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?

Tattoos

I've been thinking about getting a tattoo lately and don't have a decent explanation except that this doodle I drew on the cover of my sketchbook with a silver Sharpie keeps drawing my eye. I also watch Miami Ink with horrid fascination as people have mediocre art permanently carved into their hides with little or no explanation as to the choices, as if the stuff would just wash off! I've seen some photos of tattoos done in white ink. They look great if your skin tone provides enough contrast. I get very tan without even trying and high on my shoulder seems like the only place that won't continue to wrinkle or stretch as I get older. And WHY do people have tattoos put on their bodies in places where they can never see them without a mirror??? Maybe I'll just sew the design to something and leave my body alone.

Glue as Resist

I finally got out and did some errands today including getting a small tub of soda ash from Leslie's (the winterizing can wait another week) and a replacement darning foot for my Janome. Stitch & Quilt in Lawrenceville had undergone a major transformation since the last time I was there. They've taken over the adjacent storefronts and now carry sewing machines. They not only had the foot I needed, they also had those little round gizmos that go over the spool and keep the thread feeding smoothly. I think my cats have been stealing them from my worktable for cat poker.
A while ago I bought some Elmers because I read someplace that it make a good resist. I've been waiting on the soda ash to dip this piece in blue dye and then see how hard it was to get the glue out. Piece of cake and I like the results.

Happy Rosh Hashanah

"The Jewish New Year is a time to begin introspection, looking back at the mistakes of the past year and planning the changes to make in the new year." I like it - a three month jump on new beginnings but I'm afraid I'll be breaking the "no work" rule because I'm running out of time before Jimmy comes home and the Animal House loses it's charter! I grew up in a predominately Jewish neighborhood and absorbed a lot of the culture and decided early to take the best of all the religions I could find out about - namely, High Holy Days off from School! Convincing my parents was another story. "The Autumnal Equinox signals the end of the summer months and the beginning of winter. At this time of year, days have been shortening since the Summer Solstice some three months earlier, and the Equinox is the point where nights reach the same length as days. After this point, the Sun will shine lower and lower on the horizon until the Winter Solstice in about three months' time." But I still have a pool to clean and put to bed for the winter, as much as I hate it, we have to put the cover on it soon before those trees drop every last leaf in the water. Isn't that some healthy looking algae down there? I have a couple of hand dyes upstairs with those colors in them. I hate that pool cover. I almost Died a few years ago when I tripped on the deck and fell onto the covered pool. It was November. A tie down broke and I was instantly wrapped in heavyweight vinyl, wet winter clothing and 40 degree water. I went in feet first and landed within arm's reach of the edge. The instant I screamed for help I remembered I was home alone and no one would hear me. My arms were pinned to my sides by the plastic and the water pressure. Balanced precariously on one foot, I had time to examine the situation and clearly realize that if I didn't act carefully I WAS GOING TO DIE. My left arm was pinned to my side, my right hand to my throat. I could not move but felt that I could fall over at any minute. I had to ease the water pressure on the plastic so with my right fingers, all I could move, I pulled the cover away from my neck allowing the freezing water down inside the cover. The cold was shocking but as the pressure lessened I was able to pull my whole arm free and grab hold of the rail to keep from falling over. It seemed to take forever for enough freezing water to get down along my body and on top of the cover so I could free myself. It took another several minutes to haul myself out of the pool with about thirty pounds of cold, wet clothing added to my own excess. Once I caught my breath and gave thanks to Buddha,the Force, Quan Yin, Jesus, Allah, Isis, Hera, Yemana, and Jobu (covering all bases) I got up and stripped naked by the back door and ran upstairs and got under the covers and just cowered there for the whole afternoon. What a stupid way to almost die! My deepest terror was thinking that this could have happened to my one of my sons or my husband and what they would have felt or done in the moments that I had just experienced. These thoughts were worse than the experience itself. I still shudder to remember it and give thanks again to the whole Crew that it was only me.