Entering the Equinox

Lovers of the Future, 38×33.5″ indigo, logwood, pomegranate rind, madder root, on cotton

// Entering The Equinox //  

The summer has been bountiful and endless, with ceaseless light lending us long days in the studio. What we planted in the spring is now blossoming. Relentlessly. We dead head the garden and it blooms three days later. Bounty! Several neighbors have offered their own dye flowers, such as cosmos and coreopsis, for our dyeing practice. So we weave around the neighborhood, passing through neighbors’ gates, filling a basket with flowers and leaving some behind for the pollinators.  We bring the harvest to the dye house.

We cook the flowers slowly in the steel pots over several hours. You can continuously pour water over the flowers, heat them, strain the flowers, repeat, until they stop giving color. I must have cooked our garden mix at least a dozen times –  I could barely use the dye up. I filled the drying rack with marigold stars framed through indigo windows. Portals. You will see them soon. Our next series will shine with the deep yellow of our summer garden, and soon we will harvest golden rod and summon a new electric shade to ease the transition from r, to autumn, to winter.

We aren’t always able to grow or harvest our dyestuff, so when the growing is good, we indulge. And when the dyeing is done we continue to use every last drop of our bounty. From the exhausted dye bath we make lakes to salvage the remaining pigments, which we filter, dry, and store for later. Currently we have collected pigment from cosmos, marigolds, annatto seeds (bixa, of course), and weld. The medium changes shape but the essence remains.

Head to our site to see some of our newest work.

Upcoming Shows

A Complete Dream, 24×24” indigo, weld, pomegranate rind, madder root on cotton

September 14-15: Old Town Art Festival in Alexandria, VA

September 21-22: New Hope Arts Festival in New Hope, PA

October 19-20:Brookdale Park in Bloomfield, NJ

Please note we are happy to deliver & install your paintings during the hours following the show.

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Commissions

Several folks have asked us if we could recreate a painting in a particular color scheme or in a particular size. Barring some constraints: yes, we would love to create a piece to harmonize your space. If you are located within 100 miles of Philadelphia, we can deliver and install your painting once it is complete. If you are interested in a commission please contact us directly at studio@thoughtforms.art or by responding to this email.

Summer Halo, 69×42” indigo, weld, and madder on linen (Commission)

Take good care,

Bixa + Dan