Taking a New Path

OK...thanks for not writing me off lately.  Life has taken a whole unexpected turn that has taken some getting used to.  We are now keeping our 4 grandchildren full time (at least for the near future).  They are 6, 5, 5 (twins) and 11 months.  Yep...a handful to say the least. Fortunately, they are good kids.  But they are kids! Needless to say, long leisure days in my studio are a thing of the past. But thankfully, when the kids are at school the baby naps in the morning and afternoon. STUDIO TIME!!! Also thankfully, I have an amazing husband who knows I need studio time and helps out whenever he's home.  It has been a month now and I think we are just about settled into a routine (or what passes for one I guess)

But as all things work out for the best somehow, it gave me time to re-imagine my Pecan series.  Started in earnest this morning sorting the fabrics to make the textile bits for the first piece.  On my way I think...unless more curves are thrown into the mix (please no)

Here's my work island with the fabrics sorted. After auditioning them for the first bit, that strip is in the foreground of the photo.

Wish me luck!!  (oh and, all prayers and wonderful thoughts are appreciated!!!)  LOL!!

separate pages

I placed copies of the photos we placed on the blog also on the separate artist pages. Check it out. They look great!

Faces of Jazz

Faces of Jazz

The Jazz Singer

New paintings -I've been painting but not posting!!! This one is

Jazz  Musicians

I've been experimenting with deconstructed (breakdown) screen printing with mixed results this year. The piece above called "Birch & Moons" was a good surprise.  One day I had extra dye so I printed on a scrap piece of torn and soda-ash soaked cotton canvas.  I had placed deli paper under the screen during the preparation phase and liked the looks.  I placed the dried deli paper over the center of the printed canvas and went "aha" -- a birch forest! Later I hand-beaded my version of birch trees and cut moon shapes from remaining deli paper scraps.  Today I covered and painted a piece of gator board 8" x 15" and glued on the fabric.  I think I'm done.

Last week I tried mono printing with thickened dye.  I spread the dye on a thin plastic cutting mat, laid fabric over the dye, then used a brayer.  The dye moved and morphed on the plastic, creating interesting bubbles and swirls.  I cut a few poppy pod outlines from cardboard and laid some on the dye before adding the fabric.  Had enough "OK" pieces to stitch together.  I free-motion stitched poppy pods over the printed outlines, machine quilted a random grid, and finished with piped binding. The piece which is about 10" x 12" truly is straight and square, but I have difficulty telling my camera that fact.