Preparing for a Large Project

Waterfall Color Studies

The more preparation a person does before a big project, the greater confidence one has in what might happen when the color hits the ground.

This project will be 36 feet by 8 feet, silk dye on silk, of a waterfall. The design is monochromatic, that is, mostly blues and very little else, so I will have to depend to a great degree on value (lightness and darkness) to carry the piece. I also ordered some new colors of  dye, so I had plenty of nice rich blues to work with.

©2013 Kristen Gilje color studies for Waterfall

Since I ordered new blue dyes that I’ve never used before I wanted to see how they react with the dyes I already have, so I made a new color chart that includes the new dyes. Now I know what a color mixed with any other  dye will look like. On the right you can see the watercolor pigments I used to make the watercolor sketch I am using for the silk painting. It is these colors I wanted to find equivalent dyes for.

©2013 Kristen Gilje color studies for Waterfall

Above is the watercolor sketch of the waterfall, turned on its side. Look carefully to see the gridding on the sketch. Each line represents one foot. The waterfall will be 36 feet long, in three pieces: one 4 feet wide, and two 2 feet wide. You can see the long pen lines marking where the sketch is divided into 3 parts, wider in the middle and narrow on each side. Hanging below the sketch is my chosen palette! The color scheme is simple, with blues from light to dark, and from greenish to more purple-ish. Then I added in the complement of blue, orange, in an earthy tone, both lighter and darker. And also a black to punch up the value, if needed.

Kristen Gilje Zion's Waterfall2 wc sketch

Here above is the waterfall sketch, with a grid on tracing paper that I can lay over the sketch. It is carefully drawn to size, so I know how wide each panel will be, where the beam in the ceiling will intersect with the silk, and how high the 12′ slit in the bottom will be on the design. Why the slit? To pull back each side like curtains to reveal an immersion baptismal pool!

©2013 Kristen Gilje silk on frames for waterfall

My husband made me these wonderful frames to stretch the silk on for painting. You can see two narrower 2′ wide frames and one 4′ frame in the center, with silk stretched on them. He made rollers on each end of the frames, so I can work on just 9 feet of the 36-foot length of silk at once. I marked each foot of each piece of silk, so I can paint them side by side, knowing I’m in the right area.

Also note my wonderful studio, which is being built on weekends. Soon there will be an arched window overlooking the bay, and an opening skylight. We put in a floor and a staircase to get to the attic last fall, insulated this spring, and this coming fall we will put up dry wall and paint the walls white. The distance from the floor to the peak is 11 feet! It’s a wonderful place to work.

Keep an eye on this blog. I’ll be taking you through this whole process as it progresses. Also see the previous entries to get the full story on this project!