It's Been a While

Sometimes life just gets away from you. Nothing bad but not necessarily all good - just regular day to day life. When your days are filled with things to do, people to see, places to go, time to chill... it's all good and it's mind boggling that it's been almost 3 months since my last post.

I'll pick up from here - Saturday, July 25th - and hopefully blog forward while revisiting in the time that has passed by.

I'm in Pittsburgh, sitting in a large, spacious room in a very lovely house built in the early 1900's - lofty ceilings, ornate woodwork, open and airy - at "my" desk preparing for a trip to SC on Tuesday and scrolling through photos from the past few days.

These are from the city of Pittsburgh and the immediate surrounding areas. No captions, just photos. I'll let the pictures tell the story and whatever you come away with viewing them...

Art of Trash - Trashion Show 2015

What do you do when you when your housemate asks you how your Trashion Show pieces are coming along? 

Answer, of course. 

And then what do you do when you say you're on schedule to start a concerted and focused effort to knock them out starting Sunday because I have everything worked out in my head, on paper... I have notes and clear vision.

Answer: Well, that's nice but the event is this Friday, the 10th.

No, it's the 17th. 

Doubtful look in response.

We look in a publication that I picked up the day before which covered the Art of Trash opening and Trashion Show.

Flip to the page. Scan to the bottom of the article listing the particulars...

It's the 10th... this coming Friday, about 4 days...

No panic - just refocusing and thankful that I had most everything worked out in my head, on paper, with my notes and clear vision.

Expired membership cards, gift and cash cards, rewards cards and ID cards - once recyclable but now considered trash because of the magnetic strips, holographic seals and fraud protection chips imbedded in them. But for me...

And some snipped soda can tabs, gel glue and patience...

...are linked together with the four holes I punched in the corners of each card to be able to insert the snipped soda can tab.

Card-and-tab sets now linked together to form elongated rows.

Rows of card-and-tabs.

This was the process. In the next post is the Trashion Show outfit.

Aloha!

The Trashion Show

Here the finished card-and-soda can tab skirt after the rows were fastened together with even more tabs.

An angel having her air conditioner filter wings 

attached to her back.

A shot of the trash pieces juried into the show.

Student participant wearing shredded magazines.

The backs of the outfits were just as intricate as the fronts.

The skirt, styled to give it a paniolo look - the hat is mesh produce bags sewn together and cut into a hat.

Entertainment: she is playing a guitar made from a broken surfboard!

Playing drums made from trash.

The card and tab skirt, and a jacket made from a shower curtain.

Mistress of Ceremony - Kathy Collins

The skirt in full swing and not splintering and flying apart!

Another shot

Assorted shots of other artists' creations.

Enjoy!

A Connecting Thread ------ Embroidery

I thought I would repost this as it is some of my favorite artwork. Maybe this is how Warhol started?

If memory serves me correctly the following occurred because two things came about to me at roughly the same time. I used the new embroidery design Sue of The Needlework Factory had just completed - the Jeepers Creepers skull embroidery - with my new found talents with cutting, copying, pasting and layering images. Several of these I used for my Facebook profile photo, but I like them all because they are iconic yet elevated beyond what the originals are.

Any favorites?

A Friend Made Me A Quilt

The next day I hung it up in the only place that was suitable, 

in front of the large sliding doors to the porch.

The light shone through the backing and wool batting to create this satined glass effect. When I take more shots of the quilt I'll share more with you! 

Week of February 15-21

Fish Moon Cakes for Chinese New Year

Recoloring the gecko embroidery

I've talked about geckos, so here's a chameleon looking at me outside the window of the studio.

Kula Black Raspberries

The most beautiful head of cauliflower I have ever seen (or eaten!)

Do You Love This As Much As I Do?

There are so many things that I could (and will) glean from these that I am over-stimulated! Dots... stripes... abstracts. 

Deep breath - exhale - sigh...