Suzi Soderlund, Fiber Artist

Sometime back I purchased a bunch of Shiva Paint Sticks off of eBay.  It was one of those items that the seller didn’t know what they had.  But I did.  

Since then I have been reading up on different ways to use the paint sticks.  I really wanted to try a few different techniques.  I started with rubbing them on rubbing plates.  And them cut out my own stencils using freezer paper.  That worked great except if you want to use the stencil again, you must wait for the paint on the stencil paper to dry or  you get paint everywhere.  Then I tried some old stencils I had for putting a design on a wall.  This method was a winner for me.

I love the whole creative process.  The progression it takes to find my own style always fascinates me.  I love to see my style grow, emerge and take shape.  I have no doubt that this is just the beginning of the journey with paint sticks. 

The two photos (below) are of the silk scarves that I found my groove on.  The Red is hand dyed Fushia  and hand painted with Red, Pink and White flowers.  I created a random burst of flowers at each end, with a few flowers falling in between.  The other is Hand dyed Turquoise and then hand painted using a bunch of different colors.  I started with just doing butterflies.  But butterflies are always looking for flowers loaded with pollen.  They just grew. 

I can’t wait to do some more creations.