carping my diem

It's going to be a spectacular day so I'll have to spend at least part of it outdoors. There's still planting and deck cleaning to get done.Such a suffering!  But even before I put the coffee on I took the dyestock out of the fridge so it could warm up.

I stuck most of the usual suspects up on the design wall - mostly to keep them from becoming a cat nest. I know that they all won't be major players but the flavor and size (46" square) for the next piece is semi-set. Yes, that is my gator head floating over all.

Despite appearances there will still be a lot of black and white going on. I am very interested in the wet in wet transition that happens in dye painting and have almost no scraps left over from last summer.

Once the dyes are up to temp, I'll be cutting and ripping some raw shapes and seeing what the new blacks from Prochem can really do.

auditions and calls

 That great white whale on the design wall is getting on my nerves so I've rounded up some Unusual Suspects for the  next piece. Yes, your eyes are not playing tricks - you are seeing a commercial print in there. No promises, just a thought.

I was going to dye paint some black&white pieces for it this morning but  got sidetracked with errands, gardening and supervising cooking (Colin had 90% hand in a batch of chili).

I just finished pulling up most of the mailbox ivy to give the other perennials a fair crack at the dog piss and neglect that goes on up there. The peonies are just breaking through the soil.

This shot has the look of a Renaissance painting somehow, hate to disturb it but if I don't someone will be making it her nap bed. Speaking of naps....

seams and the Eye

I finally decided where that blue eye belonged last night. Why be coy? I knew it was an eye when I found it in the bottom of the scrap basket.

Jude has posted about seams this morning. Here seams appear to be a way of gracefully transitioning  from one cloth to another. Mine feel more like electric fences and will get stronger as I wrap some of the ropes.

the blank canvas b00gie

Yeah, that's a big empty cloth canvas peering over my shoulder. Right now it's not wearing a welcoming smile -it's leering. I took the black one down. It never stopped laughing at me loudly.


I spent a lot of time sketching digitally last night without anything jumping up and waving its arms screaming "make me!" so my fleeting notion of direct dye painting has been effectively quashed.

Later this morning, I'll take some raw cloth outside and paint some shapes...weather permitting. We are about to take our spring weather licks here in Georgia.

closing in on done.

its been a lot of fun.