I recently saw a wonderful project on Facebook and I reached out to the creator and asked if she would share some details. She graciously agreed! Thank you, Rita!

Rita with her mom, grandmother, and great grandmother in Hungary.

I was born in California to Hungarian parents, my father was from Pest and my mother from Szeged. I grew up speaking Hungarian, eating Hungarian food and surrounded by Hungarian folk art.  I have always had a very strong connection to my Hungarian heritage.  My mother and grandmother were both good with their hands, knitting, crocheting, and sewing.  My grandmother embroidered curtains and tablecloths that decorated her home and mine.  That might be why I am so attracted to folk art and embroidered flowers in particular.

As an artist I paint mostly landscapes, but I have been drawing and painting Hungarian folk art for years, always looking for a way to incorporate Hungarian flavor into my art.  This is the first time I painted on fabric, I knew I wanted to paint on a denim jacket and was excited when I found one at a thrift store.

During the pandemic there was not a lot available at my local art supply store so I ended up buying the only fabric paint they had available which is Textil plus by Marabu.  I bought red, yellow, blue, white, and black knowing I could mix any color needed from these. The painting on the jacket was done freehand, I didn’t sketch anything out, just painted directly on the fabric.  I started with a big red rose and filled out from there.  When I paint my folk art flowers I try to keep my palette to minimum and try to use two values of each color, a dark and a light.  For example, there are only two shades of green, a darker and a lighter green.  The painting took 2 or 3 days and was cured with a hot iron per the instructions on the paint jars.  I am very happy with the way it turned out and looking forward to experimenting some more!