Letting Go

Please know first that I am not complaining here. These sales could have not come in a more timely fashion. It's just an emotional time of the year. Normally, I am happy and proud as a parent putting a kid on the school bus for the first time when I sell a piece and ship it off, but packing up "Memories Feast" this morning put me in a strange place.

When I start a piece, I certainly don't have "marketability" on my list of design considerations. More often than not, I'm on autopilot. I didn't think anyone would ever see and feel this piece the way I did, but they have and off it goes, priority mail.

One thing I do know for sure, and anyone who had seen artwork made with textiles will affirm, everything looks so much better in person. I know that every one who opens one of my packages will be captivated by the reality of the thing they only imagined from an image found in the internet. Happy Holidays!

Color coming on

Along with the sun being just so in relationship to our ball of mud, the stars must have been rightly aligned.

This piece danced out of several scrap heaps in the studio in a short hour, re-aligned a few bits of itself and was basted in place before my last break.

I spent the last two hours of my shift just eyeballing it and thinking about stitching possibilities.  Now the challenge will be to finish it's predecessor with the same vigor and joy. I feel color coming on.

Solstice

Stitching continues on this one, I've come to love building mock floss from 4,6, even 8 strands of regular sewing thread, cottons and rayons together with a strand of metallic thrown in for pizzazz. "Chess 3" just before mummification ( I solved the problem of the process darkening white fabric!) and something new just started to celebrate the turning of the year. Did someone mention that there's a heavy holiday breathing down my neck? Jim just left to find us a tree!

Sweetie fits in

Sweetie has become a member of the household in a limited way for now.
We have kept her secluded in the master bedroom without putting any other feline noses out of joint. Our cats are free range, coming and going as they please through a cat door, but more often standing with noses pressed to the glass of the slider mentally compelling you to get up from the couch and let them in. So far, Sweetie rarely ventures out of the upstairs and we probably won't let her learn the outdoor property until Spring. She seems content with her domain for now.

in a tiz

I recently popped of to have my say at The Painter's Key in response to an article about an issue that been on my mind - working big, working small.  This twice weekly  newsletter has become one of my favorite daily reads. It's becoming more relevant to me as I move to step out of the "fiber" artist box without abandoning fiber as my medium.

And, thanks to Jude for the mention of her recent acquisition of "Mayhem", I have been scrambling to upgrade my store and commit to selling some recent things that I wasn't ready to part with. The response to her post was a great emotional lift. Actual SALES! 

There have been a lot of inquiries about the fiber fossils (thanks for that too, J) which sounds a bit more inviting than what I was calling them - fiber mummies - and I am going ahead with mounting a few other pieces in the same way.

And before I forget AGAIN have you seen this absolute wonder of a piece?
I am so proud of you Arlee!