Perspective

Artists Create Original Work:

      I based this loosely off of the mills I remember that were situated on Souhegan River, below main street in the town that I grew up.  I don't remember the area exactly, because I thought I could always just go back and look at it again, and I wasn't really paying attention when we went down their anyhow because I was, like, seven the last time we visited and there were only shops, and it was boring.  So, in my memory, it's sort of a mystical place, covered in the haze of partially-imagined details.  I also added in elements of fantasy, because while the mills  are part of where I come from, the fantastical is what fuels me.

      I also left a border around the picture proper, because I thought that it looked sort of cool, especially since you can see the skeleton of one of the buildings in pencil in the border.  It makes the transition from three-dimensional to two-dimensional.  I could tell you that I left that there because it's my love of pencil and paper, but really, I just thought it looked cool.

Artists Develop Art Making Skills:

      I haven't really used pen before, because I have a fear that making lines darker will make them look crummier, and why would I want to throw away all of my hard work?  I used shading, too, which I use a lot (like, a lot), so I guess I can't say that's developing art-making skills.  I was going to shade with pen, but I couldn't do it.  What if I messed up, or ripped through the paper?  I was using newspaper print, so there was every possibility that that would happen. But, I used pen without messing up too badly, and I'm going to consider that a victory for moi.  

Shibori

Michael Smith  ( http://www.michaelsilks.com/shibori_about.html ) says that in this website he is the youngest shibori artist still alive,and he is one of two people I found during my search for shibori artists.  I believe that I would find more if I could google in Japanese, but alas, I do not have that ability.  I do not know where he was born, but his etsy page says that he is based out of Asheville, North Carolina.  He generally makes shirts, dresses,and other garments, dying silk and cotton.  I see evidence of arashi and kumo techniques in his work,but he doesn't specify, and I don't know nearly enough to speak of it.  His work his mostly retail but very elaborate,and he seems like a guy who knows what he's doing and likes to do it.

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These are examples of his work:

There is another artist I found who calls herself 'Shibori Girl,' though after a bit of creepy snooping I found that her real name is Glennis Dolce. I don't know anything else about her, but I really like her style of dying, though I don't know how much of it complies with the tradition of shibori.  She gives workshops on the art form, and is mainly a retail artist. 

This is an example of her work:

  I think that the last picture is very cool.  I think that is shibori dyed ribbon.                        http://shiborigirl.wordpress.com/ This is her webpage.