naming names

I've finally come up with a name train to go along with the series I've been working on. This was the first and I've put it up for sale at              Hand Music. 

"All Unknowing" is 18.5 " x 16.5" unmounted - you can tussle with your own notions of how to matte and frame it - I am fresh out of those ideas. and I am pretty sure I can still get it shipped for Christmas. Even so, imagine getting a wonderful gift a day or so after all the holiday fur has stopped flying.

tracking back

I have not bothered to figure out what that means in blogeez but I have looked back over this current process and the results of this series so far and it's a comfort to discover some order in my art-work-life.

If there is nothing in my go bag to work on I start grubbing about in the studio for cloth souls that are getting along and hold auditions. Sundays are for composing the ground and rounding up the elements. There's a day of two of chess playing.

I am orchestrating the somethings, making them fall into an order, a snap shot that appeals to me.

The next step is a technical comfort - basting densely so I don't have to suffer with pins through the rest of the project which tends to make me resentful and blood spots were not a part of the original design consideration. The embroidery is a whole new adventure in design on the fly. Stitching and picking out. I have some new stitching in mind for this one to help balance and direct.  Jeez, for someone with not a lot to say about the art there are a lot of words today.

I did make a couple of changes from yesterdays post.  A couple of shifts and one addition. Today it's stronger, less wishful.

further exploration

The quickest way for me to be contrary is to put my intentions on paper.  These haloed circular elements originated back in '07 during a particularly frenzied dye fest when I was discovering the magic of discharge using dishwasher gel . I had it all over my hands and picked up pieces of fabric only to find them covered with discharged finger prints after the washout.

I shuffled this piece around for about eight hours yesterday. I had it pinned to my cube wall at the office and moved things around while I talked with the clients. It felt like I was playing Chinese checkers with myself. As the evening wore on the game became chess and I'm now satisfied that I won the match.

One of the first pieces I used these elements in continues to please me.  As I tell anyone who cares, it's a great life if you are easily amused.Below - "Hopped Up" from 2007

third and final

I think I'm done with this one.Twice I've sat down with it and couldn't decide where else it needed to go. Time to let it go and move on. I also have to decide if I want to mount this one (and the other two) on canvas sealed under the plastic. Too soon to tell.

following the trail

I never get lost, although I may lose a little time but I never count that loss because I almost always find something important along the way.  Some have wondered why I don't post links to other places...the list would be too long. I kid you not, there are over a hundred regular linkages in my bloglines list. I love Bloglines because it lets me know when a new post is up. From there, it goes like this:

First stop - Lorraine Glessner's  "oh, what a world, what a world" and I defy you to say it without the Wicked Witch voice. From there I found Rebecca Shapiro's site and her wonderful post "Best of 2009 - Moment of Peace" - a wonderfully personal and insightful post about how an artist feels about connecting with a medium. And that medium? Rebecca's link to Wagner Encaustics, Inc. took me down an incredible rabbit hole to the site of Elise Wagner (you think she gets a price break?) and her incredible art. Looking at her work has made me recognize some of the things visual things I have been trying to find using textiles.
Could it be a time for a change for me too?

PS - I remember that I used to touch crayons to the light bulb to watch the colors run. Of course the smell would always bring Mom running and hollering too.