Lost in Life

There has been a lot going on here in the Rips household, and I haven't had the time to blog. I'll catch you up here briefly.  First, the art.  My friend Paula and I are trying out working on a series involving body images, including MRI's and ultrasounds.   Paula works very large, usually 6-8 feet and she works very quickly, considering the amount of stitching involved.  I tend to work slowly, sometimes leaving a piece of work on the design board for days, so while I'm while doodling along on the first one, I think she's working on the third one now.  This first image is what I put together based on an image of the head and neck.  In my critique group. Loris  pointed out the long blue "spine" was to centered.  Of course she was right, but I had already stitched the whole thing, so there was no way I could move it.

I ended up chopping off some of the left side.  I thought about reattaching it to the right side, but it didn't work.  I also muted the blue down a bit with paint.  The piece is ok, but I'm not really excited about it, so I started another one, this time larger, not so busy. I'm not ready to show it yet, maybe next week.  I'm not so sure why I can look at a friends work and immedietly see if something isn't right, but my own work is so hard to critique, even the obvious stuff.  I do photograph it and look at the image, and sometimes that helps, but showing it to others, whose judgement I trust really makes a difference.

Our son Sam left for Australia last night.  He's planning on being gone about a year, traveling the country, working, and hopefully traveling on to other parts of the world.  A grand adventure for him.

I hope this is the trip of a lifetime.  I hope he does not meet and fall in love with a wonderful Australian girl,  get married and live there forever.  If so, Brenda http://www.brendagaelsmith.com/ will have to become his stepmom!

Some New Work

I've been neglecting my blog, but not my work lately.  I finished 2 new pieces using the shrinking wool batting method.  The first one is called Dry Season and mounted on a piece of canvas to make the finished size 16 x 20.  I used the C. June Barnes method of stitching the layers of fabric with a wool batting, dyeing it, then washing it in hot water to shrink the wool.  It has some hand stitching in it.

This second one is called Beneath the Bridge and it's slightly larger, at 18 x 24.

I like making these, they are somewhat unpredictable, but you do have control of most of it.
On the home fronts, our son has moved back for 3 months to save up money to travel to Australia.  I'm undecided if this is good news or not, as he is leaving college 14 units shy of his BA in English, on the other hand, he is unattached, has few responsibilities and maybe this is the perfect time to travel.  He left college on a good note, making sure if he enrolls next year he doesn't lose his seniority, and the ticket has been purchased, so I guess it's a done deal.
I have been having trouble with my left heel, plantar fasciatis and now a broken heel spur, so I'm having a little minor surgery to do some repair work next Tuesday.  I will have a soft cast for a month, then hopefully I'll be back to normal.  I have lots of handstitching that is calling out to me, so this should be the time to catch up