the eyes have it

and I just love painting them AND embroidering them.

Have to share this classic moment in comedy again
Cook's and Moore's discussion of art and eyes in art still has me in stitches

Graffiti Alley: Wordless Wednesday

Ann Arbor, Michigan

MAP

She's on top of her ergi

Art News Blog hosted a wee "win a chair" competition give away from CSN Office Furniture

wowie I WON
All we had to do was leave a comment what colour and why and I wrote:
"The topstar in lime green because it looks like a work of art, because it rocks, because it looks goofy, because it would fit in my studio, because I LOVE it, because I WANT one, because I want to hear my husband say, "what the hell is that", and I can say smugly, "why darling it is my ergonomic stool" humph!"
In my best Lucy voice!
thanks to Art News Blog and CSN, and to the Person who chose me

My husband sort of a got a surprise when he found a large fed ex box at the front door. "did you order something" he says. To which I say,"no dear" la de da di da! "Hum, you sure because it has YOUR name on it and it is from Germany". So I spill the beans and tell him I won something. His second surprise though was finding out he had to put it together. He did say what the heck is that, and I did say, " why darling, it's my ergi".

Shipping was really fast.Design wise it is primo quality and easy, they even packaged the air pump to pump up the inner ball. It has certainly intrigued my visitors, and it is surprisingly comfortable. I can tell it is good for my back.
So, yes it fits in my studio, yes it looks like a work of art, and yes it does rock (literally lol).
Thank You

Why doctors recommend Ergonomic Chairs

I of the NEEDLES

YEA! Finished the embroidered version of my sketchbook pages, finito.
Close up's can be seen on my flickr page.

The Guerrilla Girl in Me

is located on Corry Street outside IN A FRAME
I decided to do a mini version of the camo doll knit graffiti. It's amazing how many people pass this box and NEVER notice it, so it is one of those quiet little art pieces hanging around town. I kind of like the idea that it blends in so well people don't notice it, but when they do I hope it is a nice little surprise.

Clickety Clack Clickety Clack
So go the knitting needles as the jafagirls get ready to replace some tired looking knit graffiti on Dayton Street.

EYE OF A NEEDLE



Tiny, weenie, miniscule sculptures by Willard Wigan, amazing, but I think I will stick to just using the needle to sew with.

AND
This is Cool
I was included in the 100 Best Scholarly Art Blogs on the Online University Reviews website. Although it doesn't specify why I want to thank the reviewer for including me.

Wordless Wednesday:Flowers in the Night

July 5th fireworks in Gaunt Park, Yellow Springs, Ohio

Sketchbook: Children's Drawing & Embroidery

I adored the little drawing and note my son wrote when he was eight and printed a copy of it for my painted sketchbook page. I thought it would be fun to do this page in stitch.

Colours are not quite as intense, but it is a acrylic color wash on yellow fabric. Next I will start the embroidery at the lower half. The doctor figure is trapunto, which you might be able to see close up. Basically trapunto is when the design is outlined with two or more rows of running stitches and then padded from the underside to achieve a raised effect.

DVAC Member Show

If you see my work above the green nude in the back room at the Dayton Visual Arts Center, it is not just fiber as listed but embroidery on tea stained muslin and the writing says "a cock is valiant on his own dunghill". You can see more about the story behind the piece on our jafagirl blog here. I custom built the frame myself to give it a formal and traditional feel. Unfortunately you can't see the stitch work because it is hung to high, but it is long and short, satin stitch and couching. If you click on the image you will see a close up of the stitching.

Life muddles on:However is the word

I seem to be on some kind of partial sabbatical from blogging and painting. Part of it seems to be the waning interest my blog generates and reduction of visitors (90% visits are via google search), part of it is my indifference to the whole business of art ( promoting it or trying to sell it). I would say disappointment and discouragement has taken it's toll in that regard.

HOWEVER
I'm obsessed with embroidery and I'm LOVING it.
So my creative needs are being met via the needle rather than the paintbrush right now.
Many people don't see embroidery as art, least of all fine art. I don't see embroidery included in collections in fine art museums (except in textile sections devoted to ancient cultures). Even in the Textile Museum in DC, there were no examples of embroidery other than incorporated into a utilitarian item or decorative/religious clothing.
There are samplers but they were meant to show sewing skills rather than an artistic expression using sewing. It's not that there aren't examples of exquisite deocrative embroidery, but as a fine art form it is still relegated to the craft and utilitarian. I wonder if that is going to change though as more and more artists incorporate embroidery into their repertoire of personal expression? Shows like "Pricked: Extreme Embroidery" at the Museum of Arts & Design have started that change perhaps.
AND
There are embroidery museums and one can see examples of embroidery as art but it is still relegated to a specialized craft rather than incorporated in the art world per se.
Embroidery Museum and Resource Center in Louisville, KY
UK Embroiderers' Guild at Hampton Court, London
HOWEVER
I did find this in the Philadelphia Museum of Art listed under modern and contemporary art.
Strange that the one example I could find was by a man, probably couldn't find any embroidery art done by a woman, ahem!


Which brings me to the Guerilla Girls and the fact that women continue to be seriously underrepresented in the art museums, art history books etc.
We shouldn't really need to have a Women's Art Musuem in the first place, but oh well!

Talking about Textiles
Mr.Plato is slowly coming along

I worked on his hand yesterday.

Wordless Wedneday: wow those hands

Close up of a painting at The Palmer Museum of Art Penn State