further exploration

The quickest way for me to be contrary is to put my intentions on paper.  These haloed circular elements originated back in '07 during a particularly frenzied dye fest when I was discovering the magic of discharge using dishwasher gel . I had it all over my hands and picked up pieces of fabric only to find them covered with discharged finger prints after the washout.

I shuffled this piece around for about eight hours yesterday. I had it pinned to my cube wall at the office and moved things around while I talked with the clients. It felt like I was playing Chinese checkers with myself. As the evening wore on the game became chess and I'm now satisfied that I won the match.

One of the first pieces I used these elements in continues to please me.  As I tell anyone who cares, it's a great life if you are easily amused.Below - "Hopped Up" from 2007

third and final

I think I'm done with this one.Twice I've sat down with it and couldn't decide where else it needed to go. Time to let it go and move on. I also have to decide if I want to mount this one (and the other two) on canvas sealed under the plastic. Too soon to tell.

following the trail

I never get lost, although I may lose a little time but I never count that loss because I almost always find something important along the way.  Some have wondered why I don't post links to other places...the list would be too long. I kid you not, there are over a hundred regular linkages in my bloglines list. I love Bloglines because it lets me know when a new post is up. From there, it goes like this:

First stop - Lorraine Glessner's  "oh, what a world, what a world" and I defy you to say it without the Wicked Witch voice. From there I found Rebecca Shapiro's site and her wonderful post "Best of 2009 - Moment of Peace" - a wonderfully personal and insightful post about how an artist feels about connecting with a medium. And that medium? Rebecca's link to Wagner Encaustics, Inc. took me down an incredible rabbit hole to the site of Elise Wagner (you think she gets a price break?) and her incredible art. Looking at her work has made me recognize some of the things visual things I have been trying to find using textiles.
Could it be a time for a change for me too?

PS - I remember that I used to touch crayons to the light bulb to watch the colors run. Of course the smell would always bring Mom running and hollering too.

Holiday Sale

I've put everything in this shop on sale so I can make room for some of the latest things I've been working on. If you'd like to see more images, email me.                 

I'd be glad to gift wrap and send things direct to your recipient - I know a lot folks can't get out to shop this weekend because of the winter weather.  The Post Office is still do-able here in Georgia but there is no time for any international shipping.

New circles and friends

First, this is not Jinx. She is lost to us and the sore spot on my heart and the empty spot in our household will be fresh a long time.

The phone rang at nearly midnight. Colin said that a woman saw our poster about Jinx at the pizza place and was sure she had her locked up in her garage. A month later, and miles away? I was beyond exhausted and beyond hope. Still, I was up dressed and out the next morning in the cold rain.

    It was not Jinx, but a teenaged stray who looked so much like her I had to do a double take. She was so anxious to please a total stranger I could not call her anything but Sweetie. She had the misfortune of finding herself lost, possibly pregnant and in a household of dogs that held no future for her. Caring people who took the trouble to follow up on a lost cat poster - I thank them. I had to think about it all of four hours while I discussed it with Jim and found a low cost spay/neuter clinic. How did they know exactly how much my monthly bonus was, I wonder. We brought her home from the clinic last night.
  Here is  Sweetie enjoying her post surgery drugs.