It's Thursday

How did it get to be this far along in the week? I know, but I'm not going to tell. I have a brisket in the oven, my husband is at a holiday party somewhere, and I am here with martini (and calamata olive) in hand, feet up, de-toxifying from the horrible week which I won't go into here. Have just come home from a day of BEAUTY??? - haircut after I went in looking like an overgrown tree (a short tree, which is worse). Then, new color. I made the mistake of telling the new colorist that I needed a little drama in my life (as IF I don't have enough) and, hello, Gabrielle - RED highlights. Aarrgggh - not what I expected, since the highlights have been various shades of light-brown to blonde for quite a few years. But, what the hell. If I really hate it I can change it. Right? What I really want to talk about is Karoda's new piece. The fabric is so fabulous! I cannot wait to see it finished. She and I were discussing quilting (you know, that thing you do that puts stitches in the piece) and wondering how you decide what to do when you love the piece so much before stitching. I suppose you become a painter on canvas or something. I really agonize abut putting the piece under the needle -- I never can decide whether the stitches will help or hinder, or how I am going to do them. But for some people, it's their favorite part - or at least a piece of cake. It is the part I hate and fear and put off when I am working. Right now, I have a relatively simple piece (my "gates" piece) sitting here since last February because I can't deal with quilting it . Is that nuts, or what? So, a propos of Karoda's and my conversation -- Do the stitches make the piece (was there a book by that title??) or break it? Have you ever sat and picked out umpteen bazillion little stitches that looked crappy? I have. So, I have stitching neurosis. How do the rest of you deal with it? How do you decide whether to do an allover pattern or change the pattern depending on what's on the fabric? What about the color of the thread? So many variables - so little time. On another topic, I spent the other night soy wax batik'ing a piece of fabric. I am pleased with it. But I can't seem to upload the jpg of the whole piece, so here is a smidge.

I'm teaching soy wax batik (with paints, not dyes) at the Arts Guild of Rahway (NJ) on Feb.11. The class is already almost half-full and the catalog still hasn't gone out. So I'm pleased about that.

I'm posting early tonight to make up for all the evenings I haven't posted. If anything exciting comes up, I'll post again tonight. But the most exciting thing predicted here is the S-N-O-W.

a good day to stay in

...which I did, except for an early morning appointment followed by an hour in Borders. Wandering in bookstores is a natural de-stresser for me and this was no exception. Bought two CDs - Stravinsky's Firebird/Petruchka and a Mozart quartet. Haven't played them yet, though. I almost said I played hookey today because I was printing all day: but I wasn't playing hookey (or even hockey) , I was WORKING. Just wasn't doing paperwork, so it felt like a vacation. Nevertheless, at the end of the day, after I made a quiche for dinner, I collapsed. I am still collapsed. Some vacation. So what did I do on my "vacation"? I batik'd my two remaining silk scarf blanks. The first one is one is crepe de chine done mostly in chino and nickel or black, I forget. You never know how MX dyes will take on silk. I love this one - but I am such a "brown" person that it is no surprise. The second one is silk chiffon, very transparent and not as bright as it looks in the picture. Then I went back into a few pieces of fabric I wasn't happy with, added another layer and stronger, warmer color. The spirals aren't so sweet now and I am happier with them. Then I went back into this piece of fabric, which I had printed in red and white and the red was kind of wishy-washy and the piece was boring. (Lisa - it was too structured: all the spatulas were neatly lined up in rows). So -- this morning, I PLAYED!! I added two more layers of wax, mixed up some new colors, and just painted my little heart out. It makes me smile.

Here is a detail. So I have a pile of these colorful, cheerful, un-muddy fabrics. And, here is the odd part: I love looking at these cottons but they don't have any place in my current work. I can't use them. At least, not right now.

The pschology of color is fascinating: I know because I have studied it. Yet, I let myself be talked into a fuschia suit to wear in Hilary's wedding 13 years ago. Everybody told me how gorgeous it looked on me: I could not wait to get home and get it off. Brown. Give me brown any time. Or aubergine. Muted colors. But not fuchsia or turquoise. At least, not in large doses. And no pastels, please. Not so you'd notice them, anyway.

Color is a funny thing - affecting your mood, your body temperature, yous physical being. Red literally increases your heart rate and pale blue makes you feel cold. I took that blog color quiz and it told me I was blue and green or turquoise, or some such thing. Bah!

I want to be brown and olive green! What about you???

winter

I'm going to make this fast! It's ungodly late and I'm going to bed, but first I want to post these pictures of what I saw from my kitchen this morning. They seem to be my annual snowy woods pix, but they are always a pleasure to look at. Considering that I hate winter, this is no small thing. It is cold and crisp and not bad - somehow it always seems warmer with snow on the ground than without it. Huh? Marty and I even went out for a walk this afternoon, despite the grey skies. My new suede/shearling lined boots kept my feet warm, even without socks. (You know, don't you? that I almost never wear socks and I try to wear shoes as seldom as possible). These boots were a huge bargain at $39.99 at Annie Sez, one of New Jersey's famous discount women's clothing store. But I digress... More tomorrow about what I spent the day - and half the night - doing. what?? did I go back into my fabric? did I make more? Stay tuned.

goal setting?

Deb Spincic talked about her accomplishments and her goals for next year and ended by asking: What are your possibilities for 2006? Good question, Deb. Dunno. If I look back on my accomplishments for the past year, it was a mixed bag. Half the year was a creative non-event because I spent every ounce of energy and most of my time as the sole support system for my mother as she went through her six months of health hell. She's much better now, so as the year winds down, I can take stock. Amazingly, despite all of this, I acomplished some good things:

• started working with soy wax and found a whole new area of creativity and play.
• taught in Houston and met so many great people I had "known" on line for a while.
• finished two pieces that had been languishing in my studio.
• discovered the joys of making fiber postcards.
• etc. etc.

As for 2006, I'm not a big goal setter. It stresses me out to have goals, deadlines, and the like - and I am lucky I can find the pieces of paper on which I write my occasional lists. That said, here are a few:

• finish the time-consuming project I have been working on for months and get it OUT!
• make enough new pieces to enter a juried show here and there.
• get pedicures more often.

See what I mean? That's about the extent of my goal-setting. No specifics, no deadlines, no dates, no details. And that's ok with me.

the shredder blues

We finally bought a shredder so I could get rid of the bills from 1992-1997. Good idea, right? So last night, after dinner, I sat down with a bunch of them and shredded away. Do you realize they used to put your entire credit card number on receipts, back then? I was doing fine till I got to the fat folder with the kids' tuition bills, college loan papers, and my repayment bills -- all with not only my social security number on them, but theirs. Strangely enough, the more I shredded, the sadder I felt. Weird, huh? I finally had to stop because I was feeling so depressed -- for unfathomable reasons. My husband said it was because it reminded me how poor and over-stretched I was in those days. I think it's just because I am a sentimental slob. Aren't they pretty? confetti!! Then, the moment I took this picture, I realized what I needed to do! So I took a handful or the stuff and got out the Wonder Under and played around. Here is a picture of the trimmed result (I thought the post office would trash it if I sent it through looking delightfully shaggy) The letters "LAKES H" are, coindidentally, from the bill from Great Lakes Higher Education, which lent me money so I could send Jessica to Univeristy of Michigan for 4 years. Worth every penny, just to give me a reason to visit Ann Arbor, which I love. So I have this whole bucket full of paper shards and can either dump the rest or do a few more in the college loan series. While I was at it, I made this postcard, complete with fake stamp. I was immensely more cheerful by the time I went to bed last night.

untitled

Ok - here's what the whole piece looks like, only the dark purple really has more red in it than I can get on the monitor. Still needs work, but I have to bake a pie so this may wait till later. It's Friday night - hooray! Time to iron my scarves to take to the Pierro tomomrrow. If you're in New Jersey, come to the opening on Wednesday night. It's worth the $5 opening night admission to eat the goodies and have first crack at all the gorgeous, high-quality crafts for gifts. I'll be there! Let me know if you're coming and I will wear something distinctive to identify myself - LOL. In the meantime, I am off to slice the leftover grilled lamb for tonight's dinner and then bake that pie. xxx

batik break

After I wrote a whole thing, Blogger decided to crash. So I am not repeating it because, frankly, it wasn't that interesting. This is a smidgen of what I printed/waxed/dyed/ironed tonight. Tomorrow, I may steam it. For now, I am going to bed.

coffee break

A coffee break would be fine, except it is 10:30 at night and this is not decaf. What kind of person makes a cup of strong coffee at this hour? A masochist? An optimist? I'm hoping it will give me a little boost so I can stay up and continue to stare at the fabric on the floor and on the chair, looking for inspiration. Or, I can stay up and look at THIS! My laptop, accessorized with the pile of stuff which just fell on the floor and I hastily retrieved. Beneath the cut-up onion bag is a somewhat diminished pile of papers I was working my way through all day. Yes, I was in my studio, but not doing what I wanted to do. The laptop is now on my lap and my feet are where the laptop was, but I will not bother with a picture. I just finished giving a tutorial on gelatin printing to a friend of mine who lives on the other side of the world in a place where they may not have colorless gelatin, but might have Jello. I told her to buy lemon flavor, so we'll see what happens next. The coffee has kicked in enough for me to finish this, but not enough for me to do anything creative. Tomorrow. I promise.

another Tuesday

Crit day. Or, as we call ourselves, Studio Six. We met today at my house because Diane Savona, who meant to have the meeting, was sick. Joanie SanChirico and Joan Dreyer couldn't be here today, but Judy Langille and Rachel Cochran came with their work. We all try to meet a couple of times a month and usually succeed, although we haven't seen Joanie for a while -- and we miss her. She's confined to home for a while and is working on a major commission, which is keeping her sane. Also, she has had a new studio built and is happily moving into that new space. When she's ready for the marauding hordes, we'll descend on her. In the meantime, here is Judy, showing us a couple of the pieces she is working on. And Rachel, with one of her new pieces-in-process. I think I need to have it to hang on my fireplace wall, which is directly behind her. Oops. I was showing Judy my batik'd fabric which, for some reason, she had not seen. And then we brainstormed about a piece I'm having trouble with. Isn't this what colleagues and friends are for? One Monday a month we all get together and dye/paint/print (to borrow a phrase from Diane Herbort's Houston activity) and share techniques -- a lifesaving activity for all of us! These sessions have informed our work and it's fascinating to see how different the same techniques are in each of our hands. Next Monday we're doing gelatin plate printing. Tomorrow and Thursday, I plan to stay in and work. I think I will not answer the phone. Don't call me, I'll call you.

postcard follow-up

With a few adjustments, another layer of paint, and some stitching, the in-process piece below is respectable. How I wish I could finish my big pieces that quickly. These little guys don't have any angst attached to them - I don't feel they have to SAY anything. They just ARE. So why can't I approach my bigger pieces the same way? Do you have the same problem? Do you feel everything has to be a piece of visual communication? I need to be a student in my own workshop and work without thinking!

I decided ahead of time that today was going to be a studio day. I have my Studio Six meeting on Tuesday and will be mortified to be the only one without new work -- again! Oh the pressure!! In any case, I did spend most of the day in this room, but nothing on the wall was working. So I made postcards. Making postcards is a great way to use up scraps. Here is one I am working on -- doesn't look like much at the moment. But maybe I can make it work. I am not sure whether this is avoidance or whether it is the only thing my feeble, turkey-saturated brain can manage. But, along with my scarves, which always sell well, I am planning to drop them off on Saturday for the annual Pierro Gallery Winter Craft Exhibit and sale. I would think they could make great little gifts, especially since they can be mounted or mailed. In the meantime, I have put them here before they go to market. I will check back with you anon.