What can I say...I'm just an elliptical kinda woman...

It all started yesterday...I was trying to get the idea out of my head onto a piece of cloth that I was trying to salvage and wondered what would happen if  I wrote with school glue directly on the fabric as the resist and then after it dried, spread a layer of jacquard discharge paste over it.  So today I scurry in to apply the jdp and this is what happened...

before

 after
Discharge paste doesn't discharge metallic fabric markers...a tidbit of info that means nothing at the moment but seems like it could come in handy down the line.

More layers are forthcoming, but I'll not try this again as the dp just bullied the glue and the glue dried overnight.  In the past I applied the glue directly to a silk screen AND for the time involved, because it takes a long while for the blue school glue to dry, (typically a day), I am better off using soy wax which dries immediately.  

And these...(ellipis are my favorite grammatical mark...signifying the long trains of fluid but focused for me thoughts that I edit out to keep readers from suffering through the dips and peaks in my mind.  I've considered trying to refrain from using them as they are in just about every post I write, but at this point, it feels more like my trademark).

are in the washing machine along with a few other pieces.  The one on the bottom is smaller than a fat quarter and I used my new favorite tool (toilet paper insert) as the stamp.  

Oh, oh...another conclusion I reached yesterday...for batching dye painted fabrics, I prefer steaming the fabric versus laying it out in the sun, has less loss of colour/dye.  I've been tracking this for the last 3 months.  BUT, the steaming creates a strong odor when it is immediately unwrapped and rinsed but dissipates very quickly under running water.  So I now put on a mask for gasses when rinsing out.

 

Did you hear me howling????

Why didn't someone tell me just how good The Book of Eli is!  It has to be that once rare blue moon that I take a hankering to go to the movies but on a spur of the moment Peter and I decided to go Saturday night...the intention was to see Avatar but it only showed once and we had missed it.  I sat there for most of the movie asking myself "where is this going?"...the story line is not new (hero set out to save the world) but OH WHAT HAPPENED IN THE LAST 10-15 minutes of the movie had me howling!!!! (okay, i didn't really howl but surpressed it...although i had great difficulty understanding why the audience was so sedate because it definitely should have been a communal howling experience!)   In my surpressed howl, it was one of those howls when 10,000 ancestors show up and raise their glasses to toast!  Timeless wisdom came through and the story found its soul!!!!!  The story has stayed with me...issues of commitment, faith, education, sight, power,...I awoke Sunday morning with the movie on my mind after dreaming about interviewing Denzel on why he took the role.  In the dream he said something about his own career being a walk of faith and he wanted to remind young people including his own children about what it means to be committed.  (My nephew Eric may not know how to choose a college basketball team but his recommendations for movies has improved greatly!)

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In The Basement last week I kicked in a few hours...practiced fmq and fme as part of The Learning Curve curriculum and on Friday, just before leaving, I painted this cauldron.  It was a photo printed on fabric that didn't print well due to ink heads needing to be cleaned.  Its been in the scrap pile for weeks.  I picked it up and taped it to the table and selected paints and started playing...not too much forethought (less damage that way)...but looking at it this morning I'm thinking my Crow piece might morph into Crows and Cauldrons.

Anaya remains in NICU.  If her respirations stay down for the next couple of days she will come home. She is filling out and looking good.  She only weighed 6lbs and 2ozes when she was born...I'm so use to 8 pounders that 6 sounded small to me.   Deep down, I know that everything has its place and is in order.  Hugs to  those who have sent blessings and prayers. 

Maybe I should give a name to my curriculum...????

I'll start my 3 week in my self-directed curriculum this coming week.  Here is a peak at last week's activities:

Mindful Meandering

 

Visual Language

Machine Embroidery

I worked on a little machine felting and with the temperatures rising into the 50's I wondered if I should put the wool away and anticipate spring.  Mellwood has an artists' gallery that was formed by tenants who have formed a seperate non-profit council.  Annual membership is 40 and 20% goes back to the council.  I'm going to roll this around in my head for a bit but I'm thinking it would ease my dilemna of whether I want to aim to sell from my studio space.  

 

back of scarf

front 

 
  
  

Kicking off the year!

Well la ti da, looka here, looka here...this cold fluffy stuff that is so pretty to look at but whose reality is a bit harsh finally found us...the frigid temps wasn't enough, it had to go and snow! Its only a few inches but, still, ya know how I feel about the season that shall not be named. 

But I was not daunted! No, beloved, I managed to keep myself distracted and warm and worked my plan in spite of it all! 

FME Exercises (Shinn) 

VL (Dunnewold, Benn, Morgan)

 
MM (Fritz)  

What I've committed to doing this time around with my outlined curriculum (see previous post) is to stick with the exercises, ride them out so to speak, go a little further with them, versus rushing through them in order to get to the "fun" part.  For example, take the expanded shape exercises (middle image above). Instead of doing 10-20 of them and then moving to the next exercise, I'm going to overlap the exercises and continue to do the previous exercises while moving to the next one.  This will add some "depth" to what I do instead of moving through fast.  Afterall, the purchase of books is a serious investment and it doesn't make sense to keep adding to my shelves without really getting the benefit from them.  I'm even abandoning my approach to keep my books in pristine condition.  Why? For What?  No, this time I'm highlighting, making notes in the margins...really pushing myself to engage with the efforts that each author has made. 

Other happenings this week was finding 4 painted whole cloths that was my first intended series.  I didn't even remember doing them until I saw them and one of them just might become the background for the Audubon piece.  How sweet it is to look at something with new eyes, eh!? 

And another fresh discovery for this week is observing very little dye wash-out with acid dyes on silk which leads me to the conclusion that most of the dye adhers to the cloth.  Here are the scarves waiting for a 2nd layer of something...I'm thinking of some hand writing, any ideas for me?

Looking at these colours, I must have Spring on my mind :)

 Peace,