Hooked deep

My fish fixation continues.The dyed damasks have the same iridescent shimmer that's found in fish skins. What could be more alien than a creature who's environment would kill us in a few heartbeats without scuba gear? I've been watching River Monsters with horrid fascination thinking about all the times I blithely paddled about in strange waters, both fresh and salt, toes and fingers like so many tasty Twinkies. Years ago I lived in Provincetown MA for a summer. Some friends and I splashed about at night in the high summer tide alongside one of the town piers just to watch the bio luminescent microorganisms shimmer green fire ripples around us in the water. Minutes later as we sat dripping with our feet dangling off the seawall, a huge curved shape about six feet wide was outlined by the green glow as it swam in a great curving arc in from the depths to where we had stood moments before and then, without pausing, turn back to deep water leaving a trail of stars in it's wake. It was more than chilling.

It's all in the eyes

Fish eyes

I'm researching fish faces for a piece I'm working on. Ever take a close look at their eyes? I used to fish a lot when I was a kid just so I could get a good close look at them. Never knew anything but catch and release. If I wanted fish, Mom would make Gortons. Even though they are beautiful, when you gaze inside, there's just nobody home. When we lived on the other side of town Jake caught a strange fish from the stagnant little run-off pond in the community. He and JJ came running to me with it because it was scary. I knew everything that swam in fresh water in the Northeast but this fish was something else. Pointy face and a mouth full to overflowing with long, needle sharp teeth and orange eyes as big as nickles. No one has been able to tell me what it was besides a fright. They put it back in the pond, carefully.

A touch of Teeth

Just a couple more tiny teeth, I promise. I've spent a quiet overcast weekend building some new small things to be stitched another time and thinking about possibilities. There's no end of willing helpers when the spools are brought out

Supernova

Everyone's entitled to go supernova from time to time. I've been working on this one between calls and one of my coworkers inquired with concern "Do you have kids?" I replied "They're grown now, you're too late" and chuckled. Lately I've been irked about not being able to afford the crap shoot of entering major shows but I finally committed to a local art fair this coming fall. I was flattered to be invited back to the Norcross Art Fest where I had a very successful weekend a few years back. Now I can relax and devote my spare minutes to making some market friendly pieces instead of fretting about missed (and imaginary) opportunities, I'm going to be making the best of this new one.

Eye Candy Wednesday

There's a little artin going on but mostly fiber fondling. I've been going through the fruits of the last fiber fest and happy to tell you not much of this batch is getting out to the general public. Maybe next go round. This is one of the tighter woven feed sacks, maybe from flour or sugar. It's got a wonderful soft, almost flannel hand. Another of the tight weave, "diaper weight" pieces. and finally, a quarter of an antique damask tablecloth, worn soft and wonderful and bound to become some free motioned flowers soon.