Earth

 My current read:

While in Peru on the Amazon a few years ago, I soaked a white shirt in the muddy waters and purposely stained it to a lovely mud color. I let it dry, then once home I simmered it for a few hours to set the mud. The color is very light, but it reminds me of a place and a time in my history.

No swimming in the Amazon for me!

Early in childhood, we lived in Amarillo Texas for a few years. The beautiful red clay stained my panties when my bother and I swam and played in a creek that ran thru a canyon near our home. I remember my mother being a little upset, but it was my first dye experiment! No pictures, just a memory from 55 years ago. 

Now, I want to play with dirt. The soil near me is dark rich soil, but I am now on the lookout for iron rich shades of red. They have to be here, somewhere! When I leave for New Zealand in the late fall, once again I will take a while shirt or fabric to hopefully find a place to stain and bring home a new treasure.

Gelli plate / fancy potholder

 This was a reason to keep things. Until this printing session, I had no idea why I had left this in my stash. A decorative crocheted potholder with no function other than hang in a retro kitchen. It made great prints!

Acrylic paint with fabric medium on fabric:

Textile paint:

Acrylic paint on paper:

Acrylic paint on fabric:

I am most pleased with the textile paint. I had a jar of blue, but it had been watered down for another project and just didn't work. I think I globbed on more paint than the other experiments. I imagine that if I  continue to make prints with this potholder that it will not absorb paint off the gelli in the same manner - I could end up with a mess or an even better print!

Gelli project

 I've been asked to demo gelli plate printing at the Mississippi Valley Quilter's show in October. Most of my previous printing has been on paper. Some experimenting and program planning is  on my to do list. 

My first prints used yarn on the plate with acrylic paint. Both pulls using paper look good.

The second set is on fabric. Again, both prints look good. 

I plan to do a few prints each week to come up with a good sampling to show and do some stitch work for examples. For now, my studio is a bit too warm to work in for long. Summer is most certainly here!

Putnam Museum 2

 

Putnam Museum

 Girls Day Out! After lunch we headed to the Putnam Museum in Davenport.  I especially enjoyed the kaleidoscope exhibit. Very interactive with much hands on play time!

The Pink One / Eve / Temptation

 Updates on this piece somehow didn't happen. "Temptation" is mostly done. I'd still like to add some more shards, but also find it necessary to move forward on the next piece. Yellow needs more beads and stitches. It seems like a good piece to stitch on when I'm feeling a little grey and down. Bright yellow will brighten even the foulest of moods!

But this was to be about the pink one! Looking at the photo helps me see exactly where I want to add a little more.  For now, it can rest with the others waiting for the QC Arts gallery show in January. It seems like a long time from now! Especially when we are under a heat advisory this week it is difficult to even think about cold weather.

7 minute art week 4

 And that's a wrap.