Bag With A Sling: Painting Dancing African Ladies Part 5 of 6

We are still busy with a range of bags in which the centre pieces are paintings. In the first two blogs of the series, I have shared tips for the pattern and construction of the bag. This was followed by blogs on how to paint some fashion models for the centre panels. Today we are moving slightly off the fashion pages and focusing on some dancing African ladies, sticking to the elongated silhouettes we've been working with.

I start by painting the backgrounds of the centre panels yellow. I allow the paint to dry and then I fix the colour to the fabric by ironing it with a hot iron.

I do the drawing with Dala Acrylic Ink in Black, using a dip pen.

The trick is to work relatively fast without wavering on the lines.

I prefer to start at the head.

I then draw the arms and shoulders.

The body follows afterwards.

The figures are painted, using Dala Fabric Paint.

I lay the figures down side by side so that I can paint both at the same time.

I start with black on the flesh parts.

Make sure to let the yellow background show where there is detail.

I then add the focal red.

I swap brushes to use a round brush when I paint the white dots. Once the paint is dry, I fix the colours to the fabric with a hot iron.

This is what the bag looks like once finished. This is a view of the inside of the bag.

One side of the bag.

The other side of the bag.

Marietjie Uys (Miekie) is a published author. You can buy my books here:
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