Its A New Year...Hope and Change ;)

Rolling this around in my head and typing this out loud:  2009 is my designated year to begin to add consistent submissions to juried shows and non-juried shows, re-join SAQA and SDA and the Embroidery Guild, and gain some acclimation to art-marketing skills, and create an on-line presence for finished quilts, (Seamless Skin is excluded as I always want this to be my personal space and musings and evidences for my journey).

Alyson Stansfield's book "I'd Rather Be in the Studio" arrived yesterday...this and another art marketing workbook will be my assignments for the first 2 months. I know up front that I never want to be in a position where I'm dependent on income from my art for basic living...I don't think I'm wired for that type of grueling work that would catapult me into feelings of desperation and uncertainty. Business-wise, I do want to be able to comfortably use my materials without worry over the cost of replenishing them.  What I hope for is to create work that provokes emotion in others to the point that they would want to own/collect what I create and the income from that would support the continuation of making more quilts and educational experiences.  This seems asking more of myself in a way that promotes my mental, physical, and spirtual health and yet offers some edge in utilitizing and stretching my capabilities.  As far as submitting to shows I'm still going for a minimum of 4 for the year and maintaining 20 hours a week in my workshop. 

Although I fell a smidget short of my goals for 2008, overall, I feel like I accomplished much and am pleased.

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

Yesterday while picking up a birthday gift for my mother I found a really beautiful kinara made out of black soapstone made in Kenya. It replaces my wooden one which I'd like to gift to my brother and his partner if she didn't already have one.  But he never has his cell phone charged which I think is so unprofessional and irresponsible considering its his main phone...but hey, who am I, just the older and wiser sister. 

Happy New Year to all who pass through...Peace.

 

Casual Lettering with Laurie Doctor

Loved LOVED LOVED IT!  I was dipping into this in order to push my brain to imagine even more possibilities for writing on cloth...which it did do even with only eight hours total of instruction.  I found myself listening to the instructor while simultaneously pushing my tight little brain to "take it further" and "what if?".  More than likely, because of this, I probably am retaining little, but what I'm retaining I'm working it! 

The font she shared was a basic line script using a straight point nib.  But that hasn't stopped me from spending at least 10-15 minutes with daily practice or playing around.  I've purchased new nibs, picked up a book recommendation she gave me from the library, purchased a few more varieties of brands in ink, and ordered a copy of the Letter Arts Review. 

My supplies occupy a shelf by the kitchen table and after the house is quiet at night or early in the morning when the troop is gone I find it very relaxing to practice what I learned from this workshop.  What is most appealing is how my body slows down internally and externally and how my concentration and visualization skills magnify and intensify.  Its the same way with hand stitching when I compare the activities that create the same sense of meditative sensation. 

My goal isn't to become a calligrapher but more than anything else I want to increase my command of visualization and retain my abilities to concentrate.  For now it will stay a daily practice.  I also find it much more accessible, intimate, and personal than drawing. 

Here are photos as evidence of my journey:

 

above: experimenting with value and design using a variety of pens and pencils in black/grey on water colour paper.  (since I first wrote this post, I added colour to the above project with Derwent watercolour pencils.  The b/w filter was applied to the photo)

 

black on black writing (used a shell for writing, felt very earthy and womanish) colouring with pencils and water colours and white gel pen on black cover weight paper.  behind the black pieces of paper is a "what if" with colour and layering using inks, markers, and pens on paper.)

 

front of hand-made book

 

back of hand-made book:  2 types of white gel pens-one layered writing; black on black shell writing; coloured with prismacolour pencils.

 

first opening,

seconing opening,

 

third oepning,

 

front of pages, accordian fold, little momentos of practices tucked inside pages. china marker, walnut and sumi inks.  (note give Ron a bucket to collect walnuts)

 

back of pages.

 

Friday's daily practice using acrylic ink, straight nib (feather quill makes me feel like Phillis Wheatley, I like to strike the pose of the image of her with quill sitting at the table in contemplation).

 

And here is a very small section of a quilt I assumed was complete and which I liked very much but wanted to dare myself to go back into using block letters and in a different colour.  Once I started, I gasped, but then what could I do...cut it down? nope! I decided to continue on to see where it would lead before I made such a drastic decision.  I think next time I will make the block lettering smaller and more squished up and my cursive on top and larger.  I'm okay with the outcome but I like it more prior to this layer.  Hopefully soon I'll settle down to get good overall photography of the full quilt. 

 

 

My Muddy Brother's Art can be purchased

in card or print formats at RedBubble <-----go ahead and click the link :)

A poem for the season :)

The title of my blog came from a phrase in a poem by this poet...who is one of my favorites!

Testing

I have a funky head cold going on...and don't feel much like doing anything...but I am entertaining myself with videos from the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival over on You Tube. Just wanted to see if I could embed videos correctly.

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. 

Odetta has passed on...

A Young Odetta

And Recent Years and again

I have a cassette tape of her singing songs for children.  I'm going to look for it today while I make my peace with her passing. I share a birthday with her.

Where is the bail-out for non-profit community programs including ART!?!

I'll just let the title of this post hang in the air and we can all stew over the answers until,....um, until, until....until....well, lets not hold our breath, okay.

  Here is a collage of photos I took Friday at Ron's show.  He had a few new pieces and my favorite he still has...If after the first of the year its still available, we are gonna have to talk lay-a-way!  He has a new series called the The 45 Series inspired by records, the 45 size.  Now, if you're younger than a certain age, there might be some pauses while you've figured out what records are and then what are 45s.  And he uses vintage cloth as a backdrop for them!!!!  Ummmm, it hit me immediately, I'm just waiting for him to catch up because a collaboration of some kind is in our future.  He also had napbooks for sale for a couple of bucks...napbooks are one page of his poems.  One of them cracked me up...it read "..." well let me show ya, but give me a second to scan it--- 

this is the front-

  flip it over and its one of his poems-

For all the USAians, I'm wishing a week ahead of gratitude, peace, and laughter for those who have traditional and non-traditional Thanksgivings.  Ummm, rethinking that...I wish everyone world over the same, holiday or not. 

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. 

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.

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.

i'm really desperate now to find this

The death of Studs Terkel sent me back to my early teen years.  Saturday mornings I listed to his radio show and Saturday afternoons I listened to Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis' radio show.  I did that for years. It was such a routine part of my Saturdays.  I can't imagine too many people now actually count "sitting and listening to the radio" as an activity in and of itself.  I listen to radio now while I'm cooking, driving, and during light reading.  Man, that was back in the day when radio and tv stations acutally signed off!!!!  As much as I love my internet access I do infrequently mourn the 24-7 availabity to plug-into-any-technology-drug-of-choice that we have. 

But this time internet access is failing me and I'm desperate to find issued cds of the archived radio shows with Dee and Davis.  The name of the show was With Ossie and Ruby.  If anyone out there who stumbles by or comes to visit can lead me in the right direction or strong clue, please help me out!  I'll be so happy and grateful!

Thanks, now I'm off to see if I can find Studs' shows on cd. 

An Open Letter to Obama From Alice Walker

You have no idea, really, of how profound this moment is for us. Us being the black people of the Southern United States. You think you know, because you are thoughtful, and you have studied our history. But seeing you deliver the torch so many others before you carried, year after year, decade after decade, century after century, only to be struck down before igniting the flame of justice and of law, is almost more than the heart can bear.

Read the full letter.

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? 

Working it out

 I painted the back of this experimental piece with dye paint and fell in love with it after I flipped it back over.  It is with this piece that I also concluded I prefer using metallics underneath and not on top...its the on top that makes me describe a piece as too garrish, they often steal the show...I just do no yet know how to handle the metallics in the foreground.  Here is what it looked like before I worked it out from interesting to whooooh!!!!!  The draw back is this is a small piece less than a fat quarter in size...I might be able to replicate it...it will be on my to do list for the coming week.  This is what it looked like before I painted the back side:

Honoring the Call

for Ron and Crystal...Your talents are your infinite wealth...

Here is Ron's art work on the cover of African American Review...he also has up-coming cover of another scholarly journal due out next year.  He is also preparing for another solo show.   Praying for continued blessings in honoring your calling as artist, my brother.

Unreality Check

Yesterday I drove to my brother's place.  The further I drove away from the city the expanse of commercialism faded away and gave rise to more God-made substances of land, trees, and dirt.  I felt my mind and body relaxing more. 

Sometimes I'm aware that I'm romanticizing living "in the country" and a simpler life but every time I visit Midway, a small left leaning liberal town where people wave and human beings actually still get on their hands and knees to paint parking lines.  Every body picks up their mail at the post office...utility bills are kept in a ledger and the racial balance is enough to give psychic comfort.

 

Similiar to Berea, the state's arts and crafts capital, Midway feels like an artist's town full of quirky locals.  Ron has been there going on 2 years and his stories fulfill my fantasy. 

The picture below is of downtown Midway...these are shops that depend on tourists stopping in or folks from Lexington getting away for a day.  I've noticed the shops change frequently.  Ron said the owners tend to be from "someplace" else and he is of the opinion that the shop owners that stay are in this for hobby and fun mostly.  The train tracks run right down the center of the street.   And I guess back in the day (original day) this must have been a happening spot right before entering into Lexington.  In my sentimentality I imagine this was a great undercover spot for abolitionists to gather and strategize about their cause...I have no evidence of that but it just feels like that kind of space to me.

  The building in the background in the picture below is a modern day looking apartment building that looks totally out of place.  It was built as an apartment building and still is an apartment building...this is so wrong in Midway where most of the buildings' original intent have given way numerous times to arrive at whats in them now.

 

In my fantasy, I imagine living there in this house

or this one

   

secluded somewhere in one of the rooms making great quilted art and wrestling poems from the tip of my pen.  Family and friends would begin to worry if I'm still lucid and sane because I never leave the house and its been years since they've seen me but they would know that I'm having solo shows throughout the U.S. which is a sign that I must not be too "off".  Somewhere around the age of 125 I would sit down in my comfy chair (the same one I got off of Craigslist back in 2008) for some hand sewing and drift off to sleep and never wake up.  The End.

Kinetic Energy continued

I wish I had taken a photo of my packed to the roof and from side to side with all the supplies of Valerie White and mine...of course heading from Louisville the kudos for packing it all in belong to our men but hey, we didn't do a too shabby of a job packing to return home. 

The fact that I shared this time with Valerie and Juanita, in its own unique and delightful way, was a socially creative phenomenon!  I mean what are the chances that we all would take the same workshop and all 3 of us, uniquely different in style, would come away feeling the workshop was incredibly worth every single moment!

This past week I've had what I would call one productive day in my workshop.  I adjusted the height of one of my folding table to waist level and will use it as a work bench.  I switched the position of this table and the cutting/ironing table and am looking for a cheap-to-free rectangle wood kitchen table to place the top of the cutting/ironing top onto...the folding legs that came with it are too wobbly.  And I'm leaning toward ordering this for my sewing machine.  On the same day I made the adjustments I took the dye stocks that where in the fridge during the 7 day power outage and tried them out...so far the one I tried showed no signs of diminished colour.  So I'm going to try to use them up dyeing painting shades of greens, yellows, and reds.  Instead of selecting a panel of each colour for creating complex cloth for the remaining quilts in the Poetry Series, I'm going to create multiples of 5 of each colour and then work on them and then select 1 of each colour to make up the panels in each quilt. 

The weekend has been spent resting so I hope to have at least 3 productive days this coming week.

Phoning for Obama/Biden

Friday morning Petra and I headed to one of our favorite spots for breakfast:

  I tried something new:

 

(I prepared my own version of this for brunch today...two fried eggs with sauteed seasoned steak and tomato-pepper relish on top, hash brown casserole and sourdough toast.)

We called those on the registered Democratic list for the city of Indianapolis...there were a lot of disconnected phone lines and unanswered calls due to the time of day we imagined.  The few I spoke with of the 150 calls were mostly enthusiastic for Obama.  I spoke with one undecided who was leaning toward McCain but after he saw the debate he was questioning if it was the right thing to do with him being a teamster and all. I did my best to affirm him redirecting his vote :)  I came across a few crabs who firmly stated they where strong for McCain and not to call any more (to restate it pleasantly). And one woman yelled that it was none of my business (again restating it pleasantly) who she was voting for.  Alrighty then, moving right along....

 

Here I am with Kenya who works in the office:

The next time I go back I'm taking my 16 year old son. 

 

KE=(1/2)mv to the second power

Beginning with the ride home last Saturday I've been trying to put into words the description and impact  of spending one week at the Crow Timber Barn with Leslie Morgan's and Claire Benn's Working with Intent has had on me and I can't find the words.  To discuss it in terms of techniques learned seems to trivialize the whole of it; to talk about it in terms of their enthusiasm and energy my words don't measure up; to discuss it in terms of how my mind and vision were stretched and latched on seems to elevate it to a spiritual experience.  Taking the workshop was like somehow being a part of their formula for kinetic energy.  So with that said I'll just share photos taken because at this point its a good beginning.  Over the course of time and my work, the experience will grow and hopefully become one I can give justice towards when speaking/writing about it.

Pinning fabric to the bench

 

Breakdown Printing

 

Debbie, Juanita, and Karen R. in consult

Leslie giving critic to Karen R.

 

Claire surveying the room

 

With much respect I will state that Claire and Leslie are truly among the few hardest working women I have ever encountered in any arena.  To read the perspective of other bloggers who attended check out  Juanita  and Debbie.

But no one's energy during that week would have sustained without the extraordinary healthy, nutritious, and delicious meals prepared by the heart and hands of Margaret Wolf!

The next post will be a brief documentation of my day yesterday as a phone surveyor for the Obama campaign.