Seamless Skin

Power in the Chitlin' Circuit

Yes, yes, yes...thank you Lord (stomping feet, head bowed, right hand held high, left hand over heart)...yesterday I was feeling the power, (I GOT THE POWER...hearing the voice in that song that I can't name...anybody???).  I held up to a long day at the Chitlin' Circuit, my studio, and made what felt like progress.  

Untitled at this time but finished.

added the color...since this is of an boarded up storefront church, I'm thinking hand quilting, but I might succumb to machine quilting.

another toilet paper insert fabric...my intent was to go with subdued colours...then i changed my mind.

One last thing and then I gotta go...but Enchanted Arts Studio has this hanging outside their door...it is a work in progress.  It took me by surprise when I saw it.

Looking forward to seeing what comes next...paper maiche, clay, fabric...all of the above

 

 

...And Still I Rise

Update

How good it feels to write a new blog post!!!!  How good it feels that Spring is here!!!!  

Louisville is #3 in the nation for the worse pollen count.  It wrecked a little bit of havoc on my lungs in spite of the emotional uplift the warmer temps gave me.  I just kept yo-yoing with chest crud until I had a brief 4 day stay in the hospital.  In between feeling good/feeling bad I kept plugging along on the boats...

Happy to report the hand embroidery is done and it is ready for quilting...but here is my plan...to continue on to the next quilt(s) and then sometime in mid summer go hog wild, (bat crazy, mad cow) with quilting all the tops.  This year's goal is all about production (don't get too excited...I work slow even when I'm fast).  My goal was to have the "boats" completed by the end of Feb. and it didn't happen until mid-March.  

You may recall me mentioning that my sewing construction studio is in storage due to my mother moving into senior housing.  For months I considered renting a 2nd Mellwood studio to set it up once the storage contract ends.  I turned over the idea of sharing a 2nd space, subleasing, etc.  It was my anxiety talking over not having my design board, fabrics, sewing desk that holds my main machine, etc. accessible.  I spent the first part of this week clearing the studio to make room for at least my sewing desk and to begin the next quilt with the attitude of "making do equals can do". Peter and Ade will haul through the storage unit and pull it out and deliver it this weekend.

Yesterday I actually sat down to begin the preliminary studies for the next piece.  Two of the three studies I finished...one is a thread sketch, this one using tsukineko inks.

The next one will be raw edge applique.  While doing them, the question in the back of my mind is "how can I make the imagery more abstract and still capture the event?".  It  will be a Kentucky Derby quilt.

Blog Love

I don't remember how I stumbled into Karen Walrond's blog and website, Chookooloonks.  I think maybe her book, The Beauty of Different, kept coming up on Amazon's recommendations.  She offers an on-line magazine workshop that offers gratitude prompts with photography prompts called Gratitude 2012.  Karen is an award winning, jet setting photography whose blog exudes kindness, humor, and beauty.  I enrolled in the workshop yesterday.  It is 5 dollars a month and 40% of the fee she donates to Kiva.  

Also, yesterday I discovered the website (thanks to Pinterest) and blog of fiber artist Diane Melms.  I've always wanted to improve my photo-documentation by showing the process involved in completing a piece from start to finish.  I think I'm too wordy to be as succinct as Diane or as succinct and poignant as blogger Judy Martin, another blogger I enjoy reading.  

Wrap-up

Time for a change.  I've been with Typepad now since I first began blogging back in '04.  This is a fee based blog and I'm at the lowest level.  In order for me to customize I would have to jump up to the next fee level and that ain't happening.  Blogspot offers customization and it is free.  My hold-up is anticipating the learning curve (the headache) of moving content.  This will be a goal for April.

Tonight is F.A.T. Trolley Hop.  I will not be having Open Studios but will be around with Carter, my 3 y.o. grandson and Anaya my 2 y.o. granddaughter for a few hours (at least this is the plan) visiting the other studios and galleries at Mellwood.  

 

The gift of burden or the burden of gift? ORGANIZING.

This morning I started reading Organizing Solutions for Every Quilter by Carolyn Woods. Organization is just an ongoing reality that I seem to address at least every 6 months.  The start of a new year is a good time as any to deal with it.  

My 2 main causes of clutter (following the book's to do) is 1. not enough horizontal work space.  I need a designated space to put thing I'm using when at the print table to keep the print table clear to move on; and 2. not good use of vertical space (do I keep the windows clear for good energy circulation or do I block the windows? has always been my dilemma).  

The next thing Woods instructs is to do a list of pros and cons...here is mine:

Room Characteristics to Change

 Insufficient heat when below 20 degrees F in winter (space heater and work from home more)

 Not enough drawers (chest of drawer conversion to consolidate plastic drawers awkward to slide or use metal drawers to create storage and more horizontal space).

 Not enough shelves (use chrome shelf that is in storage)

 Not set-up for quilting larger quilts (possibly bring in other folding table)

 Insufficient design wall (?)

 No natural lighting (take track lighting out and replace with shop light)

 Focus is mostly on wet work (more balance if other folding table can fit)

 Dislike paint colours (paint in the spring)

 Poor use of vertical space (chrome shelves and stack blue wire shelves on top of desk)

 Inconsistent use of mixed media to justify space it takes up. (if the other folding table comes in, use for mixed media)

 Room Characteristics to Keep

 Great cooling in summer (work in studio more)

 Concrete floor (mats and rugs)

 Location to sinks (love this!)

 Location to other artists (love this)

 Can work from both sides of print table (better than from one side)

 Mixed Media set-up  (materials need to stay but take of less space)

 Small-medium sized quilts can be constructed. 

 One window dedicated to display.

 2 doorways great for Open Studios

Shared space.

Along with blocking some of the windows (energy) is the on-going situation with having 50-feet of oxygen tube attached to me when in the studio...I try to keep an open in the middle floor plan to keep it from getting caught on something as well as keeping the energy flowing and not being blocked by visual clutter.    I prefer having furniture anchored against a wall instead of extending out to the middle of the room.  The sewing table extends but that is because it keeps me facing both doors (it is an energy thing) and the print table extends toward the center but it is good for energy because I can work aroun it and neither of these items is over the bottom ledge of the window.  This probably only makes sense to me, but if you've read this far, you deserve kudos!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sign of the Times :)

It all started due to a mispelled name on a list for the pop-up gallery.  Deborah spelled Uneena's name with one e and 3 n's.  To make up for the innocent mistake, Deborah made Uneena a sign with her studio name engraved in wood...we all oohed and ahhed over and then each day after that whenever she came in I'd see another sign for another studio neighbor...all the while Deborah was just honing her skills for the best one!!!! TA DA!!!!!!!

me in my studio holding my new sign close upme and Uneena goofing around

Thank you Deborah!

She, Reinvented

She hasn't been sewed down yet...the original She was made in recycled teepee fabric and was lost to eternity shortly thereafter but not before I had scanned it...so this is She, Reinvented.  It about 1.5' x 2'.   Looking for moonlighting Elves (heard they work well in winter) who are willing to work for warm cookies and hot chocolate...tell them to in-box me...

Slowing Down...

My seasonal hiatus is going to begin earlier than I want it to.  My goal is to get through my November committments and then coast til Spring.  I did make it to the studio this morning and this will remain on the print table for the season...its the "boats" quilt which I wrote about a few posts back.  Because finishing this quilt will be slow-going due to its size, there will not be much for me to blab about over the next few months.  

Artists interviews will start again in January with the emphasis being artists located at Mellwood.  I'd like the questions to be unique and fun.  If you were being interviewed what is the one question you'd like to be asked?

Checking in

November will be the last month of regular and weekly time in the studio...from December till March/April will be hit and miss.  About 1-2 days a week, maybe 3 some weeks.  Hibernation is my vibe til Spring.  I don't like it but it is a reality of the season that I have to contend with.

Around noon today, my brain finally kicked in and I was able to paint these 5"x7" canvases and mount the last of the Urban Egression postcards.  The exhibit at Iroquois branch library will not go up until after 5 tomorrow.  These will be included.

 

 

letting go and moving on

I let go of the November 7th deadline...it is an annual show and there is always next year...too much had to be done for a new piece to be completed.  However, behind that decision, I pulled out most of my smaller works that I have left and will loan them to the Iroquois Branch Library to hang for the month of November along with some of my cloth.  I have to put sleeves on some, others will go into frames...I also will be in a pop-up show next Friday along with my neighbors at Mellwood.  The pop-up show will be in one of the vacant studios just off the courtyard where a live band will be playing so we're aiming for more visibility.  

Below is the 1st piece I was attempting to complete before November 7.  This one is done with dye paint...I applied wax over the boats yesterday and scrapped both sides with a mixture of jet black, turquoise, and navy.  I have another one that is done with fabric paints which will be the main piece.  This one I'll complete for practice and preparation for the other one.

the fabric on the right was using up the last of the dye and print paste...it is stamped with crookedly cut potatoes.

and inspite of me cleaning off the surfaces of my desks earlier in the week, this is how they look now, just a few days later...

and thanks to Paradise Videos for filming and EDITING the short clip of me talking about what I do!  

Indigo: In Search of the Color that Seduced the World by Catherine E. McKinley

Kweli recommended this book to me by way of Facebook.  Being a fabric designer herself she was really provoked to think deeper about the state of contemporary fabric production of African fabrics and the history behind it.  I downloaded the book to my laptop but I should have trusted her judgement and purchased a hard copy of the book, because now for 14 bucks I have it on my computer but for 3 dollars more I could have had the hard copy and after reading it, I wished I had.   Not realizing my assumption before hand, I thought the book would be an informative straight forward historical read, but it was much more than that...it documents one American woman's obsession with Indigo and the reason she is trying to discover why.  On a Fulbright Scholarship she journeys through West Africa looking for authentic Indigo production and use, but the cloth, not being in vogue compared to its past, is elusive.  Her adventure is told in antedotes which helps the book move ratherly quickly, but there are times I wanted more details of the story and wanted to get to know more about her feelings in relation to the people and places she visited.  But it is the search for Indigo that compels the story and the human relationships and geography take a back drop.

When I get taken with a book like I am with this one, I go off on a google search to find out more about the author and ended up requesting a FB connection only to find out she has a friend here in Louisville who I consider a good art-friend and has visited here before.   So I'm hoping there will be a chance to meet her and hear more of her stories sometime in the distant future.

McKinley's book led me to order In the Shadow of Slavery: Africa's Botanical legacy in the Atlantic World by Judith A. Carney and Richard Nicholas Rosomoff.  I started it last night and I tell ya it starts my mind spinning because I'm wondering if I can create a narrative in cloth around the crows, the faces I've sketched (the old woman who can be seen in older posts below), and botany...so my immediate challenge is to get centered and just listen for a bit.

**********

Yesterday I started a do-over, from scratch...hand-painting with fabric and acryllic paint mixed with Golden 900 vs using thickened dye like I used on the first start.  Its fairly large and detailed for me and I just hope I can meet a mid-November deadline for a regional fine art show.

Remember when I said I was in the studio the day after Davis' murder by the state of Georgia and had the intent of doing one thing and then I heard this phrase in my head?  The phrase was, These are the Boats Carrying Us to Heaven.  I decided to put aside my intent and explore what this could mean.  As a result I have over 200 small "boats" to paint with distinct markings on cotton with a working size of 5 feet by 4 feet.  I would like to hand quilt it as the piece has a RAW art vibe on it.  But no way would I make a November deadline if I decide to hand quilt it.  

Also, yesterday, in preparation to attempt meeting another deadline I sent a completed quilt into surgery.  I wasn't happy with one side but did love the surface...so I removed the facing and, today will attempt to square it up better.

Tuonane baadaye (See you later in Kiswahili)

Meeting deadlines

okay, I have at least 3 coming up...one in October, one in November, and one in January.  I'm infamous for missing them because I can't work as fast as my head finishes a piece and secondly, because I don't hold to a strong dictate of what I'm going to do when in the studio.  Like last week, I had every intent of picking something back up when I arrived.  The world was feeling different for me the day after Davis' execution.   Also, I was in the middle of reading a enthralling travel book on a woman's journey to West Africa in search of Indigo and it's meaning, Indigo: In Search of the Color that Seduced the World by Catherine E. McKinley.   It was both of these I believe that came to bear on a change of plans.

Now what I had observed about myself that day was I was moving slower and quietly both physically and mentally. Shortly after I arrived at the studio a certain phrase came to me and held me spell bound and I chose to follow it in cloth and ended up starting a whole new piece, and thus far, I'm very pleased with it.  The size is large, for me, and I'm wondering if I can have it ready for one of the looming deadlines...maybe I should change deadline to lifeline...meeting it could mean a whole new life for a piece of art.  

This week I played around with video taping in the studio...I think I need one of those twisty style tripods.  So far my camera man (youngest son) hasn't been convinced of all the exciting things that I do while at Mellwood and hasn't jumped at the chance to film me.   I mean what 20 year man wouldn't want to party like this!?

 

 dye painted cloth wrapped in newspaper waiting to be steamed

It was a smoky black indigo day...

Yesterday was a really looonnnnnnngggg day...I was out for over 12 hours straight.  After taking my oldest grandson, Adrian, to his school bus, I kept going and a headed to the studio, (by 1:00 I was ready for a nap and thought about my comfy chair which I miss).  I worked on trying to redeem my bruised ego from last week's disappointments.  I started 3 new cloths and reached the point were I was ready to steam them before going any further.   Here they are wrapped in newspaper with the ones I did last week and forming a sculpture in the window...

While I was there Petra called me to remind me of a presentation at The Filson Historical Society that started at 6 which I thought was going to be on Thursday.  My shirt was filled with dye stains. Petra lives close to Mellwood and the presentation was also not far away.  Petra agreed to loan me a shirt to keep me from having to go all the way home.  So I stayed at Mellwood until 5 and headed to the presentation...Two Centuries of Black Louisville: A Photographic History.  These 3 authors are powerhouses alone in their respective fields and the book represents 15-20 years of research on their individual efforts and 5 years of working on the book collectively.  

After the presentation Petra treated me to dinner at Smoketown USA.  A place I kept promising myself to go to but have never tried, mainly because it is not in a high visibility area.  But the food was good, the joint was crowded for a Tuesday night, and the back room is a yard sale room where you can purchase other people's junk that you don't need.  Cool.  

I'm not sure if I'm going to the studio today...the spirit is willing but the body is weak.  I might just stay home and curl up with my laptop to read a downloaded book, Indigo: In Search of the Color that Seduced the World, by Catherine E. McKinley.  

 

I just couldn't make it happen today

I had a lazy vibe and it showed up in my attempts today...nothing was falling like I envisioned it...the best I did was like this colour combination....but the lazy practice resulted in dye spots where I didn't want them...

this view (above) is the cleanest section of the cloth. The next one was an attempt to use up dye I didn't want to throw out...but again, my print table was too saturated and needed changing, so dye spots appear where I didn't want them...

I used a foam cup to stamp...and crazy enough, it wasn't as much fun as using the toilet paper insert...

So after these 2 blahs, I thought I would do an old stand-by technique of writing on fabric...but that didn't go well either...

Of course, all this rigamarolling means I'll be in trying to save them mode for the next few days...maybe I should just put them away and start anew.

 

I think I know who she will become...

I started this sketch by looking at a photo, but as I continue to flesh her out, she is taking on her own life and although I thought this was just a sketch practice, it came to me today while she was peaking at me through the white cloth drying on the clothes line, that she is to go into a quilt I roughly scribbled last year.  A quilt design I did after perusing through a book of Romare Bearden's work.  We shall see said the blind man...we shall see....

And this is a shout out of thanks to the impromptu artist-visitor, Tommy, who popped into my studio and took the time to share what I consider in-depth pointers to give her more dimension.

Hear me and remind me what I said...

about 9 months from now...I'm going to take a leap of faith and get a booth next year for Mellwood's September Art Fair.  There. I said it aloud and wrote it in the blog, so it has to happen!  Last year, being a newbie to Mellwood, it didn't make sense to me to pay for a both and I ended up being thrilled with the visitors and sales.  But the bulk of the crowd is outside and in the event room specifically set-up for the fair.

This weekend was slower than last year's, but overall I still enjoyed it quite a lot.  Any time I get to talk to visitors about what I do in my studio I count it as a great day!  Selling one of my favorite pieces made it superbulous!  Aubergine Apple has found a new home.  The lady came in and knew exactly what she wanted without hesitation.  I was dye painting a piece and had paint all over my hands so I was being cautious not to get it on her or  the piece, but on the inside I was like "wow, she gets me, she really really gets me".

This was Aimee's, (studio mate), first fair.  She was there on Saturday and received a commission from Abraham Lincoln! I kid you not!  He and his wife (Mary Todd Lincoln) go into the schools as impersonators to teach...and he was looking for an artist to illustrate their presentations. Aimee is a history major and her father does similiar historical enactments!  She was the only artist he actually stopped to talk to!  Is that not fate, sychronicity, destiny, or what!!!?!!!!  I love it when life reveals to us that we are suppose to show up exactly when we show up and immediately know why! 

Just hanging out doing my thang...

Can you believe it is September already?  If you been with me through that season which I'll not call, you know how it is soooo not me! But enough of that rushing away the days!

Here is the progression of my sketch...

I can only do a little at a time before I start loosing focus.  It was the first thing I attended to yesterday after arriving and after about, oh I'm guessing, 20 minutes, I had to stop because I could'nt think of where to go next.  It is good for me to return with fresh eyes before I continue to draw on it.

I walked through the complex yesterday like I do at least every few weeks or so and met the weaver, Stephanie, and Cathy, another textile person, (that makes 4 new textile tenants all within the month!) who works with repurposing cashmere.  New tenants always brings renewed energy but it is super special and personal for me when they are textile folks :)

Yesterday's time in the studio ended with more toilet paper roll stamping.  

The ozone alert is too high for me today so as much as I want to push it, I'll hangeth back and veg out on movies and reading and making beef and bean enchiladas and mexican rice and salad for dinner today.   And yall enjoy the weekend!

 

Shake dem Bones!

Maybe this is preparing me to go through a Georgia O'Keefe phase.  These are the beautifully unique to me gifts that I was given by Penny Sisto, artist-sistah-friend that she is.  For this city girl, these are like WOW!  

Penny lives in a rural area and picks these up on her walks and people bring them to her as well so she has a growing collection.  Okay, if I was going to pick up items where I live I guess it would be soda and beer cans because that is what people do who live in cities, right?  So not as interesting to me as these beautifully shapped old decaying cow and deer bones.

Adrian, my oldest grandson, said "cool" when he first saw them and Carter, my youngest grandson, said "ewwww, thats nasty"  A studio neighbor asked me what I planned to do with them...honestly, do I have to have a plan?  I don't think so, but I'm thinking about drawing them for awhile...I think Penny said she used a small bone in one of her recent pieces now showing at the Carnegie Center for Art and History in New Albany, Ind in a solo exhibit...Carnegie is the place that hosts annually Form Not Function.

I did make it into the studio yesterday and although I was productive it wasn't with intent...i finished the discharge.  It was killing me to stamp so orderly so I loosened up...but looking at the outcome, I wish I had forced myself to continue on with the more controlled pattern...ummm, process (right hand) vs outcome (left hand)...which will have priority next time????

That orangish glow is from a back light bouncing off a painting by Aimee, studio mate.

and this is me attempting to sketch directly on fabric...off and on for about a year or so I've been sketching faces...the seed hasn't developed wildly enough yet that any but I'm getting there...

this is the start...sketching from the photo in the collage below.

Low Technique Yields High Results

One of the suggestions Claire Benn gave us in May was to push the limits of one single tool...just commit to using one mark making tool everyday for a week in your studio.  A couple of weeks ago I did just this using a plastic card and did these...

But my new awesome favorite tool is this!

 click to enlarge.

The insert from toilet paper is a fantastic stamping tool.  I shape it into a pod, square, rectangle or odd shape  and just stamp with my medium of choice.  I must give a shout out to the fabulous Joanne Weis (toward the bottom on the post) for suggesting this in a LAFTA workshop she gave last year.

For avoiding trains

I go to my studio.  This is what I did yesterday.

2 quarts of print paste, one for hand-painting the other for screening and breakdown printing, 2 different consistencies,

and soy wax resist. the wax is still on the fabric here.

The morning has started out stressful...I was so declaring my mother's move as an emancipation from stress and worry but we're bumping heads over the way she is handling some affairs and I'm torn between sitting back and watching the train wreck or trying to guide the train to another track.   I'm a bit of a control freak when it comes to handling business...I like for things to be settled, neat and tidy, to avoid surprises and crisises.  My Mother is stubborn, I mean STUBBORN and is of the mindset that one doesn't discuss details of personal affairs especially with one's children.  I'm of the mindset that too much secrecy and lies causes confusion and chaos in intimate relationships.  I know the past year has been an adjustment for her but she has continued to live like my father's income is still there.  As much as I find him annoying, I think we all need one long Dr. Phil session.  Is 10am too early for bourbon on the rocks?

 

Cleared and ready for take off

Yesterday was spent clearing off surfaces and finding a place for  the rest of the"stuff".   My mother and I have an errand to run today which will take most of the morning but just as soon as it is over, I'm heading to Mellwood.

This is just my ordinary organized mess.

The pink bag on the floor and the white bag next to it will be grab bag items at the next LAFTA meeting.  The dark pink book bag has wheels and was a gift from my daughter for the purpose of transporting "stuff" between the studio and home.  

It doesn't look like it, but...

I made progress...

I have no clear surfaces and nooks and crannies are filled! But hold on, beloved, I have a plan! (Remember the cartoon, Pinky and the Brain?, anyways),  in 9-12 months I will either move into a larger space at Mellwood (cheapest rent in town) or take a second space and move my sewing stuff from storage and have a place for quilt construction.  Well we all know how plans can change, but nevertheless, this is the one I'm working with.