ARTIST'S STATEMENT
After years of expressing other people's ideas through murals, I was eager to create artwork that was uniquely my own - this
culminated in painting batiks. Manipulation and fusion of wax, water and dye on fabric pushes me outside my comfort zone
of crisp reality, restraining the complete control that I'm so accustomed to. I often feel like I'm dancing with the devil as my
dye-laden brush lingers above the wet cotton. Unlike any other medium I've worked with, painting a batik requires continuous
forethought and focus throughout the creation - my mind can't wander - and despite this increased attention, the approach,
ironically, forcibly loosens and softens my realism. The fluid technique of batik allows me to create uniquely organic paintings
particularly suited to the interplay of light and shadow, smooth gradations of colour and reflections on water. Batik has
become an endless creative challenge for me and I love to test myself to see how far I can take it.
After years of expressing other people's ideas through murals, I was eager to create artwork that was uniquely my own - this
culminated in painting batiks. Manipulation and fusion of wax, water and dye on fabric pushes me outside my comfort zone
of crisp reality, restraining the complete control that I'm so accustomed to. I often feel like I'm dancing with the devil as my
dye-laden brush lingers above the wet cotton. Unlike any other medium I've worked with, painting a batik requires continuous
forethought and focus throughout the creation - my mind can't wander - and despite this increased attention, the approach,
ironically, forcibly loosens and softens my realism. The fluid technique of batik allows me to create uniquely organic paintings
particularly suited to the interplay of light and shadow, smooth gradations of colour and reflections on water. Batik has
become an endless creative challenge for me and I love to test myself to see how far I can take it.
Website created by Kirsten Sheffield
