the diet theory

So you know how when you start a diet and you look at the foods you shouldn't have and then you end up thinking about all the things you shouldn't eat even if you don't have them often? And in the end all it does is make you crave it and want to eat it?

That's sort of what happened in the studio today.

I've been content with my decision to just let things rest and allowing my focus to smoosh into pretty much nothing. I was knitting away on mom's sock this morning and realized that I have a challenge coming due for the fiber art group that I belong to. The idea for it has been sitting in my head for a while so I sat on the floor in my studio and puttered around for a while.

I came up with this:


Its incredibly abstract (its about crop circles) and its very collage-y and I think its a start in a different direction. (Although I could be wrong about it. Still looks a lot like me. Maybe its just the start of the change. Don't know. Moving on...) It sort of got away from me but I'm intrigued by it. That's not to say that I'm in love with it but its got my wheels turning (can you smell the smoke?).

Since I had already made a mess all over my work table (and lost the lid to my brand new jar of black gesso that I can't find any where and have even dug through the trash looking for and really how does a lid just disappear into thin air and am now using saran wrap and a rubber band to keep it from drying out and no I'm not bitter or disgusted about it why do you ask?), I decided to face the other project that I keep putting on hold for one reason or another.

For a long time I've been wanting to do something with my Where I Stand photos. But an art quilt never seemed right. I felt the stitching would ruin the impact of the picture so I kept shoving the whole project around the edges of my studio and ignoring it.

But I think I might have the format that suits it:

Its not done yet but its getting there. I know the final things I want to do with it and I think it will make doing these really interesting. My hope is to get enough done to approach a gallery for a show with them. But there is a lot of work to be done yet before I can think about that.

I do need to find a better way to attach the photo. Its printed on fabric and I used glue on this one but it didn't play nice in some spots. Which luckily this photo absorbed with a grace I was grateful for but I don't want to repeat the mistake. Maybe some kind of industrial strength tape...I'll have to do some research.

I also need some new paint. I use some general inexpensive craft stuff and I've been pretty satisfied with it. I've used it on everything, including fiber work. Its not intended for fabric (ruins the softness and isn't washable) but my stuff hangs on a wall and doesn't get handled too fiercely so that's never been a concern. But the bottles I have now are a strange combination of globby boogers and liquid. They've gotten old.

I did look around at some other paint brands but it kind of kills me to spend almost $6 on 2oz. of acrylic paint. So I'm going to go bumming around a couple stores tomorrow and see if there are any new brands I can try out before replacing the globby ones I have now.

It would seem that I'm starting to inch into that new direction I've been babbling about. Its an odd thing...this whole making things business.

It never ceases to surprise.