Lee Thomson

Mar 6
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

Three layers of the same picture, trimmed in different ways and overlapped. The base is a print on cotton. The blue squares are printed on habotai silk, which is more see-through than I expected. There is a layer of printed silk organza over the whole thing. I cut two square holes in the organza, one is visible (lower left) one seems to be invisible (over one inch to the right, up one inch). I wanted to experiment with what is visible through several layers, but I always max out at three. Maybe I need to try more layers of sheerer stuff…

I used to run into these issues when I was making maps too. I tis tempting to think that more data is better, and to a certain extent that is true. A single variable map is not terribly interesting. A two variable map shows the relationship between two things (income level and divorce rates, for instance). That gets much more interesting, because you can start to see, and think about, something that changes across space, and whether there is any kind of pattern to the relationship between the two things you’re mapping.  Add a third variable and most people max out. The legend has become a cube, with 27 different categories possbile even if you only have low/med/high on each of three variables. The colors get to be indistinguishable, or you run out of distinctive patterns to use; the end result is too dense. Better to make two different maps.

So, although I think wistfully about layers and layers of scrim each with another interesting piece of image on it, once I sit down to try it out, I generally get grumpy.

Today was a circus day. Red Kate came, and hung upside down, and realized she might in fact accomplish a hand stand in this lifetime. Considering how worried she was when she showed up here to head north, she was very brave. She did a really great job too. I gave her the pictures of herself, which I hope she posted as she made me swear not to. Oh well. If she doesn’t, I have one in reserve.

Mar 3
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

Yesterday I sat in my (fabulous new) chair, and stared vacantly out the window for a while. It felt really nice to just drift.

But then I got intrigued by the drips on the window, and started messing about with the camera. I got a couple pictures that didn’t suck, and printed one out for yesterday’s card, and hated how it was going. So i switched, and gave you branches instead. But I still like this concept, it just needed refining. When I picked it up again today, I started by getting more intense with the embroidery. That worked better, but I had to contain the embroidery effort or I would go mad, plus I would be there til midnight. So I focussed on just one corner, then clipped it out, and stuck it to another postcard. Then I was attracted by some plastic that made me think of the window all over again but then I needed to do something with the blank spot on the right… More raindrops, embroidered from the back of the card. It was a nice piece of playing. Not ugly, neither.

Think wet thoughts for Melbourne, that Shula says is dying of dry.

Mar 2
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

It bucketed rain today. It snowed some last night, but washed most of it away over the course of the day. The schools started with a 2 hour delay, so there were people underfoot for hours this morning.

I took a lot of pictures, thinking “rain is water”. I was workingon a different one before this, but realized it was awful and this one would be easy. I’ll print out the other again and go after it differently. Maybe I need to make it smaller.

Aerin was watching over my shoulder this evening as I was cropping the pictures of the day. She didn’t like my close-ups, preferring instead the wide angles where she said “everything is still there” instead of my tight peeks at things. Her comment “you’re leaving everything out, it is awfully exclusive” was surprising to me.

I’m tired. I hope I’m not sick. Bone weary is OK, sick is ugly.

Mar 1
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

I got in trouble in third grade for being too clever by half. My family had spent 5 months in the Caribbean and I had spent all that time reading various extremely British children’s books. The spelling words the week I got back were colour, harbour, flavour and aeroplane. I got them all wrong. I was utterly outraged, and appealed the ruling. It was ruled correct with a caveat, that being I had to adapt to local practice. Huh.

This is from the beach near my mother’s house. I like the way the sand goes from wet to dry(er) across the page, and I tried to show that with the threads. I had forgotten how aggravating the sulky sliver is to work with. It sticks, snarls and binds, and gets hung up on the bobbin case. It didn’t behave properly until I slapped some heavy bobbin thread in and cranked up the tension, generally not recommended with free motion stuff.

I printed this on silk, but I am not sure it shows. I like the whiteness and stability of the printable cotton, but there is a sheen to silk that is worth it, if it shows.

I got new thread. I am rich in thread, but I realized I had no grays, and as I left I had this in mind so I got some clear as well. My thread box is almost full. I think I can fit 5 more spools in, and then that’s all the colors I get. With any luck, it is all the colors I need.

I need to clear the decks from the the detritus of Jan and Feb. The top  of the cupboard where I set things out is piled high with leftovers too big to throw out, or pre-fusibled, or otherwise valuable. More sorting, more storage, and the top will be revealed, ready to silt in with the next few months’ projects.

I actually spent a happy hour typing up lists of potential themes, and refining the framework for what I am doing in my studio for the next couple of months. I have to finish the Feb Journal page (working well to deadline…) and start the March page. The March page is all about being Aerin’s (Big A – I’m giving up on aliases) mom. Her birthday is March 17, certainly a life-changing experience for the both of us. All the journal pages are All About ME, so I can wrap all the pride and affection I feel for this kid into an 8.5"x11" mess of fabric.

The list of themes continues to expand, through suggestions, logical extensions and leaps of intuition. If I don’t add any, but just work my way through the list as it stands, I’ll be busy at this postcard a day gig for the next couple of years. I realized this is a very good way to get from journeyman to master at something. Practice. A revolutionary thought. Certainly the practice is improving my feel for what I like to do and what I am good at. I think it is improving my work as well. I’ll report back at the end of the year.

Feb 28-1
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

This was the first one I finished. I like the simplicity of it, I like the clear impression of the masher (the best rendition of it besides a picture so far) and I missed a trick with the embroidery, but can’t quite figure out what. Probably because I slept badly last night and my head hurts.

I think the theme for March is Water.

Kate suggested fabric manipulations, like ruching and ruffling and gathering and yoyos and generally messing about. It reminds me of Colette Wolff’s book on fabric manipulations. She can take a concept and beat it to death with a stick – nothing if not thorough – and the pictures are extraordinary. She used the same unbleached muslin for all her examples, so it is easy to see what effects she has accomplished with each step. She made patterns for dolls and animals too. Platypus designs, I think. I have a mouse pattern of hers that is art. A chicken too, and a mermaid.

Feb 28-2
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

I made two, because I was staring at the leftover pieces and thought of two last things I wanted to try with this particular masher. This is the second. Well, I kind of did them in parallel. I wanted a rubbing on the face with a picture of the object. Then I remembered (drum roll) the Blo-pens! I remember getting dizzy with the kids when we tried using them on paper. These are special fabric ones I’ve been hoarding (two points for a. finding and b. using them) and finally fished out and applied. I should have stopped with just one blown color. But I may have something here.

Anyhow – I’m done.

Feb 27
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

I loved the bumples around the outside of this key, and I tried all kinds of ways to show them – rubbings, paint, sun prints, pebeo contact prints; nothing worked very well. I finally figured it out. Make them really really big. Print out. Embroider like mad. I love this postcard. I need more grays.

I had a really happy day. Not complicated, but full, and each part good. I had a great yoga class, where we were all packed in and communal and friendly and you had to not hit anyone when bending and twisting, and the teacher made us laugh. I ran a mile and felt better at the end than the beginning. Red Kate brought cherry oat scones which we ignored while we made a test version of a cape for Serenity, then we walked down to Woodstar Cafe and had fabulous lunch and then to the bead store, where they had fabulous beads, and then home. I took the girls to Brattleboro for circus classes and I am thisclose to a freestanding handstand, all by myself. Being upside down makes me happy. But I was happy before I started. This is the kind of night I have happy dreams.

I need to think about my theme for March. I made a great list in Woodstar:

• play
• square, square, square
• flow
• water
• architecture
• arctitectural details
• doorways
• food
• testing, testing
• using only things I made
• horses
• eyes
• house animals (domestic)

There is some overlap, but I was just brainstorming, which means I have to write everything down. Red Kate helped. Plus there are my standards:

• leaves
• shells
• fish
• beach things
• rocks
• trees
• flowers (usually from my garden or it gets overwhelming)
• it came from the backyard
• landscape

Any suggestions?

Feb 26
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

My mother found this when we were cleaning out my mother-in-law’s house, and saved it for me. I like the way it looks like fish scales. I think I have now used every one of my potato mashers in my collection. I may need to print some more fabric with them once the weather warms up.