Today...

is an I Feel Better sort of a day. After yesterday's dental angst (a tooth removed and a filling), I woke up today and thought...mmm...I've actually got some energy! Which is just as well, really, as I found that I have no batting (well, okay, almost no batting...other than some wonderful wool stuff, which I'm hoarding for no reason other than the fact that I really love working with wool...might make a knee rug with it for the winter). So, I rang my friend Judy and said, come and play...and we went to a quilting and arts supplies shop for the morning (well, it is rather large...). Sixty pounds and two hours later, I thought that a Sit Down was in order, so we went to a lovely cafe, the Park Charity Cafe, which is run entirely to support two charities, and had Cake and Coffee. Yum. In deference to my gall bladder I had a small cake, a raspberry and lime cupcake, which was truly delicious and very pretty, to boot. And then home again.

Given that I still have some energy left, I'm planning to quilt this afternoon, and, if I still feel okay tomorrow, to pop into the Gallery and cut some mounts, at least. I found a piece of cotton that I'd dye painted/printed, and thought it looked Rather Promising. Photos tomorrow. Meanwhile, I did some frog stitch on this little piece, which was cut out of a Much Larger Piece that wasn't working. It's a deconstructed screen print on a lovely piece of vintage French linen, quite a rough weave, I like it a lot. The photo doesn't really do it justice, unfortunately. I've taken most, but not all of the stitching out, as it made sense in the context of the larger piece, but less so now that I've cropped it. Hopefully, I'll be able to quilt them both today, but looking at the time, I think perhaps one or the other... I'm running out of daylight, and I don't like quilting in artificial light.

Meantime, if anyone knows where I've put my Bondaweb, please do tell. I didn't think it was possible to lose a whole bolt of the stuff, but I have proved myself wrong. So it's out with the spray glue, instead...needs must, etc.

Slowly, slowly...

a bit like a snail, I'm getting to do a little bit of work. I underestimated this illness in my last post, and most of the things I wanted to get done, haven't. More lying about, reading, and generally not doing much. But it has had its upside. I've managed to make some more of the depression images, ready to print on Bertha. I really must stop calling them 'the depression images'; they are, in fact, part of a series called 'Inside Out'. The problem with mental health issues is that nobody sees anything wrong with you; this series is an attempt to take what's happening on the inside, a morass of pain, fear, rage, and show it on the outside. Portraits of unhappy people are not common... it's interesting to do this work, and it has lots of potential, I think.

But the image I'm showing you is of a little ACEO, proof that I'm not dead yet, creatively speaking, anyway. It's called 'Life's A Beach', and, as always, has been made using several layers of texture, and a bit of glitz. I hope it depicts the textures of a summer's day at the beach. Yes, I'm looking forward to the spring and summer...

I have the dentist tomorrow, which I'm not looking forward to, as he is intending to take a tooth out. Not my favourite occupation, but at least I'll be sitting down...

Recovering Slowly...

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more slowly than I thought possible, to be honest. I managed to make my first frame, successfully, even cut the glass...and was then cut down myself, by a gall bladder related illness that has kept me abed for a fortnight, and even now, is limiting what I can do, and how much energy I have. Needless to say, I have finally decided to have the operation to remove the gall bladder; I can't spend huge chunks of time in bed feeling sorry for myself and too exhausted to move. So that's where I've been these last few weeks.

Before I disappeared to bed, I talked about some work I'd quilted; the images are shown above. One is a simple bubblewrap print, called Bubbles, on some hand dyed fabric. The second is a layered print on Evolon, which needs some more work done on it. The third is a monoprint, also on Evolon, called Red Sun; it, too, could do with some more attention, methinks. Though perhaps, not a great deal. This stuff feels like work that is past, disjointed pieces that have links to each other, but not obvious to anyone but me, and mostly made for a project that I have abandoned. Yet it feels wasteful to abandon the work; there is quite a bit of it. So I will finish, mount and frame what I can, and dispose of the rest. Scrap, anyone?

I have a lot of ideas for new work, but haven't yet begun it. The first step, I think, will be a sketchbook for that project. This is not usual for me; I usually make things up as I go along. This project, though, may well involve other people, and is very complex, including a large scale installation work, which I've never done before. It's a bit scary. Actually, it's a lot scary. Still...things could be worse...at least the ideas are there. So tomorrow, I go buy the sketchbook, and work on it during my rest breaks at the gallery. Having got to the point where I can actually frame, I think I'd better get some practice in, but I'm not convinced I'll manage a whole day. At least this way, I can sit on the sofa and use the time productively.

One thing at a time, though. Having found my camera this morning (lost for a week...in the bottom of a bag full of fabric, where I left it...sigh), I have things to photograph for Etsy, including some lovely hand dyed kiddies t shirts, all ready for spring. Which is coming...honest it is!