I'm Back!

Grace is ready (well, almost ready) to get back to ART.

Gotta catch my breath first. It's been a whirlwind week with a couple of hiccups but, all in all, I think everyone had a good time.

They all left today and the house is somewhat back to normal. The kids, hubby and I have decided to take the rest of the day off. We'll start putting the house back together again..... tomorrow. As a matter of fact today, I've decided, is a pajama day. Laundry can definitely wait.

We had a lot planned for the visit, didn't get to all of it but that's usually what we do. Have a whole slew of things we want to do and pick from that list each day.

Believe you me getting 18 people ready to go out in 3 cars filled with 5 car seats is a job in itself so pinning anyone to a definite schedule is just asking for chaos to happen.

Some of the places we visited was Lazy 5 Ranch, Carowinds, US Nat'l Whitewater Rafting Center and Discovery Place. And of course, because they all live in the Bahamas, shopping is always a big part of our time together.

Tomorrow I will get back into my studio (which I truly have missed). I have to first clean up, put away to sleeping equipment then put everything back in place so I can find things readily again.

With the little ones around I thought it prudent to put away the really dangerous stuff and the things I wanted no little fingers messing with or breaking.

I've also been pratically hyperventilating about getting back to my lastest addiction.........Dyeing fabrics of course! Can't wait to get my yellow gloved hands back into the pots again and see the magic of colour I produce materialize right before my eyes. That feeling is just something that cannot be bottled.

Also, I've started a new blog but it's under wraps for now. The big reveal will be much later after I complete a few pieces for their deadlines.

Hope everyone had a good week!


See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

Family Fun

Every year my sisters and brothers, my mother and I gather somewhere and celebrate for a week the fact we are a family. With all the kids and husbands this little group numbers 19.

This week they all descend on my house for the next week as we celebrate a couple of milestone birthdays. My older sister turned _ _, (I'm not getting in trouble for mentioning her actual age), I turned 45 (btw, she is 5 yrs older--she never said I couldn't mention how much older that me she is and I'm sure your math is not that rusty) and my younger sister turned 40 this year.

Also my daughter turned the the BIG 16 yrs old and she decided she wanted to have her big blow out I-am-16-and-I drive-and-have-a-car party when they were all here.

So with that said you can imagine the cleaning and preping I've been doing to get the house ready for 14 people who all arrive today.

I'll be back online and back to my art (I've got to put some of them where ever they fit and my studio is being sacrificed...boo hoo) after they leave.

Have fun whatevever you are doing this week cause I sure will!


See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

Cleaning Out

If you're anything like me you have LOTS of items in your studio you just don't use anymore.

In trying to keep a fairly tidy area to work in I've decided it's time to purge some of the things hanging around (of course to make way for all the new stuff to come, hee hee)

So with that said I've listed some of these items, books mainly, for sale on Amazon. Check it out here. From time to time I will be updating this list when I dare to delve deeper into the abyss I call a bookshelf.

Have fun shopping!

See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

July TIF Concept

Sharon says:

"The challenge this month is perhaps a bit obvious but I am going to ask …What is it to be at the half way mark?"

One of the things I'm proud of concerning this TIF challenge is that so far I've managed to keep up with it (except for May's of course which seems to be an ongoing, ever changing thought process on "how to describe myself as an artist").

I generally tend to finish things I start, mainly because I tend to harangue myself for not getting it done (while still procrastinating about it mind you). So the fact that I am at the halfway mark doesn't suprise me much. The fact that I am up to date with it is definitely knocking me off my chair (and some of you may know this about me...but love me anyway, hee hee).

Sharon took her concept apart and started thinking about it like this.... "Half" /"Way" /"Mark". She sees this leading into all sorts of directions.

One of the things that triggers my mind is the word "mark". I find I'm thinking more and more about mark making in terms of surface design and the workshop with Lyric Kinard I took last month has really brought it to the forefront. Remember I already have a fascination with words since I was a young tot so going in this direction isn't far off the mark...

......get it?..........off the mark????

HA!

Anyway, I've already have a piece started where I'm exploring mark making. I started with this dyed piece of fabric (above).

Then I filled a squeeze bottle fitted with a metal tip (easy to find at art/craft stores like Dharma Trading or Dick Blick) with a 50/50 mix of Jaquard black textile paint and textile medium.

...wrote on it a mind map of words related to my thoughts on this piece.

(sample writing at left)

I then tried flour paste resist, painting on it with Dye-Na-Flow paints. I pinned the fabric down to a base layer of white felt (double layer) and, on top of that, a torn section of an old sheet. [This helps keep the table from getting messy and makes a sturdy pressing base for surface design work].

Above you can see the flour resist painted fabric. I did however unpin the fabric to move to a more convenient spot. NO NO!....don't do that, leave it in position to dry taut, then unpin and scrunch the painted flour paste.

The effect was not exactly successful as you can see. My original idea was not to have the blobs but I think it's still usable, definitely needs more words.

The dots are drips of paint I dropped on it instead of painting in with a brush (very impatient person that I am, want things done now darn it!). The grayed out area in the center is the ONLY flour paste resist area.

So.......I would say it needs more.

Next, I'll use either a sheet of dotted computer paper and/or sequin waste to paint over (or under, haven't decided yet) in another colour.

At right is a smidgen of what I intend to do on this background piece but I've been so obsessed with trying out a bit of surface design that I went ahead with it on this one.

I have been carving some stamps and finally got all my supplies in to make some silk screens. More about that later.

What kind of surface design projects are you up to? Have you tried flour past resist? If you have leave a comment and let me in on the tricks for success....please, please.

See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

Stash Quilt Finished

I've been told that my "blog needs some loving" (podcast by Alison Stanfield ), that I should pay more attention to it and treat it like a baby.

You know the kind...they pee and poop (on automation) but can't really do anything for themselves. Why I would take on another child I don't know but I do enjoy talking to y'all (you'd think I was feeling my southern roots with the "y'all" thing. I don't have any southern roots in me at all......I'm a tropical lady at heart).

Anywho, I was going good for a while then....poof.......it stopped (I know it really was me that I stopped but I gave this baby life I can give it all the blame too).

So today's post is called catch up. I've been getting ready for my daughter's 16th birthday party and preparing for the Sheppard tribe (my family) to decend upon my house. Plus I am hosting my annual Dye Party next week and still have a couple of pieces to finish for deadlines that are looming. Okay, that was catch up, now on to the good stuff....ART.

Here's the lastest pics of one of things that has taken me away from you. I'm still doing the TIF Challenge and did finish my June piece but never posted about it (yes, shame shame you say). If you recall, June was about stashes. I showed the literal pics of my stash and below you'll find my interpretation of it.



My stash started out real large (the bottom stone) because, if you remember correctly, I went thru my "greedy" phase as if the fabrics manufacturers would run out of fabs at any moment. As I climbed this ever fantastic cairn of stones I've created I realize that my stash did not (yes I said "did NOT") have to be THAT big, especially as I've resigned myself to now making smaller pieces. This one is measures 13" square.

I have not yet reached the peak (come on now......you ever think I'll have that little bit of fabs that represent the cairn's peak????). I don't know that I ever will or, for that matter, want to but I'm getting closer to finding the center, MY center, the comfortable place, the reasonable phase where fabric obsession is not necessary any more. I'd say I'm somewhere between the middle red stone and the gold one.

I am okay with having what just what I need instead of what I think I ought to have.

Have you had a stash redo recently or planning one? Have you made a "stash" piece to represent your "rack of fabs"? Leave a comment and let me know where you are in your stash phase or, for that matter, anything else on your mind.



See you next time "In the Hayloft",