Lynn Blaikie
I cannot recreate what I see with my eyes; my images come from what I feel.
 I think that one of things that inspires me to do my art is the joy that other people get from my images. I cannot recreate what I see with my eyes; my images come from what I feel. I create a piece and I feel the potential power that the image has to open up a door in people when they look at it. Sometimes the response is a simple feeling of unexplained joy or hope or sometimes a deeper connection that touches their soul. I just know that when the connection is made, I feel that I have given something positive back in this world.
I have many different collections of works within my portfolio. Each one is unique unto itself and yet images often can overlap from one collection to another. The image "Follow Your Heart" is a part of the northern images collection as it is an outdoor piece of a girl canoeing. However, the title gives it a message that is inspirational, and the piece has touched people in many ways. From breast cancer survivors to a woman who came north to find herself, this piece that began as a picture of a girl in a canoe has come to represent many different things to many different people. This realization that I came to early on, that my work affects people deeply, has inspired and motivated me and has given me a sense of purpose and direction for my creative energy.
I also love my medium. Batik. It is a tactile art form that allows me to reach many stages of discovery before the piece is even finished. Although I dabble in watercolour and acrylic painting, nothing allows me to really explore a process as much as batik does. I start with a piece of cotton which I stretch onto a wooden stretcher frame. I sketch my image on the cloth and then I "paint" the dyes on with brushes. The dye that I use is heat and light reactive and soaks into rather than sits on top of the cloth. While I am working the true colours are not evident until all the dye is in place and then I use hot irons to "pull" the colour up. Now the piece is ready for the wax, a combination of beeswax and paraffin that is melted in a large pan. Using a Japanese water colour brush, I cover the piece in several layers of wax. After the has has sat overnight, I remove the piece from the frame and freeze it. Using my hands, I bend the piece until the wax has cracked. The dye that I now pour on the piece and scrub into the cracks will only penetrate where the wax is broken, and when I have done this scrubbing process 3 separate times, it is time to melt off all the wax with a hot iron and recycled paper. When the wax has melted off, I do the final detail work of the piece.
Each image that I design is part of a series of 10. Each piece of the series is created in batik by hand 10 times and is serial numbered and signed. I do not do all 10 pieces at once, I create each new piece within the series of 10 as it is requested or commissioned.
Images smaller than 8×10" are not serial numbered; they are considered miniatures and are created as unlimited works of art.
My studio sits on 4 acres of land near Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory. When I am not creating in my studio, I enjoy being a mother to my boys, working in my green house and flower gardens, spending time with friends, and being on, in or near the water as much as possible. I want to continue writing and illustrating and would like to try my hand at fiction.
I have often been told that I have an endless imagination. I believe that this is true and I plan on sharing this imagination through my art for years to come.
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