In the Studio: Dip Dyeing and Straddling Screens

(1. Box of blank t-shirts received in the mail; 2. Dyeing day at the studio; 3. Dip dyed and washed waiting to be printed; 4. Designing the graphics; 5. Thrifted paintings bought for the frames. Used the frames for screens; 6. Screen burning kit; 7. Burning the first image; 8. When the bulb died, I found this to use; 9. Straddling the screen to hold it in place. Attractive, I know; 10. Printed shirts!)

The studio has been busy this past week! Mostly, I have been I have been working on this project for Health Simple Is, my Aunt Sue's nutrition business. We had a show at Room Full of Sisters in Auburn, NY and guess who joined us? None other than Miss Kirsten Nunez from Studs and Pearls!

I have missed this girl so much! We had a great time hanging out and of course, she brought a car full of projects so we could both work. Because we're crazy craft ladies.

A shot of our section of table above.

Have you ever screen printed before? Or dip-dyed anything? 

♥ K

p.s. To get immediate studio updates, follow me on Instagram: @mackenziegelina

Progress

Do you remember this painting in the top left corner? I've made some progress since my last post. Though I've been busy planning my art show, I actually remembered to take progress photos! Yeah, I know - I never remember to do that. If you've been following me on Instagram, you know this. But if not, here's a little update on that painting:

At this point (above), I still had no idea what was going on...

I started to see it here.

And now, I'm refining the details as you can see above.

If you read my last post, it might give you more of a wordy description into what my process is. But I hoped you enjoyed a visual look at my start to almost finish of a painting. I will post the final piece when it's complete! 

Other than this, I have been working on two other paintings, as I said in my last post, and preparing the final details for my show. Food, getting work together, getting supplies together, handing out postcards and flyers... It's so exciting!

♥ K

Painting / Making a Mess

If you've seen my instagram lately, you know that I've been hermiting away in my studio painting. It's a mess in here people. But that's how I work - with bits of tissue paper, pieces of photos and bottles of matte medium spread out around me as I stare at a canvas on the floor and music blasts through my huge headphones. 

I'm still figuring out my process, honestly, but I try not to analyze it too much. After I took a painting and collage class at RISD, it all just started happening. It was a nice discovery to have it just come out of your hands with no struggle. I know they say that the best things are those we have to work hard for but this was a really great thing that came easy. Maybe I *had* worked hard before and I just wasn't using the right medium? 

Anyhoo, I'm so glad to be back into the process and just enjoying it with no pressure. I just got totally lost in my own world the other day. So much that I worked from about 10 am to 8 pm. (I did take breaks.) That's why I wear my headphones - to drown everything out and be in my own head and in the moment. That way, I dont think about every little thing too much. I just do it. (Like Nike right?) 

When I would work like this in school, it was the same way. I would get lost. Once, I was painting in my apartment - I started at about 9 pm - and I got so lost in the process and the joy of it, that the next time I looked at the clock, it was 5 am. Whoops. 

Because of the drying time on each piece, I usually work on 3 - 4 pieces at a time. I use a lot of paint mediums and layers of materials. Sometimes a layer can take an hour to dry depending on what I'm using. I don't want to sit and literally watch paint dry! I move onto the next painting and just keep going.

Usually, I'm not looking at any specific landscape or image when I'm working either. I tend to start layering material until I see something and then go from there. This stuff can start out really ugly people. I'm talking bad ugly - a few random shapes or images on a page that have nothing to do with each other and probably a 1st grader could have painted them. (see: painting in top left corner) But the best thing about layers is that you can layer over them! The ugly turns pretty with more shiz on top! 

I will delve into some techniques that I use a little later, but I thought you might like a peek into my process. 

Do you paint? Is your process similar or way different? Would this giant mess drive you nuts??

♥ K

First Day of School :: A Peek in My Studio

As you probably know, I'm back at school and have been for a couple of weeks. This was my outfit for the first day of school which needed to be documented for a couple of reasons: 

A. My mom wanted my "First Day of School Picture". Cute huh? 

B. First day back outfits are usually the best of the year. 

Now, I don't have a printing studio this semester, meaning: I won't have to wear too many terrible clothes this year, but between dyeing and just being tired, it gets hard to pick out nice clothes sometimes. Or to want to wear nice clothes when you can be so much comfier in jeans and a tank top. {I wear tank tops so much more than t-shirts}

I was so excited to come back. Especially because I got to come back to this:

The weaving room

Weaving yarn room

Natural dyes

Natural dyed yarns

I love this natural dye poster that they hung up in our dye lab this year. So beautiful!

I love being back here :)

Where are you?

♥ Kenzie

A Peek in my Studio

***New Feature Alert!!!***

I have a new feature for ya'll! It's called "A Peek in my Studio" {surprise!}

I have three main studios that I am working in right now at school - Screen printing, Weaving and Machine Knitting. They are all fun and super cool and I want to give a little peek inside to show what I'm doing because I'm constantly working on new stuff. 

Anyway, I have already done a little introduction but, this week is the *drumroll please* weaving studio!

This is my section's half of the studio. There is one other section.

Here's my loom. She's decorated now for spring so I must take an updated photo of her. 

This is all my crap behind my loom. And obviously, I wasn't working on anything when I took this photo. Although I am now. And it's super messy back here.

I will take photos soon of what I'm working on and show you guys. 

That's our first introduction down! Two to go!

Have a wonderful day!

♥ Kenzie