Monday and Tuesday

I missed last month's meeting of Studio Six so today was a treat. Diane Savona just returned from visiting her son in Japan and came home loaded with old textiles she had found in flea markets and little shops. As she showed them, she told us what they were and gave hilarious renditions of her pantomimed bargaining in the stalls. Here are two quilts from Susan Brauner's new garden series. (ok -- one and part of one). And Hollie Heller brought a few of her new experiments with her. See these bamboo boxes she made from an old bamboo curtain? She's holding up the prototype of what she can do with the bamboo constructions. Very nice! Judy Langille brought two catalogs: the new Quilt National book, which I have to say is the best I have seen in many years. Lots of newcomers and while not everything in the exhibit was a gem (yes, there were a few head-scratchers) - it was refreshing to see the work of quite a few artists who were new faces instead of so many of the same old-same old. The second catalog was from the opening at the McCormick Gallery in Chicago of the spectacular work from the estate of the architect, painter & printmaker, Harold Krisel. Go see the show if you are in Chicago - it is up till May 30. Otherwise, you can see his work on the gallery's website at the link above. He was Judy Langille's father and she clearly has inherited his talent. I spent a couple of hours in the studio today, with most of the time devoted to mixing alginate paste in the blender and adding color. I mixed up 8 containers of thickened dye and made a couple of deconstructed screens, which I will use on Wednesday. On a whim, I decided to screenprint with thickened dyes istead of paint and I used the eyes I had mixed for deconstructed printing -- so they were very dark. I brought this home and steamed it tonight and it didn't lose any color. At first I thought it should be a vertical piece,But then I turned it in the other direction and now I don't know, because I like it this way, too. Just before I left for home, I spotted this rainbow on the floor.

I hope it is an omen.