Spooky Stories Travels

What do you give the man who says he has everything? Art of Course! "Spooky Stories" is on it's way to spend an open ended exhibition as part of the esteemed Charles & Rosalie Useted Collection that includes pieces stretching back to the beginning of my career - 3rd grade: a glued paper & felt tracing of my very small foot with the inscription "Upon my sole I love you Daddy". I can post this because my Dad doesn't use a computer and thinks the internet is "50% voodoo bullshit and 49% nonsense". He'll only credit the other 1% because I do. Here( 1,2,3) are some detail shots of this gen-u-wine machine pieced and appliqued, hand quilted and beaded utility quilt approximately 6 feet square. Can you tell it's one of my favorite and most personal pieces?

Perpetual Motion

When it gets cold out, I get the crochet hook cranking and I've finally settled on a stitch/sequence that I plan to see through to the end of this piece. I am fully fed up with making beanies, mittens and plain scarves. This is a boa built from chained loops covered with single stitches and intertwined together like so many cotton worms..well, they look like worms to me and since I make it up as I go I guess I'm entitled to name it. I'm also in the middle of constructing a garment from a pattern and things have changed quite a bit since my last garment making attempt back in 8th grade. The tissue is much finer and somehow, I managed to select a pattern that only has instructions in French. I keep telling myself "This is NOT brain surgery". Also - I'm still giggling over an ad I just read in the Jobs section of Atlanta's Craigslist. 6 On line Criminal Researchers needed ASAP (Duluth GA)!! ".....Knowledge/Skills: Bachelors degree or commiserate experience required...." I think I may have found my true calling.

Production

Lots materialized this weekend. I hope I haven't gone too far on this one with the paint. I look back on earlier images and now I miss those big white cottonball looking areas. It's a path/technique I want to explore in more detail once the demands of the holiday have relaxed. I spent all of today bringing these pieces together to be "of service". Taking my time and auditioning the talent was worth every minute. I can't reveal the finished product because it's a gift in the making but I like it so well, it will be hard to part with.

Ghosts of Christmas Past

On a Roll

Uninspired for anything new, I've been tackling the river grass basket full of UFOs and this piece got soy waxed and overdyed yesterday. Today I started in on it with textile paints and something interesting is coming around. I had forgotten how much I like working close in with textile paint on wet fabric.

This top was not quite big enough for a working quilt so I rummaged about in the stash and came up with a bizarre piece of hand dye that seems just about right. The flannel back on this one had been waiting for this job for about 25 years.

And finally, maybe best of all, the rain stopped and the sun came out just long enough to get a shot of these prayer flags that I finished early this morning. Here's a modern interpretation of Tibetan Prayer Flags - the images are contemporary, the language unwritten except in the heart. This set, $SOLD. More when I can.

Putting Art to Work

I loved Kim LaPolla's description on the QA list of how her daughter favors their old, raggedy dog quilt because of the memories associated with it. I daresay I won't want to see the same Art (any Art!) hanging on the wall for twenty-five years. But to snuggle under a warm if worn blanket with all that family history is another good thing. Time to rethink what I am doing and why I am doing it. This discussion about Quilts & the Economy (read 'sales and lack thereof') and functional quilts has me wishing I worked even larger than I already do. I'm seriously contemplating taking three or four of my dye-painted, finished pieces and whacking them up and then "Frankensteining" them into something functiona along the lines of this digital example with three pieces from my gallery. What a challenge - first, the letting go of the "Art" and then rebuilding something both useful and lasting. Taking some 3x4 footers and going Queensized! I'm happy that I haven't wandered too far from traditional quiltmaking when it comes to construction techniques. It will make the transition easier. And pursuant to sending folks off the QA list to blogs to read all about it, I like the idea of having some discussion out there in public if it's relevant to the group in general and posting it with eye candy here the the blog.

Creature Series

Here's the roundup so far. I've been doing this kind of doodling for as long as I can remember. Giving life to circles, lines and squiggles. Having them congregate, interact, work, war, dance, love - all the things that beings do but these are my beings doing my bidding. Many of my larger pieces depict similar beings in action. Think there's a power tripper lurking or do I merely observe closely that which others cannot see?

Later, I found this other pair tip-toeing about.

fresh starts...

...can come from a combination of things for me but usually a confluence of fabrics is the first spark. (day's end update: I struggled to no avail at the design wall most of the morning with this gang of unruly thugs and gave up around lunch. Later on, the cartoon fiend got loose in the studio and the fifth 12"x12" that I needed for the APW show materialized.)

I feel like an Elf in Santa's workshop

I've got four large *things* to get accomplished in time to be shipped elsewhere as holiday gifts and numerous smaller ones in varying stages of completion. Looks like coffee will be my best friend in the coming days. In keeping with the Handmade and Buy Art movements (I know there are official names and linkages I could hook to but I don't have time to root them out) I've broken out some vintage pieces and am putting them up for sale at prices guaranteed to start or grow someone's art collection!

From 2005

"Needleturning at Sunrise"

16"x 12.5" unmounted

Machine pieced and hand appliqued cottons that have been hand dyed and painted with metallic acrylic paint. This piece was exhibited at 2006 - Considering Quilts '06" at the Atlantic Center for the Arts.

$140

please email me for availability

Two other pieces "Stigmata" and "Blues Bound" are now up on the Like Hotcakes site also at gift giving prices!

Fiber Potato Chips

Yep, bring on the dip, the potato chips are coming fast and furious. I knew this was going to happen. Does anyone know of a rehab/spa joint for fiber art postcard fiends? Please, only facilities that have well equipped craft centers, heated pools and five star chefs 24/7. These are all 4"x6", perfectly mailable naked (be bold!) and 15$ each. I've moved them all over to my crass commercialism site, Like Hotcakes, complete with wicked PayPal buttons but since each of these are one of a kind, please email me for availability before you PUSH THE BUTTON! Substitutions are a sad, refunds are worse!

I owe you more than Eye Candy

How about some Eye Champagne? This graces a full sized poster in my local Post Office and I have decided that I like it better than any of the Christmas Stamps this year. The religious one is just banal and the secular ones are downright scary. I've finished a fistful of holiday themed postcards and have abandoned the red and green for some take-offs on my Creature series using scraps from those same works. Here's the first with bits of damask, linen and a commercial cotton print, the reverse is a cream colored and lightly rusted cotton. 4"x6" and ready to mail. This one is for sale. $15.00 US plus postage depending on where you are in the world. Email me (deborah@lacativa.com) and I'll let you know the total. There will be a handful more over the coming days.