Often after I finish a largish project, I find myself at a loss as to where to go next. There was a time when this would upset me. Now I look upon it as an opportunity to explore new ideas or paths; a liberation from the constraints of being in the final phases of a project that is largely mapped out and just needs finishing. 

Fabric painting is one of those things that can be quite freeing and inspiring. My intention was to paint a few small pieces of fabric that could be used in an abstract or intuitive piece. The plan was to just paint and not think. I started with primary colours, three pieces of stretched fabric and had everything laid out.

Then Katherine found out what I was up to and the jig was up.

She took over and did all the work/fun.
These are HER artist, freeing, emotionally-driven, inspiring pieces that I can honestly say are borne of an outer child. Weirdly enough, they may be exactly what I would have wanted to have painted, had I put any thought into it.

Now all I have to do is work them into some abstract pieces. Does she get credit? Nah. She didn't do the clean-up! 😉

The first one looks to me like a bird flying into a sunset wave…..

The great thing about fabric painting with kids is that it's the one form of their artwork that generally doesn't end up being chucked. let face it, you can't keep all that paper. I save about 5% of what she does and the rest gets scrapped. The fabric, though, always gets use somehow.