Seen on the Web...

 

RIP Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Remarkable Human

 

Lost and Found

 So, with time on my hands these days (thanks, COVID!), I occasionally avoid work by haphazardly cleaning out my studio.  I find this to be an excellent way to procrastinate, and sometimes I even discover things.  Yesterday, while looking for the right kind of substrate for a project, I found a series of artist's trading cards (ATC)* that I made in early 2018: 

*These are smallish cards (2.5" x 3.5") that people make to exchange or give away to other artists.  Interestingly, although I have made a number of these over the years, I've never actually traded or given any away.  I don't seem to be doing this right...

Work in Progress: The Matriarchy

So, here's what I'm working on today.

Awhile back I saw a poster with a phrase I liked -- "The Matriarchy Is Coming."  I immediately wanted to steal that, and imagined it as the center of a delicate little embroidery piece, maybe an antique handkerchief.  But mulling it over, I decided it would be more fun to make it part of a small series of feminist textile pieces, mildly threatening in theme but nicely girly in execution.  I imagined that phrase in hot pink letters on a stark background with lounging, ghostly guys in black suits.  As I worked, however, I hated it.  Slowly it evolved:  the ghostly men in black suits became vintage men from old knitting catalogs and W Magazine.  Black images became sepia images, and then, unhappy with that, I started adding hints of color with watercolor pencils.  After trying out six (yes!) different letter colors, the hot pink (cheesy!) finally became light gray, barely visible lettering  And that's where we are now.  The fabric images are sewed/glued on the tea-dyed background, coloring is complete (I think) and I'm adding embroidery touches.  And maybe tiny buttons.  And...

SHAPE

I recently completed another altered "workbook" -- altered books that I use to explore a technique or material.  This one is all about abstract shapes, formed by collaging paper bits to the over-painted pages of an old book.  Size = 7x7, 15 pages. 

Here are some pages:

I Apologize

I apologize for not being able to tell you

the end of this story.

The Thorn and the Rose

But he who dares not grasp the thorn

should never crave the rose.

Anne Bronte