Jul TIF done
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

It may not be done, but I am done with it. I have the next month to finish on time, and some other projects that have been percolating so long they are banging on the inside of my brain begging to be let out.

I was thinking about dividing the piece in half, and realizing how permeable a half way mark really is. While Xeno talks about halfway to a fixed point, half way through a year feels much less identifiable, because of the following years piled against it.

I used light-reactive paint to cover half the image, and used rope to mark the wavy boundary between here and there. I like the way the paint spilled beyond the border, and the stitching works into the overflow, showing again how permeable the boundary is. I cleverly combined a need and a desire – I needed portability, and desired to use handwork to make the stitches.

IMG_3819
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

We are home. The laundry is done. We had a very nice time. I have some sewing to finish.

me meme
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

There is a kind of flickr thing making the rounds, where you type things into flickr search and choose the image you like best off the first page. It is basic things, like your name, and where you went to high school, and favorite drink and dessert. I liked how mine came out.

June TIF done
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

All strung out like that they are much more impressive – singly they are eloquent but small (5″square).

I was working from the idea of stories from one’s stash. Like many, that meant all stuff from the stash, unlike many these were all bits I had failed to put away off the end of the ironing board; a kind of stash within a stash if you like.

I liked the image the palette was taken from so I looked for fabrics that echoed sink colors. The pages were inspires by a series of encaustic pieces I found on the web. The woman used text to make striking images. I tried to echo the idea of text with the beads, and realized some of them did look like odd transcriptions. Some reminded me of the little scratch marks when little yellow Woodstock talks to Snoopy.

The pieces are all mounted as pages in a small square book.

red x red, 3 x 3
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

some great red things on Flickr

June TIF background 3
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

I was looking at other people’s work and found some amazing encaustics. All I know about encaustic is that is uses wax applied to paper, canvas or some other carrying substrate. The results are luminous is ways I can’t begin to describe. I like the idea of it, but really fiber is my medium. So I thought about how I might adapt the images I liked best from Daniella Woolf’s Nature Trouve online images. I tried to get the feeling of lightness and airiness. I can’t link directly to the images I want you to see – you’ll have to go there and look under Artwork.

These three are backgrounds, I am working on one more but it is making my brain hurt. They get beads and handwork next, and then come kind of connecting framework.

June TIF background 2
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

June TIF background 1
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

sewing table audition
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

same window, same corner – lots of stuff gone. Some is in the cellar, because I just can’t stand to let go of it, however if it gets flooded and wrecked I will only be a little sad. Five boxes are gone to people who will use it; Freecycle, a community art group, and the school. There are more boxes to look through, but I guess I am mostly resigned to putting my hand on every object I have in the room and deciding what to do with it.

The sewing table is undergoing an audition. It doesn’t feel quite right, but I may just be out of practice sewing at a shorter table.

before
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

This, give or take some clap-trap, is what the room has looked like for two years.