home!

While it was wonderful to see my family, it's so great to be home. 

The chaos of a three generation household with elder illness and mama-baby drama thrown in is exhausting. I give my sibs all props for maintaining relative sanity any way they can.

Travel was thankfully uneventful but I'm not thrilled with Delta being the only choice between ATL and White Plains. On the way up they farted around on the ground 40 minutes past scheduled take off but someone how made up all but 15 minutes of it in the air. I could actually feel the g-forces. Coming back, Delta these winter-clad travelers needed heat on the plane instead of AC. By the time we arrived, envision a herd of steaming buffalos. I guess arriving alive is enough.

There are no pictures today because right after I took the night shots in the previous post, my camera broke when Charlie Brown yanked on his leash and sent it banking off my forehead on hard onto the frozen ground. My brother and I decided since it was already broken, maybe we could take it apart and see what was awry. NOT! Still, it was interesting to see what went on inside that slim little wonder. The other two Canons were waiting at home with dead batteries otherwise I would treat you to the chaos of my studio. Time to get back to work.

reviving tradition

   

clean slate

It's easy to see how the possibilities never end I want to be completely satisfied  with each aspect of the piece as it develops - why push ahead and commit when it's just not right or working.

I will be leaving this one alone for a while since I'll be leaving to visit with family in NY and can't take it along chock fulla pins as it is.
And I have a notion that this is only half the finished size. When I get back,  I'll get another backing panel this size and mount it on the left.

I'd like to bring along some hand stitching but I don't really want to check a bag and don't want to risk losing any of my tools to the TSA. It will be a fiber free visit unless I go scrounging for used cloth with my sisters.
A change of scenery, climate, and activities will be good for me.

Failed at..

...being off the machine. mostly.

But at least it's been a productive day. This went up on the design wall between loads of laundry and during the Falcon's game. I don't follow football but the excitement of the locals, including my son Jake, is contagious.

All around that Jim and I watched, and thoroughly enjoyed, all of season one of Californication.
 Given the surprise ending of the last show, I don't want to see any more, happy endings being such a rare and endangered species but it's so well written and acted I'm happy I just found out that season six is just starting. We'll parcel out the rest over time.

I also mentally dragged my novel out of memory's closet and killed our little heroine on the second page. Who was it  said we must kill our darlings? This one on the wall is in deep shit right now.

Happy Friday!

Thought I'd leave you with a little color before I get off this electric treadmill for 48 hours...it's a test.

There's a lot of work brewing on all fronts and I don't want to let the moments fritter away.

This was a quick and dirty sketch to see how those Inktense Blocks work...not so great in my sketchbook, I should have known because the paper is very closed, almost greasy.

I finished basting K4 this morning and already I'm looking around for more scraps of black and white cloth. The sun peeked out just as I snapped this shot, and then it retreated.