Then I saw an original Rothko at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. Wow. What a difference. They just don’t photograph well. In person, you can see that they actually consist of layers and layers and layers of transparent colors, building up depth and, well, expressionism. Way cool. Still not sure how you could do that in curtains, though…

Anyway, one of the ideas I’ve been working on is achieving something similar in fabric. You can only take a piece through dye baths so many times before all the molecules are all tied up. You can only put so many layers of paint on before the fabric becomes stiff and loses any advantage over just painting on canvas.

But you can layer fabrics of various opaqueness, with different colors and such. And get a look vaguely reminiscent of Mr. Rothko. I’ve done this with all sheers, or some sheers.

c2012 BJ Parady

And that’s what happened here. The bottom layer is a handdyed cotton (blue-violet, it shows up better in the picture below). The next layer is some gelatin dyed fabric that is the upright rectangles. On top of all that is a blue-violet silk organza. And some strips of painted linen.

c2012 BJ Parady

I added batting and a back, and sewed the silk down on the machine. The overall effect was a little blah and boring, so I started cutting out small sections. That’s where the piece is now–maybe it’s done, maybe it’s not.

But the point is, I started at one point (Rothko) and ended up with something my own–just because another artist influences you, or inspires you, doesn’t mean you have to make clone art that looks like their work. Let that piece be the little quotation at the beginning of the book, and you write the whole story.

c2007 BJ Parady

I tried using the techniques I’d learned for paper with fabric, never was too happy with the results. So I kind of abandoned that path, and moved on to other processes. Then I started hearing about gelatin printing, first, I think, from Rayna Gilman (that links to one of her blog entries on the subject, it’s also covered in her books). I liked the organic quality of the prints, the fact that you don’t use a press to make the print, the fun of it all.

I even acquired a lifetime supply of gelatin (point of fact, if you never use it, any amount is a lifetime supply). But I never took the time to actually try this at home.

Then the other day I read about the Gelli Arts Gel Printing Plate from Fibra Artysta. I ordered one and got it (very, very quickly). The last couple of days I’ve been testing it out. This is what it looks like:

As you can see, I’ve been busy:

First thing: it does feel weird. Kind of like I expected, but weird. It’s probably easy to damage, but on the other hand it’s also easy to be protective of it and care for it. Like I only carry it around on the plexiglass sheet I work with it on, not by itself.

But I can make very interesting monoprints with it. Different paints react differently to the surface (some produce some kind of lypophobic reaction that creates some interesting bubble like holes in the paint). You can roll the paint out on it, stamp it, move it around, draw in it whatever you feel.

c2012 BJ Parady

The vertical line on the left was created accidentally–there was a crease in the fabric when I printed it, so this was formed. I love it when things like that happen and look good.

c2012 BJ Parady

Here I moved the paint around with a sideways held chopstick. The effect is subtle but cool. The ability to maneuver is directly related to the thickness of the paint.

c2012 BJ Parady

The large white spots are caused by what I’m calling the lypophobic thing going on with some of the paints. Way cool.

c2012 BJ Parady

Ghost images are a term in monoprinting that means a print made from the ink left behind on a plate after a print has been made. Kind of a second run at the same design–except they are always lighter than the original. As you can see here, ghost prints can be made on the Gelli Plate.

I got the 8″x10″ one as it was closer to the final size I want. Overall, I’m quite charmed by it and intend to keep using it to make more and more prints…to add to my pieces of printed cloth to finish up…but it is fun.

Will I ever try the real thing? Probably–because there is one thing that happens with the gelatin that doesn’t happen here. Deterioration. As the gelatin breaks down from being handled, you can get some really interesting prints. That I want to see. Some day. In the meantime, I’ll keep this in my tool kit.