Every Saturday in the month of June from 8am - 2pm you can find me selling my hand painted silks at the Santa Fe Artists Market! I am so thrilled to be juried into this great market! It is a wonderful, talented group of artists! It is located near the water tower, across form REI, adjacent to the Farmers Market in the Railyard in Santa Fe. Look for the white tents!
Corrales Art Studio Tour
It is that time of year again for Corrales to be bustling with art! Time for the 18th annual Corrales Art Studio Tour! I am thrilled to be showing with Deborah B. Wilcox, Luna Rosa Studio, 4036 Corrales Rd. Map 3's 8, 9, 10, & 11. Deborah creates beautiful oil paintings. Along with Deborah, Amy Ditto will be showing her digital art, & photography, and Joni Bold will be showing her jewelry! The tour is Saturday, April 30th, & Sunday, May 1st from 10am – 5pm each day. There are 80 artists participating. You can stop by the Preview Gallery,at the Old San Ysidro Church on Old Church Road to see a sampling of works from all 80 artists participating, & get a map, & brochure. You can also download a map for your journey at www.corralesartstudiotour.com! Come join us, and begin a fun filled day on your journey to art!
Cooling off in the mountains of Angel Fire at Artsfest!
This weekend I will be in Angel Fire, New Mexico at the 33rd Annual Angel Fire Artsfest. It is an intimate indoor show located in the Angel Fire Resort Lodge in the Garden Court on the 2nd floor. The lodge is offering a discounted rate of $89 a night with the code "Angel Fire Artsfest". Beat the heat, & enjoy some art & beautiful scenery! The show is open Saturday, July 12th from 10am – 5pm, and Sunday, July 13th from 10am – 3pm
"Printemps"
Painting away!
So, getting ready for summer shows. In the studio non stop! Here's one of todays hand painted silk scarves!
Framing!
Well, it has been a long time since I have stretched & framed a piece of silk, but here it is! "Printemps", 18" x 30" will be in the preview gallery for the Corrales Art Studio Tour this weekend! May 3 & 4th, 10am – 5pm each day. I will be at Tom Spross' studio 594 Applewood Road Studio locations 5, 6, & 7, with Tom Spross, & Terry Adams! Come on by! Download a studio map at www.corralesartstudiotour.com
First, I stretch white muslin over the wooden stretcher bars.
I staple the muslin down with a staple gun.
A muslin backing is sewn on to protect the silk.
"Printemps" 18" x 30"
New Wisteria Cami!
It was time for a new design. Today I went out into the garden, & cut some lilacs, smelled the wisteria, & planted some herbs & flowers. It inspired me to paint a new camisole design. Here it is!
New wisteria camisole!
Today is washing day!
One of the steps in the process of hand painting silk, is washing out the excess dye once the silk has been steamed. I can't tell you this is my favorite step in the process because this step then leads to, you guessed it, ironing the hand painted silk. This was never my favorite job growing up. I remember walking down to the basement where mounds of ironing awaited me. Ugh.
Anyway, after the silk is steamed, and dried, the next step is washing out the excess dye. I use textile detergent soap to wash out the silk. This wonderful product suspends the dye molecules in the detergent, so while you are washing out the silk, the color does not repeat back onto areas you wouldn't want it to.
Here is the sink filling up with hot water & textile detergent. On go the gloves!
Once the sink is filled with hot, soapy water, gloves are put on to protect my skin, & the washing begins. I can only wash 1-3 pieces at a time, to ensure quality control. Only silks of the same colors can be washed together.
The washing begins!
The silk is washed at least three times to extract the excess dye, and the residual soy wax in the silk. It is then rinsed until the water runs fairly clear.
Silk being rinsed out.
The next step involves rolling the silk up in a towel to block out the excess water to speed up drying.
Hand painted silk scarves ready to roll up!
Next, the silks are hung out to dry!
Hand painted silk scarves a dryin'!
Now the fun part, (ha), the ironing of the silks.
Silks ready to be ironed!
Last, but not least, here are the silks ready to go! Woohoo!
My hand painted silks ready to enjoy!
Ironing out the wax from the hand painted silks.
So, after the silk is stretched, and painted with the silk dyes, and the melted soy wax, and once it is dry, the wax has to be ironed out of it before it is steamed. The silk is ironed out four times onto blank newsprint. If wax stays in the silk, the colors will bleed when steamed, so you have to make sure it is all ironed out. Here you see the process. The silk is then rolled up into two layers of newsprint, & steamed to set the color, and the design permanently.
Here the silk is placed on the blank newsprint, & two more layers of newsprint are added on top of it to start ironing.
Ironing the silk.
First layer of wax ironed out.
Sunflowers are such a happy flower!
I love painting sunflowers! They are such a happy flower! The golden & orange hues set against blues, turquoise, indigo, & purple background just make me happy! Here is a multi blue multi jacquars silk sunflower scarf just painted for my upcoming show in St. George, Utah.
Two Most Popular Designs At The Show Last Week
So, as I paint today I realize that these two designs were the most popular at the show in Las Cruces last weekend. Just noticing!:)
Popular Purple!
This purple abstract design was so popular at the show last weekend I am painting more of them to take with me to the Las Cruces Arts Fair this coming weekend!
Come on out to the Rio Grande Arts & Crafts Festival today!
Come on by booth H9 to see me at the Rio Grande Arts & Crafts Festival today! 10 - 5 at the Manuel Lujan building, Expo, New Mexico! Don't forget to get your $1 off admission coupon from my show schedule!
All Set up at the Rio Grande Arts & Crafts Festival!
All set up at the Rio Grande Arts & Crafts Festival!
My booth is all set up at the Rio Grande Arts & Crafts Festival in Albuquerque! Come by booth
H - 9 to see me & all the new silks I have created! 10 - 5 Friday, Saturday, & Sunday March 7 - 9 Manuel Lujan Building, Expo, New Mexico!
New website up & running!
So, today is the day! sueorchant.com is officially up & running! Woohoo!
Printemps 2014
Wisteria in progress
Here is a picture of a scarf in process of being painted by hand. The silk has been stretched on a frame, painted with a background layer of dye, then more layers of dye, and melted soy wax are added.
Wisteria silk scarf in progress.
Look at all those colors!
So, while working on a fantastic new website this week, the dyes, and paintbrushes patiently wait for me! More hand painted, original design silks on the way soon! I promise!:)
Silk dyes
Dye paintbrushes