broader strokes

I've decided to stop bitching about it and see how I can go about using fabric more like paint. There will be  a lot of false starts with stitch so I've basted this one loosely so the end wont have little blood stains all over it.

Most of yesterday was given over to finally getting my hearing tested and confirming what I suspected - that I am hearing less than half of what is said and have worked out a complex of methods to work around the loss. I really didn't realize how much I was depending on visual cues in face to face conversations.

The phone is another big issue. My job entails listening to incident reports over the phone and I depend a great deal on the fact that nothing much new and strange happens on a daily basis...repetition and anticipation, sort of human predicative spelling. I have reports typed out before people even finish dictating them. How many stupid ass ways can one slip and fall or burn oneself in a commercial kitchen anyway?

The doctor couldn't say if the tinnitus was a separate issue from the hearing loss but it certainly compounds the problem. I really miss stone cold silence. My range of hearing is narrow and odd and hearing aids are called for as soon as possible to prevent further loss/damage. They may or may not help the tinnitus. When it's at it's lowest level, I can pretend it's only cicadas partying hearty on midsummer's eve. At it's worst, a jet's engines revving up just before take off...only it never does. A new element cropped up the other day -- a mercifully short low toned hum, not unlike the reverberations of a really big bell ..it came creeping in my left ear like a fat fuzzy brown caterpillar, and then thankfully slunk away. Sometimes it's hard to hear my own thoughts.

rainy day festivities

It was raining on and off all day..humid and too warm for December. Then the power was off for  a spell in mid afternoon. Some folks know what to do with days like this.










The light was too poor to continue.

letting it all rest

For a little while, I'll be making feathers, checking my compass and warming up to the holidays. Lovely to hear from everyone. Thank you all.









thank you John Hopper for a very timely post

rêver 4 finished

Except for a handful of white french knots here and there on the avenues and a little blocking, "rêver 4" is finished.

I had a fleeting notion of mounting the four of these together on a big canvas but seeing them together this way I have changed my mind. Now to commit to mounting them with acrylic medium on canvas.





and to every one who commented on yesterday's post, one by one I will be responding. many thanks for the input and food for deeper thought - all lights on a dark path are welcome light.

conflicted

detail from "Rêver 4"

 To continue a private conversation in public (and one I have been having with myself)  - Why use cloth as an art medium when the expressions I want to make have nothing to do with stitch or texture or hand?

What a pain in the ass it is sometimes and why in the world make art in a medium that has been stigmatized in so many ways that we have to spend valuable time countering stereotypes and consign ourselves to figurative textile ghettos to have any public voice at all.

It's been pointed out to me that a big reason people make art in the first place is to get "buy in" or acceptance of the visions that please or speak to them- an agreement of sorts. "I  like pie. I made a great pie. Have some. It's delicious if I do say so myself"

It's clear that most creative people would rather have agreement with their audiences (whoa!..sometimes in the form of exchanging art for cash!) than spend time cultivating the attitude of "F@#K you if you don't like it" and working in a vacuum or making pies and letting them burn black or throw them at passersby.

Since many of my readers are artists who work with textiles,  have you ever asked yourselves "Why cloth" and what were your answers?

untitled Rothko

Chooglin' in the aisles!

It's no secret we don't get out much but my Goodman made the stellar decision a month or so ago to score a pair of premium seats at the Gwinnett Arena to see Paul Simon and his troupe of amazing musicians put on the kind of show that was so worth waiting for. Yes, the crowd was shiny bald and frosted with white and gray but baby, we was rocking the house with the Master.

Paul Simon's music has a special place in my heart and soul, his music came along at a time in my life when I never had to share him with anyone, no boyfriend, no lover...no one to convince what a genius he was. I just bought the record, or cassette and simply wore it out all by myself . I have never seem him perform live before so this was a special show. What a Hell of a great time we had! Thanks again darlin'.


Yes indeed. still surprising after all these years.

bonbons

We continue to be satisfied working in this effortless manner. Some much like eating expensive chocolate truffles..but so much better for me.



There is a message in here somewhere.


 
PS... thanks Mimi..this is not even finished and someone submitted it to
CraftGossip but they cropped out my assistant!

Holiday Shopkeeping

I spent some time today going through the inventory and cutting prices!

Random Acts of Dyeness is fat with bargains and in plenty of time for holiday gift giving, in fact, a few of those magic cloth burritos came off the shelf and fell straight into my sewing basket.
Will wonders never cease?

rain dancer

I looked from stitching and caught him dancing on the windowsill.
Some brass!

eyes wide open

As I work on this with ever tinier stitches  (I've switched over to the 2.0 cheaters - I keep thinking about distant horizons, wider vistas and working larger. Thinking of each little element as if it was measured in feet instead if thread counts. Judy Martin's recent post has given me another point of  view about working large with cloth. Commitment to the outcome after long, long engagement is a daunting prospect. It's not like there's a shortage of raw materials around here.

Meanwhile, I've been touring other art courtesy of a crazy little widget on the bottom of each post at Oh, What a World and other sources. Getting away from cloth and standing back to look at other art  has  been refreshing. Take a look at the work of Paul Baumer, Brian Rutenberg, Emily Mason, Clare Kuo and Clara Fiahlo  among others...are you drunk yet?

my not-black friday

This is how I am feeling this morning. I am so grateful to be off today from work. We had a great time yesterday, birds, biscuits and all. It's nice to have guests at the table during the holidays - makes me clean the house like nothing else. Between the cleaning, cooking and working a shift last night I am done in.



Except for tending my friend's cat family while she is away, I will not be leaving the house today. All this lunacy over shopping for a lot of crap that you have managed to live without for a whole year is just plain ugly.

I spent some time this morning  working on this with a little help from Voodoo. I unburied my beloved sewing chair in the studio the other day and sat sewing in the sunlight with a friend. Later....leftovers for everyone. He seems to know.

floor glory

From ABC Carpet & Home..myself, I couldn't walk on these...too beautiful.

They do make me think about working larger.

I shoulda been a stone mason

I'll pull out the basting stitches and correct the helter skelter as I go but the overall composition pleases me.

Each little brick is a world unto itself and I keep thinking about what it would be like to make one like this on a much larger scale. Scale matters a lot when you are working with cloth.



(Earlier this morning I stumbled across the paintings of Matthew Johnson)



I am so happy to have the respite, the promise of this scrap of cloth over the upcoming days and weeks.  Hope you all have happy Thanksgivings.

Candy for Breakfast!!

How bout some color excitement to kick off a busy holiday week? Thank Lorraine Glessner for these links!

Julia Zanes...

Joan Snyder

 

                                                             

Nebiur Arellano

 

Rêver 4 underway

 After all that yaddayadda and left brain stuff yesterday it was good to unpack the basket and get started on the fourth in this series.

Setting the stage was pesky -working with that woven, gridded rayon is like weaving  oiled eels- then, after half the morning shuffling and pinning it became clear that I had lost my space eye and bearings. Pulled everything off and started over with #3 close at hand to keep me straight. 

I love these nylon body Ginghers - super tool and very photogenic.

self critiquing

From Robert Genn's  Painter's Keys, the latest article "How to critique yourself" has sparked a lot of interest in my circle of web acquaintances. Like any other lesson, I'm sure it's only useful if you actually implement it as intended.

  I was inspired to take a long view of what I have been up to by snatching up some four or five hundred or so images taken from all the blogging I've done (there's a speedy little tool for that) and you know how I love my eye candy.
Then I pared that batch down to just under 300 images that showed finished or nearly finished pieces.


Then I made three folders on the desk top. "What Was  I Thinking" (read with a sneer) , "Don't Care One Way or the Other", and "I Would Hang That on My Wall" .  Taking some more time to learn a movie making tool that came with my new laptop was good for a few hours aggravation, so here are the ones that made the cut.

I made the movie complete with music by Neil Young , the song timed by Windows Moviemaker to match the images ( or was it the other way around?)
...and yes, Neil, I liked it so much I paid for it.  Alas, YouTube has decided that paying for it wasn't enough and the music has been stripped away (but you can see and hear it here if you want but be warned, it's huge)

As for this whole process being an exercise in self discovery...that remains to be seen. It turns out that these images are in fairly accurate chronological order  and that's been a revelation of sorts. If you want to comment and Blogger gives you any kind of trouble, email me...and thanks!

Happy Friday

Madam Karma knows just what to do with November sunshine in Georgia.

worked up over weather

I spent several HOURS looking for that gridded rayon that was the base for "Rêver 3" and finally unearthed it in the "safe" place I had stored it in. I've been wanting to start the next one in the series and last night fell asleep listening to "Diving Bell and Butterfly"   which prompted me to get on with it, stocking the basket with scraps for the project. Once I have the fourth in this series I may find a way to mount all of them together.

We spent most of yesterday morning under tornado warnings but were luckily passed over by the worst of the weather. The cats were all acting up and Karma insisted on having a ringside seat from the planter on the deck. Her senior moments and eccentricities keep us hopping and waiting on her hand and foot. Sweetie chewed on my right elbow while I finally put together the artists statement I needed for the one that's going to AQE12....99 words!

"Using vintage fabrics in my art is a constant and welcome reminder of the character and original purpose of this cloth - beautiful utility.Old damasks and linens take to contemporary surface design techniques,such as dyes and resists, in unexpected and satisfying ways.

This composition came about while waiting in my car in the winter sunshine outside the laundromat and observing several women inside go back and forth between heated arguing and companionable agreement as they watched their own laundry churning. "The fabrics of our lives" seemed to be the theme of the day for all of us."

grey day mending

It's overcast and unseasonably warm today so I thought I'd take some time for stitching.
I'm following Jude's lead and putting a much missed breast pocket back on the Magic Invisibility Cloak. At first I couldn't find it, then I remember getting some shmutz on it and setting it aside to be washed.

Alas, it got scooped up in a wash day  frenzy and got pounded as in on a rock at the river with a load of jeans. Some of the damask and linen pieces have slipped their mooring stitches so some decorative and restorative work is in order.

spotted imaginings

just moving things around at the moment , trying this and that...far from pins even. I'm in no hurry to commit. So far I just like these colors, patterns and shapes. So far.

there are many UFOs to fart about with rather that rushing into anything here and 
I have misplaced "Ocean Homes" and "Beaches" - neither ever properly photographed .

I was looking for "Beaches"  because of how that spotted cloth that keeps turning up.
I like making it and using it. The spots are not quite  orderly but each one has it's personal space.