Standing Again

I returned to the studio last Friday for the first time since my father passed.  Being there gave me back the feeling of standing on solid ground.  I did a sheer lamination that put the be-bop back in my hip-hop.  I used the same Adinkra symbol for law, order, authority, balance that went into Crowbonics:The Scroll and screened the medium through the design in soy wax. 

The cloth underneath is a Jacquard that Peter brought back from Nigeria some years ago.  Not sure if it was made in Nigeria.  I'm recalling a documentary that discussed African fabrics being manufactured elsewhere.  Peter pointed out that the jacquard is much more valued than the adire cloth I asked for.  Adire is considered a "common cloth".  (Being the peasant woman that I am, that figures.) I will put some hand-writing/symbols on the jacquard.  I'm leaning toward this one being called The Songbook or The Hymnal.

I had "ummm moment" last Friday when I was in the studio.  Two of the coolest women stopped in and enjoyed looking at the work I have displayed.  One was a quilter from Columbus, Indiana and the conversation was uplifting and affirming.  I invited her to come down and dye with me when she thought she was ready to start.  I get pumped talking about my processes more than any other aspect of conversation about my art.  I'm really not set up or focused on selling from the studio, so when she asked me how much for one of the 6"x12" pieces, I shrugged my shoulders and said "make me an offer" or something in that vein.  And yeap, she thought it was just as strange reply as you're thinking it is right now.  I've been thinking about my response since and I know I need serious help to get to the business side of all this, but I've said it before, my energy is limited and what energy I have, I'm devoting to art making.  Its not that I don't value my completed pieces, I do, but its the process of making that is more relevant to my well being and it is a conscious choice. 

There is an organization here that supports artists with disabilities and I've spoken with them back in 2008 when I was looking for space still.  They've since moved and are closer to me and near Mellwood and I'm thinking I'll return before the year is out to see what marketing services are currently available. 

This week I've been pushing boulders up a moutain...in the midst of a fibro flare and yesterday was the worst I've ever experienced.  I had to use a cane to get up the steps.  It humbled me.  I had to miss a meeting I was looking forward to at the library for feminists artists.  Its so rare to be able to hold discussions about art making and what factors come to bear as I live trying to be the strongest me possible. 

Other than the lamination sheer, I spent time finishing up these postcards with beads.  I'm undecided whether to complete them as postcard art or small art only. 

  --------------------------------------------------> this one is my favorite----------------------------------->

Taming Listlessness

While I'm typing this, Ade and Peter are intensely discussing NBA players and teams...they are always on opposite sides of the argument when it comes to sports, each one talking rapidly and overlapping speech...some father-son bonding ritual that gives me a headache.  In earlier days this would take place on some nearby street corner or neighborhood pub or some garage...but at the kitchen table over coffee and cereal seems invasive to my head.  I'm recalling a lecture given by bell hooks to architecture students (i crashed the lecture) that theorized to what extent outdoor and indoor spaces where claimed by gender. 

I woke up very early and sat on the balcony surrounded by Peter's tomato jungle and watched a teeny tiny spider bounce up and down, little by little, off of a vine, but I'm feeling listless.  To settle myself I printied on the fabrics that were soaked in the Bubblejet and Golden Digital Grounds that I mentioned previously...as I sip gulp my coffee I"ll upload the comparisons...hold on.

Visually, the difference is negligible .  The Digital Ground image is a little sharper and it makes the paper feel and behave more like art paper instead of cloth, stiffer but breathable, unlike using a gel medium.  Between the 2, my perference is the cloth with the digital grounds for the feel of it.  These are on cotton.

Last summer, sister blogger Marie, shared her results. (Click on her name to see.)

Daddy's service and beautiful and a sweet but short family gathering.  I loved two of the stories shared by one of his CB buddies, a Rev. Woods, who has lived in Michigan for the last eleven years and just so happened to be in Louisville for a family reunion.  He shared how my father, some decades ago, got him started with his CB passion and how much he loved talking to my father, Groundhog, via the radio.  The other older gentleman, told a railroad story and its what he left out that made the story even funnier for those who knew him.

I dreamt about him last night...he was dressed in the suit we buried him in but was in front of the casket carrying it with the 6 pallbearers.  He was walking down Broadway and when he passed 26th street he turned into this huge rugged field of gold and green patches of grass.  It was midday and my father was taking firm steps and said "people need to understand that patience is needed in times like these".  There was a huge, huge crowd waiting for him and cleared a path for him to enter a white building that sat back and off to the side in the field.  I arrived in a limo but had gotten off of work and into the crowd and was hoping that no one would recognize me.  I fell in step behind the casket after my father arrived.  I remember having the feeling that I wanted to blend in with the crowd but I wasn't a part of the crowd. 

When I awoke I thought, its just like Daddy to find something to do to keep him busy. :) 

The hugs and prayers are appreciated very much. 

Daddy made his passing Saturday morning.
 

Meet my youngest son

He is the spitting image of his father!

Ade, Mo, and Carter were in The Basement Workshop with me yesterday.  I worked on a design project and did the stitching and fusing on it today.  It will get a few seed beads and a stone (when I can find the ones I'm looking for).  This is the 2nd one...I'm calling it 2304:2...or thats what I'm calling it today.  If I stick with the title, then the previous one will have to be titled 2304:1  I could call it *therapy work.   

Ade took this picture of me working at The Beauty of Holiness Studio on Wednesday.  My art making time is regular sporadic snatches of time.  I walk in and look around and ask myself what can I do...I think I'm getting more done this way or at least if feels like it.  Today before I left the basement I soaked fabrics in bubble jet and another few pieces in Golden digital ground and hung them to dry...if I was actually working on "goals", taking the time to soak these fabrics or doing something like 2304:2 would have been pushed to "another day".

He signed up to enter into the Nature category in photography at the state fair.  You go man!  Okay, I'm off to dream land!  Go out and do something fun thhis weekend!