good weekend

It was a very productive weekend, artwise and even made a little headway in the studio mostly sorting through older pieces, UFOs and "wonder whys". Not making any firm decisions about what  next for these things but getting much of it ready for storage. My empty nest will be fully restocked come march and my overflow studio has been returned to it's original state as a guest room.

Jim hung "Shell Vapors" over the fireplace yesterday. It was at risk of  damage up against the wall in the studio. There's been a dreary mock-Turner print hanging there forever and this was a welcome change of pace.  I keep looking at and smiling.  

I was rummaging in the studio looking for a particular piece of a fabric that I made last summer with no success. It was late in the day when I realized that it was up there over the fireplace. I had forgotten that I used it.

I also made a find at Michael's getting 50% off  on some canvases to mount some of the recent things. I know I promised a tutorial for doing this but my time was short and I got three of them nailed down before I recalled that I was supposed to documenting the process. Really the only hard part about all of this is the will to sacrifice a piece of cloth that you might have spent hours stitching by hand.  Well, sacrifice might be a bit strong - it's not like you're feeding it into a shredder but glued fast to a canvas with white glue and then saturated with matte medium & water mixed 50/50 is a radical change. I recommend a test piece before you commit something beloved. You may hate the results. Me, I'm tickled.  

old botherations

While I was in the studio this morning stumbling over stuff and trying to shoot pieces on the design wall, I stumbled over this old troublemaker that I started this time last year.    I'm so ambivalent about this piece that I've decided to make a project out of rescuing it from UFO oblivion.                 I was inspired by Tricia McKellar's "Flowers - Still Life" series and bits and pieces of this one fall right in line, but on the whole, I'm bothered. I'm going to take it to work with me and hang it up in the cube and study it for a couple of shifts and see if there are any revelations.

Winter Solstice finished

I'm finally satisfied with this one after another long sessions of stitching, picking out and more stitching.  Once again, I can't settle on an orientation so I won't be signing this one anywhere on the front - a great way to stay uncommitted.  Now, out of sight, out of mind until I can find the right size canvas to mount it on.

My camera was unhappy being cold in the studio this morning but here are a couple of detail shots.

Winter Solstice almost finished

I may have to retitle this "Under the Influence". The doctor gave me several prescriptions with warnings about what you should NOT do while taking them. Stitching was not on the label but I spent an hour last night picking out a whole series of black borders that I put in around the red rectangles which completely obscured the pink glows around each one. Wretched. You think I would have seen how wrong it was as I did all the initial sewing. This one is closing in on done and will be mounted on canvas.

Market Day

Sunday  continues to be  the day I locate pieces in the studio, photograph them and post them for sale at Hand Music

Because I'm including small works that are current and a few going back a few years and one or to of the larger pieces from my main gallery, I wonder if a lack of cohesion bothers collectors. Then again, there's  a little something for everyone here. Maybe I should dig out some of those summer flings now that it's the dead of winter.