Rescue in Red

This began as a connection to the color 'red' and I started off with a glue resist using black on red cloth with an addition of bronze foil. Everything went wrong when I applied a cream like texture that was supposed to dry clear. Oh no! I soaked, I scrubbed and when dry I added gold leaf (second photo) and although pretty in colors, I had lost my way in purpose and composition. Out came the scissors and cutting away, adding fabrics until I had lost one circle but at least I had a surface to begin again. I've titled the piece "Tower Markings" and the circle shape (to me) feels like an ancient compass or maybe a star map. I added stamped fabric for leaves and some free sewing with the sewing machine as well as some loved stitches. I'm not against giving up on a piece but this one is only the second in my series on color and seemed in the beginning to have captured my heart...just couldn't give up! Need I mention the 42 other ideas I had and some I tried? The journal writing coming to terms with a pretty crappy cloth? Need I mention the calming myself, reconnecting to my personal memories of the color red or the many times I just didn't reconnect with the color red? Several days and nights went into this red journey and now I'm just fine with all that didn't go my way and all that did fit into this finished piece. Ready to start another color...a few more efforts in color to see if this is the way I want to continue.

TBT on Friday!

Way back to the 80"s on this piece. monotype, collage and soft pastel measures approx. 24"x24" and sold at a show in Sacramento. Today is actually the last day of the last months of the Roy G Biv Day and click on these two sites for more beautiful examples of color...  Jennifer  or Julie  
It has been great to participate in these photo searches and seeing all the other photos of the chosen color as well as to discover new artists!

Sand & Bone

11"x16", cotton cloth, embroidery, machine stitching, paint and tea stained cloth, bone colored beads.
To begin this series I was taken up with my journal writing as a launching device. I wrote about white (series is about color) and all the memories connected to white such as clean crisp sheets, white oil based semi-gloss paint, white ceramic tile but as I began this piece it quickly became a mixture of grays, bone and tea stains. So I followed the mixed lead and white will just show up another time. These colors became important as the marks on marks of bleached leaves, beads worn and missing with gray medallions hardly noticed ... a wind blown structure revealed?
I'm still trying to sew on the sewing machine in free style and need to keep at it. I'm excited about exploring the colors as memory and I intend to use this blog as more of a sharing place. Not sure how many people are stopping by so I'm feeling fairly safe in using this space as a way to dig deeper and express my findings. Lots of colors out there so here I go. I will always have a connection to archaeology, memory, nature and I believe fabric will see me through this exploration.