Speaking so I Can Speak Again or (the discharging of the power of divine flowers to decide about painting and birthday gifts)

Thanks to Cindy and Anna, commentors in the previous post, for identifying the flower.  There is even a North American Dianthus Society.  The plant sits in the pot next to my chair on the balcony and I think we're developing a relationship.  Its been talking to me...a couple of days ago I snapped it's picture and today I spoke back.  I'm not a gardener but is this some type of gardening spirituality?  I'm kinda half joking but its my way of expressing how I'm connecting with this flower, whose name translates to "divine flower" and the common name for the one I have is Sweet William.  (see, I know something today that I didn't know when I woke up this morning, pretty darn cool, eh?!)

This is how I spent my afternoon...discharging with bleach pen and discharge paste oustide with a slight breeze (and low humidity) blowing.  The beach pen didn't bother me outside...the last time I tried it I was inside at MACA and couldn't use it.  The results with the bleach pen didn't wasn't satisfactory for the effort but I loved the discharge paste results last time and this time.  The piece that is waiting to be finished is the piece I'm using to work through exercise #1 in the back of Complex Cloth.

Also, I'm coming close to making a decision between keeping stock of "fabric paints" and using thickened dyes for painting fabric.  I'm keep looking at the sample I started with Hollis Chatlelain and I really prefer the richness of the dye paints.  It also would cut down on shelving supplies that I use with less frequency.  And this is solely an opinion formed by the not-so-deep layer of my brain but it seems cheaper to me to use dyes instead of fabric paints.

Oh my...this post has been interrupted by the content of the package my dd just handed me...I ordered this book for one of my oldest and dearest sistah friend's for her birthday...and I'm gasping...dammit, I think I'm going to have to get me one also! I first saw it at the home of Crystal Wilkinson and nearly caught the holy ghost.  Now that Mary's copy for her birthday is resting in my lap I can feel the spirit rising again...I betta go call her and let her know I have something for her birthday...decreases the chance that I will keep it for myself.

Ummm, all the content in this post is queing me that some Afrophysics is occuring close by...   

 

Brazilnut and Ecru

Featuring Brazilnut and Ecru.  Later after reviewing my notes I used 2 Tablespoons for the dark on the Brazilnut and 2 teaspoons for the Ecru.  I thought I was being consistent...but c'est la vie.

What is the name of this flower?

Blog Detour Ahead

Here are my grandsons...as a result of Adrian, the one in the stroller, I also have his older brother, Malachi, as my adopted grandfriend.  What you can't see is Malachi's arm in a cast.  A kid jumped on his arm at summer daycare during a football game. Malachi keeps a protective eye on Adrian and is very helpful.   Adrian is 18 months and is having a little difficulty at daycare with understanding that he can't take other kids toys away from them.  When Mo and I asked him what happened at school he seemed to have lost his hearing and the ground became very interesting to him with peeks from the corner of his eye to see if we were still looking at him...each time we posed the question he would become very still and look down while peeking up from the corner of his eyes waiting for the moment to pass.  Ha! what goes around comes around is all I have to say to his father, my oldest son.

My camera has a fireworks setting.  I took these at a neighborhood festival last weekend which is why we had the 2 grand-people.  Tell me, do you like fireworks?  I don't. Never really enjoyed them...as a child I did because I was suppose to.  I don't like the noise.  I try to avoid them but occassionally I can't get away with doing so.  But these lines of motion and energy have a certain appeal.

Mo has been tempting me with these sundaes...thank goodness, due to subversive tactics by terrorists using ice cream as a weapon of mass destruction, homeland security has banned the sale of ice cream until further notice...uh, wait, I'm being informed that I misheard the news...will need to get the facts straight after...slurp, slurp, ummm, goood...

Its that dang ozone thing again!

There is a weather advisory issued for Monday.  I was planning on dyeing fabric again but I guess the wise thing to do would be to wait. Yesterday I dyed red (034) (always trying to get a deep rich red) and rinsing out in the bath tub.  That was uncomfortable.  I really enjoy surface work and am going to work my way through the exercises in the back of the book Complex Cloth. Right now all I have is a few dyed pieces but will use Jacquard discharge paste to do the next step.  Jacquard's paste doesn't bother me the way that bleach does.

Mo potted flowers on the balcony and I'm enjoying seeing them.  Her and I have been sitting on the balcony just before night falls and chatting.  God willing, she will be staying in the dorm this fall.  Its exciting watching her enthusiasm.  But I'm already know I'm going to miss her being around.

Hey, Look!

My blog is listed on the Big Lots site!!!!

Look under Fun N' Blogs and click on Quilting and Big Lots

Dusting My Shoulder Off

I wanted to place my bumper sticker that Gerrie had mailed me on a gun shop or shooting range but was too chicken to do it.  A friend and I even scouted out a shooting range (in the downtown area of all places) close by where we use to work.  It always looked like an abandoned business but yet has been there for years.  The windows are blackened so you can't see in but my friend just knew there had to be cameras and we would go to jail for vandalism, and that wouldn't be good for her since she is job hunting.  So on my car it went.  I am parked on the street across from my parent's house.  I went over to claim their backyard as my new space to dye fabric. 

I dyed just 2 colours, brazilnut and ecru, light (1/2 teaspoon), mediu (1 tsp.), and dark (2 tsp.).  The outcome was a pleasing start but I'm going to continue to manipulate the fabric using the book Complex Cloth as my guide.  Also, if I had a deeper understanding of colour mixing I saw that I wouldn't need to buy the colours "brazilnut" or "ecru"...these colours I've acheived accidentally by mixing my basic blues/reds/yellows.  But it was a day I needed after being so pumped up from Magic on the Mount.

The door opens to the Calving barn that houses 5 studios, a kitchen, and a bathroom.  Studio 3, my favorite of them all, (although if I could continually handle going up and down the steps all day, the loft would be a perfect space to really spread out as it runs the length of the barn).  The grain silo (I guess it was a grain silo) sits opposite the doors of the Calving barn and behind a very large barn that is a year round studio for a sculptor and costume designer.  I'm always compelled to take pictures of the silo every time I'm there. 

I wasn't as prepared as I wanted to be. (I can hear Peter saying to Mo and Ade "if you don't plan to succeed, then you're planning to fail...uggh) I took six pieces and nothing under 200 for sale.  Didn't sell anything but boy did I have a good time.  I demo'ed silk fusion and transfer paints (finally got around to using them, Valerie).  The festival ran from 3-6 and most of the activity was outdoors and was set up so that festival goers wound themselves through the grounds.  From 7-9 there was a Brazilian guitarist and other artists down by the lake but I used that time to continue working and begin packing up around 8.  I had about 75-100 people come through.  It helped that I was in the building with the bathroom also.  I enjoyed talking to people about what I was doing and was asked lots of questions.  Talking and demo'ing at the same time is like patting your head and rubbing your stomach...once you get going you're on a roll.

This is the hallway that divides the studios.  Five of the six pieces I brought hanging on the wall.

If I can get a hold of the photos of me demo'ing, taken by the designated photographer for the event, I'll share those. 

It was a boost to my spirit seeing my work hanging up as a group.  Let me go ahead and dust my shoulder off ;)

 

I got this???????

Okay, ya' know how a thing can be seen so clearly in the mind's eye?  Well, when I was asked to occupy Studio 3 for the Magic on the Mount festival...it was like no problem, I got this!  The festival is tomorrow and I knew  on Monday that my vision was not going to happen the way I saw it weeks ago in my head.  Should I use the time in the studio as a day to sew or some aspect of surface design or do hand work...in my mine's eye I was going to set up my machine and work on the 2nd Negotiating Territory...but I had expected to have some colours I want dyed by now...so ex-nay that...then I said I'll dye but since I'm going to have works for sale hanging up in the same space and knowing how clumsy I am, I thought best not to have dye around finished pieces.  Then there was going to be the 50 or so postcards I wanted to make, but that didn't happen either due to Peter being in the hospital...(everything is fine now and he is home). 

This morning I wasn't even sure what pieces I wanted to take...(thats decided now) but what if I get a sale? How do I handle the transaction?  At what point do I need to consider getting a business license?  What if there isn't interest in my work and how will it effect me in the short term (because eventually I'd get over it)? And why do I have anxiety about this? Is this normal? Shoot...Mo just called, I gotta go pick her up so my uncertainty will be pushed aside for the moment...

Peace,

Silence is Golden

Silence is golden. That is what I said to myself last night.  The tv has been turned off more, the internet too.  If any music at all, its been instrumental.  This morning it was the sound of birds and natural daylight that awoke me instead of an alarm clock and the clink and clank of humans interacting with plastics, metals, etc of human made, manufactured made items.  And I prayed before my feet even hit the floor instead of a quick plea for God to guide me through the day.  And I am here now...thinking with clarity and calm.

Not much evidence has supported my life as a quilter...a few yo-yos made here and there with the Clover yo-yo makers, some books and magazines purchased and read before going to sleep, a weekend workshop with Hollis Chatlelain in Berea, some postcards made, and some sketches doodled.  My time at MACA had to be cancelled.  I try holding the images of Anna Williams in that overstuffed bedroom working on her quilts and one of an unidentified (to me) woman hand quilting on a frame in a barn as reminders to make do.  As thankful as I am for the reminders from these two women, its not enough to motivate me into concerted actions of intent.   

The weekend with Hollis opened me up and allowed me to breath creatively for a short while.  It was relaxing to handle colour and just sit for a stretch of time and paint.  The mini demonstration she gave to help the group understand blending was a mind opener on understanding undertones and transparency.  She had us all to stand in a circle and put our hands together, palms up, hands touching side to side, and asked us to identify the colours we see (pinks, yellows, greens in undertones) and what distinguishes the hands by race. 

Also, her style of group critique was similiar to a style of writing critique that was introduced to me from a professional dancer as a style that grew from dance troupe critiques.  My preference is an interchange of answers and questions going in both directions between the artist and evaluator and the art while the other group members act as witness/audience.  The writing critiques were different in that the questioning was initiated by the artist first and could be directed at specific group members versus anyone just jumping in to respond.  Then when the round of questioning was over, each member responded while the artist took notes only. To close the session the artists would either make comments or ask the most pertinent question from select group members.  This type of critiquing takes longer and only one or two pieces could be read.  The sessions where timed to prevent going off on deep ends but it forced the artist to select pieces that she really wanted to grow and publish.

This weekend is Magic on the Mount.  I'll be set up in Studio 3 for the day as a participant.  And while you're out and about in Southern Indiana you might as well make a day of it and push further to attend this:

Quilt Creations
June 10 to August 5, 2007 - Rotunda Gallery, Henderson County Public Library

African/American award winning quilt designers Juanita Yeager and Valerie White will display their quilts in celebration of the life of W. C. Handy. This exhibit is presented in conjunction with the Handy Festival that will be held June 9 to 16 in Henderson, KY.

The quickest way to Henderson, KY is to drive through southern Indiana and cross the bridge south at Evansville, I believe. 

So while peace is being still and I seem to not be creating anything, I am being present for the affairs of myself and loved ones. 

Peace,