Seamless Skin

Ironing Party and Margueritas

at my place!  I really wish it so!  Humour gets me through a lot of stuff beyond my control and just for the fun I wish I could make pitchers of Margeritas for everyone as a gesture of kindness for your offers and kinder words.  As I glance over  at the pile of fabrics that need ironing...its as least 4 Marguerita pitchers high and I couldn't very well drink 4 pitchers all by myself!

In all seriousness though, my love and appreciation to each of you.  And since I'm not alone I just wanted to update the progress...the adjustor came this morning and it went smoothly...she estimated the damage at 15,000 but the alloted limit is 1/3 of that...since we are using the DIY plan, after my parents finish with the home essentials if there is enough to cover the books I lost, I'll get them from that, if not, I will definitely let Gerrie know...it isn't that many but they are core books to my processes.

The HVAC person was there today and cleaned out the furnace and replaced a small piece and said that my parents where lucky that the motor didn't sit low.  My sons and friends will start on removal of the paneling and the bathroom tomorrow while my mother and I pick up supplies.  Ya know, some people take atrip of a lifetime, climb mountains, go scuba-diving, or get a personal makeover...instead of sporadic posting like I had thought, I'll just treat this as one big long adventure :) 

In the comments of the previous post, Dee mentioned the UofL library flooding, not only did the UofL library flood as much of the campus did, but the Main branch of our City's library loosing all their books stored for the annual sale, their new books that come in for all the branches, and their bookmobile trucks, and the mainframe for the computer system...to the tune of 5 million in property damage.  Libraries are such vital focal points and common ground for each and every citizen it serves...I lean heavily toward the belief that without museums (art) and libraries everyone would succumb to the uglier sides of humanity.

Again, I appreciate the kind words and offers incredibly!  Peace!

this is what I'm talking about

Our weather has been really nice the last week...humidity not as high and temps in the 80s with dipping into the 70s at night.  Some spots of rain but nothing troublesome...even the gray overclouding we had I found relaxing. 

I can actually say now that going to the gym is habit.  I don't feel right when my routine breaks as it did on Saturday.  For those who know how I feel felt about exercise CAN I GET A WITNESS?!  Last week I went up to 30 minutes on the reclining bike with the programmed hills.  The exercise aggrevates the fibromyalgia but not to the point that I can't move or don't eventually feel better on the days I don't go.  And it really all boils down to my philosophy of "if I'm going to be uncomfortable or in pain, I might as well be so while doing something I want to do or have fun anyways".  That waiting for the perfect time or when things are just right or all the lights are green just doesn't happen...

Congratulations are in order to MudMan, my brother.  But I can't say why because there is the need to keep it hushed for reasons personal to him.  I've been bursting at the seams wanting to share it here since it relates to his life as an artist.  pssst, family and friends, email me for the news on the downlow ;)

As for me, I'm working into a groove but not quite there yet.  I've made this cover for my iPod and was proud of myself for figuring out how to put the snap on.  Its a project from Alissa Burke's book, Canvas Remix.  It (the case, not the book) is coated with polyurethane which makes it feel coarse.  I'm going to make another one without the coating.

I'm still playing with the graffitti look on canvas and the combining of techniques from the online class, Graffitti Chic, taught by Alissa.  I love the Ning format for taking online classes compared to the other formats I've taken.

Taking this class has got my eyes tuned to graffitti as I drive around town.  Yesterday I found myself wanting to make a sudden spontaneous stop to get out of my car and walk across a large gravel parking lot of a industrial business, cross train tracks to get a closer look of some very ornate lettering on parked train.  I didn't.  But I experience that urge daily whenever I come across graffitti now.  I like to think of graffitti artists as calligraphers who think really big.

I cut this stencil out from a photo of Peter when he was a young fierce teen-age warrior for the revolution. ;)  (incoming divergent thought:  we already know that the revolution will not be televised...but, will it be blogged?)  I might do another stencil of him as the now aged fierce tomato grower.  I get a daily tomato plant report with such detail and passion.  He is so cute with his serious passion for his tomato plants.  Reminds me of the days when we spent hours sitting in the Afro-American Reading Room solving all the social and political ills of the world when I decided he wasn't as square as I thought he was.  Oh my words, I'm cracking myself up here.

This piece has gone through some changes.  The base is silk paper.  Its been beaded 3 different times.  Yesterday I removed the beads and painted inside the squares with pearl-ex powders mixed into a textile medium.  In spite of really liking it just as you see it here, I'm leaning toward making it a cover for a journal.  It is 3 layers, but the edges of the silk paper which I didn't want to tame extend beyond the bottom 2 layers which end at the sewn line.

Right before leaving my workshop yesterday I sat and took in the space that I've been in now for a little over a year.  I sat reflecting on the on-going challenges of health, finances, deferred dreams, family conflicts, etc. and felt thankful for the Grace which is allowing me to have a space and abundance of materials to explore my imagination and artistic heartbeats.

To top it off, I came home to Kyra E. Hicks' new book!!!! I waited patiently to open the package while I listened to Peter's tomato report but just as soon as he finished I ripped it open and was like "look, look, look"!  I had to explain who Harriet Powers was to him and why the book was signficant and then I saw the pink sticky notes...couldn't contain my excitement...Kyra is kind enough and gracious to have blessed me by mentioning Seamless Skin.  Seeing myself and my blog referenced gives me an ethereal feeling.  Do you ever ponder humanity from a soul-physics point of view?  My mind is too small to grasp it but I do ponder it often...even tring to conceive how each individual small inhale and exhale we take effects change across the globe and if one breath has impact then what can be said of our breaths compounded.  Have you ever seen the African cylinder sculptures of humans interlocking to form a tower?  Maybe this is the way that particular culture or artist(s) understand what I ponder...how our small individual lives connect to form spiral cylinders that increases our humanity for the greater.  Lord know that scholarship on Harriet Powers is not exhausted and I never could have imagined or envsioned that my small breath would ever be of assistance.  But we can only see what we can see and living life larger means keep trusting the process and stepping out on belief (i.e. what I cannot see but know to hold truth).

I'm going to commune with some trees today with a grand-sistah-poet and tomorrow will be hanging out with Juanita, my quilt guru, who is here teaching some classes! All praises to the Most High!

Peace, 

 

Breath in, Breath out, Breath...

Ohhhhhhhmmmmmm, I once again ooohhhhhmmmmm, can't ooooohhhhhhmmmmmmm upload oooohhhmmmmmmmmm pictures ooooohhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Good vibrations are contagious!

Yesterday I attended the summer social for Louisville Area Fiber and Textile Artists (LAFTA).  This is my 3rd year having a membership.  Joining 3 years ago was a part of my plan to re-socialize and get out more after coming to grips with how my life had changed due to pulmonary hypertension.  Now slinging my portable o2 tank and breathing treatments are old hat and I think very little about it and my life is once again centered around my aspirations first and my limitations second. 

Anyways, I had a great time yesterday at the social and received fantastic feedback on the 3 6x12s and woke up this morning itching to return to my workshop today.  Good vibes are contagious! I'll go this evening for a few hours after some appointments that I hope will not take too much energy from me...there is a heat advisory warning today.  Louisville is situated in a regional valley and pollutions travel from afar and just settles...couple this with high heat and high humidity and it is nasty...no matter how blue the sky looks and bright and beautiful from inside, it is not healthy. 

Looking into my basement workshop from outside:

I keep promising myself to order a portable door screen to go over the doorway...I love to keep it open on cooler days for the light but then I find myself swatting at flies.  Its a great working space and I'm still trying to make it more efficient and supplies accessible.  After flipping through the art studio magazines, I feel this pressure to make it pretty...but I know that would last all of a hot minute.  When I walk into this space it says to me "are you ready to get down to work", it asks "do you have what it takes today? if not, you better go play somewhere else".  The space feels very purposeful.  Pretty would relax me and make me feel whimsical and detached from the reason I have the space in the first place.

Part of LAFTA membership is the availability of monthly workshops offered free and lead by other members.  Two months ago Joanne Weis, who just finished Jane Dunnewold's 2 year master program (YOU GO GIRL!), did a basic soy wax workshop.  Here are my samples using ink, paint, and dye and no, I didn't bother to mark which was which like I was instructed, so i can't tell you which piece received what.

I do believe the one on the left was ink since it is black...the other two where black dye/dye paint.  I added a second layer of colour when I was testing out the old dye stock and here it is now:

Issac, my 6 yr old nephew is here for the summer from North Carolina and he and my great-niece Zaria took interests in watching me sew.  Issac wants to paint.  When I set up my workshop space I seriously considered having an area set-up for children.  From time to time on Craiglist, the old school children's desks and chairs can be found very cheap. (I do not want the bright coloured contemporary plastic ones, yuck!) I think I'm going to keep an eye out for 1 or 2 of them just for moments like this.  I'm just a hair short of being cramped but I don't want to regret not making space when a child in my life requests to share it.

If you've read this post, or stopped by to browse my blog, I hope your day is everything you need it to be! Peace,

 

Hurricanes, Swamps, and Magnolias.

 

Yesterday I started with what I thought would be a few circles around the moon but I was really caught up in the building up of colour with the stitches that I did not stop and loved the ending result.  Peter saw a hurricane...I see a swamp at dusk.  The edging is hand stitched with thick linen thread.  See how flat it lays?  I wasn't expecting this either but if must be the acryllic felt as batting that is responsible for the flatness.  Behind the moon are 3 layers of felt which makes it rise up...its not visible in the photo but you can see it a little bit on the back-

 

 

A Huge Thank You to Dr. Paul Cappiello from Yew Dell Gardens!

He must flag the name of the gardens and I'm so happy he did!  He answered the question about the pods I picked up from the ground in the comments of the previous post.  Here is his reply:

The little "pod-like cones" are actually the fruiting structures from a magnolia. The specimens you picked up from the ground did not set any seed and that is why they were shed by the plant. The structure is actually an aggregate of follicles - if anyone cares.

Yew Dell

I care I care!  I've started drawing these pods and I'm watching them decay still.  They have turned to a blackish brown colour and have shrivelled in size.  Reminds me that 'one needs substance because beauty doesn't last and is often fleeting'.

If I'm understanding his answer correctly, they would have tunred into the flower if they had seeded? 

Its all good.

This morning it was a song by Kool Moe Dee on the radio that perked me up...nothing like old school rap...I was just "this close" to break dancing and annoying my 17 year old.  'He ain't up on it like that', nor could he appreciate it from an historical perspective...his loss.

I am still rolling (slowly, but still, ya know) at the gym 3 times a week.  This week I added an additional 5 minutes on the treadmill.  Since I've been doing this, its a must for me to take an additional nap during the day and I sleep very deep...a few hours of sleep feels like the next day when I wake up.  My sleep through the night is still broken up, never more than 4 hours straight.  Sometimes I can get back to sleep, but on the nights that I can't I so wish I had my workshop accessible.  When ideas flow in the middle of the night and at the time they seem so fantastic that I just know I'm going to remember them, right!?  Well sometimes I'll write them down. :)

The colour is slightly off, but here is the piece from the previous posts.  You will see I haven't attached the copper wire ring.  Thank you to all the commentors who left suggestions on how to attach it.  I'm still pondering them. I'm leaning toward putting in two holes and using a flat washer painted copper instead.  I mixed the charcoal paint with gel medium and painted the four sides.  I've yet to decide how to hang it, either frame or mounted to a stretched painted canvas...but for the moment I'm considering it complete.

The learning lesson here: painted canvas is unforgiving when stitches have to be removed...so stitches are the language of committment! 

Here is an in-process close-up of the next 6"x12".  This is raw and rough.  My current book and the one before present information/perspectives about The Slave Trade during The Middle Passage.  The raw and rough feel to this could possibly be a manifestation of what I'm carrying around as a result of reading Lose Your Mother by S. Hartman and The Slave Ship by M. Reidiker.

From Piddlin' to Productive.

You got to use your imagination...clean edges...black vertical lines in the gray area, close together in size 12wt cotton...a singular vertical line of black tube beads about an inch in from the right....the black lines near the circle will maintain the circular edge under the round...no stitches in the copper section but the tiniest of seed beads (not sure of the colour) sprinkled in.  I thought of placing a little bit of shimmer under the circle but didn't want the metallic reflection to go into overkill.  I'm going to bead around the circle.  These pieces are for design and familiarity with canvas.  I don't have a jean needle which is what I'd prefer to sew through this...I'm going to try it with a universal needle, size 14.  I'm trying to decide on just how to finish the edges...I know I want it clean but not bulky...there will be black batting but I'm thinking the back will be either heavy water colour paper or sewn to black foamcore.  Any suggestions??????

Here is the piece I'm beading on in the previous post:

 

There will be more beading but this is what I did to wind down the last 20 minutes in the workshop.  Its about 12inch-ess by 14 inch-ess, meaning I'm just guessing at measurement.  Deborah, my sister, wants this one but wants me to make another one with a mirror image.  When she told me, I was like "really????"; this is the type of exploratory busy playing around that I would only share here on my blog and then hang at home or store for reference, so I was kinda shocked when she said she wanted it.  When I started this piece I just wanted to work with the zig-zag free motion stitching, thread painting, and straight stitch free motion.  The beading was added because it relaxes me and I want to use my statsh...I discovered today that I don't really have a good assortment of purple or orange beads.  There was something else I discovered today while painting.....ummm....oh, I like Golden's Zinc White in fluid acryllic.  It is such a very bright clean white that plays well with other colours.  The bottle I have is a 1 oz bottle and its almost gone.  I also love Setacolour's Raw Sienna.  Need to remember this in order to save for larger bottles.

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When I go to the gym (all of week 2) it is early morning and most of the people there are clearly senior citizens...now I'm almost 50, but the folks I encounter are people, without hesitation, I say are my elders.  They see me with the oxygen tank and come over to give me encouragement and advice to take it slow and build up gradually...and some joke with me about returning...I get so tickled inside because these 70+ year old individuals are the ones hogging the treadmills and bikes going at rapid speed.  So with that surrounding me, I couldn't quit if I wanted to!  Seriously, I feel very much at ease and not at all intimidated.  On Mondays, 2 women play raquetball and I can see them when I'm on the weight machines and I do wish I had that type of stamina.  One of my senior buddies caught me watching them and I guess she could tell I was a little saddened...she came up to me and said "don't worry, that will be me and you next year"...we fell out laughing.  I told her I was going to hold her to that. 

I left there and picked up my oldest and his 3 y.o. son and went to breakfast...I left the camera in the car otherwise I would have thrown up a cute-grandchild photo. 

Peace,

 

 

 

More Piddlin'

Yesterday I sat down and ripped unprimed canvas for what I thought would be the beginning of my first fabric book but after painting them, I started seeing small quilts.  I kept telling myself there will be time for that later and just play with getting a book made.  This is where I left it.  Since Saturday I'm been physically run down with a fibro-flare...it feels like a tooth ache, swollen gums but all over my body. In spite of feeling not my best I made it to the gym to walk (sllllllllooooooooowly) on the treadmill and to pedal (sllllllooooooooooowly) on the reclining bike.  Having been spurred by Juanita's discipline and my oldest son's workout, I've gone all of 4 times since Monday a week ago.  Today is a designated rest day but I did manage to meet the carpenter this morning who will convert a table for me into a sewing table.  He will actually do the work tomorrow on the table I found on Craigslist...the source for most of my workshop furniture. 

I think quilts with canvas is in my future.  I like the texturized look of the canvas and the weight of the drape...kinda heavy and slow moving like me.  I have a yard of hemp that I've been saving for years and hope that working with the canvas will give me the courage to use the hemp...the texture is there but the drape is comparatively lighter than canvas. 

Speaking of lighter, I took advantage of the break in last weeks weather and went to get my head shaved...(with a new barber, I always feel like I'm cheating on Rolando who has cut my hair for 20 years).  He did a fabulous job and then I even went to get my brows waxed using a gift card I had forgotten about, suki suki now!...These 2 things do wonders for my disposition, I tell ya! But alas, it did turn damp and gray again...but at the moment I can see the sun is trying to shine...but I'm off to take a nap.

very close crop!!!!!

pieces of painted canvas, experimenting with various paints...

The Piddlin' Peddler

My confidence has taken a dive.  My emotions have been bouncing up and down like the weather..."life stuff", the bittersweetness of it all.  I'm also wheezing and experiencing some heaviness in my chest so I've had to up the breathing treatments and rest more than I typically do.  I'm always the most vulnerable when the seasons change.  So the few days I've been at the workshop I've piddled.  I seem to have lost the grove for The Poetry Series at the moment...I didn't want to approach it with the funky dragging moods I've been in.  In order to be gracious with myself I thought I would dip and dabble around...so I pulled a book fro the shelf on collage and thought I'd work through it slowly, not with any sense of urgency...afterall, collage really isn't what I do, so whatever I end up with would be okay. 

 While working on this I thought about paper quilts or paper and cloth quilts.  Possibly another piddle day I may quilt this.

On another day, I gave in to re-organizing but really only manage to move clutter from one table to another, so I opted to sit down and read and listen to music...really listen and allow the music to carry me away...I was vibing with jazz violnist Regina Carter.  So that was this past Saturday. 

Today I thought I would play around with free motion embroidery and free motion quilting.  This is very different for me...again, just piddling and practicing.  My flower looks like it has the chickenpox.  Again I was playing Regina Carter and added Herbie Hancock to the mix...I really wanted a bottle of wine to accompany my groove with the sewing machine, but since I drive to come home, that wasn't an option.

 Inconsistency in speed paired with hand control delivers uneven stitching.  I did like the zig-zag stictching with free motion.  The threads I used were Isacord and Madeira.  Isacord really sinks down into the fabric.  Madeira seems to sit more on top.  My machine (Janome 6500) loved them both.

Here are two atc's I had left over and found when I moved my clutter around and if you'd like to trade with me, give me a shout out.   ummm, the image orientation is on its side...oh well, if you make atc's then you already know what size they are, right?!

I canceled going to Paducah next week.  I took a deep breath and called my sister to tell her I just didn't think it was feasible to push going financially in light of some other things I'm trying to cook up.  She kept the reservation and plans on dragging her husband over for 3 days and 2 nights (if I had the strength, I'd fall over laughing...she is optimistic but I really don't think that is going to fly).  We shall see, said the blind man.

Oh, and I the only one who is going wild over the HBO series The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency?  I ordered HBO just to watch this series...a big fan of Jill Scott, no surprise there, but I think its the secretary that makes the show.  Think of Murder, She Wrote with an African flavor.  I could just snatch Jill Scott's wardrobe for the show right off!  Simple, free flowing, yet great sophisticated patterning. I'm also tickled by the cartoon animation for the header and footer of the show so I did a search to find out who was responsible.  Those of you interested in graphic design might enjoy perusing the company's info...Airside. 

Peace to anyone and everyone who reads here...and as far as replying to comments, I'm going to change and try mainly to reply within the comment section.

Art meteorology patterns

Schizoid weather patterns!

Yesterday I simply absolutely refused to believe it!  We had a beautiful, gorgeous day yesterday...warm, bright, cheery...the evening turned cloudy and dark and thunderstorms came in...but it was still warm...okay, I was good.  The part I refused to believe was the prediction of snow flurries and the high in the 30's for today.  Denial is not a river in Egypt.  Howling winds and the need to turn on the heat woke me this morning...It is still wet outside and the gray ovecaste remains from yesterday's storm and the snow flurries are still predicted today...damn, I think I'm going into shock!!!!  I'm only relieved and warmed by knowing my fridge is full and thus, no running "survival errands" and the only going out today will be to hang with other textile/fabric friends.

Sankofa bird takes flight.

I finished my little bird and since it was all about playing around, I went ahead and glued it to a canvas (never tried this before) and started 2 more:

 

I'm digging this little gem and hung it in my workshop.

Working with the inks is definitely about layering them on little by little.  They do blend well but I find it best to dry each layer (by ironing) before adding the next.  And those tiny bottles really have a lot of ink in them and it really is apparent just how much if one spills over on you :)

Update on The Poetry Series

With the mishap of the last quilt that I ended up cutting up into 2 smaller quilts and painting over, I'm weighing what I originally had in mind with the outcomes thus far and how flexible I want to be in changing what I had in mind at the onset...I'm asking myself, am I not excuting correctly due to skill limitations? should I remain open during the process and continue to allow unforeseen outcomes to occur?  if I continue to identify these already completed quilts as part of the poetry series, what makes them so when they have strayed from my original intent?  Even though the outcome and processes stray off, I am still working with intent combined with firmly working out the African American adage of "making a way out of no way" by taking what occurs and bending it back into my will.

This is all fuel for me and while I've been weighing these questions, simultaneously am working on creating the palette of fabrics in reds, yellows, and greens.  I'm still writing on fabric so when the weather breaks firmly into spring-summer temps, I'll be ready to add more layers.

Life is like a 1000 piece puzzle.

Last week I actually sat down and looked over prospectuses for 4 shows and for the first time I have enough work that I would want to submit to without the worry of the shows overlapping.  Now with that said...I'm horrible at being prepared...not wanting to sacrifice any time at the workshop to rearrange to photograph properly and handle the paperwork...as the book is titled I'd Rather be in the Studio doing what makes me happy.  I missed a deadline this past Monday for a local juried show that the Embroidery Guild is sponsoring.  My  goal remains to be in 4 shows a year which means about 12 shows to submit to.  I'm trudging through these marketing books and have enrolled in a short presentation on the subject through the local art association but I'm continuing to question myself on how much commitment I hold towards this aspect.  So I learn a little but question a lot more...if nothing else, I'm committed to understanding the marketing side of art...l'll do what I do and see where the road goes.

Here is the link to the shrimp and grit recipe I used.  I used Alouette brand of cream chesse with garlic and herbs.  My food adventure this week will be to make Arnold Palmer cupcakes

On Monday I free motioned stitched on my little Sankofa bird.  Sorry about the hazy photo, my daily camera is not functioning well (remember it was broken about a year ago).  I'm thinking about moving to a lightweight small camera for daily use and pull out the D40x and finally learn to use it.  Technical learning seems to require me to dig deep down to focus and absorbs all my energies that I've been reluctant to add another thing under the title "something else to do".

 

My plan from here is to go bead crazy on it since its all for play and the beads just sit there hollering to be used.  I started with these small donuts and plan to fill in the ground with green, brown, and cream coloured sead beads.  The size is 5"x5" and I'm gonna fuse it down on a canvas. 

oh, and here is the puzzle we finished on Sunday...we're waiting for the next one to arrive which is also a Frank Lloyd Wrigt image of various coloured pencils.  Design wise, this kinda puts me in the mind of a Gees Bend quilt...the linear patterning maybe? or kente-clothish? 

 

Just Generally Speaking...

Last week I dreamt about houses...3 separate nights, 3 different houses; my grandmother's, great-grandmother's, and my parent's...and the last one involved my parent's neighbors and her husband leaving her...my mother told me yesterday that she didn't think he was there.  Now I don't have much contact with them other than occassionally being bothered by them parking in front of my mother's house when they have a long ass driveway and 2-car garage that is underused.  Her husband tutored my son in math for a short spell.  I admit being baffled by them as a couple as they are as far different one from another as any 2 people could be.  In all the dreams there was construction going on...building upward.  Since architecture intrigues me, I'm wondering if I should do something around buildings/construction?  I dunno, I'll let it simmer some more.

After bringing some order to my work tables yesterday I pulled out the Tsunieko Inks.  The Sankofa bird (a bird looking back) is something I doodle a lot.  This is on a polyester blend scrap....I'm going to machine free-motion embroider it for some more practice.  It took a bit of slowing down to relate to the layering/blending that these inks seem to require.  I wanted to use more ink on it but I thought I'd see how much the threads can carry in adding depth.

The shrimp and grits turned out okay but I think my expectations of the dish prepared here is ruined by what I had in South Carolina.  I will make it on occassion and for Beverly who asked about the recipe I will post what I did in a few days.  Tonight I'm going to try an asparagus quiche.

On the puzzle front, this is how far we've come since Sunday:

We use to do these a lot when our relationship was young and I had forgotten how addicting and fun these are.  I don't think we've done one since Ade, now 17, was a toddler.

What is this thing called freedom?

I woke up feeling stressed this morning and not refreshed at all.  Not sure what the feeling is about but I'm thinking of Maya Angelou's quote describing tiny annoyances as being "pecked to death by ducks".  My heart is being pulled in too many directions of interests and concerns.  My goal is to not leave home today.  Other than the chores of housework, I'm looking forward to starting on a 1000 piece puzzle with Ade and Peter.

I have some hand work I brought home from my workshop to keep me settled.  I'm adding random x's in red thread in the yellow quilt pictured in the post below and I'm outlining the birds in orange floss on the other piece pictured in the previous post.

For dinner today I have a recipe for shrimp and grits.  Ever since I had this dish in South Carolina many many years ago I've been trying to replicate it without success.  Of course the shrimp I'm buying will never compare to what one gets in coastal areas and I'm using quick grits which I like but REAL GRITS! ummm, nothing like them...they just don't keep well. 

Last night I found this beautiful blog post on artist Xenobia Bailey's blog on her visit to the home of Aminah Robinson.  Over four years ago I read about Aminah Robinson on Serena Fenton's blog and then later saw one of her overwhelming pieces at the Underground Railroad museum in Cincy.  And no more than 15 minutes prior to finding the post on Bailey's blog, I was using a 25 dollar gift certificate from Amazon and debating whether to purchase one of Robinson's books...I didn't.  Don't know what it all means but it just felt like something I had to recognize.  Here is the post: Aminah Lynn Robinson.

More than her art alone, it is the WAY Aminah Robinson lives that brings forth so many affirmations of what it means to know thyself from an early age and what results from having the courage to be true to one's calling in the face of what passes as socially acceptable norms or social dictates.  I think in youth, when one is trying to establish their own identity (conscious or unconsciously) one mistakenly runs toward their own oppression, or substitutes one oppression for another.  Freedom over me, Aminah!

Hangeth in...

Did I ever mention my aversion to winter? Okay, nevermind then. I'll move on.

Guess what this is?  Okay, okay, so what if it is still quilt #2 in the Poetry Series...if I wanted to be all technical about it, I could claim it as quilt #5 if I include the 3 smaller pieces that inspired this series to begin with, so there, now! And no, that is a gum ERASER and not chewing gum sitting on the pointy thing for the circular attachment.  I lost the little knob for it.

I was at the workshop for less than 10 hours this week, four of which included napping.  With the limited time I was there, I rearranged my workshop space again with the help of my youngest son, so the other hours had to be dedicated to doing the most important which was going in circles on quilt #2 above.  The weather is warming this weekend and I hope it holds through a few more weeks.  I had planned to be there today but I'm honoring my body's request for rest. 

I started physical therapy last week for the sciatica and it helped tremendously but I was unable to make it in 2 days this week due to muscle and joint pain followed by a trip to the ER which turned out to be for dehydration.  But the flip side of all the discomfort is the opportunity to stay still long enough to read through the stack of books about "prayer" I was able to get from the library before all the physical trauma. When I embark on my next series, I'm thinking it will be on Prayer.  If, this will be the 3rd of series work that I have going.  When I first started to think about doing a body of work I imagined that I would work on one quilt after another until a series was complete but that isn't and hasn't been the case.  I know that I could never keep up with what my mind thinks up so I tend to latch on to the ideas that become most compelling due to what is going on with me through experiences, emotions, and ideas.  Even though I'm reading on "prayer", I'm thinking that I'll do another Liberation quilt after I finish #2 in PS.  The Liberation quilts can be seen on my website (which isn't complete) at http://www.wix.com/karoda/karen-r.-davis 

Liberation (LS) was my first attempt at series work.  It came about totally unplanned.  In the first one my goal was to work with foiling and couching and applying metal on a quilt and while working on this quilt I would have this all encompassing sensation of being FREE.  The sensation would start out physically and then move into what is called in African American slang as "being on the one"...everything was vibing on the one when I worked on this particular quilt.  The second in LS, Cilium 2, has been in 3 shows and several locations and a few weeks ago I decided to retire it and hang it here at home in the hallway and the first one in my bedroom.  Here is Cilium 2 hanging up at the Calving Barn hallway at the Mary Anderson Center during a demo I was doing on silk fusion for Magic on the Mount Festival a few summers ago.  A partial view of Cilium 1 is the next photo.

   

For next week,  my goals are to focus on lettering/calligraphy and reading and going back through the workshop I took on digital collage brushes with Gail Schmidt from Creative Workshop ning group and a minimum of 5 hours at my workshop toward the end of the week.  Also, to return to physical therapy.

And I was going to leave this photo off, and not gush over the time I spent with my grandson this week but he is an old soul and she is just a wild woman and they brung me such joy :)

And we have a winner!

 

 

 

My great niece Amelia is holding Teddi's name.  We had fun grasping the concept of "just one" for the first few draws and then she finally caught on.

The book will be on its way to New Mexico in trade.  I just wish I could figure out a way to go with the book and escape the snow and ice.  School has been out from Tuesday through the end of this week and I've been in since then as well. 

I was at my workshop on Monday and look what I did...

I sliced this quilt right down the middle.  Since I did not gasp...it clued me that my emotional attachment was low.  It was a collage exercise from the start and I didn't like it...I'm going to re-fashion it into something I want to hang here at home.   I'm holding a series in the back of my mind on Prayers and at first I was thinking I would make this the first one, but its better off as a study for what to do and not to do when I get to that series. 

Here is what the refashion might look like when its finished...nothing complicated...but I love the colours and the photos.

 

Thanks to those who expressed interest in the trade and the give-a-way. 

I'm just a simple peasant woman

so why do I attempt to multi-task?  No, I haven't completed a quilt; no, I haven't started Color & Composition with the Debbie Babin's Yahoo group; no, I haven't scheduled the PT for the sciatica (since its gotten somewhat better, trying to wait it out); no, I haven't photographed the rest of the quilts in order to complete my website; no, I haven't completed One Hundred Years of Solitude (have 25 pages to go and I don't want it to end...I'm really gonna miss the crazy Buendias and the village of Macondo)and I'm sure there are some other things I could answer no to...BUT, yes, I've discovered Ning (see my sidebar) and I love the sites for the complete integration of all social networking on the net; yes, I found a way to get the critiques of my work on the Fiber Focus site via the Awful Truth (for the thick skinned); yes, I've talked to 2 different men on making the sewing table from the plans I ordered from Keepsake Quilting (waiting estimates so I can yea or nay the idea); yes, I'm still in love with casual forms of Calligraphy as opposed to the highly decorative scripts; yes, I've discovered Photoshop Elements (came with the scanner but I wanted to learn its big brother Photoshop which I haven't done); yes, I'm enrolled in an online workshop, Creating Custom Digital Brushes with Gail Schmidt at Creative Workshop (another Ning group); yes, I've started one of the art marketing books; and yes I have a give-a-way and a trade!!!!

I have the Premier Issue of Where Women Create, a Stampington Publication:

 

I'll draw a name from a bag this coming Wednesday night from commentors to this post and announce the winner Thursday with a new post.

And I'd like to trade something for the book that led to the creation of the magazine.  What you ask do I want in trade?  I dunno...make me an offer here or via email at seamless_skin (at) yahoo (dot) com for something.  I'll announce what I chose from any offers that I might receive on Thursday...if I get nothing, it will go into the grab bag at the next LAFTA meeting.

 

And I like to unveil one of my stamps created in PSE...for me this is a big deal!  I call it "Do you remember when we were in Paris?"

Things Fall Apart

And no, this is not a review of Chinua Achebe's novel! I had just two days at my workshop this week...I was going in today but find myself dealing with the pain of sciatica (something new for me) so I came home and today I will play with some calligraphy between drug-induced naps. 

Shortly after Christmas I had this pain in my hip/lower back and it progressed down through my leg in days following...sometimes it would seem to get better and sometimes I wouldn't feel it  at all but then last week I had tears flowing trying to get up in the mornings.  The pain would get better as I moved around but the mornings became horrendous! Finally went to the er and followed up with my doc and I'm trying to decide whether to take the PT she ordered or wait for a few weeks to see if there is any improvement.  I really do not want to accomodate the effects of taking the pain pill and the muscle relaxer...I have stuff I need/want to do and this is such an intrusion in my plans here!  Yesterday I did fairly okay without taking anything until the afternoon and had to miss a meeting with area textile and fiber artists.

The other problem which I knew was coming, came yesterday...my cutting table collasped!  (My mother's voice in my head "they saw you coming)  I purchased this table at Hancock's about 2 years ago and got it for 50% off.  I paid 50 bucks and it was the last one. Boy, did I feel smug and satisfied!  Well, when I set up the workshop back in the spring there was one problem screw that would not stay in...okay, I thought, I'll contend with it and just tighten it up from time to time.  Well since then every single screw has fallen out!  I would be in my workshop and here this "ping"...it would be the sound of a screw falling out and hitting the floor.  Every single screw that holds the top to the legs will not stay in.  Since I've been in a printing and sewing mode I've not had to use the table for cutting and have piled supplies on it.  Thinking that the weight of the supplies held the top down I really didn't give it too much thought (or just didn't want to deal with it)...well, like I said, yesterday it gave way...so I'm on the search for a replacement.  I've inquired about 3 wood kitchen tables on Craigslist between 20-40 bucks and am waiting for replies.  I'm thinking I could glue the current cutting surface to the top of a rectangle kitchen table and elevate it with risers.  A friend of my father's could build me one if I don't need it in hurry and he is the same one who I'm waiting to call about building me a sewing table...but he works full time at Ford and it is so up in the air when I'll have them.  I'm just kinda typing out loud here for the most cost efficient and immediate answer to this problem.

And if the sciatica and collasped table wasn't enough...with less than 1/6 of the quilting to go on the current quilt that measures 60"x40" (huge for me) I ran into some SERIOUS puckering where the fusible didn't adhere well.  I would rather make a whole new quilt than to try to take the quilting out (a hell of a lot) and pull apart the fabric from the batting to adjust it...so I thought cutting in down in size since the puckering is near the left edge.  The puckering you can see (click on image to enlarge) is not the worst of it either...I have that section folded back to see how adjusting the width would effect the overall design.  The yellow section is also wider than in the photo. 

 

My other idea is to sew down patches of stone and rock that form circles over the problematic area and across the quilt in other sections...The title of this quilt is "washing over the stone of our origin" or "stone of our origin" which is a line from the poem written on it. 

Ah, but the brave thing that I did yesterday was to re-fashion quilt study into postcards and trading cards...if you take a peek at my old blog, Art Going Postal, they are in the line with Urban Egression.  When I complete the edging I'll place them up for sale and trade on a page here and on my website. 

With the King Holiday and the Inaurugation to follow I'm really jazzed...I like to prepare what I call a Freedom dinner on King Holiday and listen to and read his speeches, especially The Letter From the Birmingham Jail.  I think I'm going to watch the festivities with my parents on Tuesday and possibly drop into one of the community gatherings around town.  How are you planning to spend Monday and Tuesday?

 

Did they see me coming????

Whenever I made an impulsive purchase my mother would quip "Girl, they saw you coming".  I picked up the few supplies I needed for the calligraphy workshop at Artists and Craftsman Supply and right beside the cash register were these...

now, I've never made an artist trading card in my life...even for me who likes small, I've always considered them too small for me to make.  To my credit I did place 3 more back in their slots opting to try just these.  My thought was with the calligraphy workshop working on paper, who knows, I might just do something with them soon as opposed to later.  It doesn't take much for me to become excited when its fiber related.  Last night at LAFTA meeting there was a show and tell with altered books (hey, I've been down that road and loved it) and I was getting that all too warm and fuzzy feeling thinking I need to jumpstart my altered book making...and then another artist showed her hand made dolls in cloth and my stomach was on fire (because yeah, I wanted to at least try that once too).  And then several showed their hand felting work and my ears started to wiggle.  But I busted on my own bubble remembering the purse I was crocheting last winter that I was going to felt which is still laying in the basket by the comfy chair where I placed it in April (nearly finished, hey, I get points for that!) and just resigned myself to thinking admiring and getting energized from the work of others is enough (for now).

On the radio shows I was trying to find...NPR.org has recordings of the Studs Terkel show available!!!! So I'm good to go with that.  I still need to write the letter to Guy Davis for Ossie's and Ruby's show.

My brother has a reception tonight for another show in Lexington that I'll be going to this evening.  I'll take the camera for some photos in a few days!

Peace,

Winter Is Not My Friend

Ahhhh %4&@#! it done turned cold!!!!!!!!! (spoken in street-wise intonation).  Counting my blessings that I don't have to stand on a street corner and wait for buses!!!!  I'm sorry if you love this weather but you must know that (to quote myself) "winter is not my friend".  Yesterday I popped out of bed and kept my focus on what needed to be done before leaving...but I tell ya! once I hit that cold weather I was done.  Its gets inside of me and its like I can never get it out.  My body hurts, my mind gets slow...so, by the time I arrived at my workshop I couldn't think straight...the cold winds (known as the hawk) for the brief times I was in and out of the car, flew off with my focus. 

Once there, I re-arranged some tables that was feng-shit and then I had to arrange them back to the original layout to get a better shui going on.  After that I quilted in circles on a quilt which helped me some to focus and concentrate with a little bit of clarity.  After 3 hours I called it a day and returned home to a hot meal waiting thanks to the slow cooker and settled down with my family. 

Peter has a some years before he can retire, (God willing and the creek don't rise) I hope we can get outta here to a more warmer climate.  And I'm going to try not to bitch, moan, and complain about the cold weather here at Seamless Skin...its a noble aspirations but I'm warning you, don't nail me down to it.  And if I read on your blog how much you love this weather, know that I'll just roll my eyes and try not to leave a snarky comment. 

Good intentions

laid to rest.  My plan was to go for breakfast and head down to my workshop today.  I'm gotten just a little surly...its been a week and I left my place a mess because I was in a flow thinking I was going to return the next day. 

I did make it for breakfast and a short stop to Border's to pick up Poets & Writers(looking forward to reading Morrison's new novel, A Mercy) andArts Across Kentucky but came home instead of going to my workshop.  So I'm back to chilling out by catching up on some of my favorite blogs to follow:

Tror Na Foe, David Grant's blog about finding his roots through DNA matching.  It reads so beautifully. 

Have you seen The Secret Life of Bees?  I read the book years ago and went to see the movie 2 weeks ago...just beautiful!!! Over at Sankofa Doll JournalI discovered there will be special edition Black Madonna Honey coming out.  I hope this area gets them...I would love to have one.

If you are looking for a gift of encouragement for a Black male youth on your list, consider this.

I'm excited about an upcoming workshop to enhance my writing on cloth.  Check out Laurie Doctor.

In web searching for the info I wrote about in the previous post.  I discovered that Dee and Davis have a son who is a bluesman.  I love discovering new to me blues and jazz singers/musicians.  Guy Davisis his name.  I'm going to write a hand written letter to him via the address listed for his agent with the hopes he'll be able to help me find the archived radio show his parents did.  And a shout out of thanks to Fulviaand Raynafor attempting to help me out.

Ron, my brother, has made some of his digital art pieces available for cards and prints via Red Bubble (similiar to Cafe Press).

And I have always loved the big colorful parrots, the talking birds (a friends grandfather had one that would ask for popcorn and then cuss you out real good if you said you didn't have any, it was wild and my first and last time of actually being around those type of birds), and these birds.

Okay, dokey, yall stay cool. Peace.