Clare Carver

Artwork by Clare Carver, member of Imagine That!

I took a watercolour painting class with my son when he was in middle school. We both loved this medium and continued in the class for a couple of years. Ben moved on to art in high school and I continued painting for fun, when I had the time.

In 2004, I quit my work as a clinical counsellor in Ottawa and moved to Vancouver Island to start a different life. I took art classes at Malaspina College (now VIU) and learned how to draw. I experimented with charcoal (lovely) and chalk pastel (gruesome) and then went back to watercolour. It's sometimes hard to go back to something when you have tried other things, and I found that I wasn't as excited or motivated as previously. In 2008, I went on holiday to Bali and, while there, took a course on batik with a watercolour artist...I was hooked!

When I got back to Canada, I started to paint on fabric using the traditional batik method. I melted wax and drew my picture with a tjanting tool. Years before, my mom sent me silk paints and yards of silk.Since then, after much research, I moved on to a water-based resist (instead of wax), exchanged wooden frames and duct tape for a proper frame, and then to painting with silk dyes. The advantage of dyes, although more work because they have to be steam set, is that they merge with the fabric (keeping the soft texture), and they are much more vibrant than paints. I am enjoying finding new ways and things to paint in silk. At present I am painting cushion covers, wall hangings, scarves, eyeglass cases and purses. I joined Imagine That! in the summer last year and enjoy having my work in such a well-respected and well-visited store. I am a member of the Visions Art Studio Tour, and also sell my work in Lobelia's Lair in Nanaimo and South Shore Gallery in Sooke. www.pillotalk.ca