Page 36 - The Digital Cloth Issue 6

in your design, it will read as specific
sky. It could be green,
orange, purple or all three
colours, and it will still read
as sky. The area can be
pieced, mosaic tiled, fused
strips of fabric, or a hand
painted sky. As long as the
colours of the rest of
landscape work in harmony
with the sky, it will be
credible.
The colour of the sky dictates As well as experimenting
the colours and tones found
in the entire landscape. For
instance, if you want to
portray a cool stormy sky to
give your painting unity, the
cool greys and blues that are
used in the sky will need to
be reflected back in some
way into the foreground.
(Outer Hebrides 2)
I know that for me,
playing with colour, is the
most seductive aspect of my
work. But I also know that
for many, it can also be the
most confusing and
challenging aspect.
Understanding the properties interspersed with areas of
of colour and studying some
colour schemes does give you add movement.
a base to build on. Learning
about colour takes time. It is
a journey – but far from
arduous and boring, it is a
journey full of exploring,
creating and having fun.
Over the years, one of the
teaching tools that I have
created for many of my
classes, is a series of small
quilts highlighting different
colour schemes. I choose a
simple design based on the
techniques to be painting. The
taught in class. I make these
samples up in 6-8 colour
schemes (Colour samples
1-4). I have found that after
looking at how the very
different colour schemes are
all effective in their own way,
students are often motivated I have been known to paint
to let go of the realistic
colours, and push their
colours to a new level.
with different palettes of
colour for my skies, I have
also played with texture and
construction. I have
constructed skies using
pieced squares or diamonds,
have tiled areas of sky on a
base fabric, have fused
overlapping strips and I am
still continuing to play with
this wonderful area of my
design. When challenging
myself to come up with
something new for the next
retreat at Uluru, I combined
two different elements
-sections of hand painted sky cause a distraction.
strips placed on an angle to
The sky is lighter in colour
towards the horizon. Looking become a feature of my work.
for fabric that has
graduations of colour and
value, I have found it
difficult to source suitable
commercial sky fabrics.
Initially in desperation and
now by choice, I paint most of
my sky fabric using a range
of different fabric paints. The
behaviour of fabric paint,
when applied to wet base
fabric, lends itself to sky
unpredictability of wet
washes on the wet fabric, the
transparency of the medium
and the possibility of coming
up with exciting accidents,
all contribute to the range of
effects that can be achieved.
fabric after midnight, if I am
on a roll working in the
studio. It is quick, more
manageable than dyeing
fabric, and can be dried with
a hairdryer. And by
overpainting commercial
fabrics, you can produce a
wonderful range of textures
in your chosen colour palette.
Of course, there are some
designs where the sky can be
a small supporting element
in a landscape or secondary
to a major architectural
subject. (see Point Lonsdale
Jetty). The key factor then is
to make sure that the colour
of the sky works with the
main features and does not
I believe that over the years I
have found the sky to be my
ally and have enjoyed
manipulating its surface to
Try becoming a ‘student of
the sky’. Give your skies
character and even
celebrity status, making
them an expression of your
own personal vision.
Gloria