Finished painting—Francesca De Grandis
Greater than the Sum of Its Parts—Combining Techniques:
Tutorial and Painting in Honor of Goddess Brigid
Detail of finished painting—Francesca De Grandis
You can scroll past the tutorial for Product and Purchase Info. Click pics to see em full size and un-blurred.
I like to combine different techniques. Each technique or product has its strengths and weaknesses. Combining approaches provides more opportunities for self-expression.
This T-shirt is an example. What better than a piece honoring the multifaceted Goddess Brigid, the patron of hearth witches, healers, poets, metal smiths, and more?
Looking through my supplies, the only way to get a few of the colors I wanted was to blend Dye-Na-Flow. So I started the t-shirt with Dye-Na-Flow, blending some colors and using others as is.
The muddy beige lines in the following pic are a resist that provides a border to keep Dye-Na-Flow from spreading willy-nilly. This resist washes out.
Here’s the finished Dye-na-Flow—my first layer of creating the shirt—after it has dried, been set, then shirt washed to get out the resist. Ready for more painting:
Next step: I drew with Jacquard’s Water-Based Silver resist. It has a lovely metallic quality:
If your efforts don’t result in what you envision, adding other techniques or products can bring the piece to life. Using various approaches helps a piece culminate. Example: Despite the T-shirt’s swirls of Dye-na-Flow and silver resist, adding blue lines finally made the windblown look I wanted. I used a fine point Tee Juice pen:
I added others detail with green Tee Juice: On Brigid’s day (February 2), the wind blows cold but green buds may start to show.
After the TJ and silver resist dried, and I’d set them, I added Lumiere Super Sparkle to bring frost and snow to the wind:
I wanted more wintryness = add another product. Mixed three Pearl Ex colors (into Jacquard’s Colorless Extender) for the color I wanted: a subtle and soft lavenderish pearl, which I applied and set.
Detail of finished painting—Francesca De Grandis
Product and Purchase Info: Gildan Ultra Cotton XL men’s T-shirt, 100% cotton. Initialed and dated by artist. Hand washable. Free S & H. I only ship within the U.S. Purchase in my shop.
Original Faerie design. Trance painting. If this item calls you, grab it. I’m almost constitutionally incapable of repeating my designs.
Vision: Be the altar. Drape yourself in magic. This painting is in honor of Brigid, but you may see different magic in it, because all magics are related, all magics are one. Perhaps for you this is an ocean wind, a devotion to the Ice Queen, a year round ritual robe, a sacred garment to wear for healing, or…?
Frame, wear, or do both: Display on a rod slid through the arms—an easy, modern presentation to bless your home, and allowing you to quickly remove the shirt for wearing.