Seamless Skin

Painting Canvas

Don't want to speak too soon but I've got a groove going back in the workshop!!  Whew, I was a worried there for a bit.  This is the beginning of week 3 of getting back on the good foot and I'm putting in 15 hours a week again.  (And week 4 of going to the gym...me and Ibuprophen have become close). 

I still have till the end of May (self-imposed timeline) to work with the raw canvas.  Through the Quilting Arts/Interweave site I discovered Alisa Burke and ordered her book, Canvas Remix, and enrolled in her online workshop entitled Graffiti Chic.  The timing to discover her was right on since she focuses on raw canvas.  For a week now I've been painting torn pieces and here is some of the results.  If you want to see a few of them up close, I uploaded some of my faves to Picasa here.

These are torn a little larger than 6"x12".  The first one I showed you I actually completed today...no, really, I'm very satisfied.  Here is what I did to the "moon":

A few months back I took inventory of completed pieces that where exhibit ready and thought "yeah" I can submit to the 4 shows I identified without worry of overlapping...well, today I searched for the forms...I know they are there somewhere...the organization of paper has never been my strong suit.  I considered appealing to Saint Anthony but thought, "no, I'd rather be painting canvas".

  One of the positive reinforcements I received from reading I'd Rather Be In The Studio by A. Stansfield was computer organization of files and folders.  I've got to make time to get the data entered.  One day (3-4 hours) every 2 weeks to get info entered and set up seems reasonable.  By the end of the year I should have everything in that I want in and from there it would be easier to track...right? right. right! 

When I find the forms I promise not to wail (here) about another missed deadline :)

To end this entry on a happier note, here is what I think is the most successful collage I've ever created.  It really isn't "quilted"...the only quilt construction is the red rectangle on the left.  Majority of it is built up from the copper painted canvas.  As far as mounting goes, my thoughts were to paint the stretched canvas off white and attache it, but then yesterday I saw  this on The West Country Buddha blog, and I immediately saw this piece with an attached copper wire for hanging.  As typical for me...I'm gonna sleep on it.

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.

I need your help...

Really, I need suggestions on how to attach this piece of copper.  What would a mixed media artist use to attach this, is the question I posed to myself.  I really don't want to use thread...I thought about copper jewelry wire but I'm not sure how strong it is...would it snap or break?  I thought about stringing the charcoal beads and using them to intertwine throughout the copper circle and it would also secure them down using fishing line. 

 

 

I didn't go with the black lines, instead I pulled the colours at the top into the bottom using thread and then will pull the charcoal into the top with the tiny beads.

I want to make 10 of these before the end of May.  These are small, 6"x12" simple designs and exercises in colour combinations.   I like the size and the design and after flipping through old sketch books I saw several of quick sketches just like it...here is even a postcard I made in 2006 with pretty much the same design.  I called it House of Peace. 

 I'm also still uncertain how I'm going to finish the edges.  the canvas is to stiff and thick to roll back using a facing and I do not want to zig-zag...if I did a satin stitch I would want perfect matching thread for the charcoal and the coppery coloured top half.  What if I mounted it on foamcore and then used heavy weight card stock to cover the edges????  I even thought about mounting them on stretched canvas and either using rice paste glue or Y.E.S. glue or a permanent spray adhesive to attach it to the canvas? 

Since I declared Wednesday that I'm getting back on the good foot and shaking off the funk, I've spent 6.5 hours at my workshop.  I did bring somethings to work on while I'm home just in case I do not make it back tomorrow.  On weekends I have to have flexibility since my guys, youngest son and adorable partner, are out of school and off from work.  But I'll be back at the gym tomorrow and am looking forward to it (I can't remember ever feeling like that before...I use to look forward to jazzercise because my sister and I would stop afterwards and get ice cream that was next door to jazzercise).

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.

******************************************************************************************

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,

 

 

 

I Really Do Have Everything I Need...

and then some to create art quilts!  This statement has become a personal affirmation that I say often. I've got to get back on top of my throne...I've got to shake the funk off...I've got to get with it or quit it (something my mother use to say).  I've given myself grace to piddle long enough! As of tomorrow (dare I type this out loud), but let me say it again...AS OF TOMORROW I'm returning to a minimum of 15 hours each week at my workshop and for the next few weeks...I'll work with the painted canvas strips and then when June rolls around I will return to The Poetry Series!  I've said it here...and friends, family, and strangers who read here, don't hesitate to call me on the carpet if I stray from this plan.  I of all people know that the lights are never green at the same time and waiting around for everything to be "perfect", whatever that really is, doesn't make sense in the world of the peasant woman that I profess to be.  I'm placing the brakes on all the introspection and philosophising and lamenting over the malaise and physical hurdles that characterize what feels like months.  (The good thing about keeping a blog for me is that I can go back and read previous weeks to get a perspective shift...very similiar to when my kids would say "You always..." or "I never..." when that isn't the truth but only FEELS like it).  In the moment of funkified-ness it seems all encompassing and like its been that way all the time.  I was even leaning toward "i'm not worthy to be an artist"  "what have i made that was worthwhile or of any value".  Ooops upside my head!  Why in the world am I entertaining Evilina at my dining table and pouring her a glass of wine??????? 

While Todd was cutting my table

I was starting a database to inventory all the things in my workshop and deciding to kick Evilina out and reminding myself that I really do have every thing I need including the most valuable component, ME!

After Todd left I did just a little bit of putting things back where they need to be and ended by doing some beading.  This is the type of work I like to bring home and do late night if I happen to be up...most of the time I never get around to it here at home.  Piddlin' will be relegated to small spans of time and will not be the main use of my time...beginning tomorrow!

 

Here are more canvas strips...digging the gray with the sienna and gold!

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? 

 

Quilted poetry, (sit back and relax with a glass of wine or tea and read on)

Julie and Gerrie helped flush out the narrative in Quinlan's quilt that I discussed in the previous post below.  And I emailed Quinlan because I when I get a bee in my bonnet I need to get it out and move on.  Quinlan's response: While the last administration, I felt, used a lot of diversion tactics to keep the public and press misinformed as it pretty much tried to dismantle the country as we know it.  A kind of "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain" Oz like feel. Also, you can read into it a slipping away of our natural resources, and this country's power in the world as well as our children's future. Yes, not a very happy quilt. Thank you Shawn for taking the time to reply.  I also spoke briefly with Kathleen Loomis who sponsors the award and she read it as an overall uneasiness and discontent with the actions and decisions of the former presidential administration.

The other two quilts that I deeply vibed with were Caesura #3 by Marina Kamenskaya...big swaths of solid rich colour in Red, Black, and Green...just vibrated; and a calmer meditative one, When September Ends by Peggy Brown...a softer palette of blues, grays in cotton and watercolour on paper.  The actual quilts I couldn't find but the links are to images of other work by them. 

The two quilts that intrigued me the most by virtue of construction were Crossover by Mary Ruth Smith and City Grid III by Valerie Goodwin.  They where both visually complex but spoke order.  

Form Not Function exhibit blesses me with the opportunity to see quilts of high caliber right in my own back yard and I always look forward to this annual show. 

***************************************************************************************************************

And from the workshop:

  I love sewing bindings...this is where I sigh with relief  of being finished and reflect on my processes and fall back in love with the fabric.  Most of my quilts still require sleeves and labels which for some reason are pains in the butt for me to do. 

The threads at the bottom in the top photo, the red thread and and the green,yellow,blue thread will possibly be added as embellishment...not sure yet.  The red fabric I'm still writing on it.  The piece below is something I started playing around with Monday.  I'm thinking I'll write with thread, hand or machine, I'm not yet certain.  The man is my FIL who passed away in 1995 but like my great-grandmother, he is still very much present with us.

 

One of the poems included in the community arts publication was written for Peter, Mo, and Ade to honor his passing.  Here is an excerpt:

2. Ten

One season in ten years

I witnessed your tears twice.

First, at the beginning of the Harmattan

When the nine were executed.

Moral decay of my people, it could have been ten

You whispered and swallowed.

Second, in the middle of the season, Christmas Day.

The call went through.  The line clear.  Your sister spoke.

Father passed away three hours ago.

Unexpected.  Sudden.  Distance.

From his bedroom windown he was looking for you.

Standing at the gate of the compound

He was looking for you.

    Rare does death not bring regrets.

Your manhood is not murky; your soul does not wane.

I have seen people unable to look you in the eye,

Who want your smile on your teeth instead of in your heart.

What you hold is what he has given you--intense light.

Benin masks of eternity reflect

Your piercing gaze and sealed lips.

This of your father in you

Needed to be here in Kentucky with me.

(The editors of A.I.R., Artists in Revolution will be looking into get more books published for circulation sometime in the future.)

Here is another painted quilt:

My soul rests in my quilts, the process of making them...I think it shows in my preferences for low contrast...other areas of life have enough drama. 

Painting Quilts and Politics

I painted two other quilts, one here, before I left the workshop on Monday to return home.  I believe its finished but I did bring a blue bead stew home with me, just in case its not. 

Shortly after the notion popped to paint the quilt, I thought of the Kemshall's title, The Painted Quilt.  This morning as I was having coffee with this quilt, I remembered Denise Furnish, a local artist, who paints on found quilts.  And then there is the High Priestess of painted quilts, Faith Ringgold!  If you happen to know Ms. Ringgold personally, tell her I'm waiting for the serious autobiography of her life!  As I've searched in my library and at Amazon, I've concluded that there is a serious void in autobiographies of women visual artists...where are the Arnold Rampersad's for women visual artists?!

Previous

Current

One of the exercises Laurie Doctor had the class do was writing black on black.  So I applying that to stitching I'm playing with hand-stitching black on black.  The back is acryllc felt.  The center square is a double layer of silk and silk organza that I'm scanned the writing exercise from the calligraphy class onto.  I'm going to try wrapping this around stretcher bars...the size is 14"x14"

My next entry, sometime before Sunday, will be share my impressions of the Form Not Function...so much great work year after year, sure would be nice if a catalog was for sale for this annual show!

Peace,

Impeachment off the table and now single payer healthcare...Sen. Baucus' reasoning made no damn sense!  This is where President Obama needs us to make him accountable as he, himself, requested!"  Healthcare Lobbyist sure know how to spread the "love" in Washington, don't they?  This will have to be a grassroots efforts yall!

Woman disposes; Spirit proposes

And this IS working with a plan!  (Or maybe this IS as much as I can plan?).

Here is the quilt after I finished quilting it.  This is hanging on the 8 feet wide design board.

In writing my observations at this stage I had some definitely-do-different next time ideas but it was the puckering in the green panel that grated my last nerve...so I decided to cut out the red and the yellow for 2 seperate smaller quilts.  I came to this idea quickly as a result of having prior study work with these:

In my last post I wrote about having an interesting background and the piece not being successful as the whole quilt as a focal point.  Yesterday I used one of my spirit images and stamped 3 times in the upper left hand corner in dark blue...made me bounce and then a scene from the book Beloved came to me...child size ghost hand prints on top of a birthday cake...so I stamped a child's hand print in 2 sizes leading to the ghost heads...I was NOT bouncing....all I could see was those turkey drawings made from the imprint of one's hand.  The longer I looked at it the longer it offended me.  I didn't even want to be reminded of this disaster by cutting the piece into postcards.  After some deep breathing and meditating I heard the words "painted quilt".  Immediately got up from the comfy chair went to the cabinet and with not too much deliberation picked up the blue paint...don't believe I did it, do you?  Well let me layout evidence article labelled #1025 before you:

 

Then Sam Gilliam's pieces came to visit me...3 pieces I saw in his retrospective show that where solid colours that encouraged me to explore monochromatic pieces.  I was dancing and singing...I was barrackin'!  Settled down to meditate on it and my cheeks carried the weight of my smile and then from out of nowhere I got up and stuck this scrap that was on the table from another piece and stuck it onto the piece and I thought I was going to have to lay back on the pillow and smoke a cigarette after my heart returned to its regular beat.

 

I love this!  Ilovethis!! I LOVE THIS!!! 

I received such a boost from this piece that I started on the next quilt by writing on fabric.

 

And I ponder what should the New York Post suffer for its gross and cruel offense? (plus I'm still on the journey)

This morning I had a very distinct consuming Black moment...even more discriptive, Black American moment because my reaction (REACTion) was weighted by the peculiar history of the past and the not-so-past that is rooted and steeped in the formation of this country and its rise as a world power and the injustice of it all.  Check out the cartoon in the New York Post today and tailor your response (or not) to your own leanings as I most certainly will.  Beyond this I will not elaborate further as I will again hyperventilate.  For awhile now I've considered creating a cultural blog as an outlet for my essays on a wide range of topics but keep deciding no, since my RL is filled with a multitude of love and personal and intimate connections that I bounce with daily and as often as I need to.  There are joys and pains associated with living consciously and as encompassing as possible in the way I've chosen as an African American Woman...I'm sharing this much as a way to recognize that which is deep and the backdrop to everything I do today while also updating this journey I'm on as an art quilter which is the purpose for Seamless Skin (of which I could re-examine what I now intend by "seamless", but I will spare you and myself at the moment).

Monday I took myself on an artist date and went second hand browsing.  One place is kinda upscale antique mall...4 floors and is located in the building where I had my first job at 14 in a summer youth program.  I worked the same place for 2 summers as a typist and all around office grunt which included running a mimeograph machine which I thought was cool at the time.  I purchased this embroidered round, very sheer, placemat that feels like papyrus of all things.  It was a handmade thing that cost me a buck so I was thrilled.  I want to tranfer an image onto it but for now its pinned up high on the design wall.  I also went to another 2nd hand furniture dive that has great stuff but isn't located in a high rent district and found lots of old creative looking stuff but I only came out of there with a red linen table cloth.  I have this idea percolating around roughness representing hard times...for now it seems connected to the quilts on prayers.

Yesterday morning I reconnected with a dear friend over breakfast at Toast.  Hi Cari!  Its been close to three years since we've spoken, maybe longer, but it energized my spirit and after we parted I made an impromptu stop at Actor's Theatre to see Upfromsumdirt's piece in the exhibit in the lobby.  As prolific as he is I was underwhelmed with the piece he submitted.  He cultivates an "outsider" as in outsider art philosophy toward creating his digital images that he describes as Mythmatics(c) so he isn't all that open to input but if he ever wanted to know what I thought, Hi Ron, I"ve only viewed his strongest work at his solo shows and online and not in his group shows.

Now to my own artistic issues------I completed the quilting on the current quilt and its stretched out on the design wall drying for blocking...BUT! this puckering grates my last nerve and the solution I thought so brilliant a few weeks ago (embellishing with stones) just seemed a notch above stupid yesterday.  So my new BRILLIANT idea is to go whole cloth with 2 sections (the ones without any puckering) and create 2 smaller quilts.  The red section and the yellow one will be a go!  Peter didn't think the green section was as dynamic as the other two...he thought the green needed to be more intense to hang with the vibrancy of the green and yellow and the green is a shaded green and doesn't have as much going on in it as the other 2 panels.  Parts of the green section will be salvaged into postcards like I did with these from another quilt.

I also made my first fiber ATC's. 

One is destined to Emmy in the Netherlands.  If you'd like to trade with me, buzz me an email.

I have postcards like the ATCs for sale, 3 of which are listed on my new Etsy set-up.  Check here  or click on the page at the top of this blog.

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 :)

Meditating Over It...

Yesterday I sat in silent meditation with the quilt pictured in the post below and together we decided that the size cannot change.  To address the puckering concern, round donut-shaped stones in a variety of sizes will be added on.  The solution felt BRILLIANT!  The stones echo the motif of life being circular as well as a line from the poem.  I applied the evaluation techniques I learned in the Benn/Morgan Workshop.  I saw that the cloth was not as complex in layers as I previously viewed it and wanted more, so the additional embellishments will help some with this.  One of the comments that Claire Benn had made was that American surface designers tend to lean toward less layering than their European counterparts when making complex cloth.  (Not a judgement but an observation)  I want this series to be vibrant or intense AND sophisticated in appearance.  I spent about 3 hours yesterday evaluating this quilt...not continuously...I would write my observations and thoughts down between staring at the quilt.  I took brief breaks to start on another work in progress that I've named my Prayers series...the fabric is one dyed by Helene Davis that I picked up at AQS-Paducah years ago...I stamped it with a symbol for Sankofa and quilted it a long while ago.  I started the beadwork yesterday:

the beads are amber-coloured but the fabric is not this warm and is even a cool brown...the lights in the dining room gives off a yellow cast plus I couldn't remember how to turn off the flash.

The inspiration for Prayers came from the beaded prayers project by Sonya Clark.  In my last year of employment I came across her work and contacted her about doing a workshop with with the clients that utilized services where I worked.  We coudn't afford her fees and the interest in fundraising specifically for this project was not present in the Development staff.  I was deflated by it because I soooo believe in the art and health connection.  I have one completed in this series (story of my life) called The Faith of the Mother.  I've shown pieces of it on the blog but not the completed quilt...will try to get it photographed soon. 

Let the blessings rain on us all! Peace,

 

Its been a year of Growth, Blessings, and Grace...and for that I'm mighty thankful!

Winter is not officially here, but its here...this will be my first winter working in my basement workshop and even with the vents open and the ceramic heater going it was a tad on the chilly side making me decide to cut back to 3 days a week.  I set up a small area on a shelf by the kitchen table here at home for sketching and mark making...taking the calligraphy class has kept my wheels turning about writing on my quilts.  I plan to continue studying with her for a little bit just to see where I can take this writing on quilts.  I'll also add this to my altered books which I'll resume here at home now that I'll be spending more time at home due to the season.

In the calligraphy class we've worked on simplified letters since it was only a total of 8 hours over 4 weeks.  She has emphasized expressiveness versus strict adherence to the letter form since the time was so short.  The end product will be a handmade book which I've enjoyed working on at home and will show here later when its finished.  Here is a sample of play-practice:

 It will prolly get some colour and torn up to be placed inside my book...

Here is the 2nd quilt in the Poetry series (yes, I'm still working on the 2nd one) that is 2/3rds of the way quilted.  My love affair with my circular attachment is coming to an end.  The 3rd one will get hand quilting but I'm still creating the fabric for it.  I need at least 2 more of me cloned in order to churn out these ideas rolling around in my head.

 

It was my plan (laid to rest) to enter this one and the one below into Form, Not Function but I couldn't get myself together to get them properly finished and photographed by the time the deadline rolled upon me.  2009 is designated for the year to focus more on submissions and selling work.  Although, I didn't complete the 4-5 quilts for 2008...its been a very productive year for me full of growth, blessings, and grace.

  Although I was pleased with this one, yesterday I thought it needed more writing, more graphic layers going on, particularly on the left side in the upper half.  I'll work on it next week so that I can let it go and move on. 

Finally

Talk about getting "mean and surly"?!!!  In my head my workshop is a laboratory and I'm an unwaivering crazy scientist going at it non-stop trying to keep up with the ideas popping off in my brain.  So even in spite of the physical need to rest, I get "mean and surly" (remember that movie with Whoopi, LL Cool J, Jada Pinkett Smith where Whoopi was going to have those words on her husband's tombstone?)  when I'm unable to be there. 

Finally, I returned on Thursday but piddled to reacclimate myself back to a flow.  Friday, my intent was to arrive afternoon and work late, pulling close to an all-nighter.  I couldn't go past the 5 hours I typically put in and decided to come home.  I hit the bed and slept hard but this morning woke with this piece on my mind:  (you can always click on the picture to enlarge)  The black colour didn't wash out to the paleness I expected.  What I did differently was to use Afterfix instead of soda ash...the dye paint mixture was mostly thickener with what I thought was a low percentage of dye.  I don't like this...I have 4 ideas to improve it (more cohesive in appearance) as I so much love the piece overall. 

1. discharge the black letters (which are outlined in a black resist used in silk painting)

2. randomly place more letters, (and/or) smaller in size.

3. flip it over and dye paint the back side in an orange, green, or gray.  the section I love the most is the warmer hues versus the cooler ones at the top but I do want to keep some constrast between warm and cool.

4.  cut it up into 2 or 3 sections with 1 cut going down the middle of the bold letters and put them in one piece.  my original intent was to keep this panel as a whole cloth.  cutting it up could make for much more visual interest.

I don't think I'm going to touch it until after I finish with the calligraphy workshop which will generate new ideas. 

Oh, and for those who might be interested.  Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez did an exlusive interview with William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn.  This is a transcript or you can listen to the audio or video as well:  Democracy Now .  Part 2 will air Monday and can be heard/read online later in the afternoon.  Ayers book on his Weathermen Underground experience is being re-issued this week.  I guest he can thank Sarah Palin for that because prior to her repeating his name over and over in an attempt to disgrace our President Elect, Ayers wasn't even remotely near my radar.

a short bio

  the above had me chanting "trust the process".  this should wash out to a transparent gray.

  tombstones added...something else has to happen to make it more coherent...not sure if it will be a panel or be cut up.

  the start of something new

A few days before the election this is what I was doing.  I been going fast (for me) and furious since returning from the Crow Barn. 

Last Sunday I attended a performance and exhibit-Dear Felicia: A Soldier's Manual for Birds and Angels, a collaboration between poet-scholar Estella Majozo and painter Joan Zehnder.  Ten minutes into the performance tears started strolling down my face and held a steady stream through most of the 60 minute performance.  The writing was a series of letters to a female soldier while examining the poet's reconcilliation on her son's decision to join the military.  I don't know why I responded with tears...maybe because I know her son and remember when he was born, maybe because Estella is a close spiritual friend...maybe it took me someplace with the battles for my own children.  I remember how personally traumatized I was when this war first started as well as other acts by the Bushit administration.  Since then I've tempered my politics and opted instead to reach inside and pull out the artist in me as a way to stay sane. 

Monday I felt a little fatigued but opted to go out for breakfast and then down to my workshop.  Tuesday came the scratchy throat, body aches and arriving with my 17 y.o son to the polls at 5:45 with a 45 minute wait in the early morning chill .  Couple this with the excitement of watching the results and numerous telephone calls and it all got the best of me...yesterday I felt like I had one foot in the grave and made a doc's appointment which confirmed the pnuemonia I already diagnosed. 

I'm sitting here typing this post to past the time while waiting on a home health nurse to arrive-this was the option I chose instead of being hospitalized.  I'm holding the line wishing I had a glass of wine.

As far as words from me on Obama's win I'm elated and taken with his role in history and have not felt this way since Mandela's release from prison (which I also had pnuemonia then).  For what I want to say, I'm not ready.  I'll be processing for a long while and am not sure I will do so here.  I'm thinking about starting a blog to document my reactions to the Obama and first family's role for the next four years. 

Making quilts marks time

In comments to the previous post, Karen made the suggestion of using shear fabric for the auditioned letters...I was thinking transparency in either a sheer or using (the brand of inks I can never spell or say but begins with a t and has the word sun in it) inks. 

 I also thought about having the letters cast shadows to create even more depth which I think would work because of the glowishness of the yellow in suggesting light.  To quote from my lil' brotha's critique, "no...hell, no" on the letters...he thought it was too pretentious.  But as he also reminded me, its all up to me in the end, and he is right because the last time I checked I was three times seven and then some.

After more time spent Saturday meditating on it some more, I temporarily decided to wait some more...how profound, uh?  But that is all I could do, so with trusting the process, I moved onto a new piece that I wasn't feeling until I added the whiteish lines and then that opened me up to add the faces...there is a line in the poem that goes: African ghosts cry in sunset hours.  The faces appear ghost-like and also embody communion/community with the multiple prints. 

  The metallic-ey green is just too heavy at the top so I do know for sure that this piece will be cut up instead of keeping it a whole panel.   The names you see in the bigger letters are names found in the cemetery where many of my mother's side are buried.  The underlying poem written on the cloth is about a visit there some 18 years ago.  I was newly pregnant with my youngest son then.  The poems, the quilts, the children all help me keep and mark time, I don't trust my memory alone. 

 

Auditioning letters

 

These are paper letters.  I felt like a small child cutting out these letters.  Then I pretended like I was a teacher putting my bulletin board together...am I sharing too much stream of consciousness thinking. 

I decided against the fine line that would have covered the entire piece because I didn't think it was enough of a contrast or focal point even if it was going to be black.  The bold weightier letters I think will work and give a focal point.  Imagine the letters in black instead of gray.   Possibly in transparent paint/ink or sheers.  Then maybe solid black letters would work too.  I'm not going to add the letters until I sew on 2 narrower panels (this panel is 60 inches in length and about 36 in width), 1 on each side.  Would you believe this piece pretty much consumed my hours in the workshop yesterday.  I sat down to meditate on it, and then wrote what I see...I love the colours which I spoke about in the previous post and the depth is top dog groovy!  I love the light/dark contrast.  The numbers I see before the letters (not the paper letters) and I have to work at it to figure out what the letters say.  My hand writing is very faint and I'm slightly disappointed that its that faint and am working on that not occurring in other panels.  My first thought was the whole piece was the focal point and the problem I have with any complex cloth is that it is very hard for me to go/grow past my first heart throb moment when I'm in love with the look and don't want to add another layer for fear of messing it up.  I don't think fear should be the reason I stop or even the rapid beating of my heart...but a piece of cloth should be complete when, when,....ummmm, well, when the piece says it is complete in conjunction with my heart saying so also.  

Ummm, looking at the photo again, I'm going to eliminate one of the letter "r"s and let one "r" be used for both words.  And I'm thinking of eliminating the "the" too.

The Slow Processes of Creating Complex Cloth

Creating complex cloth is a slow process.  Since returning from Ohio the way I work is even slower and has changed the way I work to the extent that I've rearranged my work space.  I have a print table permanently set up.  Its too close to my design wall where some finished pieces hang as well as in process fabrics but its what I have and I'm going to work it to its best. 

    

I spend a lot of time rinsing, soaking, layering, writing, and taking time to commune with the cloth pieces in process.  It hit me earlier in the week why the process is so slow...in Ohio we had the benefit of Claire and Leslie doing the grunt work.  I'm working toward getting 15 panels completed so I can have more of a selection in placing panels together for the series.  I'm working on not thinking about the time its taking but just flowing with the processes.

I was thinking that this panel was complete but I'm going to add another layer of my handwriting in a bold black colour with a thin line marker (or maybe thread (hand or machine?), hand work would raise the surface...ummm, more to think over).  This panel I refer to as the "book cover" for the 5 quilts.  When I look at it I want to dance.  Why do I want to dance?  Because the dominant colours remind me of the Rastafarian flag and Rastafarians make me think of Reggae music, thus dancing. 

Here I am dye painting over the larger screened on peaches.  The final colour came out coral...either because I needed to add more soda ash to the water or because the dyes where dead or both.  I'm leaning toward the dead dye because I was still trying to get leverage from the dye stock left in the fridge during the black out.   The peaches where a borrowed image from a poem.  My great grandmother had a peach tree in the back yard.  She came to Kentucky from her birth place of Georgia and grew the tree as symbol and for the produce that she canned.  

Here is the start for another panel.  I decided to write on it first and will over-dye it next. 

 

While I rested and waited for cloth to either batch, dry, or wash...I made stamps and stencils.  How do you keep your personal symbols/icons?  In your head, online folders, or a seperate journal?