making color when there is none

The world outside my window has been rather bleak lately--several days of low hanging fog, white stuff covering the ground, no sign of the sun. There have been occasional brief glimpses of blue sky or crescent moon, but not enough.

This seems to be causing me to choose bright, summery colors when I dye. The above pieces were snow dyed in several baths, and look like a summery day at the river. I just did some shirts, and they're bright red and orange and yellow.

I'm kind of a willy-nilly dyer, doing what the mood dictates rather than planning ahead. I attended a lecture by Regina Benson the other day, and she works completely differently--knowing what she intends the finished piece of art to look like before she starts her dyeing or discharge process.

I tend to dye with more serendipity--work until I get cloth I love, then decide what the finished piece is going to be--and even that can change along the way.

So while I may tone down the shirts (they're for me; I tend to wear muted colors), the smile this piece puts on my face will keep this fabric the way it is--and it may well become the largest piece I've made in sometime.

Figuring all that out is part of the process for me, the fun part.