Hello,

The sky was so full of contrails –  man made marks and I felt I must comment on my focus subject of this year.    Marks seem to be every were when you start to look for them.  There are marks left by animals  like these deer and raccoon  tracks are that show marks of passing.   But there is a difference between the mark left behind by nature and the marks made by mankind.   Man made marks are a  conscious decision.  There for my con trails are not really marks on the sky as I have defended it.    Because I live in an urban setting   I seem to find most marks   on my walks.    I saw these marks of love in the sand when I was visiting Susan in Florida.     Then I found these  marks scratched  in cement on a sidewalk.   I observe many spray painted marks.  I talked with a man replacing a  stop sign that had been grifittied  spray painted  yesterday  on my walk.   Then I found these two in the stair well of the art building.   They all point to the fact that folks seem to be  driven to make marks on surfaces when the opportunity arises.  Think about all the silly doodles around the note pad by the telephone or look at a students  note book at the end of the school year.  Both are covered with marks.    We all seem to have a driving need to leave evidence of our passing in the world.  Even this strange sculpture is a mark of sorts of some folks existence.      I can’t begin to explain why we leave behind the marks.  I just know we do and I find it fascinating.

About a month ago I wrote about the “ surFACE”  show where artists were given the plastic masks that Cancer patents used as a part of their treatment .  I went to the opening/sale of the art works that came out of that Challenge and was amazed by the transformation that the artists did with the masks.   This roman fighter was one.  Some artists cut up and distorted the masks like this flat work that became and elegant  type of painting.   I was amazed by this wonderful grass hopper were the artist mixed the plastic with corrugated cardboard. There were several courageous lions. lots of butterflies and angles  among the altered masks.   Over 90 wonderful creations came out of this powerful challenge.

Progress Report:  Green Grass of Home  This quilt is 22.5” X 45” and a part of the self challenge project. The collage that I started this work with is  in a whole different color pallet- and it morphed as it grew, but I am quilt happy with the final results.    When one  enlarges from 4” X 6” to a bigger size one does need to break up things a bit differently.    I had a good time with the quilting on this work and it is very flat  even though I did sew at 45 degree angles in some places.

Memory Map- Canyon De Chelly    This quilt is 18 “ X 20”.  It has been missing for several months.   Some how in my frustration with what to do next it got buried in a pile of fabric  and only surfaced this week when I was putting away fabric form my trip to Chicago.      I am so glad it got lost because I was so frustrated with it I was ready to throw it away the last time I saw it.  But with fresh eyes I saw what it needed and now I am pleased with the work.      It mostly needed more definition and needle work.  It got both this week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Memory Map- Columbus Junction      Finding Canyon De Chelly also got me going on this work that was at a stall too.   I have added more detail to the map section and I am in the process of doing the drawing of the figure for this work now.

 

 

 

 

 Creative Assistants    I got busy and finished up 21 more of these little fellows this week.    I was pushed forward on this project by unearthing a small box of necklaces with wonderful  beads for face parts- but I told myself I could not begin to play with them until I had finished all the started pins.   There will be more.

 

 

Ice on Vincent  I am building up the texture on this work now.  It is the slow step were it seems like not much is happening.  But I love all the thread play and the tacking down of fabric bits and yarns.

 

 

 

 

 Blue Rock   This work is just a little behind the Ice piece.  I am still filling in the base layer for it.   I like selecting the fabrics and filling in the gaps .

Label Block # 48  The building of the  blocks keeps on coming.

Keep Creating

Carol