pFAn

Joanie San Chirico is right! No one is ever going to see the things I've made if I don't take action on the marketing front. I joined the Professional Fine Art Network a few months back without giving a it lot of thought - I was flattered to be invited. Now I have to work on making it work for me. Now that my free (read "unemployed & broke") time is hopefully running out I'm inspired to take some action. As the song goes "you don't know what you've got til it's gone". I've applied for a couple of small grants and have selected few juried show to enter and my main gallery needs updating. It's August already and I haven't posted any 2008 work yet. The dust bunnies have had babies in the studio too. pFAn is a networking index for fine artists and consultants working in the hospitality, health care, corporate and public art sectors. Having just spent a lot of time staring at some truly hideous not-art gracing the walls of a hospital, I have a new appreciation for how far a little beauty and positive energy might have gone in that particular setting.

groping & sketching

EB had a really thought provoking post yesterday. It actually put my withered brain in gear for a few hours and on into sleep thinking about the answers to the questions she posed. Which art & artists inspired and, more importantly, why. At first I opened an old sketch book and scratched around with pencil in the dark. There were some old drawings in there by someone I barely recognized. Some were good. Some were awful. The questions raised were around what we like and how to stay on the task of bringing those elements into our own work. What is it about a particular piece (mine or anyone's) that captures my attention and keeps bringing me back? The list got long and strange. -energy -stealth -symbolism -gestures -"living" color - that which is not seen but hinted at. - moods suggested rather than stated - a "booga booga" quotient. Not wanting to waste any more ideas (I find that if I commit something to paper it never finds it's way off the page) I dragged some lines around with fiber and thread. I love the way you can force your will on strips of old damask. It's old and full of unknown history and will slither away on it's own if you don't rein it in tight.

August Sun

It feels like I haven't seen the sun in weeks. Between time inside the hospital - the smoked glass panes made every day a cloudy one - and the blow back we've been having from hurricane Fay, my tan is fading and my swimming pool is green. I started this little piece of hand music to try to loosen up my appliqué technique. Leave things a little loose, hairy and puckery. There may even be some beads down the line.

UFO's continued

I got the last 500 or so pins out of this one last night and was dizzy from stitching in circles for hours. It's over 80" wide and is busy overwhelming my design wall. I hardly know what to make of it right now. It's kind of a throw back for me design-wise but I continue to work my way through the UFO pile in hopes of turning up a gem. This one might just be a really nice blanket someday.

house fling

We are under the shield of overcast from Fay. It's dark like it wants to rain but so far only a spit or two. The trees toss with strange smelling breezes - winds from somewhere else. Nothing left for this one but as much hand stitching as it take to hold front to back respectably. I rushed the building of it this morning and the side borders are a bit wonky. Just thinking about hurrying is a signal to me that this is the last of the Flings for this year. I have prayer flags promised and not being much a a prayer, I'm at a loss for the moment. It will come.