House in Need of Love

I wish I had taken better care of these garden boxes this summer. This and one or two other buds may be the only blooms I get this year. Time for fresh dirt. My whole house needs a serious facelift. Remember the earthquake that was centered in the gulf of Mexico a few weeks ago? Well, I was one of those sensitive souls who felt it in this suburb of Atlanta. I was in the pool when it happened and didn't know it for what it was. I was hanging on to the railing, drifting and listening to a ballgame when it suddenly felt like someone had jumped or fallen into the pool, but no splash, just movement of the water around me. I didn't think a thing about it until it made the evening news. Now, weeks later, I have discovered that we had some minor damage to the house. Up near a peak around the back, a few boards of siding have fallen away and all the nails on one exterior wall have popped out almost an inch! As our house is built directly on a rock ledge it's no surprise.

It was one of the ten best days so far this year, clear and sunny, breezes just wishing they smelled of burning leaves. Friday night was cold enough to have to turn the heat on for the first time of the season. Just love that smell of roasting dust. I had to cook up another batch of hummingbird sauce last night - they are still here and feeding voraciously. Got out early to assure a copy of the NY Sunday Times and was surprised to find that Borders had 2007 calendars on display. I took a long time choosing this one: The Braves played their last game of this season at one today knocking the Astros out of the playoffs as the Astros did to the Braves last year. I almost went to the game alone but would have spent nine innings feeling weird and sorry for myself.

As the UFOs get finished......

....new stuff goes up on the design wall. I spent most of last evening blind-stitching the layers together. I just didn't want to fool with the sewing machine for this one, big as it is 45 x 50 something - there was a game on. What can I say, the season is almost over, then the fur will start flying in the studio. update - I have cut & pinned up dozens of trial colors. It's just not speaking to me,yet.

Influences (Fling & Splat)

"Secret Message" is getting there. This wholecloth dyepainted & discharged piece turned out to be great fun. The original painting was an automatic pilot gesture but I trust my hand, at least I should more often. I wanted to counterbalance the grossness of the large markings when it came to the discharging but I wussed out. I may go back and do some heavier stitching to rectify that lack of unity. During the 60's I spent countless hours in art museums in NYC staring, slack-jawed as an ape, at contemporary paintings and marveling that these guys were getting huge bucks for flinging paint around just to hear it splat and then more hours listening to my stoned professors Explain It All, Abstract Expressionism, that is. No matter what they had to say,I don't think I ever got over the notion that these artists were putting a big one over on critics, museums, collectors and J.Q Public. I imagined them lounging about their lofts, garrets and studios totally fatigued from bouts of hysterical laughter as they "SOLD ANOTHER ONE" nyuk, nyuk, nyuk. Don't get me wrong, I think it's totally smooth operating and marvel that it happens as often as it does and don't mind admitting that I'd love to hold my own sides in pain even as I realize that it takes a little more than fling...splat. Robert Motherwell

Yikes!

Looks like a flock of scalps but it's five crocheted hats drying out on my Ikea Octupus. They're made from recycled sari silk which is a lot like crocheting with jute - rough, smelly and no stretch whatsoever, but once you wash it, it goes all soft and blurry. These will look better once they are completely dry and I find a dummy to model them. Each hat is festooned with beaded braids of varying lengths making the wearer appear to be sporting dreadlocks. I'm told the skaters will be rioting for these. Do skaters have money?