Too hot out to be out

Another UFO unearthed and diddled with. This was from an experiment using alginate to thicken the dye and I wasn't thrilled with the loss of color intensity so I painted over it with Setacolor transparents. A little overexposure in the pool yesterday and the paint fumes combined to make me sick as a dog for most of the last 24 hours so it was supposed to be good for me to work outside on the deck painting this piece except that it was easily 90 out and muggy. I feel like a bowl of overcooked noodles.

What light through yonder window breaks?

Well Juliet, it's the east and a damn good thing I'm an early riser. Thing is, the old room had the very same view but as you can see, I rarely looked out the window. I also never took advantage of a perfectly respectable closet. Chaos and Mayhem and I used to battle to a stalemate but as I've given in to the desire to work larger, C&M have driven me elsewhere, usually out on the picnic table and recently as far away as Florida. I am taking my workspace back. In the process of looking for backs to build some pieces that are just dying to meet a deadline, I have uncovered vast acreage of dyed & painted fabric that, at one time, I thought had potential. This batch is stewing in a dark dye pot right now. There, with the dark painted circles, was a sister piece to "Rubric". No pangs and no heartache over reassigning these UFOs to a useful existence tells me that the direction of my work has left this path behind. I wonder what else I'll uncover as the shake out continues? Stay tuned and look forward to a fiber give-away on a grand scale in the near future. I have plans to divest myself of a LOT of stuff. I'm also thinking about doing a little investigating into some basic Feng Shui before I start putting things into the new studio. Does anyone have any research recommendations? I know nothing about it beyond that I have no intentions of sitting with my back to the door.

the Mob Scene series

At the moment the piece that's on my design wall has it's back to me, literally. For lack of table space I built the layers right on the wall and it's waiting to be pinned and trimmed, a dark over-dyed disappointment assigned a new and useful life as the backside of this piece. <--This one, my favorite from last weeks dye fest, will be the first up on the wall when the studio is done. The fabric was pre-soaked with soda ash solution and then allowed to dry out before I started dye painting with no thickeners. The little creepy business that happens where the colors meet but don't mix is interesting and something I want to work on making happen again. Dry fabric and nearly dry brush with fairly concentrated dye and no auxiliary chemicals at all.

New Studio

Here's some before shots in the earliest stages of conversion from what was a teenaged boy's den of iniquity into my new studio. The walls are all patched now and the first coat of off-white paint is scheduled for tomorrow. There will be a big,brand new window in the north wall, a huge mirror on the facing wall to pick up more light from the existing floor to ceiling window and one whole wall a floor to ceiling design wall - I just haven't decided which one yet 8x8 feet, perhaps more. There is going to be a solid walnut sewing table with a cut-out for my Janome, a some wire basket shelving and maybe a wing back chair and ottoman by the big window for handwork. All this - the sweat, scrounge and skill - a gift from my biggest fan, my husband Jim.

Happy Anniversary

Yesterday and today is our 30th anniversary. Did I mention that in August of 1976 I came home from work to find the Last Good Man sleeping naked on my living room couch? We celebrate both days because of a clerical error. We had our wedding at home and when the Justice of the Peace got to our address to perform the ceremony he found that he was outside of his jurisdiction. He took his honorarium anyway and went through the motions for the guests but we had to report to his office at town hall the next morning at 8 am. The only problem with having your wedding party at your house is that folks are having too good a time and don't know when to leave. So after being up half the night we dressed in our crumpled wedding finery, I took my nearly dead flowers and we headed out for town hall. The judge met us on his way to a baseball game and performed a speed version of the wedding ceremony dressed in a baseball uniform and thoughtfully giving Jim a second opportunity to change his mind. We both said "I do" two days in a row. Last night we had a lovely dinner at a local restaurant and I had to bring my flowers to work today so Jinx wouldn't eat them.

Craft in America

After coming home from work at 3:30 and going straight to bed until 6 pm, I spent the evening doing handwork and generally attempting to restore my sanity. The PBS special "Craft in America" came on and I got sucked completely in watching every minute of the three hour-long segments. It was completely engrossing but I was a little disappointed in that mention was never made of how artists and craftspeople everywhere have to struggle and compromise to support themselves. "I just decided to quit my job an do it", oft repeated, seemed disingenuous to me, almost irresponsible. I will continue to think about how the show made me feel and perhaps watch it again. What did you think of it? There will be a full moon tonight, the second one in May, and tonight there will be ritual! The Full Moon in Sagittarius is an invitation to bask in the light of some good old-fashioned Jupiterian optimism and joy! This Full Moon represents the union of the physical and the spiritual in the search for knowledge

O TV

Sometimes the commercials are even better than the show...the wait is killing me. Click on the picture to hear My Chemical Romance's take on life in the Mob. Hilarious.

new wip

This piece came from the dyefest on Saturday. The black and metallic gold paint was added afterward and there will be more painted elements as it develops. 43x53. Another one of what's turning out to be the "mob scene" series.

Memorial Day

My Dad, Charles H. Useted, 1943 at his graduation from the Great Lakes Naval Academy just before he reported for active duty aboard the USS BRAINE - DD630 My husband of almost thirty years, Jim Lacativa. I often think about how your sacrifice and service made you the people you are. America salutes you. Thank you Daddy. Thank you Jimmy.

Dyefest al fresco

Perfect weather for a dyefest. But after a little while I felt like I was working at the gates of hell. I really hope these colors hold up to the rinse & wash. PS - They sure did. "Spankin' Harsh" as the younglins say.

New work in progress

40-something x 60-something. Another Mob scene. This piece is on the design wall now. I'm going to be treating it as whole cloth and don't as yet have any plans for altering it too much ...but I'm just studying on it for now. The design is a continuation of the series I started down in FL. Since I have a good shot of it's Birthday, I thought it would be good to track this one on my WIP section....after a little more progress of course.