Full Moon celebration

Despite the unseasonable cold (it barely cleared 55 here all day) I used hot water and got a couple of great finds into the color today just to see what  would come of it.

There were some vintage finds today at a local antique place that was giving an additional discount for it's anniversary!  I hope the dye solution doesn't freeze in the night.

My little garden pots struggle on and what it that we see in the background? YES, finally! We will be opening a skating rink by the weekend if it keeps up this cold!

Colin & Raquel were here most of the day doing the dirtiest work after we let the pool go totally back to nature this winter, uncovered again. Raquel and I took two five gallon pails swarming with all kinds of tadpoles and polliwogs down to the brook and freedom.  I can swim with a clear conscience.

stitching day

I spent (wasted?) a lot of time wandering the web yesterday and have been inspired by a lot of other people's hand reveries, I picked up where I left off with this one and will spend the rest of the morning with it. I've had my satisfied fill of household chores for the moment.

grey morning

"GreyGrid" is a perfect reflection of my mood this morning.

The weather is the same, dim, uncertain, vaguely threatening - generally unhappy. I was treated to a Braves game at Turner Field last night on Fireworks Friday Night! Coming off a come-from-behind win the night before we were hopeful of a high spirited game but a combination of friday the 13th nonsense plays and bad calls conspired for a loss for the home team. We stayed for the fireworks anyway but the video I so dumbly shot sidewise didn't even come out and today all my bones are complaining bitterly about all that marching around on concrete. Next time rollerskates?

This piece is permanently attached to an 11x14 canvas with matte acrylic gel.

seeing spotz

I'm not sure exactly what I am looking for in the right set of dots but that won't keep me from looking longer.



I may get out the crayons later!

Jake said this looked like a Hubble deep space shot. I'd agree if it weren't for that nasty red blotch.

This was a piece of cotton that disappointed me because I discovered that the cloth must have some poly content that made it resistant to getting strong color from the dye. This was a cleanup rag before the discharge - it may have a starring role coming up.

rich results

If I do say so myself, this cloth came out pretty spectacular just wish I knew it's  provenance. If anyone has any notions please let me know. 

(that's the ever-present critic's paw in the upper right corner)


You can go here and here for some closer looks. This one looks like gila monster skin.


I'll be sharing these and other new pieces in the store over the weekend. Smaller pieces, more variety...

from sublime to spectacular

Remember this score?  Combing through the acres of cloth I finally found a tag. Read it, carefully clipped it off and tossed it "somewhere safe" for future reference. Where that might be I have no clue at the moment.
All I can recall is "cotton" and the name of a company in NJ.

I cut this one up into rectangular pieces and spent yesterday morning using soy wax, dye powder, sugar and salt on ten or so pieces. I lost count.

Wish I knew more about thread count. The hand on this cloth is soft like sateen. The pattern you can see is part of  the weave, not embossed, embroidered or printed on. When wet it feels almost like chamois. And it took the wax and the dye so aggressively that I had to boil everything to really get it clean and ready to iron. When was the last time you looked forward to ironing anything?  

before

....and after.
Well worth the trouble and mess!

until tomorrow

It will be tomorrow before I can see what will become of these. Spent the morning with soy wax, paint and dyes. Now, I'm off to the whine mine to see what happened over the weekend.

the perfect dessert

After a lovely day with family, the perfect dessert hatching out of the washer. Summer is upon us!

Eye candy from the burning deck

It was blazing out on the deck today so I had to work these pieces in stages dashing into the darkened, cool living room to regain my vision. At one point I thought I was working in black and white.


Later, when the game is on, I'll iron all these to heat set the metallic textile paints.

what fun. more later and much of the day tomorrow...

hubris

If the weather stops being so crazy the plan for tomorrow is for continued work on the cloth most recently dyed. Some soy wax in preparation for overdyeing this weekend, some paint, some discharging and hopefully,
some magic.


(Notice the void on the railing in the background. That's Voodoo fantasizing about hummingbirds on a stick.)

to show, or not to show

Baghdad Bazaar

Elizabeth Barton has written an excellent post about whether and where to show your work.

Great questions asked and I'm sure the answers/comments will be stacking up and full of insight.

I've started a very short list of fiber exhibits that I've decided to take a shot at this year but I am more inclined to look for mixed media art shows because entering textile shows is starting to feel like preaching to the choir. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I've gotten into any of the biggies and I will keep trying. I just want to reach out to a wider art audience.

Now to get off me arse and get my most recent work photographed and update my website. Ah, yes..the work!

My work has been through changes in both technique and direction since I last updated the website. These two pieces were part of the I-4 Corridor exhibit at the Peabody in Daytona in 2008. There have been a few others since then but it time to get busy or start giving away horse blankets.

Clubbin'

spring today, summer tomorrow

The Yankee peonies are running riot this year in my Georgia mailbox garden. The deep pink ones in the foreground came from cuttings taken from peonies grown by my grandfather in Armonk, NY and later moved to our house in Golden's Bridge.

After we moved to this address in '98 I brought down some cuttings after a visit. The dark pink ones in the foreground are the original color and the pale ones in back are a recent mutation. Below is my only nod to vegetable gardening..those are grape tomatoes that produced right up through November of last year in the only place on the whole property that gets enough sun for veggies.

brand new bag

I had to work over the weekend so I loaded up the scrap basket and proceeded to pave over that cloth bag.

It was a blinding lime green paisley Vera Bradley knockoff  when I bought it in the grocery store a few years ago. The perfect size, shape and arrangement of compartments, I could never quite get over the color and use it, even for 50% off...the trend was over.

I made over the scalding yellow duffle bag version three years ago and it's still in service when I fly (makes a great pillow depending on what you stuff in it)

I've given up stitching in the tiny cramped spaces and am resorting to metallic textile paint to cover up the remainder of the green. It will be a work in progress for a while but I think I'll start using it today...well, as soon as the paint dries.

Astounding news last night about killing OBL.  I can't help but wonder about all the people he infected with his hatred over the ten years in hiding and what they are thinking. Wonder about the people who were willing to hide him and what the Hell is this crap about burying him at sea?

There is passing interest in this household about conspiracy theories and I can't imagine what they will make of this piece of nonsense.