New & Finished

"Cellular Seizure" 43x49 We hung it on the design wall in the bedroom last night and it's been so long since I started it that I couldn't recognize the starting orientation until Colin spun it a few times and Jim stated his opinion. I had spent so much time with my nose six inches from the surface that I forgot where I started and when it was pointed out to me, it was like..."oh yeah, I remember that". Not a good way to work but the results are growing on me even though my feelings of "tightness and overworked" were on this like a bad smell even before it was stitched or painted. I just stayed with a uncomfortable path for some reason. Metallic paint is an absolute bitch to photograph so this shot may be wishful thinking. The sun is shining bright today for the first time in a week and just maybe I'll be able to muster enough energy to drag this outdoors for better pictures. In fact I have four major pieces to shoot and get ready for a show I want to enter.

She Hears Voices

I don't. I've been rooting around in the studio making preliminary guesses about what I'm going to be taking down to Focus On Fiber in March and came across this in the UFO bin. This piece came from my last trip to ACA almost two years ago. It still bothers me even though I painted over the grisly print background fabric I started with. I think I'll hang it on the outside of my studio door so people will know not to come in.

Yes, yes, bowing and scraping my hair in the mud, I sold two pieces last month and I am still pinching myself. That's a story for another day. My main interest in grabbing this screenshot was the hit counter. How much more possessed can I get without committing to some bad tattoos? And here's what this New Moon in Capricorn is good for according to Lisa Miller : "This is the best New Moon for setting goals, initiating projects, and making a serious commitment to achieve." But does it get any better than last month? I insist! I have qualms but now that I look at the word, I have decided that qualms are small mossy growths around the rim of over watered houseplants, nothing to fear. And like JM says, "fear is a friend who's misunderstood".

Painted Trouble

This 10"x 10" canvas is the first painting I have finished in more years than I can remember. At least 25 - I recall doing some murals in the nursery way back when. It was just a matter of time before I started moving off the cloth and onto the canvas. While rooting around in the stuff I found a sketchbook about three years old and the intent at the time was sketches for fiber work. Only a very few came into being and they were unsatisfying. I spent some time reviewing the pen and ink sketches and then started this small panel. It clearly related to the fiber work I'm doing at the moment and it could be a study for a larger fiber piece.

Fiber Outing

Jan Thompson and I went to an organizational meeting of the Georgia members of the Surface Design Association held by Sharon Ahmed at Fiber On A Whim over in Sandy Springs. It was an interesting gathering with the first admirable goal of finding a venue for a group exhibit. Any local surface designers interested in attending the next meeting should email Sharon Ahmed for details. Then, we all scampered upstairs to SHOP! I snatched up this little chunk of dark print which I promptly attacked with dishwasher gel while I was getting dinner ready. Before it was dry I painted it too. Tasty but now on the back burner. In case any of you are into the End Times you can interpret this anyway you like. It's either about to be Armageddon or Peace on Earth: Voodoo, Karma & Jinx

RIP Ralphie Boy

I still recalled the amazement I felt the first time one of these giants swam into my view at the Georgia Aquarium. Ralph died from as yet unknown causes sometime last evening. I wonder if they will take Norton, Trixie and Alice back to the ocean and let them go?

New on the Design Wall

What's new and ongoing now that Mopery is officially done? This piece which began outside on the deck last summer. I'm realizing that the development of these dyed/discharged pieces is not just a matter of cleaning up annoying UFOs. I was just not certain of where I wanted to go with them right after they were created. Now, as they reveal themselves one by one, I'm glad I folded them up and put them away for a time. Who know what horrors might have issued from the studio. Here are some detail shots so far. You can click on them to zoom in bigger images. I'll be moving this stuff to my WIP page before too much goes on with it. Meanwhile, I came across the work of Barbara Cohen and am just loving her paintings.

I'm off to the Scribbler Wing of the Betty Ford Clinic...

The real trick is knowing when to stop.

Addiction

Link Love

Gotta thank Jen Lemen for that wonderful expression but I can't wait for Sunday. To make up for my lack of posting, here is some authentic magic from the wasteland called the web. Speakers on and an open heart are in order for Jonathan Yuen's site. Lisa Miller has good new for the New Moon in Capricorn and she very nearly has me picking up my Tarot cards again. Yes, I do readings. To joggle your creative bone (where is yours? mine is in my butt I think) this marvel from my old buddy Frank Ze. If you make something cool, email it to me.... deborah@lacativa.com <---I did this one...looks like my quilts. I am working hard on a new piece but big things take longer for sure and I can't get a break in the weather to do any decent in progress pictures. For now, it's me, John Coltrane and Miles Davis in the studio. "Some things are true whether you believe in them or not" .......City of Angels