A day of waterlilies and watching the sun go down

Watching the sun go down.

I love Broome. 

a little oasis

right at the top of Western Australia, 

30 hours drive from where we live.

We've done this road trip a number of times

and looking back on these photo's, we must be due for 

another one!

Camel rides on Cable Beach

The colours of the landscape are wonderous in their 

deep ultramarine blues of the skies,

turquoise ocean

and red ochre landscape.

Gantheaume Point

Prehistoric dinosaur footprints can be found in the rocks at low tide 

at Gantheaume Point.

Broome is all about living in

'Broome Time'

So sunset on the beach is mandatory (see first pic).

 4.00 in the afternoon the first 4 x4s start rocking up on the beach and by

5.00pm it is off-road vehicles side by side

for about a 5 kilometer stretch along the beach.

Everyone with their esky out, tinny in hand.

Waiting for sunset.

Sunset on Cable Beach

But other than swanning about on the beach,

I love checking out the water gardens at 

Cable Beach Resort.

It has the most stunning water lilly's.

Pink Lotus

 

But this blue one above was just stunning!

And the other day

I was taking another peek of it and

thought.

'What a wonderful scarf this would make'.

So off to play and this is what I designed.

Blue Water Lily Scarf

I played with the design myself first 

on Photoshop Elements, then went 

over to a manufacturing site for them 

to create this scarf for me.

Its huge at 114cm square,

but that size makes it very versatile! Think sarong!

I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. :-)

My Big News. And other smaller events.

Sesen Textile and Mixed Media Art Studio

Drum roll please.........
I am incorporating a gallery into my studio! Yes! I am so excited!
Having been involved with little co-ops and had scarves and paintings in other peoples exhibitions or galleries for a number of years, there has been this little voice whispering that I could do this in my own space.
So when we were designing our house, I made sure that my studio would be big enough to include a little section for the public to drop in and check out what I make and how I make it!

But of course life gets in the way and the past two years had been taken up with building our new house and making it a home and I had been caught in the rut of producing same ol', same ol' for the on-line stores. Well, it was easy. People like what I created and it helped pay its way. But in the meantime my studio was becoming an embarrassment and I didn't like inviting people in.

So there I was deciding that enough was enough with the mess and disorganization that was my work space. Something had to be done because I had become lost. I felt like I was achieving nothing and going nowhere. ( mid life crisis/ menopausal hissy fit?).

Mixed media cards and canvasses

 
By the end of December a lot of stuff was thrown out and generally made tidy, when a little door in my head opened and said. "Remember Julie? Remember that you wanted  to invite people in? Well now you have the room!"

Hand painted silk scarves

So my little gallery has become a work in process.
And little section it is too! Only 3.3m square (11").
My wonderful hubby (extraordinaire)built a sectional wall for me to hang paintings up and we put together a shelf for bits and bobs.
I have approached a local artists collaborative to be included in their open studio map and approached the council for zoning to be told that  because I only have a little space and will be open by appointment rather than full time no zoning was needed on their part (yeeha!).

Silk and Cotton Nuno Felted Scarves

So now I need to design a sign for the verge and need to create wall art and other yummy things! I'm thinking I'm about 4 weeks away.
So wish me luck on this next stage of my artistic life!

Resist Dyed Silk Scarf for Summer

Blue and White Silk Scarf

I love resists when painting up silk and cotton scarves! And today I thought I would play with some pieces of ply that I had lying around.

Resist for dyeing silk

 After wetting down my scarf, I folded it in a rather messy fashion first then wrapped it tightly around this little piece of ply.

I didn't take anymore pics of the process but using some Jacquard and Landscape acid dyes I flooded the wrapped silk, then steamed it in the usual fashion.

I love it when the silk is unwrapped! Its a surprise every time!

I was after a more crisp blue and white design, but this one came out more subdued. Still pretty I think? The images reminded me of one of those ink blot tests! I see anchors, what do you see? ;-)

Resist dyed Silk Scarf by Sesenarts

I ended up sewing it into an infinity style. Much more practical for silk scarves!