Friday, April 1, 2011

bird challenge - Lynn Krawczyk

Blue Line
Lynn Krawczyk


I chose the theme for this challenge and it wasn’t a difficult thing for me to choose Birds.

Its a combination of my love for the little fellows and my intense desire for winter to be done with us. Spring, please.

My favorite bird imagery is birds on a wire. There’s something very romantic about the silhouette of a small bird, high on a single line against the vast sky.

Thrills me every time.


I started my piece with some soy wax batik fabric. I stamped the fabric with a wood batik block I found at a flea market and then did a wash over it with watered down black dye-na-flow. The effect reminds me of the variation in the colors of the sky depending on the time of day and the season.

I wanted to experiment with the stitching on this piece. I am a loud and proud hand stitcher but when I thought of this piece, I wanted really tight long vertical lines. What I had in mind could best be accomplished with machine stitching.


I decided to do the stitching before I printed the imagery. I used two different thermofax screens to print the birds. The smaller scale birds are done in black and the larger birds are white and the one single line of blue.

I particularly like how stitching first broke up the screen printed images, making it feel more daydream, produced more shadows. I think its something that I will do more of.


4 comments:

  1. Lynn, I love this piece! I agree that birds on a wire are an elegant image. I'm going to go back and look at this some more....and I may email you with a few questions on technique. Great work!

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  2. Lynn,
    Thank you for explaining your process. The background is wonderful, I've had to come back over & over to look at it again & again. Your choice of colors for the birds and their orientation are perfect (all horizontal except one & the one blue line) with your vertical stitching, it draws the eye around the piece. You should do this in a larger size and enter it into shows.

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  3. I have to agree. I think this is show quality. Every decision you made worked out for you and created the atmosphere you desired. It is really lovely....

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  4. I like the colors and the mix of it. I understand, that you love this screen - I would too. If I see these birds, I think of you!
    Heidi

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