Category: embrilting

Posted in a collusion of ideas, embrilting, FybreSpace the shop

unfinished business is getting busy with finished!

Posted on by arlee

Too many bits and bobs, unfinished, but not used for anything. I have to keep my hands busy, and sometimes despair of what to use things for. I’ve never been precious about what i do, so what the hell, let’s have some fun! I could look on the burgeoning piles as exercises, samples, tests, even a bit of wasted time and effort.

It’s like an athlete who has to continually keep moving, exercising, stretching, twisting, extending. Such a nasty word, *wasted, all definitions pointing to loss, garbage, effluence, used up, thrown away, the only comforting interpretive “a gradual passing of time” resonating… So, let’s say these are running in place exercises.

How many does a person really need (to do)? Simple: as many as a person needs (to do). But i DO know what i want to do with some of them.

It was past time to dip into the bead stash again. If i died tonight, there are so many, poor Greyman would be overwhelmed!

A Spring Burst!

hand embroidered Spring Burst textile art moon

And a Tango Tangerine too 🙂

hand embroidered tango tangerine moon textile art

Baby juice moons, weighing in (errr, measuring in) at 4″ square.

Working on things incorporating those eyes in the third photo too! It’s slow time in the studio–though i’m being patient, i’m finding it hard to corral beads, thread ultrafine needles, and deal calmly with fraying threads and smashed beads! It doesn’t help that i dropped a mouthful of grapes and cheese into my coffee either!

And quite honestly, though it seems all i’m doing lately is pushing my shop, these are *in* my shop 🙂 Since i’m no longer employed by anyone else, and am hoping NOT to go back to ANY ffFlower Mine, hey, a Woman has to do what a Woman has to do. Thank you to those who *do* support me–you’re all Wonderful Blossoms!

Posted in embrilting, in progress

Hallelujah

Posted on by arlee

Not only can i walk today (LOTS of drugs, water, rest, heating pads and special supine stretches), but i am closer to finishing this six year old piece than i thought.

I was worried i’d run out of the colourway i’ve used, but apparently i have a lot more violets and pale purples than i thought, yeah me.

Posted in embrilting, in progress

running in place

Posted on by arlee

I’m pretty much confined to my stitching corner these past few days. And now i can’t sleep lying down, so now it’s going to have to be made into a nest. Not sure how i’m going to survive my last 6 days at the Day Job….. Robaxacet is starting to not help much, and ice packs make look your bum and back look funny when stuffed down your underpants. (And they have to be Granny Pants to stay high enough for good contact…)

Originally, i was just going to stitch up and down on this thing, but quickly realized it was not only boring in execution but in look as well. Running stitch doesn’t have to go only one way. I was hesitant to do the background this way, but it doesn’t fight with the defined elements after all, so will continue. There are small areas i will leave unstitched, as i’ve always subscribed to the void space theory, giving the eyes a place to rest, not crowding everything. It’s still a bit horror vacuii, but the other details stand out enough that this becomes only the background, not the story.

hand embroidered detail on painted cloth

I’m going to run out of the violets and pale purples soon! And i love this cloth, the result of using a large scrap as a sop/drop cloth when painting something else.

 

 

Posted in embrilting, in progress, Probably talking to just myself

if it’s not one thing, it’s another

Posted on by arlee

This winter has been hell: a fall on the ice in December resulting in a hip crunch that is still bothering me, an angina attack and all the ensuing tests, poking, prodding and stressing, a bad cold that lasted 3 weeks and wiped me out, a spine jarring drive on the bus through a deep pothole that has left my back in agony, and the resignation from my Day job, after 5 years, effective on the 17th.

I’m frickin’ tired, and about all i can do, (besides whine i suppose…) is fill in space and time, so yesterday saw me go back to the strange face. (Previous post)

Since i started this in January of 2012 and have lost the flow and notes, i’m not sure what the intent was, but what the hell.

I’m guessing it was an exercise in colour, and stitch type, and followed/parallaled the making of “Not A Hive Mind”.  I might as well finish it, and then maybe i’ll get it!

Posted in Anno(s) Suturae, embrilting, journal: lessons to learn, Probably talking to just myself, Rust

Great White Whales

Posted on by arlee

(I actually wrote this post at the *beginning* of 2017, never published it, and for the most part, did nothing with the piece i’m talking about…)

Jan 23/17: January means re-organizing, prioritizing in my stoodio. I dig through drawers and boxes, sorting, knowing some things will never be finished, but unable to part with them, making new stacks of “possibles”, and a bit of clenchedteethtossing of a few, VERY FEW, pieces. I get fired up by beads, miniscule scraplets of cloth, short ends of thread, and serendipitous colour combinations when things fall on each other.

And then, i find

The Great White Whale.

This whale takes up a lot of space, literally and figuratively. Once in awhile, the currents of present day sweep it back under the waters, and it sinks, sulking at the bottom of my subconscious for months, and then when i least expect, it breaches loudly, and sings, briefly, but oh so emphatically. I *know* i had the right idea when i first conceived it, but, but, but, BUT.

“Let faith oust fact; let fancy oust memory; I look deep down and do believe.”
― Herman Melville, Moby-Dick

Jan 1/18:

Is it any wonder i can get nothing done, feel no gumption, have no inspiration? Piles and messes like this used to really inspire me; now i just walk away from it, overwhelmed, disgusted, bored, frustrated. There are cupboards and bins not visible, full of fabrics slated for projects, and a lot OF projects in progress/notprogress. I’ll spare you those. Time AGAIN to re-organize, declutter, throw out.

In particular, the Great White Whale has been packed away since April 2014, with maybe a 10th of the expanse worked. It was overly ambitious, daunting, heavy in my lap and on my mind. I even had a separate blog for it, now private as i couldn’t bear to see it myself, never mind anyone else…. (I *might* re-open it, depending on depending on…)

Original cloth, 48×72″, made during 2012 residency:

I’ve worked on only maybe a 1oth of the area (not that the area is finished…).

That photo does no justice either to what i *have* done.

Everything on it got away from me. I *didn’t* believe in it anymore. Too many ideas and interpretations, i had intended it to be a record of sorts of my practice and evolution, but it’s just a damn sampler now.

Scissors, we will have scissors.

It never had to be ONE piece of cloth. I’m going to be cutting to cut, re-arrange, overlap, make deliberate spaces, maybe even holes, patches, whatever. Because i also see the photos like this:

and fall in love again.

 

Posted in Collision: the work begins, embrilting, in progress, potassium permanganate

in which i publicly humiliate myself

Posted on by arlee

Because we’ve all done Stoopid with a Capitol 9 at least once………

“Normally” i would have thrown this in the unfinished pile where it would have sat forever, but the lace is too precious to me to “waste” it. And i *have* gotten much better at (im)patiently pulling or cutting out mistakes, because the initial idea is good. When they lack in interpretation though, cut your losses, or cut the threads!

Firstly, the lace puffed up and made itself look big, trying to scare me. I do believe i forgot to iron the underlayer (Lazy!) and a wrinkle in there resulted in this lofty attempt at escape.

What’s REALLY sad is that though i had a very clear picture in my head of how she would look when worked, i didn’t stop for any consideration on HOW i was going to do that, and just Started. Dear GAWDZ but this is Horridatious, looking as if an inexperienced newbie or a 4 year old got hold of it. I have done trite work, i admit it (we all honestly have) but this? Not only trite, but badly worked–NOTHING to do with what the figure is/says, NO beauty in any of that working, and seriously, i am embarrassing myself horribly by showing this. Is it any wonder she’s holding her head in her hands???? She’s wailing!!! “What have you done to meeeeeeeeeeee???”

I picked out ALL of the interior stitching. I slit the lace and flattened it down–nothing anywhere says that can’t be done, or will detract from the work. I don’t know about you, but there’s nowhere in my contract that says i HAVE to do something ONE way or it’s Wrong! I had to also soak the whole thing to let the resulting holes and pulls Relax. (Relax, Baby: i’ll still respect you in the morning.)

I had this bright idea to use several of my naturally dyed threads, and while the colourway would have worked, it took too much away from the figure, putting focus on the threads instead. I have gone to my commercially dyed threads in rebuttal 🙂 As i’ve always said, colour is colour–yes, brown is too a colour!—and i’m not about to get all precious about just naturally dyed, so all my “bland, boring, beige” browns in all their glorious permutations are being hauled out.

I’m off to appease the Stitching Gawdesses with a cup of fresh coffee, small sweet biscuits and a sacrificial thread loaded needle or two…..i already gave blood, sweat and tears…………

Posted in brazilwood, cochineal, embrilting, FybreSpace the shop, hollyhock, indigo, logwood, Moons, Natural Dyes, Naturally dyed threads, osage, potassium permanganate, privet, rhubarb root, sandalwood

a natural moon

Posted on by arlee

I’ve been slowly (and not so diligently, as other pursuits in the studio have “interfered”) working on this indigo moon, using my newly dyed naturally dyed threads. This is a lesson in itself, as the indigo i’m working on is strong enough to overshadow certain colours, necessitating some more neutral backgrounds for future plans/use.

 

The moon is worked with cotton, silk, silk/wool blend and wool threads in cochineal, osage, logwood, and privet berries, with the brown of the seeds coming from potassium permanganate (actually an inorganic compound). I found a walnut bath i had stored several years ago, when i was setting up in the basement, and shall test to see if it’s still “live”, for some of my browns in future, though i do love all the permutations the PP gave on the skein of cotton. On the background surround, in cotton, silk, wool and silk/wool, the colours i used are privet berry, cochineal, brazilwood, rhubarb root, hollyhock (and that’s where the “oh-oh” happened, as some of the colours are so soft, they are barely discernible), osage, logwood, and sandalwood. Using pre-mordanting (VERY important), and post modifying methods, changes the colours to a wide range. (Ha, just realized i used none of the wonderful madder results!)

I have two other moons still in the finishing stages, and hope to get them done soon too! All will be in the shop.

 

 

Posted in Commission, Contextural Fibre Arts Co-operative, embrilting, Not so ordinaries, Residency 2016, Residency 2016, Residency 2017, Shows/Publications, Tabula Memoria

Tabula Memoria journal available, and residency exhibit news

Posted on by arlee

If you are interested in process, rather than project, the journal that accompanies “Tabula Memoria” is available through Blurb now. This was as much a labour of love as the actual work was, and i’m quite proud of it. The print quality is fantastic, and i am liking the response from the few who have seen it “in the flesh”. It’s a bit chatty, but that was part of the point as well!

The actual link is here, because clicking on the photo below takes you to only the preview, with a bit of a counter-intuitive search for the information!

 

I have yet to figure out the PDF conversion so at the moment, it’s only available as an actual Real Book. I also have not jacked the price very much above the base price, as i’d rather more be able to add it to their libraries! (And remember, the price is in CANADIAN DOLLARS.)

With the timeframe i’d had left to get work done for the end of residency show, i decided instead that since the owner of this work isn’t picking it up until near the end of September, that i could show this instead. Created with fabrics during my 2016 residency, and worked on during the 2017 residency, it suits perfectly in that respect as work done DURING res (because i have seen work in those shows that had nothing to do with res…which kind of defeats the purpose of the exhibition IMHO), and also, as celebrating 10 years of Contextural, it was a perfect opportunity for me to see and show how *i* have evolved in 10 years. (Though i have been a member for only 8!)

To show the scale, i gritted my teeth and had my photo taken with it, hanging at the 371 Gallery at the Alberta College of Art and Design (ACAD). I really don’t like getting my picture taken anymore, because it reminds me i am no longer a sweet young thing (yes, i was, a long time ago, and sometimes still, inside 🙂 ), but it *is* important that people see the Actual Real Artist on occasion!

If you are in or near Calgary, Alberta, or are visiting, the exhibition is up, ready for you view it. The Closing Reception is Thursday, September 14th but you can come into ACAD’s public areas and take it in anytime daily until then between 8am – 8pm, weekends too. Remember to check the two areas – the Main Mall and Room 371. I don’t know at this point if i will be at the closing reception, but who knows?