A perennial favourite 🙂
I/we don’t mark birthdays anymore (or Christmas, New Year’s etc), just anniversaries–another day, older, sometimes wiser, sometimes more patient, sometimes more curmudgeonly, just more.
Same new old different days.
Author: arlee
I am a Canadian textile artist in Calgary, Alberta. As textile artists, we connect and are connected to communities larger than our Selves, or our immediate environs. We encapsulate culture, technique, history and innovation every time we touch cloth.
thunder thigh
🙂 Wellllllllllllllllllllllll, they say you illustrate with your own features……………..
I should have looked at the original paint-sketch for her legs!
Shall have to pick out that madder on the right side–that leg should be bigger because she’s standing with a hip cocked forward, but even *my* sturdy alabaster thighs are proportionate, and this sure as hell ain’t.
This fabric is also quite a bit “brighter” than the photo, but i do love that chiaroscuro effect of the poor lighting today!
mining the lodes
Obviously a few years ago, i enjoyed sketching, painting, drawing–why did i stop? Maybe that’s why i feel stale, stagnant and like i’m repeating myself.
Not everything made it to cloth, but i have a stockpile to pick from.
I translated ideas in my head, on paper and then on the cloth:
We are usually our own worst critics. “I should have done this, done that, not done it, oh my gadz what was i thinking”: the whole shitshubola of insecurity rolls through our minds as we cringe inwards. BUT, i think sometimes too when you look back you can see freer expression and less inhibition about trying new media or subjects. I’ve started looking at previous work (done before the last 3 years) with older (semi) wiser eyes and see common threads that i have/had lost through preciousness and the search for acceptance. In that respect i mean being part of a current trend or on the bandwagon rather than acceptance of what i do because i do it, rather than “this is what is popular”. (This year has been one of going back to myself rather than worrying about what everyone else is doing, or what the current hoopla is about online, so i say “had lost”.) The origins of our own art can be a minefield or a mine of new motherlodes. Since the “word of the year” for me is “Origin”, i’m re-exploring some of that. June 1,2012
Looking at myself again, inside, that long path behind the subconscious.
I have a (self imposed) deadline for the winged figure piece, but am going to take some deliberate time with mark makers of various sorts again.
back to Flickr
I have re-instated my Flickr account for photos. I was off there for a couple of years due to the amount of image theft that is now prevalent, but have decided while i can’t stop people, i can at least watermark enough that the work/images are clearly MINE.
Because i neither like nor allow pinning, tumblring or however else you feel you may take my photos, i ask that you respect my copyright and ask first if you wish to share to a reputable blog or website. I can’t stop you, but it would be nice if people were respectful of artist rights in this ever grabby world 🙂 Thanks, Blossoms!
prepping for “Rosehips”
While i want the hexes/honeycombs/cells again on this piece, this time i want to stay away from bees! They are a recurring motif in my work, but beyond just laying there on the surface, they really wouldn’t be adding much to the story, so no bees this time, i promised myself.
But what else often shows up? Yes, rivers and roots, but not for this, methinks. MMMM, roses.
From “The Weight She Carries”:
Being as it is now the end of August, and Autumn is moving closer, it’s not the flowers that are around now, (though they will make an appearance as well), but the “fruit”, the rose hips. And so, until she has an “official” title, she shall answer to “Rosehips” 🙂
Fortunately, there is a yard down the way that has a wondrous showing of rosehips, so i quickly did a clip-by and brought these home to study:
Fast and dirty paint studies this morning:
Now i have to dig out some more fabrics and figure out HOW i will use these on this:
(Actually i already know what fabrics and what technique i will use, so stay tuned for that 😉 )
This is rather a trite exercise below, but who knows how it will transform with stitch? This cloth wasn’t terribly successful on its own during residency, so maybe just a bit of make up, and it won’t be such a plain jane!
On the other hand, it may just become a sampler/test cloth, which is okay too.
And just because traditionally one shows off one’s garden produce:
This one slipped under the radar by hiding under a monster leaf–i don’t usually let them get any bigger than 4-5″ long and easily circled by one hand, as it’s too much for one “sitting” to eat. Still tasted great though–pan-fried with butter and garlic, then dipped in sour cream-MMMMMMMMMMMMMM!
“Original Truths” in true colours
We hung the exhibit today at ACAD’s “371 Gallery”, and finally i am happy with the photos of this piece!
“rosehips”
Thinking of Autumn already.
Madder dyed silk to start.
I have a clear vision of this one already, with some different techniques going to be used to add life and dimension.
there will be feathers flying again
I’ve decided to start with this orientation, another cloth created during my summer Contextural ACAD residency.
Of course, with wings, there must be feathers. I have *just* enough of these “filler” cloths for those, more fabric designed deliberately to be cut up:
Not sure if both will be used, or just the one on the right. Or the one on the left. Or both. !!!!!!!!!!!
Previous feather work:
Above, detail of work in progress “Strange Soul Take Flight” 2013.
Below, detail of “The Weight She Carries” 2014.
There will be hexes again, but done differently this time.
Today i will take a print out of the cloth to the Day Job for those pesky boring spare five minutes when there are no duties to attend to:
Original Truth, truthfully done
Please forgive the awful background! I am having the devil of a time photographing this one so it’s true to life! I’ve tried different lighting, inside and outside, but for the first time ever trying to document my own work, i am foozled for true colour and depth of field. I don’t think i’m going to get a decent shot of the whole, until it’s hung in the gallery for the “selfEDGE” exhibit on the 28th.
But it’s done, and that’s what counts. Six weeks to the day of worrying about my time line and all the little details, and here i am finished with 6 days to spare!
Original Truths, almost done
I thought i had been working on this for months, but as it turns out since “res” was done at the end of June, it hasn’t been that long after all. All the little details are what makes it seem longer ago than July 11th that i started it! I have only a few tiny areas left to stitch, then to back it, ready for delivery on the 28th.
As i said in a previous post, i’ve always felt alien, outsider, misfit, so this then i guess is a self portrait of sorts, another side to the mirror, that long path behind the subconscious.
I added bees, of course i added bees.
Donna Noble: You’re saying bees are aliens?
The Doctor: Don’t be so daft – not all of them.
I love Dr Who
And there’s a secret hidden under one of the larger hexes, a treatment i liked, but not for this piece!
The hex beside the lace rose is where it’s hidden now.
And now there will be a shuffling of papers, folding of fabrics, and paint and ink splashed about as i research and develop new work. Here’s a “mood board” for something i’d like to do:
with this as the primary image:
Not sure which orientation to begin with, not that it really matters as there are 2 separate cloths here. Maybe i’ll do both to give myself a break from the same thing over and over —HA, joke. I had originally thought of doing another “abstract”, rather than pictorial, but nothing is set in stone.
albedo too 
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