EXPLORE THESE 4 NEW BATIKS

The above batik is titled NECKLACE TALK (2010) SOLD measuring 34x26 inches in size. I was inspired by hundreds of women necklace artists who come to sell their art at a weekly market where i also attend. They lay down their colorful merchandise on mats and in order to make an impression, they wear the necklaces themselves. Many of them are breast feeding mothers and it's interesting to hear them talk about the latest tricks of making necklaces, from my stall.


This one above is titled MARKET WOMEN (2010) with a size of 34x18 inches. In this batik i was continuing with my inclusion of detailed flower patterning in the dresses of my characters. Two months ago i noticed a row of shops selling "gomesi" dresses (a traditional dress common in Uganda) in downtown Kampala. What was so striking was the amount of flower patterning and color these dresses had. I noticed that this was a bit lacking in my work that i decided to start thinking of my original patterning and this batik and the 2 below are a result of this practice.

Another area of research that i was working on was what i can call color theme batiking. I started this late last year and it involves painting a picture and restricting myself on one color with with different tones and shades. The above was a green theme while the one below an orange/red theme.

This batik is titled POUNDED SOURCE (2010) measuring 34x18 inches. It shows 2 women pounding ground nuts into a paste which later becomes a source for the family. The third character is a girl whose job is to collect the ready paste and is looking into the wooden mortar to see if the ones inside are ready. This activity is done with lots of talk among the the people pounding as seen from the 2 ladies pounding.
This batik was very challenging because like the green one above, i was putting into practice the flower patterning into this one as well. Like the green batik above, i put a small wrapper around the women's waists and the reason was to make a contrasting flower patterning for the wrapper that can blend so well with the patterning in the main dress.


The title for this batik is titled LET ME TAKE THESE TWO (2010), the measurements are 34x18 inches. It's a story that is so common in fruit markets around the country. At the edge of every market, you see these bicycles with bunches of bananas. The man had brought the produce to the market from far away gardens and the lady is the owner of a market stall nearby. A lady or two negotiate with the man with the bicycle until the deal is done. Not so long and then you hear the lady say "I will take these two," or "I'll take all of them."

This batik is titled STEERING THEM (2010) measuring 34x18 inches. In this batik i was trying to show a cattle shepherd's job in the morning at sunrise or evening at sunset when he has to take cattle to feed in the hills or bringing them back home. In both cases he has a tough job of taking them as a group as they keep on running in different directions.

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