Peapods From Mars?

Are these not marvelous? They are the cut-off ends of ...I don't know what to call them. Jan Thompson has been working with polymer clay and these conglomerates are the starting place leftovers. There has to be a better name but who cares what to call something this strange and wonderful. They make me think of Karen Kamenetzky's quilts.

Note to Self from Katz

...the raspy voice on the phone said "And don't come home without it." Click.

Feebleminded Shepherd

So here I am once again in charge of a whole flock of headless sheep. That's a poor analogy but the ones that come first reveal the most, I guess. After the dyefest on Saturday I now have at least a dozen starts, some wonderful and clamoring to be worked, others (like this one, 40somethingx60something monster) with their necks in a noose and their feet on a block of ice. Well, that's a bit harsh but you get the picture. I'll be working it first out of guilt - it used to be a beautiful blue/green undersea dream until I brutalized it with discharging. The very first piece I ever sold, "Parking Magik" was so unresponsive and balky at first I very nearly fed it into an industrial shredder at the office one night when I was stymied with the whole thing. That seems to be the way of things. Ugly ducklings really do grow up to be pterodactyls.

Amazing Stuff

Another artist stumbled upon - Hollis Heichemer - these paintings seethe and simmer with incredible energy. I have to find out more. She has been particularly gracious in inviting us into her process with these progress pages.

L'ville Frankenstein Dyeworx '07 debut

I lied. I told myself I was going to let these poach in their own juices overnight but the suspense was killing me. So was the heat. It looks like we are going to dispense with Spring and jump right into Summer. These were pieces of Testfabrics 400M that I soaked in soda ash solution down in Fl last week. I ran out of time and energy down there so I just dried and folded them. This is the first time I have painted directly on the readied fabric, no alginate. After I was finished with each one, I sprayed it good with more soda ash "just in case of what" I won't ever think about again - the washout produced almost zero runoff except a little errant turquoise. Better shots once stuff is dried and ironed.