When the rain finally broke earlier this week, I knew it was time to spring into action. I had lots of yardage that needed painting, and we’d had nothing but rain.

I set up a 6-foot door on sawhorses right outside my studio door on a concrete area which I gave up trying to keep clean a long time ago. I can drip without fear here, and a nearby fence section provides a place for drying.

I generally start with plain unbleached muslin for my quilt backs and then create painted patterns compatible with the quilt’s front. I like to work wet and fast. First I used the garden hose in a fine spray to get my yardage pretty well damp. With a wet natural sponge and acrylic paints, I got down the background color, a deep violet blue.

I hung it on the fence to dry.

That ‘s when the first unexpected surprise occurred. As I lifted the muslin off my table, the vinyl cover over the surface had pools of water and paint in beautiful patterns. It was a now-or-never opportunity. I quickly went inside and grabbed a few yards of sheer polyester, brought it out and gently laid it down in those irregular pools. What a beautiful surface design I’d captured!

Next I needed some teal fabric, so I mixed the color and sponge painted about three yards of that, wet into wet. Again, when I lifted it up off the table, beautiful irregular pools were there. I picked up the sheer that had violet blue on it already, and pressed it into the table surface again. Aaaah!

After all this dried (in a wonderfully short time, thanks to the Florida sun) I painted abstract tree forms, again using the wet natural sponge, but this time with stencils, both the muslin and the sheer.

Result: I have some muslin for quilt backing plus some watercolor-like sheer polyester to incorporate into a quilt front. And a little more spatter and drip on the concrete.

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