"Markings"

13" x 13" bleached, over printed stamped cloth and stenciled cloth, leather piece, canvas sides cross-stitched and blanket stitched top and bottom framing, Hebrew, Aramaic & Greek writing examples found at Qumran.

Creating this piece was interesting and involved many efforts and changes. I was considering the forty years of desert life reported in the bible and for a time it felt like this piece might take me as long to finish! It started with the frustration of tearing apart my old leather purse.There was a fuzzy backing glued to the underside of the leather making it impossible to remove or to stitch. I wound up using a decorative panel from the purse as it had the X stitching motif. A high point for me was teaching myself cross-stitching. The two white narrow side panels have a row each of my cross-stitching. I like learning and getting out of my comfort zone and I'm all for breaking rules but I do find in these older years high levels of brain freeze! I really had to practice on those cross stitches and looking at examples and reading instructions became a waste of time. On that same note I'm going to attempt screen printing. In all my printmaking courses, I never took silk screening? I want to explore some innovative approaches but before I do that, I need to familiarize myself with the basics. I'll post some of my samples in the next few weeks. Still staying with the desert series focusing on texture & colors. Wish me luck....might need a few dinners out, some catalog shopping therapy and if all else fails....champagne!