Thoughts from Roy

Bless his heart! He's wishing me well this weekend at Greenwich...

Solo Exhibit/Greenwich

Here's one section of the Greenwich poster. My "Lightsource" piece is in the center...

It's happening this weekend! Guess what I've been doing?

My small format pieces are now mounted on canvas, and are looking good...
And all the rayon and silk fabrics for my ruana garments are dyed/discharged/overdyed/painted and ready for sewing.












And...announcing my solo exhibit at:

A Movable Feast

this will be part of our local art council's fall artscene - here's the link:

Rockford Area Arts Council - Arts for Everyone

I'm also curating an exhibit at our church for the same event...

Looks like an incredible artful weekend here in Rockford - remember we're only 80 miles NW of Chicago!

Emotions and Art , part 2

On Monday before going to work, I had an attack of vertigo. This one was pretty intense so that by the time I got into the store, I couldn't move my head or eyes without that awful spinning feeling. Luckily Amy, who is the merchandise leader had just come in an hour before, and was scheduled to work until 9pm. anyway. We checked who was staying until closing, and since there was lots of floor coverage, I felt better about leaving. Once home, I took my anti-vert pill and went to bed.

LIFE COMES AT YOU FAST...

I have made 8 new pieces for the art fair that is coming up soon. I've joined the ranks of other textile/fiber artists who now mount some of their small quilts on stretched canvas. Depending on the response at Greenwich will determine if I continue. I'm uncomfortable with the fact that for some people - it can't possibly be real art unless it's framed or mounted on something. Ticks me off...

"Bella Luna" - Oh well, here's one I finished last night. Deep blue dyed cotton with a printed border (batting underneath) which is wrapped around to the back of 9x11 inch stretcher bars.
The moon is a gold plated choker necklace from Mexico that someone gave me. I stretched it out some into the shape of the moon before adhering it to the piece. Added some little gold heart beads, and embroidered the x's with pearl cotton. Very simple, but also very striking and dramatic. I like it.

Emotions and Art

Saturday evening after work. Nothing terribly serious, just enough emotion and I was feeling distressed enough to keep me up all night. It didn't matter that I had to get up early to get to church, I just couldn't sleep.

I started this piece at 4 am. - I pulled out a bin of synthetic fabrics and yarns, silks and any piece of shiny junk I had. I wanted to burn them into a collage of sorts, I guess. Not alot of thought to a design. No thought of color movement.

I took my embossing stamp pad and pressed it into the layered fabrics, then sprinkled gold and bronze embossing enamel over everything. When I took my heat gun to it, I realized that I wasn't even thinking about the fumes. I grabbed a fan, turned it on high and opened every window in my studio. The stretchy shiny synthetics smelled the worst (I don't even want to know how they're made). When the enamel was melted into the fabrics, I figured it was enough to hold it all. Wrong. Some purple glass beads stitched down and 3 twigs wrapped with lutradur, stamped, embossed and stitched down also helped hold it together.

At this point, it reminded me of a dark forest, lush with color. I added gold leaf beads to represent a tree in that forest.

Most of the time when my emotions get the best of me, I have to get in the studio and create, even if I only start a new piece, or work on another. This time around I re-created my feelings in the burning, i.e., the distressing of the elements. I'm working through my thoughts and I finished the piece Sunday night, which included mounting it on a fabric covered canvas panel. It is now hanging on a wall in our home.

Will it go to Greenwich with me in two weeks, or will it stay? I'm not sure yet.