I have just finished my first airbrushed shawl and am quite happy with the results.

It was a bit of a challenge as it was black and sheer.

As I was painting, it was difficult to gauge the intensity of the colours. Plus they were more muted than if they had been sprayed on a lighter coloured fabric. I normally use Golden acrylic paint for all of my paintings. With the fabric, I’m adding a fixative.

My first foray into textile design was in the late 1980’s when I took a course in Surface Design, at OCA (Ontario College of Art, in Toronto). Our printing was done using silkscreen. This medium is one that I was very familiar with, as Printmaking was my focus through art school and I continued to make Fine Art Silkscreen prints for many years after. As a student, I spent a summer silkscreening Hallowe’en costumes, in a factory setting. At the time, we mixed our inks with varsol and cleaned up with Lacquer Thinner -very potent!

One of the textile designers of the time whom I still admire to this day was Zandra Rhodes. Very inspiring person!