Today is the day.....

Just stopped by the studio to finish up putting things together to take this evening for my art show opening.  SOOOOOOOOO nervous....and excited.  Thanks to all of you who have gone on this journey with me toward my 2014 goal of a solo show.  I'm finding it quite nerve-wracking.  I've been in shows before but only with a few pieces and a whole lot of other artists.  This is the first time it's just me.  Good news AND scary news. The success or not...all on me...

OK...gotta think about something else now.  Like what the heck to wear!!!  Still haven't decided.  Perhaps coveralls with paint all over them????  Sheesh....no idea.  Can you tell I'm nervous????

I'm planning on taking the whole weekend OFF!!  No schedule....no plans....just winging it. Probably catching up on some much missed sleep?

I'll report to you all next week...photos and everything!

Final piece started

So...now I'm on the fifth and final piece for the show.  I wanted to follow the "life" of the pecan from sapling to final purpose.  And the final purpose of pecans is TO BE EATEN! -- preferably in a pecan pie or pecan waffles!

I'm working on the Pecan Pie first.  I printed a copy of my mom's pecan pie recipe (which she got from her mom) on an 8" X 10" piece of silk organza.  Now I'm working on the slice of pie.  Screen printing is done on one of the dyed fabrics I did for this series and I'm just filling in with a lighter brown color wash to give it some depth.  I took this photo so you could see the un"washed" pecans and the "washed" ones.  When I'm finished with this wedge, I'll be using this for one of the textile additions.  I have some hand dyed and spun wool from my niece (keeping it in the family ya know) which I have braided and will be using it for the fluted outer "crust"

I was struggling with this one earlier today. I took a break for an episode of Frasier and a cup of Earl Gray tea.
 B R E A T H E..........

Came back to the studio and things started falling into place a bit better.  It might change a bit before it is done but at least now I have the complete piece in my head.

The working title for this one is Final Purpose. Not totally what I want but I'm currently brain dead.....
Any suggestions are welcomed!

Gonna grab some dinner now. Not sure if I'll make it back out to the studio. I think it would be best to go to bed and get a new start tomorrow.

Winter Harvest completed!!

At last! It is completed and ready for the photographer on Tuesday!

I used some of the crushed pecan shells on the tree bark.  And I filed down some half shells to add to the ground cover and one falling from the tree!

Here it is!

WINTER  HARVEST

(keep in mind...these are my photographs. They will look much better after Shawn gets a hold of them!)

#4 Winter Harvest - plan to be completed tomorrow!

Well, I'm having a blast!!!  Was working on this piece today and had a brainstorm.  I have bark cloth (thanks Wil!!) and my tree has bark........so........I took bits of the bark cloth, adhered them to the "tree" and then painted them in.  So far I have done the trunk  (well....in this photo TWO of them are painted in.  I left the other two naked so you could see the difference)  In actuality they are all painted in now.  I'll be adding some to the larger limbs, then some crushed pecan shells (like in Emergence). The pecans on the ground - that is how we harvested them....shook the limb and they fell down among a good bit of twig debri and then we picked them up off the ground - I have screen printed in the black "shadow" of the pecans.  Then I will screen print over that with the brown.  I also have several half shells of my real pecans which I'm thinking about adhering among the screen print ones.  There will also be several tufts of grass sticking up.

So....here it is so far. The bit on the left of the tree is still a bit wet which is why it is also a bit shiny. The top and bottom bits have not been painted in yet.

WINTER  HARVEST