Spring needs or is it needs spring?

Here's my first effort at teaching myself Pojagi. These are left over scraps from a drapery sample book. There are machine methods and hand sewn methods. I tried both of them repeatedly so I would not forget the technique.
These endeavors led me to create a new spring bag using a modification of  the Pojagi method. I really needed a bigger purse as my stuff kept falling out of my old fall bag.







                             














 Then I saw online a how to on upcycling T-shirts.
So I took two short tight tees and turned them into one long tunic for the stylin' middle age woman.
 Seriously, I haven't been in style since leather fringe boots in 1967.
Stay inspired warm weather is coming!

What keeps me up at night.

The other night I was obsessed with a design that MUST be expressed. Was I thinking about war and poverty? NO I kept seeing a wire tomato cage transformed into an artful lamp by combing two upcycling elements, wrapping with strips of  fabric and making the shade part out of contrasting colors. The shade part would be fashioned using the technique of Bojagi. See the inspirational work of www.chunghielee.com and her sublime artwork show on the video above.  
 Of course after seeing her craft I apologize profusely for my lame attempt. I made the frame by joining U-shaped wire and wrapping jewelry wire at the corners, then I super glued those joints. Next, I found some old scarves which I tore into strips and wrapped them in colorful combinations. Then I sewed a bag shape out of white decorator's fabric and I am now sewing up the sides and adding small bits of sparkly beads as I go.I haven't figured out the feet but at least I can sleep soundly. 

Beau's Journey

Yet another art piece for a friend. I am doing a stylized portrait of an American Saddlebred horse named Beau.

I did some fun and silly studies of him in my sketchbook to help me get comfortable with what I saw in the photographs I took of him.

This is what these sketches eventually evolved into. This is the start of the final rendition, which will be pencil on paper. Even the below has changed quite a bit since I started but I will show that another time.

*az*

Well, I'm finishing up the first part of a process. After weeks of detailed crafting and hours of listening carefully to great ideas from many sources, the vision for a new Stoughton Center is complete.
Of course, my angle is to promote a place for cultural events of all sorts to take place. Before there was no venue for arts and crafts fairs,

 live music, poetry slams, parades, etc. I believe these will create a constant flow of customers for local businesses. A walk through the park(I hope )will inspire people to engage their imaginations so as to enrich their own lives, this is real value("that which abides").
The next step is the process of selling the value and managing available resources from federal, state and town. Send the project your best wishes, we need all the good vibes we can muster.

Some of my favorite features are:

Winterized walking tubes, 1/2 mile around.
Outdoor theater and a Hatch Shell.
A grand formal garden with sculptures and fountains facing the traffic areas.How's that for a different image of Stoughton. It advertises itself.
A large transportation center which includes a bus station 1st floor,food courts 4th floor,a satellite campus on 3rd floor,Faneuil Hal -type marketplace on 1st floor and train depot on the 2nd floor.
An indoor organic garden and walking track and a quiet Japanese garden behind the old train station. 

And there is so much much more. It will be the place to be! 

good winter -kes

Cutting and dry-fitting pressure treated 2x4s someone threw away in an Audubon sanctuary. The shape creates a rustic found shelter surround for a mixed media sculpture...which I don't pretend to understand.

I've named this post for Justin Vernon's Bon Iver music. As a musician, he describes himself as 'completing the circuit', not as an entertainer. Maybe that makes sense to you and maybe it doesn't. Let me try to explain how I see it:
The band's musical track 'Blood Bank' is like a rich fertilizer. The ethereal layers pulse and echo messages from some other place that is terribly important. Once upon a time my process was to consciously attempt to translate the feeling. These efforts were fraught with frustration simply because its kind of impossible to do something so abstract without allowing the sublime part that feeds off this food in the first place to drive the bus.

Whatever is seen, heard, or felt always gets in. So lately I wait, knowing it will resurface visually when its ripe. In the meantime, I just keep feeding this thing, whatever it is with music, trees, sky, you get the picture. I'm removing the wall of agenda, opening the window, and completing the circuit one day at a time.The sun is more important.

Sketchbook visit

I have kept hard cover sketchbooks since I was very young. About five years ago, I decided to go further with them and started reworking and finishing the drawings that I begun so long ago. Now, it has become a  habit allowing me to think only of the art at hand. These sketchbooks not only helped me practice but they gave me ideas that developed beyond my sketchbook, such as my mermaid project. 

The horse was only a sketch in the 80's. It became more finalized about thirty years later. 

The girl was the original drawing. The greyhound and detailing was added much later. It reminds of a bizarre twist on Clifford, the Big Red Dog.

az