Denim Shirt Extravaganza….Once again it is time for our Painted Ladies group to meet on the first Saturday of the month. So I made sure I had a power breakfast to get my morning started.
I need to be clear headed because they keep me on their toes. I packed up some last minute supplies, kissed my hubby and headed for the art studio.
These same five ladies have been painting once a month in the studio for about three years. Mostly I have developed the painted block designs for each months project, but last month I challenged them to bring their own designs because they wanted to paint on a denim shirt. Kathleen decided to be a renegade and paint a cotton tee shirt. I was a bit unnerved because mostly I have been in control over what they have painted and had not a clue as to what design each one would choose. 
What if they chose a design that was too complicated? Kathleen had emailed me ahead of time and asked if her design could incorporate letters. When they all arrived each one had a fantastic idea of what she wanted. You can see they are all distinctly different from each other. 
Painting on dark denim fabric is pretty tricky. The paint colors won’t show up on the dark denim so you have to paint everything in white first and then go back and put your colors on top.
We used a couple of methods to get our initial design on the denim. One was using white graphite paper to transfer the design. 
You do this by putting the graphite paper on the denim and then a picture of the design on top and draw with a pencil. I learned this method while making signs on dark wood. The other method was stenciling. The studio has a wonderful library of stencils.
We used them for the silk screening class last winter and for other art projects. 
They are great for borders in some of my art quilt projects. So we painted away and decided that when we meet in September we would finish our art project. I love the Painted Ladies Group. They challenge me on a regular basis and inspire at the same time. Each of them has their own artistic style and it is wonderful to see how it has been developing along the way. 
I can’t wait till the next class!
