In any case, it's after midnight now and the cat really wants us to go to bed. Can't wait for tomorrow--but then, it's today already..
Starting a new project is such fun. Assemble vast amounts of material, hope that the concept can really be executed, take a deep breath and begin: make the first cut, open the paint, thread the machine. I've been circling these materials for several days, but today the call was too strong to resist. So after a pleasant Chinese dinner with family I took the plunge. Last week I bought a roll of primed artist canvas, planning a set of altar hangings for my new church. I haven't used this kind of canvas before, so I first cut a few samples and tried painting and stitching on the fabric. It went just fine on my small rectangles, so no excuses! I wanted a dawn sky. Consulted Mickey Lawler's book, Skydyes and plunged into painting. This is a marginal photo of the sky with some of the grass painted. I'm letting it dry overnight, then will decide whether to add more paint, or to start threadpainting and adding some luminous strips of silk for texture. It's a big piece, about 30" by 96". Using the canvas and a cotton backing but no battng will make it easier to move through the machine. Haven't decided yet how to finish the edges, but there's plenty of time and lots of other challenges between now and then.
In any case, it's after midnight now and the cat really wants us to go to bed. Can't wait for tomorrow--but then, it's today already..
0 Comments
About eight years ago, a tall, charming guy named Denton Florian came to the Sam Houston Memorial Museum with an idea that became an obsession--he wanted to make a documentary about Sam Houston. He and Patrick worked together on concepts, funding, language, costumes, scenery--the museum staff became very involved with the production, as did friends who had horses, cabins in the woods, black powder rifles and pioneer gear. A Huntsville artist friend, Lee Jamison, was commissioned to create paintings for some of the crucial scenes. They developed a website: http://samhoustonmovie.com, with lots of additonal information, lesson plans for teachers,and information about contributors. As various stages of production were completed, Denton organized celebrations--and finally, the doumentary was shown on our local PBS station from Houston last evening. Son Philip and I attended, thinking what a relief it would have been to Patrick to have the project completed at last. To my surprise, they gave me roses! It would have been our 50th wedding anniversary if Pat had lived longer. How lovely to have the flowers for remembrance. The movie is very thorough, and the supplemental materials provide lots of fodder for discussion. If it comes to your PBS, be sure to watch. It's also available on DVD. Congratulations to Denton and to the whole crew! The azalea bushes in the yard looked so puny, I was considering taking them out when I bought the house last fall. Through the winter they didn't get any healthier-looking--but I'm not a yard person, so didn't do anything. Suddenly, yesterday on the Ides of March, they burst into glory. You just never know. Now I laugh whenever I go out to get the paper or pick up the mail. Maybe the pecan trees will eventually leaf out. Maybe my agaves in the back will flourish. Maybe I won't kill the Knockout rose my friends brought for a housewarming gift.
One closeup as a bonus: Here is one view of the finished studio. The lovely indigo-dyed shawl hanging on the wall is by Scharine Kerchoff, and the pastel drawing of the old woman is by Amanda Danning. You can Google their names to see more of their work. I put a vintage cotton serape over the painting table to cut down the glare from the varnished surface. It will come off, of course, when I start some fabric painting this afternoon. As you see, the painted chests and the varnished door turned out nicely. The big agave at the end isn't quite finished--I'll probably add some detail later. It's painted on the doors of the former owner's sewing closet. She would open the doors and sit right there at her machine to sew; there are some built-in drawers and shelves inside. The rest of the room was the family room, with fireplace and wet bar. I've taken over the whole area for studio space. And here, sitting in an antique seed rack, is the beginning of my next project: beautiful threads and tulle for an altar hanging for Ordinary Time. I bought a roll of artist's canvas the other day and now plan to paint, then stitch to my heart's content. So excited to be able to start anew. There's also a stack of photos that are the beginning of the project after that. I usually have three things going: one requiring handwork (that's "Rescue III"), one in the studio undergoing construction, and one "noodling" in my brain, waiting to clarify itself. I wanted to get photos of the orderly studio onto the blog, as I doubt it will stay neat for long! I'll bet a lot of people have some furniture like this--not great quality, but handy, so you carry it around with you during various moves. These two small dressers cost $9.99 each at the unpainted furniture store in 1964, when we were setting up our first apartment. I think they might have been painted gold once, and at some point they were white with the drawer fronts in bright primary colors for the boys' room. Then they were white again, and my cutting table sat on top of them in the Huntsville house. And now I have the magnificent cutting cart, so the old cutting table (an unfinished hollow-core door) will get several coats of bar varnish and become my painting/printing/stenciling/messing-about table and these chests will hold the paraphernalia for those activities. One coat of paint tonight, another tomorrow. And maybe some red hibiscus on the side panels.
They have accompanied me from Minnesota to South Dakota, Kentucky, Montana, Wisconsin, Ohio, Delaware and Texas, and they're almost 50 years old. I think we got our money's worth. Wildflowers are starting to bloom--I saw bluebonnets, paintbrush and red clover on a drive last Saturday. Even though we're low on rain, we'll have some spring glory. My art quilt group, Studio 105, is coming out to Eagle Lake on Monday, providing me an excellent deadline for having the studio ready. I can't wait to start sewing again. |
AuthorBobbe Shapiro Nolan, Fiber Artist in Eagle Lake, TX. Trying to learn to call the sewing room my studio, and myself an artist. I retired after 15 years in hospice nursing--so now I have the time!. Archives
July 2021
Categories |