Loose Ends

Cleaning the studio goes forward with the occasional diversion to finishing a UFO. Imagine, making time to sew on sleeves! This is a dye print with painted accents stitched with gold metallic thread. It's stiff as hell and miserable to sew. Finished I'd say.

the Best Gesture

Rummaging through all the scraps has worked it's magic. I'm improvising at the machine again. When I was in NY I promised my Mom some recent photos of the family and realized that with our busy lives, getting everyone together for a picture will have to wait for Thanksgiving. I could throw large hunks of turkey on the floor and not hope for such a pose of domestic bliss but here it is, warm in my imagination, the Lacativa family. This one is for you, Jimmy.

Sale!

I should be flogged for spending the entire day folding and sorting the jungle that is my studio and have only put a minor dent in things. I'm putting these (and 20 more like them!) quart-sized bags of scraps up for sale on my HOTCAKES site. Treatchaself niiice and spice up your stash.

waterworld

Yesterday, Jan Thompson and I went to see the biggest and best tourist attraction in Atlanta, the new Georgia Aquarium. There's a commercial for the GA on local TV with a woman standing in a darkened room looking up at something with her eyes and mouth opened wide in amazement. You could see that expression almost everywhere you turned. My jaw is still aching. I'm almost glad that, after a dozen bad shots, my camera called for new batteries so I gave up on trying to capture images and concentrated on taking things in directly. This turtle was flirting with everyone she made eye-contact with. Below is a cuttlefish. The acrylic tank and water was so clear that I am certain that the creatures inside could see us at least as well as we could see them. The cuttlefish seemed to be intrigued with our hands which vaguely resembled them. It made me want to paint eyespots on my knuckles so I could communicate with them better

A Witches Work is Never Done

or "Why I Carve Really Scary Pumpkins". Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. Now I realize that it's because it was chock full of tradition when I was a child way before Hallmark and Walmart got their hooks into it. My mother made our costumes and the one I remember best was a cat costume. The details are sketchy but I think she converted one piece stretchy pajamas with RIT and a fat, stuffed, black velvet tail that I'm sure I remember hitting my sisters with. She made candied apples that kids came from miles around to snag and there were always a couple of houses in the neighborhood that we just NEVER went to. Too spooky, too much in the spirit of the holiday, all year round. Frankly, that's how my house appears to me, dark and forbidding, and only the brave kids come creeping across the lawn for treats. The stuffed ghosts hanging in the trees may have festive, lunatic grins but if I were a kid, I'd pass on this one, thanks anyway.