Lee Thomson

This post feels oddly disconnected from the work I did manage to finish back in the early part of the year.

I started a new series of very abstract river pieces, much larger than I have been working previously.

With the interfacing I use, I can only work on pieces smaller than 16″ square with my machine. I imposed shamelessly on the goodwill and patience of the local quilt shop Notion to Quilt and test drove (extensively) the sit-down long arm machine they have there. While I enjoyed the experience, and I love the machine, I think space and financial constraints will keep me working on smaller sections using my current sewing machine.

Since the final pieces are bigger, I had to experiment with ways to slice the work, and then connect the sections. The connections became a part of the design of each piece, and I can see that going in different and interesting ways.

I have had more time away from sewing this year than in the last decade, and I tried to take some of that time to experiment. I took a bunch of acrylic paints around town and on vacation, and tried to paint what I saw. I took a class in screen printing on fabric with Esther White at Zea Mays Printmaking and learned a lot about a process I had not tried before. I took a class in encaustic and mixed media with Lorraine Glessner at R&F Handmade Paints, and learned a lot about wax, oil paint and layers of imagery. I also fell in with a remarkable collection of women taking the encaustic class, and I hope we manage to stay in touch.

If you are unsure how to spend a quiet evening, check out these womens’  work: Cheryl Holz, Sally Hootnick, Ann Breinig, Meg Tweedy, Victoria Sivigny, and Valerie Zeman

Terri and Sheri, you guys have to get websites organized!

I’m heading into 2017 with some new tools, new friends, new techniques, and ready for some new things.