We visited a lovely gallery in Sonoma, Alley Gallery at La Haye Art Center, to see "Two Painters in the Garden," of which one of the painters, Frances McCormack, is a friend of a friend. Frances's paintings include depictions and collages of plants, and Alina Nuebel's paintings primarily of nests and eggs as well as plants. These natural subjects are of deep interest to me, and I was very glad to see the works. It is fascinating that viewing art of nature to me can have the same effect as being outside in nature itself. The works were quite beautiful, and they inspired me.
When we arrived we discovered that Frances was actually there, so we met and talked with her. The wall text described her works as created with "flashe," which turned out to be a painting medium with which I was unfamiliar. I am very curious about art materials, so that meant I had to try it. She suggested just getting black and white to start, but I'm more of a colorist, so that was not going to work for me. Besides, I have black gesso and white gesso as well as a variety of fabric paints already.
I found the manufacturer's brochure online at Blick so I could study it and all the colors before trying to locate and/or order the paint. The selection in the Blick store was limited, and all the paints were list price in the store, but online they were discounted and all the colors seemingly available. Possibly inspired by Frances's works, I ordered Ash Blue, Light Green Earth, and Sepia Brown.
The paints are vinyl based, dry quickly and with a matte finish. They do not need a primer and can be used indoors and out, apparently. I painted directly on linen and found the paint went on smoothly and with good coverage for just a small amount of paint. Brushes must go directly in water after use so they don't dry up.
For my little quilt, Between, I taped up some shapes, then added hand-cut stencilwork on top, with hand and machine quilting to finish. Japanese woven cotton binds the edges, pulling the work together.
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