Pleasure of the Process

There is so much to do to prepare for an art show! In the case of the Out of Season exhibition opening on April 13th at Paul Smith's College, I am putting it together with my friend Lee Ann Sporn. And what a pleasure to work with her! There will be more about this show in an upcoming post.

So, press releases to write and send, e-mails to create, post cards and lists and posters to make, etc. But the BEST part is doing the artwork. I finally got most of a day to continue working on some pieces, including more holographic pieces using some of my photos from Florida. The one above is a detail from a small piece using those beautiful Sea Grape leaves that were golden and red in January. Making the fabric color and pattern choices, deciding on the assembly order, sewing the pieces together - all so satisfying and happy-making.

Back of sheer printed layer with border

Sheer printed layer & opaque backing layer

For more information about this process, see the last section of my March 14th post. 

The fabric for the border of this and another piece came from the Foofsique Quilt Emporium in Chatham NY. I was stumped by some project and fabric questions, and Diane really bailed me out. The fabric above was her perfect answer for this border, as well as some other perfect answers I brought home with me. Thanks, Diane!                            

Learning to Focus

Lili at her Painting Project

For a child not quite two, my grand-daughter Lili amazes me with her ability to enter into what she is doing with complete concentration and focus. And she is not finished until SHE decides it is so. Would that I could be so clear and sure about what I do. It seems odd to want to emulate a small child so often, but here I am, thinking frequently "How would Lili approach this?".

In the meantime, I am working on several pieces for my upcoming show at Paul Smith's College called Out of Season, with my friend Lee Ann. All of my pieces in this show are new and all are inspired by and related to my recent trip through Florida this past winter. The piece de resistance in this show (in my opinion and for several reasons) is my set of handmade postcards that I mailed to 15 friends from the road toward the end of our trip and which they returned to me when I returned home. I am displaying all the cards in a 3D piece at the opening. I also scanned all the cards when I got them back, and I printed them, so I can use them in some fiber work. 

Here is the post card I sent to my mom, shown below first in its original form then made into a deconstructed fiber piece, still in progress.