nichobella

an enjoyable weekend

During last week's difficult patch a good friend and gifted healer coaxed me along with the observation that I was working hard and diligently enough - in my own true best interests - to reap a few rewards sooner than later.  Am delighted to report that I definitely felt a few of those rewards this weekend.  I love to spend the last few days of summer immersed in the natural world.  My energy levels allowed me to follow through and, as always, time with trees and wilder landscapes had a very curative effect.

On Saturday afternoon I spent some time recording my impressions, intuitions and inclinations for the new lunar cycle.  It was great fun getting this stuff on paper as I sat in a camp chair on the banks of the Charles River.  The sun was warm, the sky was blue and there were dozens of monarch butterflies fluttering around me as I wrote.

Later in the afternoon I stopped into the Wellesley branch of Paper Source so I could stock up on a few Signo Uniball white pens.  Picked up a few other little treats as well.  Am not sure what I'm going to do with the hemp cord.  It's rather stiff but I'm sure it can be couched or knotted into something or other that emerges during the fall season.

Snake medicine has played a big part in my visual explorations.  I saw this card (which doesn't reference an artist or image source) and thought it spoke too many volumes to leave behind.  Since then I've been using the bulk of my energy to wander in the woods with my husband, weed and harvest in my garden, and tend to an assortment of household chores.  It's amazing what a treat the latter becomes when I haven't been well enough to accomplish much in that respect.  All in all I'm in a much better mood with a lot more balanced emotional and mental perspective.

I've also been working on my treasure map.  Most of the additions are simple quilting in the ditch to get the piecework evenly attached to the flannel.  But I did make time for some "fun" markings; the silver and purple thread is couched in a giant herringbone pattern.   Viewers can see whatever they like in it but for me it represents the wisdom and strength to safeguard emotional vulnerability especially when it relates to unprocessed healing needs. 

Anybody who takes time to think about it logically and/or reflect upon their own experiences knows there is a world of difference between keeping secrets and keeping one's own counsel.  In the former there's the telltale spider webs of dysfunction and ingrained silence borne of fear.  In the latter instance there's accrued experiential wisdom that allows us to chose discretion over disclosure whenever we know that's what best serves of strongest needs and the highest overall Good For All.  This treasure map is currently giving me a chance to articulate some thoughts on the significant difference between one extreme and the other as well as what that particular dichotomy has come to mean to me as both a healer and a person in ongoing need of healing.  Above, I have outlined the starburst stamp and will soon be stowing some glittering bead seeds so they can remain safely kept in the coming seasons...

a little bandaid

This is the first sampler I made, a few years back, for Sharon b's Personal Library of Stitches class.  It has been hanging around ever since - literally - on my design wall or inspiration board, waiting for me to figure out what I wanted to do with it.  Since it's the first step on what's become a very satisfying exploration of embroidery as a creative language, I thought it deserved something special.

It should be noted that while I enjoyed creating a sampler that followed my preferred rules of chaos rather than the usual format(s), I did NOT enjoy working on bright white linen.  When I was finished I colored the ground behind the stitches with a yellow neocolor crayon.  Did not use water to blend the color because I didn't know what kind of impact that would have on the various threads - especially a precious fragment of gorgeous silk yarn that was a gift from a special knitting friend.  After I added crayon to the linen I decided the bright blue perle cotton I'd used was too stark and dominating.  So I added little dribs and drabs of gold lumiere paint.

A few nights back when I was hunkered down on the couch watching the Red Sox play really lousy baseball and otherwise feeling lost in a rather dark and broody sort of mood I suddenly hijacked my own thought process with a brainstorm.  I really like the effect of having used a pigment ink pad to color some off-white linen behind a leaf print in my treasure map in progress.  So why not use the same technique for the linen of the little sampler?  

The causes and triggers of that dark mood have consumed most of my waking hours since and it was not until this morning that I had an opportunity to put my tiny yet hopeful idea into practice.  Once the linen wasn't so stark any more I felt comforted but visually unsatisfied with the result.  The swatch of Sunshine Yellow was too overpowering for my eye; much like the unaltered bright blue perle cotton had been.

I promptly selected two other ink colors for over-printing.  Since I was impatient to see a final result I didn't rub the ink pads directly on the linen as that would have mucked up the individual colors on the pads.  I used a little cosmetic sponge to transfer the colors and blend them.  Note:  I wouldn't try this approach without gloves if you're working with anything but non-toxic pigment ink.  My hands were a colorful disaster by the time I was through with this endeavor.

Since two o'clock this morning I have been walking the razor's edge of an impending migraine.  So it's an extra good time to have a partial distraction however momentary that may be.  I needed something really simple but I also craved the sense of gratification that comes from tying up a loose end of long-standing.  Mission accomplished as they say. The colors are calming down as the ink dries without losing their verve.  Once the linen's been cured and heat set I plan to add a second border of velvet.  I really love linen and velvet together and the addition will provide the 'special' treatment I thought this piece deserved.

I will square-up the linen and even out its dimensions before I add the velvet border.  The result will probably go back to my design wall as an ongoing reminder of the many things I've been able to learn about myself and some previously unexplored abilities.  There's no way this effort is going to 'fix' everything that's been problematic and super challenging about life in general but it will keep me aware that we make our own reality at the microcosmic level just as surely as we are made by all that which is beyond our direct control.  Which is, during weeks like this one, worth its weight in ... pigment.

in other news

For the past few weeks I've been spending time absorbing the contents of Sandra Meech's new book pictured above.  My sense is that it's every bit as vital and instructive as the two which preceed it.  Meech's work, and the focus and style of her writing, has quite a lot to offer those who take their fiber work seriously.  It's especially valuable for those who want to learn more about working methodology and creative approach options from a fine arts point of view.

Since I spent the same general time frame browsing a handful of other books and !Hot! !!Fresh!! publications I must say one of the most fundamental things I appreciate about Meech's writing is that she doesn't muddy the waters with Dumb-Down Syndrome.   She writes concisely and well; trusting her readers to take her advice into their own hands and shape it in a uniquely meaningful way.

At the same time there is no dearth of visual cues.    This is another one of those books where the phrase eye candy does the included photographs and drawings a grave disservice.   Connecting Art to Stitch holds the premise that our fiber art is part of an organic creative landscape.  Whatever we express with thread and fabric can become more meaningful and visually satisfying if we learn some corollary methods of visual articulation.

While I am a strong believer in the fact that "art" relies more on soul and its initiative than any specific group of materials, I also appreciate the fact that tools do, to some degree, make the work much as clothes allegedly make the individual.  There's a lot of room for growth and truly fresh personalized discovery waiting to be extrapolated from this book.  It's every bit as wonderful and inciting as her first two.  The pages are positively drenched with color and a variety of different fiber artists are featured.  As always, I find myself especially fascinated with Meech's ongoing interest in the Inuit culture and its geographical landscape.

 

The book's arrival in my life coincided with the process of beginning a new visual sourcebook.  Volume one was started last summer in an online workshop with Sharon B.  As the year moved on, and the class was completed, I evaluated the exercises and design/work methodology processes that fostered a greatest sense of organic flow and creative confidence.  I also analyzed what other record-keeping techniques enhanced a sense of enjoyment and ongoing commitment to maintaining this sort of journal under my own steam.

Insight gained from my analysis:  working in a three ring binder (which was very much NOT recommended during the course of the class...) is absolutely key to an ongoing sense of success.  I like treating each page as an individual worksheet.  I also like being able to remove and group various pages as they relate to a specific idea I want to develop more fully or a particular design issue I want to explore or resolve.  I do make a point of returning the pages to their original order in the sourcebook so I really don't believe I'm diluting the impact of a time-line record of my interests and development.  I'm just expanding the ways it may be used to suit a variety of needs and circumstance.

I also learned that I do not always do my most meaningful work when I'm preoccupied by the fact that this kind of sourcebook is inherently visual in nature.  Sometimes, in order to move forward into a state of creative immersion, I need to construct and preserve very plain & simple written lists.   Thus Volume Two of my workroom sourcebook begins with a list of common symbols that hold strong personal meaning.  There are all sorts of developmental ways to go with this list: I can cull existing images from my boxes and files.  I can stamp some stripped down versions of symbols.  I can draw to the best of my ability - a weak skill of mine that I nonetheless notice getting better all the time provide I actually do it and don't spend too much effort/energy insisting it's something I can't manage well.   So I'll never be a world class illustrator.  Big whup.   That's a long way from can't and I remind myself of that a few times each week.

 

Near the beginning of Sandra Meech's book she advises drawing up a personal inventory of skills that already exist.   She further advises an addendum list of skills to be developed.  I'm still working my way through the suggested categories of my skills "on hand".  I assumed this would take me roughly half an hour but then, after an hour and a half, I had to put the unfinished list aside and shift gears.

I am currently on page four of this list.  I had once again put it aside for a few days when life interrupted but now I'm ready to get back to finishing the index of what I can do.  As Meech suggests, it's very instructive to see how much one does know and writing it down has a much different impact on the rational brain and creative psyche than simply naming them silently in your head.  I would endorse such a list for anyone reading along irrespective of how "obvious" you think your skill set is in your mind and whether or not you maintain some kind of ongoing creative record-keeping.  Think of it as a Can-Do list...

details along the way

I have backed my treasure map with a piece of flannel that has sentimental associations.  Once I have most of the cloth stitched to the flannel I'll need to decide if I want to add a layer of quilt batting to stabilize the glaze of beading.  For now the flannel gives my guidance hand - beneath the fabric - a much appreciated sense of uniformity.  I really like to have that when a pieced surface contains several weights and textures of fabric.

So far I have been quilting with a variety of embroidery threads and double strands of floss.  Stitching helps to actualize a sense of continuity within the collaged elements.  I love the alchemy of moving from construction to articulation.  For me this is a process of getting a bit lost in backstory and discovering filaments of meaning that are purely personal.  I don't believe sharing the specifics is nearly as important or meaningful as shaping something from the creative unfolding; something that's less individualized and more universal.

one stitch at a time

 
Something (no doubt retro merc induced...) is wrong with my keyboard.  I will never make it all the through the post I had planned without losing my cool a few times.  So.  Here's a picture of some beads I'm auditioning for my Treasure Map in progress.  Below is a look at some of the threads I'm using to quilt the top to a stabilizing layer of flannel.

And here are two glimpses of how the stitching is turning out so far:

The rest of what I'd planned to say about these images is just going to have to wait for another day...

enjoying my weekend

It's been a stitch-centric weekend or me; having completed Jim's birthday gift I have turned my attention to this piece.  Have been dreaming about it and from those night-time messages to myself I have understood I wanted to do a bit of surface altering before I started adding layers to the groundcloth.   What did that mean specifically?  Last night, and early this morning, I started to find out...

I got out some small alphabet stamps plus a few Staz-on ink pads so I could add a message to the hand-eye patch in progress: Treasure the Mysterious Gifts.  The little alphabet set I used includes four simple shape stamps:  a circle, a square, a heart and a star.  I added a few to the top and bottom of the patch.  Then I thought why stop there?

 

The size of the stamps made them a perfect fit for embellishing the linen flower fabric.   As I looked at the altered panel I realized I had sent myself another message:  the piece now feels as if some kind of cosmic disembodied pocket door has been pulled back to reveal an extra dimension of activity.  A map within a map, if you will ...

I thought of the little circles as seeds and the squares as a shorthand rune for stability and protection.  Seems the hearts and stars speak for themselves especially with the codified messages being carried on the capable wings of a luna moth. The vivid green sun feels rather like a doorknob or psychic bell pull that grants access to this level of Beyond.  And the green bubble-filled star at the base of the panel puts me in mind of a mariner's compass.

To the eye-hand patch in progress I added three chunky wooden beads carved with a simple flower pattern.  The patch floats along a "river' made from some of Glennis' amazing pleated charmeuse ribbon.  I wanted to get a lot of shimmering texture from this inclusion.   Simple stab or running stitches produce a modified ruching effect that's a lot like sculpting.  Didn't want to waste a single bit of the gorgeous stuff so I applied it in two sections with a gap that the attached patch will conceal.

It's been SO MUCH FUN to delve into some of the best and brightest aspects of my stash.  It's also a great luxury to take plenty of time admiring the feel of each separate element - all the while engaged in learning more about the overt and subtle properties of the individual components.   The slim dyed silk ribbon above was so delicate that I didn't want to stress it too much via elaborate attaching techniques.  Originally I'd planned to stack some embroidery stitches over the ribbon but then I settled for couching some Oliver Twist (Lilac) threads*

This one is in the roughest stage of achieving a cohesive surface and very much In Progress.  But there's been some exciting articulation of my inner idea(s) since I last shared anything about it.  In the interim I have come to realize that I'm building myself a treasure map.  This visual theme is of strong interest to me; it's also connected to my heARTful integration endeavors for the lunar year in progress since my 52nd solar return at the end of June.  What better way to close than with another glimpse of Celeste doing what she does best ...

*  I supplied a link to my favorite source of the Oliver Twist bundles; I like this vendor because she sells the bundles by themselves.  Other online sorces, like Joggles, offer the bundled threads in tandem with a spool of coordinated machine/hand sewing thread.  That jacks up the cost and I don't feel I do anywhere enough arty stuff with that weight of thread to justify the larger price tag.  Having mentioned Joggles, I should note that this is another source for purchasing some of Glennis' most popular shibori ribbons.  And maybe you'd like to treat yourself to her online class on making a wired silk necklace for yourself or somebody special on you holiday gift list...

left brain burn-out

So the past week has been something of a tunnel-visioned blur as I have been engaged in getting some "important" psycho/logical writing completed.  Was so much hoping I'd complete it all by my deadline; technically, according to the official deadline, I have another week or so but quite frankly I want that time to relax and think about completely different topics.  It wasn't clear to me if this was a truly realistic expectation.   So that makes meeting the goal extra sweet and rewarding.

I also wanted to get the dandelion quilt finished for Jim's birthday next Tuesday - that seemed REALLY important since my original goal was to have it finished in time for Father's Day.  Yesterday I cut some dupioni silk strips for the French binding treatment that I prefer above all other options besides NO binding.  This piece struck me as needing a classic finish.  So this afternoon I commenced hand stitching the pressed silk into place.

It became apparent once I had the four strips sewn together that the results were not quite long enough.  I added a strip of bright olive green and feel quite satisfied with the result:

I still have to add the rod pocket but that's no big deal.  It can definitely wait until tomorrow or the next day while I catch my breath from all the turbo-charged writing.   Celeste's radar went into operation while I was taking pictures on the lawn.  Naturally she felt called upon to investigate at an up close and personal level.

I swear she knows it's a cat oriented theme.  Also, while I was stitching the binding, I was decompressing my over-thinking mode by watching Big Cat Diaries on television.  That was the perfect background shimmer of Something Else as I stitched my way around the edges of this little quilt.  I have become quite attached to it and very happy with the way the various elements helped me get my internalized idea manifested so successfully.  Celeste just thinks it's her beautiful lion head.

She got pretty swipey when I attempted to bring it in the house before she was through with her personal blessing ceremony.  As she was rolling and purring her way through several pictures I felt a little swipey myself.  This piece has always been intended as a gift for Jim's work space at work rather than somewhere here at home.   Maybe that reality check is what I need to finally complete my leopard embroidery ...

bits & pieces

Yesterday afternoon I completed a Globe Thistle leaf print spread.  These leaves are very thick and almost cloth like; they hold fabric paint very well but the ink is a lot thinner so it doesn't rest as comfortably on the surface of the leaf.  On the other hand, leaves that have such smooth or thick surfaces that they're nearly impossible to print well with the thicker fabric paint come out beautifully with the ink.  It's all a case of trial, error and learning.  And, in the final analysis, I actually love the way this particular spread emerged.

I used silver and yellow oxide inks for the smaller leaves.   Got the lovely periwinkle by mixing titanium white, prussian blue and deep violet.   Somebody wrote to ask me how I mix the inks in small amounts.  I use a small child's plastic mixing palette or, if it's really tiny amounts, the upturned lid of prescription pill bottle.  Obviously the latter choice needs to involve a bottle top that you don't also require for its intended purpose. 

First I combine the lightest and darkest ink colors I've selected for blending to get the intended value.  Then I add any other colors needed to get the exact tint or shade I'm seeking.  To mix the colors thoroughly I use flat toothpicks.  They work perfectly for the small batches of ink I need and their miniscule size insures that I don't have much waste from the stirring process.

The above book was pre-ordered for me at the begining of summer.  It is another birthday present I wound up forgetting about so its arrival on Tuesday was a very pleasant and welcome surprise.  The other pre-ordered book (thanks so much, Tony...) arrived this morning and I have only done the barest flip-through so will save mention of it for another post.  Have looked through Experimental Textiles pretty thoroughly over the past couple of days.  There's plenty of meat to keep me coming back for innumerable re-reads.

The first section is an overview of design principles that is specifically geared towards projects/ambition of an experimental nature.  This includes some nice exercises that are new to me as well as some that, to my mind, have benefited from a fresh and fairly abstract eye offering a less orthodox and more unpredictable take on familiar territory.   Throughout the book there's a very good mix of work by established fiber artists and Kim Thittichai's students. 

The second part of the book examines work in progress and its resolution.   The text is flawlessly written and the photographs are exceptional. Three dimensional work is covered in a fair amount of detail; I especially enjoyed the cone shaped structures by Nikki Parmenter.   And I was fascinated by a glimpse of the Necrotex Project.

I think this book is well worth finding in your library system.  From there you can decide if it's something you want to own for on-hand reference.  I'm delighted to welcome the volume into my personal library.  Here's an interesting online interview with the author that I found while I was looking for the links featured above.  I think this is one of those books that gets a lot of praise for its eye candy and yet I personally think the images are much too nourishing to stick them with the label of candy.  They're far more like a lovely Italian luncheon at a charming roadside trattoria.

A while back Cathie sent me a taste of the two skull fabrics featured above.  The size of the skull and roses scrap was perfect for the bib of a cover-up apron so that's what I was inspired to make.  I gathered a few red and black fabrics with strong intention to create a lined cover-up.  Alas it took me awhile to get things into manifestation mode.  Finally, this Tuesday morning, I took over the large oak dining table so I could cut fabric for the lining and the apron proper.

Started the patchwork seaming yesterday afternoon.  My machine balked while I was top stitching the pockes - arrgh!   It's old and fairly temperamental; probably because I ignore it so much of the time - waaaaay too often to justify looking into a newer spiffed-up model that does everything but catch Tim Wakefield's knuckle balls.  Last night Jim got things working smoothly again.  In theory I could do most of the remaining sewing by hand although it would take me awhile.  Seems like this project is a good fit, thematically, for the shift in seasons.  So I'm hopeful I'll be able to stay on-message with my work room goals and get it finished in a timely manner ...

in good company

Wanted to pop in and express my thanks & appreciation for those who've taken the time to comment or write emails of well-wishing.  It means a great deal to me on general principle.  And I firmly believe this kind of deliberate caring connection has a positive impact on a person's healing curve.  It's a belief I always reinforce with my clients but it's especially potent (and humbling in all good ways) to be on the receiving end at a personal level.

Over the past few days I've put nearly all of my focus on getting my treatment plan operational.  This situation is going to take some patience on my part but I have a lot of optimism.   If problems really are opportunities in work clothes then I'm going to make the most of this chance to be as pro-active and energetically fluid as possible.  Am holding strong faith that good things will grow from it - greater physical vibrancy and stronger emotional wisdom in whatever ways I discover to give back and help others build their pathways through challenges of their own.

So far every day has continued to yield some small measure of creative engagement here in the work room.  Plus, over the weekend, I was gifted with two wheeled carts of organizational drawers that fit perfectly under my main work table.  Have been puttering happily with my creative supplies; appreciating each item as I find it a new home in the drawers.

I think it is a good ritual of personal awareness to take this kind of time - not rushing through the task of putting everything in an assigned place so much as communing at a soul level with objects meant to aid the expressive process.  Today I was thinking that it's a lot like the shamanic technique of breathing life-essence into ceremonial objects.  Creativity is, indeed, a sacred endeavor if we choose to see it that way. 

It feels very satisfying to have things arranged in a form that leaves me with a greater degree of free work space. On this blog I frequently mention the fact that I'm not very organized where material possession are concerned but that's not the same thing as an inability to appreciate what this type of organization accomplishes.   I will probably never be slave to it or use it as an ongoing means to an end, but I'm  certainly enjoying this interlude of thoughtful re-arrangement.

Who knows - maybe it will be sooner than I think before I find myself with some fresh creative results/images to share...

neutral gear

Ever since late June I have been on a health roller coaster that I haven't felt a need or desire to blog in any detail.  Finally (everybody reading along can be glad I just got enough of a grip to delete the three paragraphs worth of Overview/venting that I just deleted ...), as of yesterday, I've received a bottom line type of diagnosis.  Even better news: the course of treatment/expectation modification I've chosen to embrace is equally straightforward.  So I hope it won't take too long for me to get some of my regular groove back.

In the meantime my creative accomplishments have been dwindling to the point of being truly microscopic in nature.  But they still exist.  I do something with color - paint, beads, needle and thread - every day but I haven't tended to have extra juice or inclination to blog about the teeny tiny details.

I consider the neutral color palette expressed by the pictures in this post to be post-worthy because, seriously.  Who thinks of me and neutral color palette in the same thought bubble.  Nonetheless I go through little fits and starts where I crave such neutrality.  In this case I wanted some very low key backgrounds for visual journal spreads concerning my most recent health travails and corresponding frame(s) of mind.

 

This craving dovetailed with my discovery that I had a slight remaining balance on a mostly-used birthday gift certificate I'd forgotten.  Also I have been experiencing a comes-and-goes interest in Claudine Hellmuth's line of studio acrylic paints.  My sporadic preoccupation has kinda sorta related to the colors in the line but even more to the specific use of the adjective creamy in the paint's descriptive copy.  Creamy is one of my [reluctant] consumerist buzzwords.  I have a short list of such words that unfailingly hook me even though, as a former copywriter, I really ought to know better.   And usually do once I get myself past the knee jerk level.

Add to which holding me back from trying one or two of the paints has been the descriptive label semi-gloss.  I strongly dislike dealing with partial shine - especially in dried paint surfaces* - almost as much as I can't help falling for creamy consistency.  So, every time I've started fixating on the latter and/or the color options, I've immediately fixated even more on semi-gloss.  And then piously avoiding buying Another Thing.  Except this time when I felt so thoroughly crappy physically and mentally demoralized by said crappiness that I felt it actually would be genuinely therapeutic for me to buy something and then anticipate its arrival in my mailbox.

Far in advance of that happy day I visualized using the mellow colors to overprint smaller bubble wrap dots on top of larger circles.   It's good I already had a plan because, once the paint got here yesterday, I totally lost myself in rapture over how legitimately creamy and user-friendly the stuff is.  Plus the semi-gloss factor is a lot more marginal than I'd imagined.  So it's a win-win situation for everything but my disposable income balance...

Note:  I am going to scale back on blog posts, e-mailing etc. until I start to feel somewhat better. 

* This dislike has its roots in my early twenties and a salad days budget that left Jim and I painting one of our first apartments entirely in semi-gloss paint because that's what was on sale and all we could scrape together for something beyond basic living expenses.  Accepting the grimy totally depressing walls as they were was completely out of the question; they had to be painted and I in turn had to keep reminding myself of that while reaching baleful non-acceptance of the resulting semi-glossed overkill.