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Try your hand at silk scarf painting on Polka Dot tour in Chemainus

Taylor gives people a chance to put their talents to the test
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Lorraine Taylor has brushes at the ready for people to put their colourful touches on to fabric. (Photo by Don Bodger)

Visitors to Lorraine Taylor’s place during the Polka Dot Trail tour at 2951 Pine St. in Chemainus will receive a unique experience.

Taylor has a silk scarf at the ready for people to give it their own unique colour perspective.

“Everybody chooses different colours and does it all in different ways,” she noted from past tours.

Taylor has been on the self-guided tour since its inception. This will be the fourth year for the Polka Dot Trail running Sept. 29 to Oct. 1.

People are always somewhat apprehensive at first about being a participant rather than a spectator, but it always works out well — much to Taylor’s delight.

“People come up these stairs and they see this, saying ‘I couldn’t possibly.’ I love it. I’m the most enthusiastic.”

Entrance to Taylor’s place will be around the back. Just follow the directional signs.

“People come up these stairs and they see this, saying ‘I couldn’t possibly.’ I love it. I’m the most enthusiastic.”

Entrance to Taylor’s place will be around the back. Just follow the directional signs.

She’ll have her good friend Carol Sowerby, a photographer from Thetis Island, as a guest artist.

“She’s been my friend for years,” pointed out Taylor. “She’s a great photographer.”

There will be a display of her work in the living room area.

Sowerby’s images are wakeful and calm, but also mysterious, pleasing and surprising. She does beautiful prints, cards and books.

Taylor found her calling in silk scarf painting seven years ago.

“I learned it from someone else in Chemainus,” she explained. “There are not very many silk painters in B.C.”

And there’s quite a difference from the traditional form of painting. “It’s not like paint, I can’t paint,” noted Taylor.

“It’s really quite exciting.”

Taylor’s colourful works also include a type of jewelry made from the scarves and can be seen at Rainforest Arts in Chemainus and Imagine That! in Duncan. She also works at Imagine That! a couple of times a week.

“Your consignment is reduced if you work,” Taylor noted.

The silk piece people will see upon entering her place has many flowers on it just waiting for the addition of colour.

“It’s not too much for someone to do,” said Taylor. “There’s enough flowers on there they can do.”

She likes to experiment herself to make every scarf unique.

“The next one is never like the last one in technique,” Taylor pointed out.

“When I’m doing something I think it’s so beautiful, I’ve got to do something different.”



Don Bodger

About the Author: Don Bodger

I've been a part of the newspaper industry since 1980 when I began on a part-time basis covering sports for the Ladysmith-Chemainus Chronicle.
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