I found my camera cable...!

Today is a very happy day. I mislaid my camera cable some months ago and today I found it! It has been a major mission to get photos off my camera without the cable, so I am overjoyed!

I ran around taking pics of recent things I've been doing, so my blog can brighten up, at last.

A bag I made from Da Gama fabric (it came printed in the pattern, so all you had to do was cut, a no-brainer, but a very useful bag to lug projects around in.) I lug a lot of stuff around, to catch all the little bits of time; very necessary if you're a single, working parent with a desperate yearning to make art all the time.

This is actually a fairly old one and I may already have blogged it, but I keep doing a few more stitches on it, so it's at least in progress... I'd like to do more in this vein, perhaps of proteas and local South African flora. The huge oak tree right next to my house is just an endless inspiration (but it would be nice to do some local flowers).

Bobby Brain posing on a house-warming present I'm making for a friend who has bravely moved. The pieces are just pinned down in the photo, I later fused everything and am now stitching everything down, as it's meant to be a utilitarian lap quilt and will need to withstand frequent washing.

Once I had it all together, and looked at it, I felt the colours were way too haphazard. I had that sinking feeling, when you've put lots of work in already and then look at it and realise it just doesn't work and you have to decide whether to dismantle or soldier on. Had this been a wall piece, I might have dismantled, but as a lap quilt, I think it's okay for it to be a bit random. (Note: must persuade her NOT to put it on a wall.)

What on earth could this amorphous mass be...?

Sorry, no more information until it's finished, it's my Innovative Threads Entry for 2008 and all will be revealed in time.... It's been 2 years in the making, so what's a few more weeks?

[wicked grin]

More box mania

I just can't resist making boxes to keep stuff in. It's part of my recycling and re-use passion. I find these great cardboard boxes and midify them to make them into units of shelves and drawers that fit into them. Incredibly useful and almost free (they just need some sticky tape to hold them together, and optionally some sticky contact paper to decorate them). I use old cardboard from the backs of exam pads, and old cereal boxes etc etc. Cannot describe the satisfaction. I must be crazy - but it's a very fun sort of crazy :)

I finally did the very adult thing and bought some REAL furniture. Made by some folks from Zimbabwe (and can we help but feel for anyone from Zim these days??) who came down for Festival this year and put their stuff by the side of the road. They were sitting making it as I stopped; makes such a nice change from everything being mass-manufactured from China! I bought about eight of these. Note, ummm, how they are also boxes..... lol :) Very good looking in a salt-of-the-earth sort of way and slightly rickety (had to stabilise with a little wad of folded-up paper under one leg; see pic) with grass-woven baskets. I just love them.

Inno 2007

... and I forgot to mention that I was accepted again for Innovative Threads! This was the second time I entered and the second time I was accepted. If this goes on, I could actually start to believe that perhaps I am not all that bad as an artist! It was SO exciting: a friend (who also had work accepted) and I flew up to Durban for the opening. A real extravagance, but we're worth it! I stayed with my mom who really enjoyed going as well and we floated home on such a high. Very memorable.


This is my entry: the roundish object at the top of the design wall.

Detail:

... and here is the text I sent with it:

"I marvel at the advances medical science has made and the quality of life that our constant scientific research has given to many people. This work is about cell biology. Gene therapy is depicted in the middle and the Mandelbrot set represents mathematics and imaging technology. The nerve cells have to do with mental health advances and computer chips enable powerful medical technology, which can correct faulty biology. For all the havoc we humans have wreaked, I see these technological advances as a shining example of the highest good mankind CAN achieve. I wish to speak for the good that can be done with medical technology and it is my fervent hope that future stem cell technology will be able to cure my Type 1 diabetic daughter."

Markal Paintstiks

I've just ordered a set of these online and am very excited about trying them. They are called Shiva paintstiks in the USA, I think. They are oil paints in stick form and can be used on fabrics. Doesn't that just sound like something that HAS to be tried?? :)

Rosalie Dace's Workshop

Hard to believe this happened in April and now it is July and it's the first time I am getting to write about it -shocking. It was a thoroughly enjoyable workshop and Rosalie gave us lots of insights and tips. It was called "The Thinking Eye" and was about drawing inspiration from the work of Paul Klee. This was the first work I produced, with lots of trepidation and not much hope. I don't think I can reproduce the Klee work that I drew the inspiration from, here as I'm sure it is covered by copyrights, but if I can find a link, I'll post that.
(Edit 1 Aug 2007: It's called Insula Dulcamara from 1938)

I don't much like what I made, but Laura loves it, so it is going to hang in her room. Don't know if you can see the thinking eye in the brain - and the question mark I added because I didn't feel I knew what I was doing, and the tear because I actually went home in despair the first night... so actually it was quite autobiographical of the process...

Next I decided to work with Value, which Klee seemed to have a good grasp of and I definitely DON'T :) I made this small work, which I also don't really like, but it's better than the first.

After some unhappiness and wondering what was wrong with me, I came to the conclusion that I just wasn't very fired up about Paul Klee's work. It just doesn't make me want to get up and rush to create. Nevertheless I learnt an awful lot and have no regrets whatsoever. Just to be in a class with a person whose work I have admired for so long was a treat.

After I had this little epiphany about Klee, I tried working with the sheers, as Rosalie had also shown us, and made something totally unrelated to the work of Klee, and which I like the best:

Rosalie threw out several gems of wisdom, one of which really stuck with me:
"Value does the work and Colour gets the credit." That really made me look differently at my work, as I am totally seduced by Colour and tend to ignore Value.

The other maxim she has was "Cut and Shut" regarding the Rotary Cutter, and several people, including myself were caught out having Cut but not Shut. A good way to remember, especially for those of us who have children and pets about, as well as a degree of personal carelessness. (I've already had six stitches in my hand from a rotary cut.) And Rosalie, if you ever read this, I've been VERY good about this ever since the workshop.

All in all, an experience to be recommended if you ever get a chance to do a workshop with Rosalie Dace! :) And maybe one day I'll learn to appreciate Klee.

(Edited and photos added 31 July 2007)

Pay It Forward

I was surfing blogs and found this Pay It Forward (PIF) meme on both Kate's and Susan's blogs. It sounded like a charming idea, so I signed up and hereby post my own PIF message:

"I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don't know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week... LOL... but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog."

Am I Back?

Could it be? Work has calmed down a fraction and maybe, just maybe, I could get back to posting a few things again. Watch this space.