Inspiration

A diamond shaped reflection on my driveway.

Studio Time

Spending time in the studio stitching this afternoon, enjoying the sunlight streaming through my window.

The Wall

As an artist have you and your artwork hit "the wall" yet?  More thoughts on this one tomorrow.

Is it All the Same?

If you have stopped recently and suddenly realized that everyone else around you is creating works that are similar or almost identical to yours remember this:

There is nothing new under the sun, only your interpetation of the sun makes it different. 

Others may be creating nearly identical but their intent will NEVER be the same, the true art lies in pushing a piece as far as you can and knowing when to stop.

Barn

“There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot, but there are others who... transform a yellow spot into the sun.” Picasso

More about this later I have some thoughts I'm compiling about teaching, and why I teach the way I do - I teach techniques and I teach the student how to bring out their inner vision, I do not teach students how to create artwork just like I do through those techniques.

Sun Down Before the Rain

Sunset and Pattern

Stopped at the end of a new development to take photos of the setting sun last night, these warning signs looked pretty good against sky.

Windmill

Once a familiar site here on the prairie once numbering in the thousands they have all but vanished now.

Solar Dyeing

I started by placing an ounce of dye materials into a clean quart jar (old spagetti sauce jars)

Filled the jars with vodka or everclear until the dye materials are covered, placed lid on jar and allowed to sit overnight.

Placed alum mordanted silk fat quarters into each jar, filled with distilled water, placed lid back onto jar and placed the jars in a sunny location. Here you can see the dye liquid wick up the fabric.

Leave in sun for up to three weeks, check to make sure that mold isn't growing on your fabrics. 2004

Sun Kissed Pumpkins