the winding road to Rising Sun, Indiana, but it looks like it may not be long for this world. Next week will be spent creating batiks at the Art Department of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where I'm to teach a course about paper batik.

Batik can be a slow and tedious process, yet I really like the change of pace. It could be called artistic meditation when you're going through the process of waxing a batik.

We'll be using watercolor instead of the normal dyes, working on a variety of rice papers with regular paraffin to wax the places we want to preserve. The best part of batik is the surprise when the wax is melted off to reveal your creation.

I'll be posting more of my batiks next week which were created several years ago. To see some of my favorites, go to the LABELS sidebar at the lower right hand side of this blog, and click on batik.

Hopefully, the college class will give me permission to post their finished batiks here on line. You'll be in for a treat. I know I'll be having fun all week.

"RISING SUN" Transparent Watercolor on Kinwashi adhered to 140# HP Arches 19 x 15" COLLECTED

2 comments:

sandy said...

Oh I love batik. I bought a book at a thrift store, illustrating batik from Japan (or somewhere, now I forget). What a beautiful painting and I CAN'T wait to see more.

Sandy said...

Your blog is always so interesting and informative, Sandy!
I have never tried batik paintings on paper, but I am familiar with the batik process on fabric.
I have just spent a delightful time perusing your batik works (all beautiful)but particular favourite is the sewing machine.