Rainy days and Tuesday always get me down?

The unreliability of the weather always irks me. Here in Syracuse it goes from being 90 and absolutely gorgeous to humid, rainy and overall icky in the matter of minutes. Or a day or so. Nothing we can do about that though other than complain and I'm the queen of that.

I finally have some new pieces to post. Sorry it's been so long but it has been kind of hectic here. It feels like I never stop moving but that's about to change. As of next week I'm going to have a little more creativity time as I will officially join the realm of the unemployed. At least for a little while.

I've been playing around with embroidery techniques on old linen and it's actually really therapeutic. I like placing stitch after stitch after stitch. I've actually gotten a lot cleaner with my handiwork.
Here's a simple contour of a lounging cat all sprawled out. The inspiration for this was my very own feline friend who I admit has gotten quite needy as of late. The piece piece was done entirely in backstitches. I find they give a cleaner, clearer line. Less of a break in the middle. Here's a detail.
I've also completed another small owl for a friend who desperately wanted one of my pieces. Last week she witnessed my desperate attempt to pick cherries from a very large tree. After coming up unsuccessful and looking like a downright fool she presented me with a large bag of Bings that she had picked up that morning. So this owl is a very big thank you for kind words and yummy food. I've been told it's my cutest to date.
I'm still playing around with fabric too. Well I guess that's all for now. On to more cutting and stitching and coming up with new projects.

J

Updates

Well hi there,

Just a quick update. Small changes have been made to the blog header and to my website (you can find me here.) Working on a couple small projects. Trying out new techniques and cleaning up my stitches. Hopefully I'll have something new to post soon. Until then...

J

New Space

Why, hello there!
For some reason I assumed that adjusting to post-grad life would be easy. While I haven't really decided if it is or isn't, I've found that all I want to do is sleep. Sleep, eat, and clean. Maybe not so much the latter but I have been doing a lot of organizing. I finally have some semblance of a studio space (well, table) as seen here:Aaaand here:

And here: This last picture is actually my lovely new sewing machine that I haven't even gotten to hook up yet. It has been in my possession a week now, but there always seems to be something else I need to do. Like sleep, eat, or clean. Or go to work. I'm starting to understand what my professors meant about working part-time in order to keep up with artwork. Even with the few days a week that I am working, it's hard to just sit down and create. It gets even harder when you factor in:


-appointments
-family
-aggressively affectionate needy cat
-boyfriend
-piles of the semester's laundry (still not done)
-friends you've fallen out of contact with
-job hunting to replace current job which is up at the end of the month
-job hunting to replace whatever job you get to replace current job
-sleep
-mental health time
-grocery shopping
-calls to new healthcare provider (I won't even get started)


The list goes on as I'm sure you all know, but my point is that life after graduation isn't easy. For all grads (even though I'm biased towards those of us in the creative fields). But enough with the venting, ranting, sobbing, whatever you want to call it. There are good things to come!

Lately I've been inspired by artists who work with text. Joetta Maue is a fiber artist based out of New York who works both with text and what she refers to as "re-appropriated" linens. Basically, your grandma's doilies. Personally, I like the idea of mixing old with new. It kind of reminds me of a collage piece I did for Marty Blake. So I think my next step is to do a large-scale, stitched (text) banner for over my "studio". Sort of an homage to Ms. Maue, yet utilizing her technique in a way that is uniquely my own. We'll see where this goes. I definitely need to get the ball rolling as I have far too many lists of ideas running through my head. So until next time...Ta-ta!

J