from the studio

I got some good studio time in on Sunday. What was nice about it was that I went in there without a huge agenda. I've got stuff to work on but I wasn't feeling super attached to any one idea.

I decided it was a good time to make parts.

My Remnant Collages require a lot of elements and since I don't keep a stockpile of printed fabrics, it takes some effort when I'm faced with needing to make several of them. (I need a bunch for the show in April 2012 that I'm doing with Jackie, lots to do.)

I've been experimenting a lot with this lately:

Yes, your eyes do not deceive you - that's a sewing machine being used. (And I'm using it, thought I should clarify that.) If you've been around the blog for a while, this may shock you for a couple of reasons: (1) The sewing machine and I have an uneasy relationship that usually revolves around me cussing it out and (2) I'm a staunch supporter of hand stitching.

So let me explain - I decided that since the machine takes up space in my studio and cost me money, I needed to find a way to make it earn its keep. I've been stitching art cloth lately to add a different element to it, particularly texture.

The fabric you see up above is a reject that never found its footing - the color combination grossed me out when I got done with it and I just didn't like the almost pinkish tone of the orange base of the fabric. So it seemed a good candidate for this experiment. 

Here's the end result of the stitching portion:

 I like it better now. It still needs a lot of work, I'll probably attack it with some paint again and calm the first layer of paint down. Its got potential, it will get there.

My interest in using machine stitching to add texture came from this challenge piece that I did:

 If I'm being totally honest, I machine stitched it because I was running low on time. I didn't expect to like it so much. Its been nagging at me ever since and I'm tentatively letting it in, still feels a bit strange.

I stitched a little bit on a couple of other pieces of fabric too:

 

 I've nothing but affection for the off white piece. These two pieces are also far far far from done, just in their beginning stages but they give me the warm fuzzy feeling. Yum.

I also decided that since I'm going to be doing work for the show, I wanted some more table space to work on (don't we always want that??).  I goofed around with nudging some stuff out of the way and opened the other half of my print table and I'm super excited about the extra space:

 Now I need to get some really wide fabric to cover the entire thing. I learned the hard way that seams in the base fabric aren't always your friend. (And can make you say bad things when they show up in your printing.)

It wasn't an epic amount of work done but it felt good to putter.

And the view from studio window has changed significantly in the past week:

Just a week ago the trees were burning with color. The season change is in full swing, I love it. The energy it puts out is almost manic and there's something instinctual about it, makes you feel alive.