Exploration

It's done. Three panels. And now I think I'll make two more, little ones, to go on either outside edge.

 Recently I attended another  Golden Working Artist  workshop. Adria Arch is our representative, leading workshops about paints, mediums and techniques. The workshops of course promote Golden materials, but I appreciate the chance to experiment with guidance, not to mention free supplies.

 

The most recent workshop was on gelatin transfers. I'd been having so much trouble at home I went. Surprise: the big lesson of the day was just how finicky and unpredictable the technique is, dependent as it is on ink level, paper type, even the weather (very cold and dank that morning.) Yet, among all the failures, this piece:

Twice Two  Linda B. Dunn

Today the weather swings to the outrageously hot - nearly 100. (Calm, gradual weather shifts:  did I make these up or do I really remember them?) I'm working on the press release copy today: good work for an air-conditioned coffee shop. Then a college friend arrives, and in the afternoon I teach, then I pick up new sunglasses and my DVD from my photo shoot the other week. So poof another day flies by.

I need to figure out how to support this piece. My daughter, the set designer, says she can walk me through building a box for it. Can't be too hard, but, like any thing new, I'll appreciate some guidance on my maiden tour.

Beginning, Middle, End  Linda B. Dunn

Working on work

Another Family Album piece finished. This is my mother's sister, decked out for a San Francisco Christmas. She died in childbirth in her 20s. We live each moment - passionately, sleepily, frustrated, happy. Then we are gone.

Yesterday I finished the handwork on for my friend's commission . She wanted it embellished, placed the buttons and hearts herself. So I put on the Ipod and sewed through a rainy afternoon:
In the evening, I began another commission, a wedding gift. The couple is older, second marriage. The buyer picked out an older piece of mine piece she liked. I had a fragment of that "reflection" fabric I'd made, all these years later, so I started there:Of course, the piece is different; years have passed. I work larger now, and use bigger marks, and more of my own colors mixed in the dye pots.

I like the idea of reflection, doubling, as the theme of a marriage gift, and the subtext of roots, drink, time and growth.

commission in progress

This week I worked on a friend's commission: two pieces in memory of her mother. She gave me bags of clothing, along with photos, buttons, still more fabric (new and vintage) and ephemera. After a long talk about her mom, I plunged in.

I began by sorting and ironing the fabrics: looking for connections and a place to begin. On large blue print, edged with trim, became the anchor for the first piece. On it, I centered a photo of her mom decked out in blue. From there I built a frame of color and patterns. Several fabrics were ruled out as I decided to favor a few bolder prints in blue and pink. I added bits of green to punctuate the rhythm. Here's the work ready to be fused and sewn:
Tomorrow (when any right-minded American would be grilling or shopping) I'm going to the studio to get the second piece stitched. Then I'll present them both to my friend when she gets back from her holiday.

Travel in Time

Pearls by Linda Dunn

Back from 8 days on the road, or was it seven? We traveled from Boston to Lancaster PA, through Maryland, back to Philadelphia and then home. We visited 5 women, all in their 80s. Two will be 90 the next time we see them. Then today a poem by Sharon Bryan on Writer's Almanac about middle age. A fragment:

you can see your life whole,
beginning and end not far
from where you stand,

the horizon in the distance—
the view makes you weep,
but it also has the beauty

of symmetry, like the earth
seen from space

I am awash in images: old faces, old kitchens, tidy sitting rooms settled years ago. Layered on that images from a day at the Philadelphia Museum of Art: the huge productivity of so many male artists. Who washed their dishes and clothes? Did they cook their own food? Care for their children? So I do the laundry and plan my afternoon in the studio. A lot to think about.