Sunday, December 26, 2010

dissatisfaction and impending change...

i've been sneaking time in to work on the midwinter long cloth. the roots are all couched down and reaching off deep into the ethers in search of food for its soul, so i turned my gaze upon the  moon.  her glow of modified kantha stitching looked a bit too much like a garish display and it occurred to me that perhaps extending the radience out a bit would help.  once half of the stitching was put in, it began to look a little too much like a white sun and sunshine to my eye...creating way too much noise in the once quiet and peaceful landscape, so i've put it aside for a bit to contemplate how to proceed.


i'm fairly certain the next move will be to start tearing out the new radient stitches and to put in some softer, more subtle strokes. perhaps some skipped spiralling parallel marks, alternating with some darker, bluer stitches with some hand dyed variegated threads? i don't want to lose the calm, restfullness of the cloth, nor do i want to obscure the peaceful tumbling of the snow...

meanwhile, i'll continue working on something from jude hill's c2c vid series class and post pics soon.

it rained early this morning, melting some of the snow in its wake and blanketing the landscape outside with ice.


of course, the weather soothsayers are predicting a lot more snow in a couple days...just in time for our journey back home to montana!

appropriately, the icy snow outside and this tidbit are capturing my attention this morning...

namaste'

6 comments:

  1. Okay, got this baby to work. My test on other post came thru.
    Hi Joe,
    I'm Helen, a clothmate Ha! I do not have a blog, as I do not like to take photos and am not very good at it, as well as not too computer savvy (obviously, see opening line. Ha!)
    I like your work alot. I think the spirals is the way I'd go, and I like the idea of varigated threads.
    I have taken classes from Jude and am signed up for adv. C2C, and hopefully you are too and we can interact there. I'm currently in love with boro and indigo so I am anxious to get started with the class, plus other cloth mates spark the creative fires. Looking forward to seeing more of your very talented work.
    In Creative Kinship,
    Helen

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  2. welcome, helen, and thank you! i am definitely leaning toward the spirals, too. it seems they will be more subtle...less intrusive...

    i am giving myself jude's advanced c2c for a holiday gift to myself. i'll be signing up for it in a few days, when i get back to montana. i am truly looking forward to it! jude is a wonderful teacher and i love her relaxed style. her vids are like sitting in her studio and having a friendly little chat... i have not yet been able to take one of her classes as they occur, so i am anxious to get started with adv. c2c.

    thank you again for your kind words about my work. i'm looking foward to getting back home and doing much more....

    namaste'

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  3. before you rip out everything... you might consider a different color of stitching over the moon... or even some blue organza to tone down the present moon.
    i like the immediate stitching around the moon as it adds a glow when seen from a distance. also, i like the way you can verbalize your thoughts as you go. its a great way to share the learning with others.
    i will also be in the advanced c2c class and look forward to interacting with you and helen and many others who will be there. by then my room will be in better order...still in the process of moving... and delayed by a pulled muscle... by then though it will be a distant memory.
    namaste

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  4. thank you for your thoughts, nandas. alas, i've already ripped the stitches out. i've left the initial stitching around the moon as i never had any issues with them, just with the ray-like stitching i added yesterday.

    i'm finishing up some new stitching and will post a pic later this evening...

    yes, i also am looking forward to the adv. c2c class and interacting with everyone! i'm enjoying working through the first c2c class via vid series...but it does lack the interaction with others...and i'm eagerly looking forward to that added element!

    namaste'

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  5. Greetings Joe. A pleasure to meet you. I look forward to exploring your blog and seeing more of your work. Thanks for making mention of my snow dyeing post. Warm holiday wishes from snowy Wisconsin! Chris

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  6. hello chris, likewise! you are most welcome...it was one of the most fascinating things in dyeing i'd seen in a long time. i've done a bit of dyeing from time to time myself and have always thought of it as more of a "heated" process...so snow dyeing was quite intriguing! i've been exploring your blog deeper, too, and enjoying every page...thank you for sharing!

    namaste'

    ReplyDelete