a blue background

oil sketch on linen, 10" x 6.25"

a tangled web

oil sketch on linen, 6.25" x 10"

who made your clothes

Cotton Lawn, oil on canvas, 22" x 14"

Over 300 people died in a garment factory collapse in Bangladesh this week. 

a scan of a sketch

oil on linen, 10" x 6.25"

oil sketch

10" x 6.25" oil on linen

transitions



getting started this morning - painting in a sewing room that's becoming a painting studio - painting a night gown - a night gown that I sewed - here

white 77mg sewing machine

White 77mg Sewing Machine
 

Here's the sewing machine I made the night gown with.  It came thanks to Craigslist ($10) and the advice of The Bobbin Doctor - who later tuned it for me and was kind enough to tell me a bit about the White Sewing Machine Company's history.

 

Right now my sewing room is becoming my new painting studio - and my old painting studio is becoming my storage room. 

 

So, in order to finish up some outstanding sewing projects, I'll sew in a spare room.  Most of my sewing tools and fabric will be put in storage.  Only the essentials will remain - again, in order to finish sewing a couple of unfinished things. 

Not tomorrow, though.  Tomorrow's painting day.

a cartoon

oil pastel on canvas - work in process

From the Art Glossary at Painting.About.com:

While in the 21st century we mostly think of a comic strip or animated film when we hear the word cartoon, in a painting context a cartoon is a full-sized, preparatory drawing for a painting, fresco, mosaic, or mural. Such cartoons were used for planning paintings, and pricked with fine holes to transferring the drawing to a canvas. The drawing was then placed against the canvas and powdered charcoal then dabbed with a cloth through the holes, transferring the design on to canvas.

drawing and dumping

 

brain dump: more snow is on the way - taking care of my grandson today and tomorrow - juggling several projects lately - aiming to clear my metaphorical palette in order to squeeze actual paint on my physical-real-time palette - it is a process

april whites

 

The placement of the gown on the canvas is starting to settle into the lower left quadrant. 

 

It's hard to see the drawing taped to the canvas because the light from the window is overwhelming.  But there's a hint of it - a low-contrast wisp - like cotton lawn on a summer's night?

craft

scans of the night gown showing the pin tucks (left) and the crocheted edging (right)

 

I made this gown with cotton lawn from Dharma Trading Co., pearl cotton from DMC and Mettler thread.  The lawn and crochet thread are cotton but the sewing thread, Mettler Metrosene, is 100%polyester.  It seems to work really well in my vintage sewing machine.

hangers

 

I love my hangers.  So much so that they adorn the wall in my little laundry room. 

 

I thought about hanging the night gown from a puffy-type-lingerie hanger.  Those are nice because they keep the garment from shifting.  But they don't clang sweetly when bumped together.  Neither do they reflect the light like chrome can.  I also love the weight of these chrome hangers - something I hope will translate onto the canvas.

 

The hanger and gown will be back-lit in front of a window so I'm not sure how much reflecting the chrome will do.  We'll have to see.

doodling

Here are my tiny sketches for the night gown painting.  They're really just doodles I drew while attending a lecture.

Someone commented during a break that she thought I was drawing hanging figures!  Hopefully the final effect will be more romantic than gruesome.

good night gown - and technical difficulties

 

This was supposed to be a photo of the night gown I'm thinking of using in my next painting. Somehow I made a video instead - and a side ways one at that.

I can see I need to shake some of the dust off as I get up and running here.

The actions are slowly moving forward as the mind races - which is so much sweeter than the other way around.

stirrings

It's been quite some time since I've written here.  It'll be interesting to see if anyone still comes by.  I guess I won't be surprised if you don't.  But still, I'm curious.

My painting thoughts have been racing a mile a minute lately.  Soon I'll post something here - either writing, a drawing or a painting - to share with whomever stops by.