Saturday in the park

The weather has turned hot here and Sat afternoon was too gorgeous to stay in the house, so we headed up the street to the park.  As Marty and I walked around the upper part of Verona Lake, we passed this bird-statue. And then it moved. Looks like something I saw in Florida but I don't know what it is called. An egret?

A little further along we spotted this guy - his color seemed appropriate to the scummy stuff on that end of the lake. I wouldn't go out with him.

When we were home again, I got busy cleaning up this sewing room.
Look at this wonderful collection of European quilt exhibition catalogs!  I have not had time to sit down and peruse them, but at least I got them into a neat pile.

In a bold move, I took the printer from the floor and put it on the bookcase.  Now I have a place to pile the catalogs. Brilliant.

I got rid of two bags of papers and old files, although it is hard to tell. Then I had time and room to sort the fabrics and look at the ones I brought home from England.

 These two are Marlene's.  We split them as a challenge.

And here I am already auditioning to see what works.

I put a sleeve on a quilt I am sending off to a gallery in Kansas and I am in the throes of finishing the stitching on this small piece.

I have stopped, however, as I wait for a fabulous box of threads to arrive. And since Blogger is being pissy tonight about letting me upload more pix, I shall say goodnight.

the next day...

Tuesday night, Marlene, Susan Shie and I went out for a delicious Indian dinner and laughed a lot.  The waiter kept trying to take away the chutneys but we insisted they stay on the table while we nibbled on them through the meal.  Apparently not the thing, but we didn't care.  The waiter said we were confusing him - whatever that meant. LOL.  The food was excellent.

Yesterday's class session hummed along while everybody worked, going back into what they had printed day 1 and creating new cloth.

Sandra printed (above)and then made a ghost, which is often more interesting than the original because there is more texture.  Great to do when there's more paint than you need on the fabric.

Here are a couple more pieces from yesterday's class and then I'm off to the convention center again.

see you later!

Well, my supply suitcase is almost packed.  I just have to add things to print on and things to print with.  I'm actually going through the supply list and checking things off - and will take less than I normally do because it will be an international flight.  We don't leave for another 10 days but I'm trying to be efficient (probably a mistake).

I don't know where this piece is and don't have time to look for it, but it is another class demo piece I really like.  To me, this proves the benefits of being spontaneous and without preconceived notions of what something will turn out to be. 

There are only a couple of spots left in my master class at FoQ - Printing in Layers, so if you are thinking of signing up, do it quickly!

With all the lively discussion on yesterday's blog, I did indeed turn this piece sideways and here it is, for your viewing (and/or commenting) pleasure.

the sun came out

and with it, the heat and mugginess.  But this morning, despite the early heat, I ate breakfast and read the papers on the deck while I looked at the scene now in the header of this blog. Ahhhhh - almost as good as being on vacation.

My printer ran out of toner this afternoon and I hot-footed it around the corner to Staples to replace it.  No luck: they were out of the one I needed, as were the two stores in the towns on either side of me. I was putting the finishing touches on a piece and needed to make some Thermofax screens, so I used my ink jet printer and put it on the copy machine.  Staples.com - here I come.

In the meantime, I think this will make a nice 12x12 if I ever get it stitched. I printed the background one night last week and it cried out for this particular image, made from a photo I took 4 or 5 years ago in Philadelphia.  This was one of the wonderful images on the wall of the building that bordered the parking lot across from the B&B where we used to stay.

Here is another piece where I used the same image, along with some others.  This hangs in my studio now.

 I suppose we all find ourselves drawn to the same images or types of images/designs/marks over and over again.  The question is why?  Why one particular shape, species, genre, image over another?  What is it that attracts/bonds and connects for one person and not for another?  Some things to ponder.

Oh, no!!!  my favorite blogs and websites have disappeared from the sidebar.   I have to recreate a list. Stay tuned.

backtracking

Having gotten back home on Wednesday, it took me a day or two to recover and upload the rest of my pictures. Better late than never, right?  As I put my feet up and sat on the deck, the bambis were out chomping on the lower branches.
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

Eva - you were correct in guessing which piece of student fabric I wish I had done.  Here are some others from the weekend workshop.

Anita deconstructed the screen with quite a few prints: below are just two of them.  The popsicle sticks are waiting till it is their turn to be used as resists.  Greenville has 3 dollar stores but I didn't get to any of them this time around.

Below is another of Calli's prints.  She created a screen that looked very geometric and abstract but when she printed it, we all thought it looked very mid-century domestic (i.e. - images of table settings)

Since I was not teaching at night, I was able to actually print some of my own fabrics after dinner while the students worked on theirs.  Maybe I'll get a chance to go back to them sometime this year.

Sujatha -(and anybody else) deconstructing the screen is a two-day workshop.  If I have enough requests I will schedule one in the Fall in my studio for 4-5 people.

Goodness - the afternoon is almost over.  Back to the sewing machine!

Ok - I have to go back to work

Dinner is over and this is MY time - going back to the studio to play - uh - work.  But first, a few pix from today.  Casey worked on paper today - thickened dye deconstructed and drop-dead gorgeous series. 

 

Here are only a couple. There are many more...yum!

Kate printed some cool fabrics today and I covet one of them - but oh, well. Can you guess which one?

Suzanne was so excited to print that she was in the studio before breakfast!

Calli did some really layered prints and here's one I captured today.  The second layer really made a difference.

This is a work in progress - can this fabric can be saved?

Maybe we'll know tomorrow.

Thursday check-in

One of the on-line lists I belong to has a Thurs. check-in, which is good because even if you don't post any other time, you poke your head in once a week. It's so late that it's already Thursday so I'm checking in with you before I call it a day (or a night).

You'd think I would stop leaving my camera in the studio - but no-o. Anyway, I was there today and it was amazingly relaxing.  Imagine that!  My daughter-in-law Nancy stopped in and we had lunch, surrounded by Thermofax screens, paint, and who knows what else.  By the time she left, I was feeling mellow enough to get something done.

The piece I've been working on for myself I will not show you, but here's some other stuff that was on the wall.  I brought it home with me and played further tonight.  I am still futzing around with this thing as a diversion.

And I'm auditioning stuff for this one, which started by accident. Really!

That's all, folks.  Early appointments tomorrow - we have to be up at 6, so I'm outa here now.

A few glimpses of the last two days

Finally retrieved my camera. Today is "Can this Fabric be Saved?" which was scheduled as a one-day class but most of the people who took the previous two days are staying on to play for a third day.  I suppose they want to see what they can do with the fabrics the printed and were not happy with.

Mostly, of course, they did beautiful work.Here's one printed on dry fabric (right side) and wet (left).

Tape on a screen.

glue on a screen

Paula did this one with several layers and I think she may have kept going.

More of Paula's printing on her beautiful hand-dyes.

Here's Linda, not quite modeling her gelatin-printed t-shirt. What a great idea!

We'll see what today brings.