Pysanky Time (Part two)
Well, I had to work fast and often to be able to enjoy creating my Easter Pysanky for this year as we head off to Vancouver soon to be near our families for over a month.
I just love the feeling of peace I receive when I create the images on these fragile ‘canvasses’.
They say that when you create a Ukrainian egg you are praying because the images are so symbolic and symbiotic with prayer.
Next up, I decided to do a more traditional design …..
So here’s the funny thing about this particular painting day : it wasn’t peaceful AT ALL at one point.
First of all the second egg I decided to try was a design I made up on the spot. I decided it would be fun to fill the outside of my egg….with a whole bunch of Easter egg images. It’s like I did 15 eggs in one day …AND on the side of a small egg. ARRRRGGGGHHH! Why did I choose such a difficult project for myself? HA HA
I had to use almost every dye on the table and then of course I had to cover each individual colour with wax. By the end, I couldn’t even remember what colours I had chosen already. It was so crazy and stressful but I think it turned out pretty cool in the end.
BUT: that wasn’t the only stressful thing that day!
I was reaching over to get a cloth with which to dry off the second to last dye colour when I accidentally knocked over the jar of dark purple dye! ( I’ve NEVER done that before in all my years doing this art!)
The dye quickly flowed under other jars of dye, made a huge puddle on the table, and then poured onto the floor. I was mortified! Here I am a guest in the Madonna House and I have made this massive mess!
So, after gently finding a safe place for my almost completed egg, I got to work at trying to sop up the dye from the table and each container. It was the biggest job because it seemed like every time I cleaned off something, it dripped onto something else that had to be cleaned. There were a few saving graces though.
One: the table was covered in plastic and easily washed clean after I was able to soak up the biggest puddle. Two: there just happened to be a big pile of rags nearby for this as well as a large roll of industrial paper towel nearby. Three : I found out the dyes are water soluble so the floor was not going to be permanently stained. Phew!
It was extremely hard for me to clean the floor as I cannot kneel. But I just bent from the waist and did the best I could. In fact, it really looked quite clean after I was done, thanks be to God.
The next couple of days were much more peaceful and I’m really happy with the results. What do you think?