back to a life routine, and working in series

Thank goodness for the mundane and ordinary :} Today was Greyman's first day at a new job, so we are rising again at 6 for a companionable coffee before he leaves.  I can never get back to sleep when he's gone, so that means i have that pesky spare five minutes again every day ! Today, along with slapping the garden into pre-planting submission, i'll be working on a piece i'm trading Joel Armstrong for one of his wonderful metal sculptures. Unfortunately, he doesn't have a blog, but if you google him with "+ art", you may find a few of his images. I was so pleased to be contacted by him after he saw one of my "Rust Never Sleeps" pieces and wanted to exchange work!

Though i never replicate a piece--who can???--a series can be built around themes. Sometimes it's harder, the spontaneity is hard won (not spontaneity then i guess :}) or it can just flow into the new work. Since i want to do justice to the theme and the recipient, yesterday afternoon was spent racking my brains (not "wracking", i s t r e   t     c     h    e   d them!) for a way to present the idea without repeating myself.

The easiest way to start? Start. I found a chunk of black, slopped some greyedblue white and some chocolate brown on it, blending, then stencilled a loose grid pattern on (thank you MaryAnne, that red trellisy piece WAS perfect!) in bronze, copper and russet, and commenced stitching. I agonized over which rusty bit to use until i realized that one of the pieces was perfect for a free motion quilting outline------Epiphany!!!! So, no rusty bits themselves--yet--but a good start. 

I also discovered i have no basic cording left for "channelling" ( a sort of easy trapunto)----hmm. A long scrap of synthetic batting was twisted and run through the machine with a zigzag a la cording and had the  ultimate density and curvability of a good upholstery weight cord! POIFECT! 

I'll show you pics later. Need another Cawfee.

 Oops, just about forgot this. More on the Art vs Craft dead horse, but quite interesting:
 Pleasure-purpose

Comments

[Irene R]

Thanks for sending Regina Benson.. Wonderful work. I mentally compared her work with my own and was obliged, once again,to plumb the depths of my shallowness! But thanks anyway! Its good to be 'umble innit?

[Mary Anne]

Yer quite welcome for the 'trellis' bit...glad you found a use for it and now I'm anxious to see what you've done. Isn't it cool when someone actually wants your work?